Ballast Point Even Keel

Served cold from tap at brewery. My girlfriend thought it was very tropical, smelled like passionfruit and tasted like mangos. It definitely had a citrus/fruit aroma to it, with some hops up front and a light finish.

Sampled 1702, Tucson AZ; August 2009
This beer arrives from the tap a darker color than I was expecting; it is an amber, lightly hazy hue that is topped by a thin, pale tan colored head that is typical for a tap pour. There is a nice, clean hop citrus aroma to this that has notes of orange zest, some bright tangerine character, grapefruit, and a solid lychee note. There is a hint of crystal malt character here in the nose that adds light notes of toasted grain and caramel.

This has a nice biting bitterness to it as it first hits my tongue. It is quite dry which mutes the citrus hop flavors, but not completely as notes of grapefruit, tangerine, spicy citrus oil, a touch of lychee and a lingering apricot note in the finish are all noticeable. This is nice and light feeling on the palate, the hops actually provide some astringent mouthfeel that makes this beer seem a bit fuller than it actually is. Some pine and menthol flavors are also here and help to add to the hop complexity. There is just a hint of malt backbone here with notes of toasted grain and a touch of caramel.

This is very nice, I could drink a lot of this if the alcohol is anywhere near 4%, unfortunately there seems to be quite a bit of conflicting information on the actual alcohol content of this beer. This is perhaps not complext enough, but the mix of dominant hop character and light malt backbone in a low-alcohol form makes for a very nice beer.

(Draught) Pours a clear burnt orange body with a small off-white head. Aroma of citrus, caramel, parsley, and grass. Flavor of hops (pine, orange, grass) and caramel malt with a bitter finish.

On tap. Clear deep golden with an off-white head. Fresh, peachy aroma. Light body, light caramel notes but not much of a malt base. Finishes dry with some bitterness. 070709

On tap at Beechwood BBQ. Brown color with an off white head. Aroma is citrus hops, pine, caramel. Flavor is bitter, soapy, and citrus hops followed up by light caramel.

Draft. Amber beer with a whitish head. Nice grapefruit aroma. Pine and light grapefruit flavor with light malt. Medium bodied. Some bitterness. Pine and light grapefruit linger.

On tap at Beachwood BBQ. Pours with a small, off-white head over a orange body. Aroma of herbal hops, floral and citrus. Taste is malty, caramel, grain and herbal hops. Lively bubbles and a dry mouthfeel. Really a ton of flavor for 3.5%, all of us thought it was in the mid 4’s or low 5’s.

Clear copper with small bubbly head. Nice aroma of light roast and spicy hops. Very spicy bite, caramal and slightly bready malt base with very spicy, piney, slightly resiny hop bite, long mild bitter finish. Very pleasant surprise for a beer labeled "session ale," i was expecting bland and boring.