Brooklyn Ale

Brewed by Brooklyn Brewery
Style: English Pale Ale
Brooklyn, New York USA

12oz bottle from sampler case. Pours a deep orange with a thin white head that disapates quckly, but leaves some lace. Not much nose, but what is there is mostly sweet malt. Smooth texture, light flavor of caramel with hops in back. Dry finish.

(Sample Date: 2/3/2009 Source:Capital Ale House - Downtown) Caramel and light malt. Clear pale small white head. Light floral hop flavor with caramel and light maltyness. Dry slightly bitter finish.

Finally, the last in a long line of Brooklyn ratings to get into the top 5. I hate to insult Brooklyn, they make some solid beers, but it’s been quite painful. They have a distinct and very drab, dull yeast that really holds a lot of their beers back. This one has the same malt-sugar grey grain aroma, mild hops and biscuit notes. Slightly lactic flavor, cookie, cheese. Mild fuggles hops, no American hops to be found, despite the commercial description. Boring. Thank god this is over with.

Pours reddish brown with minimal head. Sweet bready malt aroma with some fruit and hops. Biscuit malty flavor dominates, some grassy hops. Medium body. Decent beer from what I consider kind of a boring style.

A rare exception to the "ales are more flavorful than lagers" rule. Maybe I’m just not a huge fan of English-style Pale Ales...or English anything for that matter. Malts dominate, and although some hops are present, they’re not as in-your-face as the brewer claims. Easily above average, but I prefer Brooklyn Lager slightly.

Bottled. Poured translucent orangey-amber with a short cap of off-white head. The aroma was sweet with caramel, honey, and fruity notes accompanied by light grassy and herbal accents.. serviceable. The flavor had caramel and medium-skinned fruits at the core with light, dry herbal bitterness around.. sharper on the finish with sticky, ugly maltage. Light-bodied on the palate with rather poor balance.. didn’t do a whole lot for me.

355 ml bottle as Pennant Ale 55. Clear reddish brown body with a small off-white head. Moderate aroma of sweet malt, caramel and a hint of fruity. Flavor is quite malty, sweet, caramel and a balanced light bitterness. Nice and easy.

This is a decent beer that I would recommend for an extended drinking session. Dont look for anything interesting here though. Aroma is bready with possibly some citrus. Flavor is what you would expect from an average pale ale.