Acme California Pale Ale

Brewed by North Coast Brewing Company
Style: American Pale Ale
Fort Bragg, California USA

Light, malty, boring beer. Nothing of note in this one. Grabbed it in Harris Teeter in Carborro because it was one of about four beers on the racks I hadn’t tried. Next time I’ll just grab another six of Sierra Nevada.

Poured cloudy light amber with a good head and good lacing. Flavor is malty with a strong metalic finish and palate. The metalic finish made this a beer that I would not buy again.

Sour bisuit aroma with some apple dumplings. Deep golden in color with some haze. Cheap malt flavor with a tad of crispness. Me not much likey. Somewhat swill-esque.

Full bready aroma with some light apples. A fairly light amber coloring with a decent sized white head. The taste is subdued with dried apple chips. It also reminds me of chewing on wood. Strangely made. Thin, slick mouthfeel.

Bottle. Very small off-white head that quickly dissipated, sparse lacing, fine sized bubbles, carbonated, transparent, and an orange hue. Malty, caramel and hoppy aroma. Flavor was sweet, mild smooth hoppiness, and lightly bitter. Mouthfeel was slightly tingly and thin. Light-mediium body. Nothing special.

pours a slightly hazy amber that heads well and leaves good lace. aroma is amazing-extremely fruity, with apricot being the dominant note. honestly, more apricot than DFH’s Aprihop. and while it is an amazing aroma, I am buying an APA, not a fruit beer (hence the score). still, what a crazy combination of esters and hops (amarillos?). fruitiness still a big component in the flavor, with some sweetness from the malts and some ok finishing bitterness. unfortunately, the flavor of the hops is a little soapy, and it carries into the aftertaste.

Pours a very nice clear copper with a thick beige head. Aroma of toasty, biscuity malt with lightly floral hops. The taste has more of the same along with caramel and citrus characteristics. Thin and watery with subtle carbonation. Uninspired and boring. Doesn’t really have the hop character to be considered an American IPA. More like a bitter.

Dull golden honey orange color, sparce but compacted and finely bubbled whitish cap slips away quickly. Keeps a whispy skim and thin collar; lacing is glaring and clear with some small globby spots sticking. Aroma has a toasty caramel, crispy biscuit malt, light floral hop notes with a very slight herbal edge. Clean but restrained a bit. Taste has a creamy malt in the front, baring a caramel smoothness, medium built toastyness that gains more crispness and grainy edge as it finishes off. Hops are slightly noted with a small herbalness and faint fruityness bordering citrus. There seems to be a bit of lingering nuttyness under the grains. Not bad, but could be better as like em more hoppy. This is closer, if not the same, as something I would expect from an English Pale. And there’s nothin’ wrong with that when done right, which this is. Feel is quite smooth and creamy, lighter medium body with a nice toasted finish and malt gain across the palate. This is a fine pale, more along the lines of a sweeter/maltier pale then hoppy. Very reminescent of a Vienna.