Craftsman Orange Grove Ale

Brewed by Craftsman Brewing Co.
Style: Fruit Beer
Pasadena, California USA

Tap @ Lucky Baldwins, Pasadena Spicy note, slightly estery, a bit smoke maybe. Murky Orange brown, no head. Cointreau note, ends a bit on the harsh side. Light body.

Ninth sample Stone Anniversary Fest XI. Pours amber with a bright white ring of a head. Nose has a bit of orange in it. Taste is sweet oranges with the taste of an amber ale. Sweet overall not bad, a little to much like Iced Tea.

Lightly malty aroma with a little light orange. Orange amber color. More beer than oranges in the initial flavor. Nice malt profile. Finish is a very nice natural orange flavor - like orange juice. A nice fruit beer.

(Draft: Pizza Port in Solana Beach, CA) I never have seen a "normal" beer from Craftsman on tap in San Diego, and here’s another oddball. The name makes me think this might be a girlie beer, so we’ll see. It pours a sickly looking, muddy, murky orange brown color, totally cloudy, reminiscent of, well, diarrhea. Sorry, that’s what it looks like. The small, off-white head dissipates completely within a few minutes. The aroma of fermenting orange juice leaps out of the glass. Pretty potent, it’s hard to smell anything else, but some ginger seems to be in the mix too. Certainly doesn’t smell like beer, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, and in this case, despite the awful sounding description, the nose still manages to be somewhat pleasant. Strong orange citrus flavor, minimally sweet, a bit tart actually, moderately bitter, some Belgian spices, but a pretty light malt base. Spice and citrus really dominate the flavor. Light-to-medium body, fairly clean on the palate from the tartness, light bitterness and spiciness. Not a beer I’ve enjoyed all that much, but it’s certainly a very interesting beer, which always seems to be the case with Craftsman. And oh yeah, one more thing. This is definitely not a girlie beer.

Sampled on tap at Lucky Baldwin’s, June 2007
The beer is lightly hazy with a darkish honey amber color. The head is frothy, tan colored and starts out about a finger and a half thick and even leaves some lacing on the sides of my glass. The aroma is not as orange smelling as I was expecting; soft notes of oranges zest, some pith aromatics (which could be a malt contribution). There is a touch of biscuit like malt, but all in all the aroma is quite muted overall.

The taste is lightly sweet and citrus flavors accentuate a light tartness. This almost has a creamy mouthfeel to it, though it is quite light bodied. There is something here that reminds me of watered down orange juice (I would hope that actual juice was not used for this, but you never know). This is not bad, but it seems a bit washed out. It makes me wonder if they in fact did use orange juice instead of orange peel (which is actually were a lot of the flavor is).

On tap at Toronado San Diego. Pours with an amber body with little head or lacing. It’s slightly sweet and spicy wtih a hint of orange. The spicyness is a little much...I think this could have been a much better beer if the spice fit with the orange a little better. Light to medium bodied, tingly from the carbonation and a touch warming.

Tasted at Stone XI Party. Clear red copper with no head. Honey and orange aroma and taste with a bready finish.

Is this an amber ale with some orange or a fruit beer that has an amber ale basis? Whatever... The orange flavor nicely complements the beer. Wish I’d see this on tap more often. Had this at the stone 11th.