Alcatraz Pelican Pale Ale

Brewed by Alcatraz Brewing Company
Style: American Pale Ale
Indianapolis, Indiana USA

Light gold color with smallish head. It was too dry without any hop flavor. It did have an explosive carbonation in my mouth. Sweet, malty and gritty.

From a sampler: The beer is a dark copper color with a medium thin off-white head. Very thin lacing. There is a light hops aroma, which is a little confusing because there is actually a good amount of hops flavor to be found. As a matter of fact, the taste is almost too bitter. Not flavorfully bitter...just bitter. The finish is on the harsh side as well. Overall this would be a really good APA if it were balanced a little better.

(Draught) Pours a cooper color with a small head. Descent tasting American pale ale.

My type of beer. It has a nice balanced profile of hops and malt. The smell is of fruit, spices, and hops. The taste is heavy on hops without a bad aftertaste. Very smooth. One of the better APAs.

Copper in color with a thin white head. Aroma is floral w/hop spicy. Start is nice and malty, middle is full of hop flavor and finish is moderately bitter which balances this beer well. This is one of my favorite APA out there.

Surprisingly little aroma. I strained to find any hint of anything to no avail. Copper colored, thin head. Pelican did score points in the most important category, flavor. Good sweetness from generous malting. Medium hop aftertaste. There are floral notes at mid glass which are pleasant, though the maltiness may have been overdone. Still, this is a very solid brew; one that I would gladly drink again. And you can’t beat the $2.25/pint happy hour price!

The chain brewpub concept is interesting - it must be a strugle to try to maintain the same recipes from pub to pub. The Michigan version of Alcatraz is sadly located in Great Lakes Crossing, a huge evil mall that I will never visit again as it represents the very worst of the concrete sprawl around Detroit. The beers are, for the most part, remarkably bland, and this one is the most watery of the bunch. I gather they make it better down in the southwest, but what seesm to be going on up here is an attempt to tone down the native pale to make it pale-atable to the public. It’s very, very sad.