Alpine Beer Company Alpine Ale

Brewed by Alpine Beer Company (CA)
Style: American Pale Ale
Alpine, California USA

Poured a light amber color with a small white head that left some sticky lacing on the glass. Aroma of pine, straw, buttery malts, and light citrus. Taste citrus, light pine, and some more caramel malt. Not overly bitter, but a decent pale ale.

an oily finish is the most notable aspect of this, which poured a gold color with a thick white fizzy head that dissipated very quickly into a thin lacing. aroma of wet hay, pine and some candi sugar malts. taste is well balanced, hops backed up by a medium malt backbone. alot of bitterness lingers behind, but nothing overwhelming.

Thanks to Dark Elf for hooking me up with this bottle. Gold with a white head. Smells of vitamins, yogurt and sugar. Taste is bitter with some nice peppery notes, but weak on the mouthfeel and finish.

17-Jun-04. (Draft: O’Brien’s in San Diego, CA) This XPA starts off nicely, and is moderately sweet and malty up front. But the finish is all hops, and it’s not only strongly bitter, which isn’t a bad thing, but it’s also a fairly harsh and unpleasant and totally overpowers all other flavors. Unfortunately, this is not the first Alpine style I’ve had where the bitter finish was harsh and unpleasant, and it’s getting near the point where I’m afraid to order an Alpine any more. Has a very carbonated mouthfeel and could probably be turned down a notch. Light golden color. The nose is lightly hoppy, but less than expected when considering how hoppy the finish is. Off-white head gradually settles to a thin ring and manages to leave some patterned lacing with large holes. Will retry and hope for improved ratings.

17-Sep-04. (Draft: O’Brien’s in San Diego, CA) A much better batch this time around, and very flavorful for an XPA. Sweet and fruity up front, moderately hoppy and bitter in the finish for a nice balance, which was clearly not the case the first time around. Also, while still very carbonated, the palate isn’t harsh. The nose is moderately sweet, fruity and hoppy, which is also in nice balance, reflecting the trends of the flavor. Still a medium to light gold in color, this time it’s somewhat hazy. The very bubble off-white head has good retention, but that’s probably because of the army of large, quickly rising carbonation bubbles. Much better this time around, and the ratings have been adjusted accordingly, but will the next batch be better? Worse? You just never know with Alpine, but until the tinkering is over with this beer, and the brewer is happy with it, expect some fluctuation with this beer.

26-Jul-05. (22 oz bottle: $3.49 at Windy City in El Cajon, CA) Okay, this rating is for the bottled version which just came out, and I’m pretty disappointed. There’s a lot of hops in this beer, but the flavor it’s mainly just bitter, not citrusy, not hoppy. Not a fan of this type of hopping in beers. Malts are somewhat sweet and quite grainy, but seem to get lost behind the bitterness. The nose is grainy and actually a bit stinky, but hops plays much less of a role in the aroma. Medium bodied, enough to limit the bitterness to a mildly crisp finish, but despite the bitterness, the palate is smooth and creamy. Medium gold color, slightly hazy. Off-white head shows good retention and patchy lacing. I guess I just care for this beer all that much. Maybe using different hops, or changing the timing to get more hops flavor rather than just bitterness would change my opinion. Given the variability of this beer, my ratings will be the average of my tasting sessions to date.

In the nose it has a small batch of hops with a chance of a straw hay malt going on. Pale gold/ blonde and has a thin level of head across the glass. Mildly hoppy and exactly how the description sums the flavor up as being a well balance between hop and malt. Average PA while not being to exciting.

Pours pale gold with yellow tinges. Small white head lingers somewhat. Mainly malt aromatics, some grassiness. Watery nose, followed by some subdued malt flavors. Predominate graininess, especially noticable in the finish. Medium light mouthfeel.

Bomber from Windy City Liquor. Pours a light yellow/red color. Sweet and hoppy aroma. Some citric qualities as well. Hoppy bitterness right up front. Tastes a bit like grapefruit juice. Hoppy bitter finish.

The aroma was full of grapefruit and pine w/ a hint of graininess. The flavor had oranges and grapefruits, pine and a slight hay texture. The beer poured an orange color w/ very slight head and lacing. The mouthfeel was light and creamy w/ a dry finish.