Founders Pale Ale

Brewed by Founders Brewing Company
Style: American Pale Ale
Grand Rapids, Michigan USA

Pours a copper color from 12oz bottle to pint glass. Little head and practicaly no lacing. Smell is mild pine hops with a very mild carmel malt behind it. Taste is primarily piney hops with a touch of grapefruit and very mild sweetness from the malts. Very dry, bitter finish. More bitter than most APAs. Light mouthfeel. A little too much unbalanced bitters for me. Drinkability suffers from the bitterness. Good, not great APA. Great value at $1.25.

12oz.Bottle Founder’s Pale Ale poured clear golden with some tiny sediment floating throughout my glass. A white bubbly head sits on top but quickly fades to a thin coating. Moderate carbonation rises from the bottom of my pint glass. Smells good. I’m picking up slightly sweet malt. Grainy and floral. There is also a small amount of perfume from the hops. Smells inviting. Unfortuanately the flavor is somewhat weak. There isn’t hardly anything up front. Mid palate the hops make their appearence. They bring a floral character that is pleasing but a little dull. A short lived bitterness follows but it doesn’t stick around very long before there is nothing left. Mouthfeel is a disappointment. Very watery along with minimal carbonation. It would be easy to drink a lot of these but I wouldn’t want to. It’s just not flavorful enough. Sampled 10/19/06

On tap. Nose was hoppy and grassy. Poured a golden color with 1 finger head. Flavor matched aroma. Strong Cascade hop flavor with some citrus notes. Thin palate. Very refreshing. I’d recommend it.

Founder’s Dry Hopped Pale Ale. Poured from the usual Founder’s short, squat, twist-off bottle. Hazy golden color with a small, foamy, off-white head. Web-like lacing. Looks fairly thick in the glass. Toasted malt, faint toffee, and wet hops (grassy) in the aroma and flavor. The hoppiness is full flavored (slightly floral, some lightly bitter and tart citrus peel), but fairly mild in bitterness overall. Mild carbonation and medium mouthfeel. Not nearly as sweet and hoppy as the Founder’s Centennial IPA, but quite a bit drier overall. This was a good Pale Ale, but needed a little something extra to set it apart from the others that I prefer a little more... 12 oz bottle from Jungle Jim’s.

great hop flavor, a well crafted pale. aroma and taste arten’t too far away from each other either, which is nice.

bottle golden color...Big head; fruit and piney aroma...hoppy taste, very similar to what it smelled like...thin palate; overall best described as a super refreshing beer...i love founders, one of many great brewery’s in michigan!!!

Smells of floral hops as it pours amber gold. It is bitter but very well balanced. That carries through to the end with a smooth dry finish.

Poured from a 12oz. bottle into a nonic tumbler A: Pours a sparkly golden pale color with a HUGE amount of fluffy white head, almost too much head (and I poured it gently, too). Foams takes quite some time to disappear and leaves tons of lacing. S: Very floral, grassy aroma, not much sweetness to speak of. T: Big hoppy bite on the nose, with grass and mild citrus being the most prevalent flavors. Some odd soapiness finds its way into the mix too. A nice toasted malt balances the hops out and allows for a smooth, lingering finish. M: Very tingly, sparkling mouthfeel, extremely dry on the finish too. D: Quite drinkable, but not exciting enough to return to over & over again. Decent though.