Deschutes Cascade Ale

Brewed by Deschutes Brewery
Style: Golden Ale/Blond Ale
Bend, Oregon USA

This brew has a slightly hazy amber body, with a cream head topping it off. The scent is of bitter hops. These hops dominate the flavor, seem to be a different variety of hops than most PAs. Under those are a nice sweet malt base, with a spicy bite. Overall this is a good beer.

On tap at Cooper’s in Seattle

Pours light gold with a relatively small head. The odor is weak, bits of sour hops and grain and hints of belgian-style yeast. The flavor follows, dominated by grains, a bit of sourness, pale malt, hints of orange peel, with a metallic hop finish. This is an unimpressive brew, the sort that you might drink if you desperately needed a beer in some midwest airport bar -- but it’s not the sort of thing you’d expect from a good local microbrewery. I’m disappointed here; it’s as if Deschutes has decided to compete with Petes and Sam Adams instead of with Stone and Elysian.

Clear gold with a thick, fluffy head and nice lacing...lovely biscuity-citrusy aroma with some interesting additional citrus notes Very .creamy body, honeyish, lightly fruity, turning quite dry and crisp to finish...full but not heavy mouthfeel with perfect carbonation....pretty damn good.

Pours a light golden yellow. Aromas of grains/caramel?/some hops. Flavor is crisp and dry. Has some hop bitterness.

(Bottle) Pours a clear golden body with a moderate white head. Aroma of mild hops, lemon, and florals. Flavor of mild hops.

Nice clean aroma, malty small on the hops. Grapefruit type aroma lingers with this beer. Light golden yellow color. Nice malt flavor with a small hop bite. Too bitter for this style. This needs to be clean. Tis beer has too much flavor for this style. Needs to be softer at the end.

(12 oz bottle: Liquid Solutions in Tigard, OR) Although the beers don’t share all the same characteristics, I’m immediately reminded of Hair of the Dog Ruth, just not as good. I think maybe it’s the tangy, spicy hops, the mild sourness, and the hint of "Belgian beer" spices like coriander and orange peel. Otherwise, it’s quite fruity, yeasty, lightly bitter, and the pale malts are very light. The nose is very fruity and yeasty. Pretty light bodied overall, but not watery, and carbonation levels are good. Not a long-lasting finish, but that’s expected since the flavors present in this beer aren’t the ones that tend to sit on the palate for eons. Medium golden color, slightly hazy in appearance, with a small white head that recedes to a wide ring. Not a beer that’s thrilling me, or even making me want to obtain another one, but it’s interesting enough to make me take notice.

Bottle thanks to my dad. Clear amber body, smallish head. Hint of hops and malt. Slightly fruity, slightly earthy or doughy. Flavor is the same with a small caramel presence as well. Fruit is peach or pear. Not bad for the style I guess.