Pumphouse Brush Fire Belgian Pale Ale

Medium white head, murky off-orange body. Aroma is corriander, citrus. Light sour palate with serious corriander. Candi sugar sweetness. Finish is dry, orange peel.

Draught at 4th Annual Wildland Firefighters Benefit & Festival at the Pumphouse in Longmont CO. Pours cloudy lemon with a tall foamy white head. Aroma is malt (meal) and fruity citrus hops, corriander nose and yeast (wheat) notes. Wheaty yeast and light malt flavor, fruity and doughy, slighty sour, tart citrus notes. Light bodied and fizzy yet creamy palate.

Draft: Yellow-orange and hazy. Lightish body. Sweet and sticky malts, with notes of honey and cakey yeast. Flowery hops; delicate spice aromas in the background; very mild bitterness. Fairly easy to drink, albeit sweet. Not overly complex, but it did have some things going on.

Draught, Pumphouse, Longmont. Head is mostly diminishing. Body is medium yellow. Aroma is moderately malty (toasted grain), lightly hoppy (herbs), lightly yeasty (cobwebs), with a strong note of clove, note of lemon zest. Flavor is moderately sweet, lightly acidic, moderately bitter. Finish is lightly sweet, moderately acidic, heavily bitter. Medium body, watery texture, lively carbonation, lightly astringent. Whew, tons of clove phenol in this one, or some other similar spice perhaps (the finish is seemingly harshly spice-bitter, so maybe they DID add something to this). It’s got that cobwebby Belgian yeast character, but this comes off as a pretty mundane and edgy beer altogether. But hey, at least it’s not crawling with banana scent, that’s a relief.