Stone Pale Ale

On draft at Stone Brewing Co. Golden amber color with white head. Slightly musty and malty with a low hoppiness. Small diacatyl in flavor. But overall good hop/malt balance.

Pours a deep slightly opaque amber color with a thick frothy cream colored head. Leaves a little bit of lacing and dissipates after a few minutes. Aroma is a sweet resiny pine with a touch of citrus and brown sugar. There was a little cotton candy right after the pour, but that was gone after a few minutes. The taste is very clean and rich. There is a nice bitter to it, some piny sticky flavors, but it is all balanced by caramel sweetness. They actually balance each other well enough that is it just a touch of bitter left on the tongue. The palate is rich and creamy. A good offering from Stone because it is a solid beer that isn’t over the top.

Pours a beautiful burnt orange with a nice off white head. THe nose hits you with citrus and a definite sweetness. Great malty backbone that turns into a mouth filling beer with a great bitter finish. Nicely done.

Copper amber color with big tan head. Aroma is malty and slightly sweet, slightly spicey with a bit of hop bitterness. Flavor is faintly malty and sweet up front, with a decent helping of hoppy bitterness towards the finish, along with a creamy caramel note. Overall a nice brew, definitely unique for a pale ale, sweeter and less hoppy than I would have expected, but still very good.

A Mes rate: gravicask at GBBF.
Dark amber colour with a thin off white head. Huge orange and tangerine citric as hell all round really. Decent caramel malt base that is happy to remain politely in the background. Good bitter finish and an excellent full and chewy palate. Not their best beer bust still very good stuff.

Pours a hazy copper color with a small beige head. Aroma is very hoppy with grapefruit, floral as well as mild sweetness. Flavor is peach, grapefruit, caramel andlight cocoa. Finishes abruptly and nicely bitter. Medium bodied, chewy texture.

(Cask at GBBF, London, 7 Aug 2008) Reddish amber colour with brief, beige head. Malty, fruity nose with caramel, candy, toffee, nuts and hints of Irn-Bru. Malty taste with notes of dried fruit, spicy hints of Dr Pepper and earthy hops in a fairly dry finish. Kind of strange and not as good as expected. Have to tried the bottled version if I stumble across it.

Amber pour with a clear thing white head. Not much aroma. A bit of malt and caramel. Bitter malt flavor with a touch of fruit and alcohol. A little bit of hops. Very watery. I’ve had better pale ales.