“The ubiquitous Pale Ale. The workhorse of pretty much any modern brewery.
The brief we gave ourselves for our flagship beer was that it should be able to be sent to any bar in San Diego and to stand proudly alongside the many great Pales produced in, and around, the west coast of the US.
The schematic for a West Coast Pale Ale is bucket loads of big US hops, full malty backbone and a characterful yeast. That is what this Pale Ale is all about. Enjoy as fresh as possible.”
Served in a shaker glass. The attractive amber hue is capped off by a short beige head that rapidly peels off to a collar with minimal lace trailing it down. What this American-style pale ale lacks in head retention has certainly been made up in aroma as a burst of tropical fruits and citrus jumps out of the glass and smacks us in the face. Only a small hop bill (Cascade and Mosaic) but the two are high alpha hops and produce immense character. Fruits like grapefruit, passion fruit, pineapple and mango are in abundance but it’s the gorgeous infusion with the sweet caramalt and crystal malts that marry up beautifully to create this superb aroma. Quite spicy too with a touch of that IPA-like woody hop resin creeping through. Brilliant. It only gets better as a full-ish mouth feel enjoys a dry but very well rounded texture. Carbonation levels are spot on and the 5.4% ABV along with the 50 IBU is well contained. Shaping up for an absolute cracker here! Just as we thought….bloody delicious! Upfront the taste buds are treated to a divine synthesis of fruity hops, caramelized malts and spicy/resinous pine. There isn’t any succession of flavour but who needs it when the flavour profile is this solid. It finishes how it begins, with a tonne of fruits, malts and resinous pine along with a lingering bitterness for some duration. Excellent. One of the best pale ales we’ve ever had. Full flavoured, aggressive, hoppy, well balanced and super sessional. It’s got it all. Hats off to this new Australian brewery, definitely bigger things to come from these guys, we’re sure of it.