Defiant Golden Nugget

Brewed by Defiant Brewing Company
Style: American Pale Ale
Pearl River, New York USA

Balanced and drinkable. Aroma is pretty good for a pale. Some citrus and malts. Taste is a bit sweet and a little nice crisp hops.

Cask. Pours an amber golden body with a thin co2 stream. Light earthy hopppiness, with a pine, citrus body, finishes lightly bitter with a dry with a light malt body.

The aroma on this hazy gold pour is malty. The sugary syrupy flavor was more present there then in the taste. Hoppy and bitter, yet clean and crisp is what made this so good.

nice and dark amber quite a looker. good in you’re face type hops in a refreshing watery and niceley carbonated medium. good palate. true American style pale ale. piney and nutty with adequate malt backbone. bitter finish begs for one more taste. good strong characteristics with a lower than average abv. that is accomplishment,

More amber than "golden" in my book- though I was told the "gold" comes from the hop variety First Gold. Using three hops (First Gold, Nugget & Cascade) this is pretty hoppy yet balanced with a nice malty character. That’s what I like in a beer- balance. Good stuff.

On tap @ Defiant. Hazy golden in color with a nice white head. Citrusy hoppy aroma. Malty caramel and citrusy hoppy flavor. Citrusy, earthy notes. Finish is bitter. Medium bodied. Decent apa.

on tap at Defiant. Lightl hazy golden in color. Aroma: some sharp malts as well as light citrus/earthy nugget hops. Taste was a bit better than the aroma, with some citrus/earthy nugget hops, and smooth pale malts, and some light biscuity malts as well. Bitterness is light to moderate in the finish. A decent straight forward APA.

Wow -- my first "first" rating. Just drank this guy straight from the conditioning tank at the brewery. I wasn’t TOO excited about it, maybe because whenever I hear "pale ale" I’m always looking for something with a sweet hoppy kick (BIAS ALERT). In my opinion, there should be two separate "APA" categories -- there’s a big difference, for example, between Bell’s Pale Ale and Oskar Blue’s Dale’s Pale Ale, but they’re labeled as the same style (Dale’s is far more bitter, with piney hops). "Golden Nuggent" was a little funkier than I expected-- more of a "blonde," in my opinion. Poured on the warmer side, golden and with a strong head. I could imagine this one going down nice on a summer’s day if it was poured quite a bit cooler. Not very hoppy. I did pick up a few citrus notes - more grapefruit than orange/lemon. Solid finish. Just not a huge fan of this style.