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Santa Cruz Mountain Pale Ale

	Percentile
	27
	overall

An American Pale Ale brewed by
Santa Cruz Mountain Brewing
Santa Cruz, California USA

bottled
available

on tap
unknown

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Ratings Average Score ABV Style Pctl Serve in Advanced
23 2.77/5.0 2.76/5.0 4% 9.1 Lager glass, Shaker P Stats

Commercial Description:
Our Pale is an all grain, close fermented, lightly hopped, handcrafted ale. We steep and sparge the freshly milled grain, in a slow and deliberate process using both a mash tun and a lauter tun, before pumping it over to our kettle. Once in the kettle, we bring it slowly to a boil and add hops in incremental stages, for bittering, aroma and flavor. While in the kettle, the wort must be carefully attended too as it threatens to boil over. After the boil is complete and all of the hops have been added, the beer is slowly cooled through a water chilled cooler and brought to a perfect temperature for pitching our yeast. After a period in closed fermentation, the ale is passed through a filter into a brightening tank where it awaits packaging. Nothing in our brewery is automated, ensuring that each step in the brewing process is hand crafted. We use a hand selected blend of organic malts with a primary base of Briess organic 2-row pale. The Briess 2-row malt is known for it's smooth and mild qualities. We add top-secret specialty malts to give the ale robust body, rich colour, and foam retention. The results are clear. Hops selecting in our recipe formulation is difficult since there are so many amazing organic hops to choose from. Again, we use a top-secret blend of organic whole hops in our pale ale but we favor an aromatic beer so we use an age old method of 'dry-hopping' - adding a final 'tea-bag' of organic Kent Goldings in the brightening stage. Organic Kent Goldings hops are grown in Belgium from the original rootstock and are known to be one of the finest hops in the world.

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GJF (240), Cedar Rapids, Iowa, USA

2.7	Aroma	Appearance	Flavor	Palate	Overall
2.7	4/10	3/5	6/10	3/5	11/20

Sep 15, 2008

Very pale gold with a rocky white head. Flavor is big on citrus and yeast, a bit of crystal sweetness. It’s refreshing but not sure what it wants to be, almost a bit of belgian pale to it, but not enough to really work as a belgian. Far too citrusy, lemony for a pale ale. Hmmmm, overall not sure what to make of it.

bhensonb (3006), Woodland, California, USA

3.4	Aroma	Appearance	Flavor	Palate	Overall
3.4	6/10	4/5	7/10	4/5	13/20

Jun 24, 2008

Bomber from Bottle Trek. Hazy gold color with a one finger white head. Aroma of floral/citrus hop - rather light. Medium+ body with creamy carbonation. Flavor is a little citrus sour over very lightly roasted caramel. Then floral hops bloom. More of a light ESB than an APA. It’s quite delicious. Finish is pretty balanced: a little hint of sweet, but bitter to stave it off.

ChainGangGuy (1602), Kennesaw, Georgia, USA

2.6	Aroma	Appearance	Flavor	Palate	Overall
2.6	5/10	3/5	5/10	3/5	10/20

Apr 19, 2008

Appearance: Pours a clear, yellow body with a big, foamy, white head. Smell: Simple aroma that’s a combination of grainy malts and lemon-scented handsoap. Taste: Tired maltiness that’s briefly sweet and delivers a kick of grain husks. More cheap lemon soap along with a medium hop bitterness. Slight citric hint on the finish. Mouthfeel: Medium-thin body. Medium carbonation. Mouthfeel is a tad watery. Drinkability: Seriously, what the hell is this nonsense.

kp (6200), Woodstock, Georgia, USA

2.5	Aroma	Appearance	Flavor	Palate	Overall
2.5	4/10	3/5	5/10	3/5	10/20

Apr 5, 2008

Date: 03/15/2008
Mode: bottle
Source: Tasting, Cellar Party

Appearance: cloudy light yellow, creamy white head, drippy lace,
Aroma: astrengent malt aroma with a touch of crystal sweetness and peppery spicyness,
Flavor: light sweet malt flavor, lots of earthy balance, long bitter finish,

Aroma: 4/10; Appearance: 5/10; Flavor: 5/10; Palate: 6/10; Overall: 10/20
Rating: 2.5/5.0
Drinkability: 7/10
Score: **/4

unclemattie (1620), Georgia, USA

2.4	Aroma	Appearance	Flavor	Palate	Overall
2.4	7/10	2/5	4/10	1/5	10/20

Mar 19, 2008

(organic) 22oz bottle. Pours clear bright yellow, thin white head. BMC looking. Not what I expect an American Pale Ale to look like. Very lager looking or even a Light Belgian Ale. Aroma of big citrus! Lots of lemons. Flavor is fizzy. No malt character. Finishes with an OK bitterness. Not likely gonna have dis und eegen...

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