Columbus Brewing Apricot Ale

Brewed by Columbus Brewing Company
Style: Fruit Beer
Columbus, Ohio USA

Bottle acquired in trade with OhioDad (thanks!). Poured a medium and hazy amber color with a large (4.5 finger) off white head. Aromas of apricots and wet grass. Tastes of lighter apricots, light caramel, and some hops. Lightly tart and lightly sweet. Thin and watery body.

Draft at brewpub. Amber color with a moderate white head that lasted and produced good lacing. Average sweet apricot aroma. Light to medium body. Medium sweet fruity flavor with a short thin finish. Good fruit brew, not my style.

Thanks to Ohio Dad for this. The pour was hazy dark copper with 2-finger white head. Nice big apricot aroma, with some perfumy florals, berries, caramel malt. This aroma is outstanding. The flavor was fruity, with a lot of natural apricot flavor, plus a good amount of peaches, some caramel malt, and subdued finishing hops. Medium palate. Well done.

Slightly couldy medium orange colored body. The head is thick with a slight off white coloring. The aroma is almost overpowering with the apricots. There is also a little bit of fresh grass. The taste is definitely apricot tart. But there is also some grassy freshness. A little note of lemonbread is in the aftertaste. This is your beer is you like apricots.

Draft 4 oz sample at the brewpub, 10/23/06: Bright gold with a thin filmy head. Fruity aroma of an apricot grove. But flavor is more musty like a not-quite-ripe piece of fruit. Comes off actually with a sharper bitterness than many fruit-beers.

Bottle via trade with OhioDad, thanks Scott. Pours golden clean amber/ruby with tiny fast rising bubbles and a tall creamy/rocky off-white head, mostly lasting with some good thick spotty lacing. Huge fresh apricot aroma, some candy/syrupy notes, and lightly roasted caramel malt (cookie) and yeast (dough, oak). Chalky lightly acidic sour yeast and tart apricot flavor, malty nutty body. Medium bodied, clean and refreshing palate.

Definitely better than Pyramid’s version, as the apricot flavor is much more subdued. Pretty orange hue and minimal head/lacing. Stong apricot in the nose that luckily does not translate much to the taste.

(12 oz bottle: Obtained in trade with OhioDad, thanks Scott!) I was very impressed with this beer when I poured it and took my first whiff. Mmm, fresh apricots! But ahh, the power of suggestion. Taking a sip, it has quickly come to me that what I’m smelling and now tasting isn’t fresh apricots. I’ll be nice and say it’s really, really overripe fruits, and not just apricot, but I’m actually getting a lot more mango here. The beer is somewhat grainy and fairly sweet, but not overly so, and bitterness is light. Medium bodied. The body is bright orange and quite cloudy in appearance. A tall, off-white head nearly overflowed the glass on the pour, but has slowly settled to a wide ring. Only a few splotches of lace stick to the glass. Next time, they should use fresh fruits rather than scour the orchard grounds for fly-infested fruit that fell off the tree.