Carolina Pale Ale

Brewed by Carolina Brewing Company
Style: English Pale Ale
Holly Springs, North Carolina USA

Date: 03/15/2008
Mode: bottle
Source: Tasting, Cellar Party

Appearance: hazy orange, fine beige head, bits of drippy lace,
Aroma: sweet crystal and caramel aroma with floral hops,
Flavor: dry malt flavor, lots of earthy bitterness, long bitter finish,

Aroma: 6/10; Appearance: 6/10; Flavor: 5/10; Palate: 6/10; Overall: 10/20
Rating: 2.7/5.0
Drinkability: 6/10
Score: *4

Crystal-clear golden with small off-white head. Aroma is caramel malty, earthy, and light floral. Taste is delightfully earthy, light sweet. Light floral sneaks in there as well. Light-medium body.

Draft... Clear, dark golden ale with a small, creamy, white head. Good retention. Excellent lacework. The aroma is just not there. Caramel and grapefruit in the flavor. Just beyond medium-bitter. Medium-bodied and creamy with fizzy carbonation. Finishes dry and lightly bitter.

Bottle courtesy of durhambeer. Pours copper with a thin white head. Smells of earth, tea, some hints of pepper. Tastes spciy with sime bitter touches, dry malt, earthy malt, pepper, some resiny hints. Mouthfeel is full bodied with a finish that is dry and peppery with a spicy bite.

Tap: Not much here. It poured a yellowed amber with a thin white head. The aroma was mildly sweet, grainy, with an herbal bitterness and an odd note of cold chrome. It’s got a creamy mouthfeel but not a heap of flavor. What’s there is a grainy malt, lightly sweetened, with a subtle floral hopping. I suppose "English Pale Ale" is as good as anything else to call it.

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Gold pour with uniform nitro looking head and great lace. Aroma of malt, hopcit, and fruit. Tastes malty, with a solid hopcit burst at mid palate, and a dry hop element at the finish. Solid complexity and balance, that gets drier as it warms. This is a very good EPA.

12 oz bottle, courtesy of Beandip (thanks). Light clear honey color, a bit thinnish looking, little head. Honey-sweet nose, light spruce. Mouthfeel fairly dry, almost cottony, little sweetness, quite hoppy and a bit oaky towards the end, lightly acidic. Not a whole lot of flavor, but reasonably drinkable and fresh-tasting.

This rating from the bottle, although I had several pints of this on tap while in Raleigh, definitely the best available in the hotel bar! Right down the pipe for a pale ale, I’d put this more in the American vein than English ... light in its amber hue, limited in it’s carbonation, and little head. But it’s got a decent hoppy citursy character, definitely quaffable, and a quality session brew. (#2844, 5/6/2007)