Flat Earth Belgian Style Pale Ale

Brewed by Flat Earth Brewing Company
Style: Belgian Ale
St. Paul, Minnesota USA

The different variety of international hops and malt make for a killer nose that gives off a great biscuity, honey, and spice character. The flavor is an echo of the nose with subtle hints of honey, bread, spice, and a good Belgian yeasty spiciness. The finish is what hooks you on this beer, as it seems to take this beer to the next level. A nice hoppy bite ever so subtly carries the malt flavors to a long lasting finish. For those who have ever tried Brasserie A’Chouffe’s Houblon Dobbelen and liked it, this beer is for you.

On tap at the Happy Gnome. To my taste this was wonderful. Copper colored pour, aromas of grass and variations of many farmhouse smells. Flavor of pear skin and orange, dried fruits. Barren dryness, distant but powerful sourness, and subtle herbal hops. An extremely well-balanced and interesting sessioner.

A well carbonated beer, a careful pour fills up my glass with four-fingers of light tan colored froth. The beer is a brilliantly clear, copper color. The head leaves quite a bit of lacing on the sides of my glass and even forms a rocky surface as it slowly recedes. The aroma is hoppy and spicy with notes of clove, lemon zest, a touch of ginger, some pepper-like notes. This finishes with a solid malt character reminiscent of toasted grain, biscuit like malt notes, dry soda cracker aromas and perhaps a bit of caramelized malt up front that accents the sweeter spice notes. The aroma is definitely dominated by the spicy yeast character and it is quite nice.

Still well carbonated as the beer completely foams up as it hits my tongue. The carbonation combines with some of the hop notes to give this a flavor of something like lemon pepper. Light and easy drinking, especially if you swirl out the excess carbonation. Lightly tart notes definite accent a lemon zest sort of flavor, but also induces fruity hints of pears, tart apples and a plum note that becomes more noticeable as the beer warms up. This is fairly dry, though there is a touch of caramelized malt sugars towards the middle that provide a touch of raisins. This finishes bone dry with a nice bitterness and peppery yeast character that begs you to take another sip. The finish also has quite a bit of malt flavors in it, all dry though, but with notes of biscuits, soda crackers and cracked grain. Substantial spice notes of clove are joined by softer notes reminiscent of ginger, white pepper, and perhaps a touch of somthing like nutmeg. As the beer warms I am able to pick up a light, herbal hop character that adds an extra dimension to this brew.

Light and easy drinking, yet it has a ton of character from the Belgian yeast. I am always a sucker for these interesting, lower alcohol, Belgian-styled beers. Certainly not a beer to knock one over, but I really like the interesting mix of flavors between fermentation character, substantial malt and light hop notes.

Bottle pours crystal clear copper (sort of like Element 115) with a short lasting head and some decent lace. The aroma is yeasty, floral, spice, peach, and overall pleasant. The flavor is malty sweet, bready, mild peach notes, caramel, and a spicy end. The palate is light to medium rich and somewhat quenching. You know, not a bad beer at all. If you take it face value, and do not try to evaluate it as a "Belgian Ale", I like it.

Semi clear orange color. Malty aromas with light sweet caramel flavor. Dry biscuity finish.

Tap at Barley Johns. Pours clear amber/copper with a small white head. Nice light belgian yeast aroma with a bit of hop and apple. Taste of Apple/Pear and just a bit of herbal hop presence. A very nice clean dry not overpowering beer. like a belgian, pale, hefe mix, but nothing overdone. I really appreciate brewery’s doing something different.

On tap at WA Frost and Company in St. Paul. Amber with a thin head. Aroma was malt and a hint of spices. Taste starts out sweet and spicey with notes of apple, caramel and bread. As it warms it becomes more hoppy and bitter. Overall very well done. I look forward to seeing this in bottles at some point.