Gearys Pale Ale

Brewed by D.L. Gearys Brewing Co.
Style: English Pale Ale
Portland, Maine USA

Bottle, from sampler pack. Decent enough of a pale ale. Kind of weak for a pale ale, though.

This is in general, the most common Pale Ale found on draft anywhere in Portland; and easy to spot with it’s traditional English looking Red club shaped tap handle.

Pours a copper body with golden edges; on top, a solid white head. The aroma is a mild blend of fruity, bready, and biscuity English malts, backed by decent ration of hops, adding a spicy pine resin likeness. I can undeniably pick out a Ringwood strain a beer these days, with its buttery character. The beer certainly sits on the English Pale Ale side of the spectrum. Not so complex a beer, but a solid Pale Ale indeed!

Pours copper with a two-finger white head that leaves great lacing. Aroma of very light English hops with hints of sweet malt and some diacetyl. So-so flavor--not bad, but not exciting. Solidly made English Pale, if you like the style.

Typical Pale ale. To me there are only two kinds. The typical kind and the one that have flavor. This is just a typical kind with medium carbonation and hoppiness, slight citrus tatse.

(12 oz bottle: Obtained in trade with shadey, thanks Shane!) If I wanted to be funny, I’d just write "Buttered Toast" and be done with it. Not that I find the aroma and flavor offensive, it’s just that the butter is unmistakable to me. Buttered toast is easily the most prominent flavor here, plus moderate nuttiness, and mildly bitter English hops coming on for a slightly hoppy bite in the finish. The nose shows much better balance with the hops on at least even keel with the butteriness, if not showing more presence. Medium bodied, softly carbonated, and I get that slight toothache sensation that seems to accompany some English pale ales. Clear golden amber, maybe just a hint of haziness, but the small whitish head is short-lived, fully dissipating within a few minutes. Not bad, but just too much butter in the flavor.

D. L. Geary Brewing is a big part of making Portland, ME so special. Geary’s brews British beer styles, and uses the distinctive, earthy, buttery, yeast strain called ringwood. Ringwood works exceptionally well in pale ale, and Geary’s Pale Ale is one of the finest on the market today. It is a tradition of mine to visit Dimillo’s Floating Restaurant which sits on Casco Bay, have a twin lobster dinner, and wash it down with glass upon glass of Geary’s Pale Ale. Geary’s Pale Ale pours to a bright amber color, with a nice white head, and a good carbonation. The nose on this beer is just full of vibrant hop aromas paired with earthy ringwood yeast aroma. The palate is firm and crisp, a rock solid pale malt backbone. Very nice body on this beer, it is a touch buttery from the ringwood yeast. This beer finishes with a long, dry, bitter hop bit that lingers on the tongue. This is a fantastic pale ale, one of my all time favorites. This beer goes exceptionally well with shell fish, especially lobster. The hop bitterness is the perfect foil to the rich, sweet, lobster meat.

Bottle. Huge off-white head that was fizzy and frothy, poor lacing, carbonated, transparent, and an orange hue. Malty, musty, earthy, hoppy, sweet nose. Sweet and not overly hoppy flavor. Fairly smooth hoppy palate. Light body.

Lightly hazy golden ale with a nice creamy off-white head. Nice sweet malts with light hops. Dry scotch malt with light nutty notes, medium bodied. On tap at Blue Tusk, Summer 2005.