Big Rock (India) Pale Ale

Brewed by Big Rock Brewery
Style: English Pale Ale
Calgary, Canada

Bottle (341ml). Thanks to tupalev for this one. Clear copper, smallish fizzy off-white head. Aroma of cardboard, light grainy sweet malt, a fair amount of dry hops, but they seem pretty stale. The taste is let cardboard, more bitterness, not bad; Light body, quite fizzy, slightly burnt aftertaste - pretty okay

341ml bottle.
Beer that smells of sweet malted grains, a bit of hops and some feint orange peels. Tastes is also malty and sweet with a small hop presence. Soft carbonation, light feel. Not a lot of character. Not a great beer.

Bottle, Beer Store. Looks great initially - medium to dark yellow, big fluffy white head. But then the head disappears really fast and upon inspection you see that the body looks really really thin. Mild aroma featuring weak herbal/tea like hops, mild fruit. Taste - ok. Nice initial hops - nice to taste some present! They’re a little bit herbal and earthy and the linger is pretty decent. The body is very thin with a light malt taste that just screams weak. Honestly Big Rock, you’ve got the hops down pretty good here in the taste, follow up with a decent malt base and get some of that dry hopping you talk about in the nose and this wouldn’t be too bad. As is, occupies that gray area between decent micro and crappy macro that I find a lot of Big Rock products occupy. Might be a transition beer for a Keith’s drinker I guess.

Really enjoyed this one. It was definately not as intense as an IPA, but it was stronger than a Pale Ale. I really liked the grassiness in the nose and the taste as well as the citrus notes.

bottle: The beer store was out of Grasshopper so I brought home the Pale Ale instead. My expectations were high given my great experiences with other Big Rock brews. Despite the smell being a little off, this beer tasted fresh and light with some nice mild hoppiness as it poured down my throat with ease. No sensational big flavours but a great beer to put back during the patio season.

Just says "Pale Ale," not "IPA." Smells like old vegetable soup, but not in a good way. Coppery, with almost no head. Malty sweetness, followed by a brief grassy taste, finishing with brief hoppy bittnerness. Nothing lingers. A simple ale; nothing special. Warthog is much better.

Bottle- Dark gold pour with good froth atop and nice lace. Strange aroma is funk, with some malt/hop aromas, grains, and slight leaf. Bitter hoppy flavours with mild malt to back it up. Bready bitter finish with just a touch of sweetness. Nothing fantastic, but better than most of the BMC fare available in this area.

When you put yourself out there as an "english pale ale", you’re setting some expectations. Well, my expectations were not met here. This is a golden yellow beer that holds very little hop character in the aroma and perhaps even less on the palate. It isn’t horrible or anything, but it isn’t special either. The only thing saving it from losing its identity and becoming a pale lager is the slightly more discernable malt character, but otherwise it is not one I will return to.