Arcadia Battle Creek Special Reserve

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

On tap at the brewery. Clear yellow and no head. Aroma is biscuits and lemon herb butter. Cascade hops are very discernable in the flavor. Crisp, with a big yeasty finish. Semi-sweetened with caramel along with a nice hop profile. Some muskiness, but for what it is, it’s good.

Murky golden with a small off-white head. The aroma is stale wet hops and light cardboard. The flavor is mildly sweet with more stale hops. Soft slightly slimy body. This bottle was clearly a bit old, but the beer has potential.

bottle that’s probably a year or so old. hmm, RB says english pale ale, bottle says mild. i think i agree with RB on this one though. spritzy golden appearance, looks pretty damn drinkable. mild floral aroma, slightly pilsner-esque but not nearly skunky. lots of malt and lots of floral hops, very balanced and neutral. after all, probably more of an english pale ale than a mild. slightly champagney, very enjoyable, and extremely drinkable at 4.6%.

This is listed as a "Mild Ale" on the bottle, so I wonder if this one is classified correctly. Anyway, it pours a yellow/gold color with lots of floaties. Aroma is malt and sugar cane. Flavor is malty with some floral and even citrus notes. Good body with some nice carbonation tingle. Pretty good beer here.

Clear gold in color, soft yet firm, finger high white frothy head, lacing in minimal strings. Aroma is somewhat grassy, notable English style barley malt and Fuggles hop aroma, slightly doughy of bagels with a whisper of flour grain. Taste is quite nice, very mellow and easy going palate with nice little flavors. Slightly crisp buscuit-like malt, frothy and full, delicate with slight floral and grassy hops, Fuggles mostly and perhaps some Mt. Hood. It has a wonderful appeal in the closing, nice fluffy whole grain and fresh buscuity flavors crescendo nicely with an easy floating dry finish. Medium body feel, lightly crispened and dry. Has a certain grainy texture witha touch of sweetness underneath. One amazingly fine drinker. Gone in no time flat. It reminds me in some ways of Great Lakes Dortmunder Gold, a good quality to have. Good stuff! For a mild, this is really nice.

On tap at Arcadia. Poured a clear straw color with a thin, creamy off-white head. English hops (earthy, floral) and sweet, light fruit malt provide the aroma. Flavor is initially dominated by earthy, floral, soapy hops after which light caramely malts kick in. Slightly tart. Fairly watery body. An easy-to-drink if mediocre session ale.

Finally had on tap at Shakespeare’s Kalamazoo. Nice, bitter, smooth.....

It has a golden hue with a moderate creamy head and very good lace. The aroma hinted of roasted malts, caramel and toffee, floral and herbal hops, dusty yeast esters and a touch of honey. The taste starts carmel malty with a light fruity twang. Some subdued bitter notes upon the finish. The mouthfeel is smooth and soft, chalky. A good beer but nothing really special about it. Lucky to find some of this is a cooler, guess I got a good bottle.