Cisco Baileys Ale

Brewed by Cisco Brewers
Style: Golden Ale/Blond Ale
Nantucket, Massachusetts USA

This was a tough one to pour - no matter how we tried to do it, we ended up with almost a whole glass full of foam. Then we sat and waited and waited as the foam settled, then poured a little bit more then waited..... Nice fresh spicy bread malty aroma with a good amount of citrus/floral hops - this made it harder to wait for the foam to die down - it smelled really good. Taste seemed light and sweet with mellow woody hops on the sides of my tongue, then floral and spicy at the finish. Much more complex than I expected it to be. (picked this up at Circle Liquors, NJ., 6/2005)

A great beer. Sampled it at work. The owner of Cisco brewings father, Gary, stopped in and introduced it to me. Sampled the whole line of Cisco as well. Of Course I brought in the product for him. Nicely hopped, crisp/clean on the palate. Nice golden color, thick head. A great summer beer.

It would be a nice little saison-ish thing if the hops weren’t so aggressively lemon-pinesol-icky. There are some nice fruity notes--grapes? in the aroma and the begining, hints of wheat, apricot, decent mouthfeel. Some grassiness/hay. But lots of yeast as well, which I think led to a little case of over-carbonation. Too many bubbles and a huge head.

750ml bottle from brickskeller. blond, slightly cloudy. huge head that lingers. aroma is fruity, a little bread? flavor is malt, spice, and a very herbal hop finish. nice

Bottle from Valley Wines. Poured a light golden color with a white fizzy head. Lots of tiny bubbles. Nose is hop and spicey and gras. Taste has all the nose qualites plus some earthy malts, this is quite a nice blonde. Body is mid level, and smooth finish.

From a 750ml bottle. Pours a very, very pale gold with a big frothy lacy white head. Huge head, by the way. Even a gentle pour brings an enormous frothy head. Smell is spicy and citrusy. Taste is bitter, very generously hopped. Citrus flavors are prominent with spices (coriander among others) in the finish. Much hoppier than I would’ve expected from the smell and the style. Very bight bitter aftertaste from hops and spices. Creamy. This is not an everyday beer for me but it is damn tasty. I can honestly say I’ve never tasted anything quite like it.

Picked up a 750ml of this at State Line in MD just because I hadn’t seen it or heard of it before. This appeared a slightly hazy yellow with a tall rocky white head. The head breaks down into a hilly surface with clumps of lacing being left around the glass. Very floral and earthy in the nose, there are slight notes of doughy malt as well. The flavor starts of with a mild citric bitterness accompanied by earthy hop notes. A bit of doughy malt was present as well, with a slight sweetness abound. The aftertaste had a citric bitter bite to it that was quite pleasant. Mouthfeel was light to medium with a good clean crisp taste. Drinkability was excellent I could drink this beauty all night it I could get it locally. Surprisingly hoppy and good beer that I am more than pleased with.

(25.4 oz bottle: Obtained in trade with Eyedrinkale, thanks Mike!) My first Cisco beer, and wow, this is a pretty exciting start. I’m not a big fan of golden ales, but this one is quite impressive, which can only be a sign of great things to come when I sample their other beers. This beers pours with the effervescence of sparkling wine, a large, very bubbly, whitish head fizzes like soda, but maintains a plump, quarter-inch head resembling a sand dollar. The aromatic nose features strong aromas of yellow citrus, yeast and wheat. The very bitter lemon and grapefruit citrus is quite apparent in the flavor, as it’s the dominant flavor from start to finish, but especially as the beer warms. Mild wheat maltiness with almost a smoky quality surfaces from behind the citrus and grassy flavor. Medium bodied and very clean and dry on the palate. The palate is very acidic, so acidic that it causes slight discomfort in my teeth, and I’m drinking this beer at cellar temperature, so it’s not discomfort from cold. It also has a highly carbonated mouthfeel, expanding inside the mouth. Bright golden color with a fully cloudy appearance. And even though it has taken me an hour or more to drink this 750 ml bottle of beer, the whitish head persists, so retention is excellent. Lacing, however, is less impressive, with a few thin clumps of foam sticking to the glass. Overall, I’d have to say this is one of the more hoppy and bitter beers from the east coast, or at least in terms of the degree of dominance. If you don’t enjoy the flavor of grapefruit, it’s hard to imagine you liking this beer. I’m looking forward to trying more Cisco beers, so someone hook me up!