Deschutes Twilight Ale

Brewed by Deschutes Brewery
Style: American Pale Ale
Bend, Oregon USA

Pours a clear golden color with a finger of head that sticks around. Little lacing. Very little smells. A hint of hops, maybe some lemon or orange. Taste is very bland. A tiny bit of hops, slight honey but very watery with some carbonation. This is extremely drinkable and is very refreshing for a thirst or hot day but is not a conversation piece. Good for what it supposed to be.

Surprised to see how highly rated this beer is. Maybe I just had a bad bottle, but I felt like this could have been Perrier water with some hop notes. I couldn’t detect much of a malt mouth feel at all, and it had a very heavy carbonation that gave off the sparkling water mouthfeel. Blah blah blah.

On tap at Hamiltons. Pours with an orange-amber body topped by a thin to medium thick, white head with a good amount of lacing left behind. It’s slightly bitter, piney and peppery from the hops with a little malt sweetness showing through. Not a whole lot of flavor. Medium bodied and a touch dry.

12 oz. bottle. Pours hazy gold with decent-sized ivory head. The aroma is lemony with some miscellaneous fruit and grass. The flavor is prickly zest at first, then some floral and fruit notes. The finish is a bit strange, kind of savory. Ok beer.

Pours an apricot tinged gold, with light, short lived head. Aroma is earthy, fruity and a vague hint of an unknown chemical, maybe "essence of twilight"? Flavor is straightforward hops and malt with a bit of sweet fruit. The body is full and satisfying. Too bad this one also is not an all weather type.

Draught pint at Redbones on 10/11/07
Peachy-copper, with a slight chill-haze and foamy, large white head that shows moderate retention, light lacing.
Sweet honeyish malts combine with soft hop notes of peach, apricot and tangerine. Strong apricot, slightly mushy but with some straw-like streaks on the end that grant moderate dryness. The hops are pleasant, the malt as well, but as in every hoppy offering from Deschutes, I get just a severely plasticy, celery-like yeastiness that cuts through on the finish and is quite disconcerting.
Nothing different in the flavor, unfortunately, and it’s a shame, because the malts are soft, fluffy and well-attenuated, while the hops are moderately bitter and quite flavorul, not throwing off too much bitterness. Vanilla creeps in and there is some graininess that cuts at the palate, but it’s otherwise very drinkable, especially on account of the dryness. Some gobs of sugar dot the way to the end, but aren’t overbearing. Just wish it didnt have that really strong yeastiness.....

Nice balanced bitter ale, smooth and refreshing. Nothing really out there going on which I can appreciate...

Bottle... Poured a foggy orange with a thick white head. Malt is primarily in the aroma. Foamy and chewy texture, this reminded of a super hoppy lagerish beer, even thought I know it’s way off from a lager, whenever I a try a lager I wish they would taste like this beer. Anyway, I really enjoyed this one, it was better than I thought it would be. Great hop presence with a caramel-malt balance.