Arcadia Battle Creek Special Reserve

Brewed by Arcadia Brewing Company
Style: English Pale Ale
Battle Creek, Michigan USA

On tap at the brewpub. When they say "lightest ale" they mean it! Looks like a lager to me...yellow with a fizzy white head. No aroma to speak of. The flavor is not much better with lemon and honey barely detectable. This is not the beer to be marketing as "special reserve"

Special reserve? WTF. The beer decided to never stop foaming. Golden body. HUGE white foamy head that keeps creeping from the bottle. Had it stopped foaming, I could have rated the appearance higher. The aroma is lemon pledge and icky malts. Not worthy of the title "Special Reserve". The flavor is cereal-bowlish. Honey injected cracklin oat bran. The palate is over-carbonated and acetic. Not a great brew.

My first gusher in a long time from an american brewery. Even after the first couple ounces of liquid have been displaced out of the bottle the bubbles keep coming. Needles to say, huge bubbly head of an off-white color. Lightly hazed golden color. Pale malt and light acidic punch in the nose. More carbonation in the feel. The final pour into the glass reveals scads of powdery looking yeast. LIght malt flavors lead to a zing of dried herbs and a dry honey flavor. Somewhat acidic, especially in the linger. Change the hops and this is a near saison in many properties. It would seem that the sweetness others have detected have been eaten by some beastie and created more carbonation and given this one a different life. Ah, the life of beer. It’s good, but in a funny way.

Pale golden color out of the bottle with a tight fizzy white head. Light citrus nose with some dough. Lots of lemon citrus in the flavor, with some peach, bready yeast, and a long hop finish. There is some toffee and caramel sweetness, but it is mostly white sugar. Body seems a little light, and I wouldn’t have guessed that this was a British Mild like the label says or an English Pale Ale. It is enjoyable enough.

Frothy and overflowing off-white head. Some haze in an amber body. Citrus hop aroma, with slight papery dry skunk. Taste has a bland citrus bitterness, and peppery perfume character. Backed up with some dry bready sweetness. A bit too fizzy on the palate. Really not horrible, but not my cup of tea. The flavor is actually "delicate" and "crisp", but not much to go after (and too fizzy).

Golden color with white head that never quits. Aroma mostly grassy with hints of flower and citrus hops. Flavor very sweet fruitiness to it, can’t really pinpoint. Finishes with a grassy/skunk-like aftertaste.

(12 oz bottle: Obtained in trade with Sully, thanks Mike) I have never seen such intense carbonation action in a glass of beer. I could almost describe the carbonation release when opening the bottle as explosive, and despite the careful pour of about three ounces of beer into the glass, off-white head filled the rest of the glass. But the incredible rush of carbonation bubbles up through the beer is like a dozen divers having their air hoses cut. It was so intense that the head just kept rising and rising and rising, fortunately stopping just shy of spilling over the rim of the glass. What a spectacle to watch! Anyway, this will probably take 15 minutes to dissipate enough so that I can actually taste the beer without getting foam up my nose. However, I’m not so sure I want to taste this beer because in the meantime, I’ve taken a whiff of this beer and it’s not good. Fruity and floral and a bit soapy, I’m extremely discouraged by this beer so far. It’s light golden in color and somewhat hazy in appearance. As the head is dropping, it’s leaving large chunks of foam on the glass. I’ve gotten really impatient, so I’ve taken a small swig out of the bottle, which caused the bottle to fill up with foam, and it is so expansive in my mouth, it’s like drinking seltzer water. But I could forgive all this if the beer tasted good, but it doesn’t. It’s floral and soapy, mildly bitter, and only slightly nutty. Light bodied with a slightly slick mouthfeel in the finish. Wow, what the hell kind of "Special Reserve" is this? Seems to me they’ve used the Special Reserve term to justify a horribly overpriced beer, one that’s not even worth half the price. One of the bigger disappointments of my beer rating career.

Pours with a golden-orange body topped by a thick ass head with a good amount of lacing. It’s flowery, slightly sweet and malty but very weak. Light bodied and bubbly.