Cambridge Golden Ring Abbey Pale Ale

Brewed by Cambridge Brewing Company
Style: Belgian Ale
Cambridge, Massachusetts USA

GABF 2007. A hazy golden beer with a thin white head. The aroma is sweet and quite spicy - among others I pick up coriander. The flavor is sweet with notes of coriander, leading to a dry spicy and slightly wheaty finish.

Date: 02/11/2007
Mode: Draft
Source: Brewpub

clear dark gold, wispy beige head, streaks of lace, light spicy aroma, nice hop flavor on a dry malt base with some spicy esters adding complexity rather than balance, a touch of candy sweetness comes and goes, the spices give way to robust hop flavor and a long bitter finish, called an abbey IPA it alternates between the two rather than marries them,

Aroma: 5/10; Appearance: 6/10; Flavor: 6/10; Palate: 6/10; Overall: 11/20
Rating: 2.8/5.0
Drinkability: 6/10
Score: *4

(Draught) Pours a lightly hazy golden-amber body with a small white head. Aroma of coriander, passion fruit, honey, and herbal. Flavor of spruce, honey, herbs, and citric hoppiness with a bitter finish.

Dark dulled gold to amber bodied, producing an eternal white film. Immediately charming nose where the funky yeast shines a wild fruitiness ranging from passion fruit to juicy bananas and vinous grapes or kiwis. At the same time, the typical honeyed Belgian malts procure biscuity undertones that befit the limey, leafy hops. Not so expressive in yeastiness in mouth, but it compensates through a woodiness I had not seen coming. Well controlled sweetness, light-medium bodied, oily texture, tanninc mouthfeel. An absolutely delicious offering, thanks to a stupendous wild yeast nose.

Draught@Redbones. Very nice. yeasty, but soft, with some lovely citrus rind and wild flower aromas. Palate shows some bitterness and a very soft refreshing acidity. Citric, slightly estery. A very pleasant Belgian pale ale.

Lightly funky, herbal hop nose. Clear golden body is topped by a low white head that recedes to ring. Somewhat funky brett character with herbal, earthy, grassy hop character and pleasant cereal malt flavours. Light body with refreshing strong carbonation. Sampled at GABF 2005.

GABF 2005: Golden hue (I would hope so with the name) and a small head. The aroma is yeasty and showed some mild fruit and barrel esters in addition to belgian candi sugar. The taste was grassy and leafy hops with a touch of tart apple and firm banana followed by a sugary background. Lots of biscuit and chalky feel on the palate. Not too bad but not really up to part with their other offerings.

On draught at the brewpub, 6/14/2005. Deep cornfield golden color, light white-gold tinges throughout. Lightly creamy off-white head sits atop, very small, but some retention and lacing. Lightly hazy body. Aroma of honey, light graham crackers, hints of earthy bitterness and bits of bubble gum. Belgian yeast is discernable, and there is a good dose of fruitiness (starfruit, tangerines). Some vanila notes. Flavor is moderately malty, honey and dough, not too much vienna huskiness, though it has a lightly grainy, moderately carbonated mouthfeel that is pleasing and holds out any watery feel it might otherwise have. Notes of vanilla, light tangerine and dry yeast on the end. Bits of floral notes throughout, with some light lemon zest mixed in with the sweet malt. Drinkable, with a definite Belgian yeast character lingering on. I enjoyed the thicker, more pronounced malt sweetness in this, as compared to the lighter, more attenuated L’amour du jour. 7/4/7/4/14

On draught at NEBF, 10/29/05. This is the only Brett version. All other brewpub versions were not brewed with brett. This was a very good beer to start with, and the brett makes it in to an excellent beer. Spicy and yeasty, with the appropriate tartness from the B. Bruxellensis variety. Like usual, the nose is more expressive than the flavor, being an American version, as they can’t quite seem to nail the flavor and saccharomyces balance, but this is darn near close and probably tastes better than the GI Matilda. And that’s in an absolute sense, since they have no real relation other than the brett. Great texture and very drinkable. 8/4/7/4/16