Four Peaks 8th Street Ale

Brewed by Four Peaks Brewing Company
Style: Premium Bitter/ESB
Tempe, Arizona USA

tap @ in tempe in a monsoon...nice orange golden color. sweet malts are the only things i could pull from the aroma (lots of fans and a thunderstorm). flavor is sweet malt/toffee with a nice grapefruit citrus balance. great session beer for waiting out the rain!! as with the kiltlifter, i’m sure this will be more pronounced from a bottle.

For a beer that puts itself into a bitter category, it is pretty smooth. The bars shouldn’t serve it so damn cold but I have adjusted my ratings as if it were served at the correct temperature. Carmel and toffee finish doesn’t overpower but doesn’t last long either. Great color and weight. A great beer for sitting at the bar with friends. You could drink it all day long. Just make sure you have a comfortable landing spot, these will catch up to you.

From a 12oz Bottle. Courtesy of footy; thanks! Pours a mostly transparent, brassy gold color with a splash of orange and a thick layer of large bubbled white head. Soapy, perfumy aroma with notes of lavender, dandelion flowers, and some herbal grassy hops. A hint of mild malt character gives it a subtle dose of doughy bread, but the soapy characters are too overly dominant to let this really come through well. Light bodied, crisply carbonated mouthfeel. The size of the bubbles feels massive on the tongue, further enforcing the impression of a soapy, sudsy beer. The flavors seem to a bit more cohesive at first, allowing more floral hop qualities to reach the palate with some biscuit and bready malts. After a couple of sips, more bathroom soapy qualities emerge, along with some yeasty spice that seems out of place for the style. It finishes well enough, with a gentle smack of spicy, herbal hops.

12oz bottle shared with MNovak. Heavy aroma of Ruby Red Grapefruit! I have never hd a beer that had such a dominate aroma of grapefruit. Very unique hops?? Flavor is of light malt and a sharp hop bitterness. A little too fizzy / carbonated for my taste.

Bottle thanks to cbkschubert: Pours a transparent bright copper bronze with a large, over-carbonated, pillowy airy, clingy-lacing off-white head. Aroma of slightly soapy floral English hops with a touch of toasty pale malt. Body starts semi-sweet and with some toasty pale British malt balanced with a mild earthy piny hop character toward a thinner, but smooth finish. A pretty decent ESB.

Bottle: Pale orange, slight haze, moderate sudsy white head, decent lacing.   Nose is very slight hop presense, moreso perhaps a pale malt, very slight biscuit and orange peel.   English style Pale flavor as its very low hop bitterness, some biscuity malt, and an astringent citrus twang on the finish.   Average body and mouthfeel.   Fairly clean, cept the astringency that comes up towards the finish.   Not bad...

Bottle from Craig (cbkschubert). Thanks dude. Pour is hazey golden copper with a little white head. Nose is pleasent, but not altogether too exciting. Nice balance of malt, hops, and a little funkiness on the palate. I enjoyed this or maybe I was just enjoying the tar heels woop up on the dookies! Either way, a nice beer from Arizona.

Slight cloudy golden with medium head. Very refreshing and drinkable pale ale. Just a bit of hops and a mild sweetness. Wanted to hit the brewpub....but ran out of time. Oh well, next time.