Kind Beers Pale Ale

Kind Beers
Brewed at Thomas Creek Brewery
Style: American Pale Ale
Charlotte, North Carolina USA

12 oz. Clear copper with a lasting inch of creamy foam. Nice aroma of earthy tea leaf, sourish orange, and caramel. Flavors of caramel, citrus, resiny wood, tea leaf, toasted bread, nutshells, a hint of chocolate, and a lightly sour metallic note are well balanced. Medium body is smoothly carbonated, and well-dried with hops. Hard to believe this is 7.3%. Unique, excellent ale that seems to be a hybrid of the best aspects of English and American takes on a strong ale. Probably would get better ratings in the American Strong category on RB. Crunchy lacing all over the glass. Thomas Creek is getting better and better.

Bottle. Can’t find any online information at all about this beer. For a "pale ale", I’m surprised by the exceptionally clear copper pour. Scant foam. Nutty-toasty Munich malt aroma, plus gentle grape jam and bubblegum scents. Dark breadcrust and boiled peanut malt flavor is mildly plummy and strongly peppery. Toasty/roasty, almost coffeish aftertaste. Chewy palate. Pale Ale, WTF? This rates among the best traditional bocks I’ve ever tasted.

Pours a nice caramel-amber into the glass, with a decent off-white head that diminishes to a thin ring with soapy lace. The nose has lots of caramel and toffee notes. Some nice caramel upfront, a biscuity malt mid-palate, and some nice closing abrupt bitters to finish. Typical APA, but does show some promise in its delivery. The mouthfeel is lively enough, with a full body and just a touch of alcohol to twinge the tongue on the end of the pull. Not a bad offering here, honestly.

Taste 9/8 Bottled in 8/8 I think. This appears to be the first batch of this beer. KB-0001. ABV is 7.3% now(IIPA Instead of pale ale?). Looks: Copper body with thick off white head. Very active body with a very thick foam. Aroma: Pine and soap from the hops, very little else. Taste: One of the better organics I’ve had (If it is?bottle doesn’t say, old ratings/recipe claim this). Smooth and mild for the 7.3% abv. Medium bodied, no malt chew/meat like I expected. Nothing special. What I had seemed very fresh. Best South Carolina brew I have had.

12 ounce bottle - $6.25 at Taco Mac in Kennesaw, Georgia. Appearance: Pours out a fairly clear, mahogany-hued body with, despite my ever so eager pour, only managed to form a finger worth of white head which fizzled out pretty quickly. Smell: Caramelly maltiness leads the bouquet, with a lighter note of standard bread crusts. Supporting hop notes of fresh herbs with a minor, background hint of lemon rind. Taste: Pale malts welcome in additions of bread crusts and sweet-tasting caramel. As with the nose, the caramel is the strongest component in regards to the malts. Hops present a spicy, zesty herbaceousness with the faintest hint of powderized lemon pith. Medium amount of bitterness overall. The back half is largely toasty with more of the persistent bitterness holding on until the dry, bitterish finish. Mouthfeel: Just barely squeaks into being medium-bodied. Medium-light carbonation. Drinkability: A decent brew that has a solid backing of caramelly malts and a sufficient, predominately English hop character.

Nice ruby tintend amber coloured body with a thinnish tan head. Aroma of fresh hops, strong grass and citrus with a bit of pine. Medium-bodied; Strong hoppy flavour with some citrus and grapefruit coming through. Aftertaste shows a lot of malt - with a good body and an amazingly sound finish. Overall, a good beer - a nice APA - without too much flavour one way or another. Definitely worth trying if you like hoppier beers but don’t want too much alcohol, etc. I sampled this twelve ounce bottle purchased from Total Wine in Durham, North Carolina on 31-August-2008, sampled on 13-September-2008 on the Eastern Shore of Virginia.

Pale coppery red, thin white head. Molassess, brown sugar, rummy aroma some honey, as well. Nice flavor, too brown sugar, rum at first, with a nice crisp, hoppy - pine, I guess - finish. Tasty, easy to drink, hides its 7.3% well.

Bottle courtesy of durhambeer. Pours copper with a rocky white head. Smells of dough, spice, some resin. Tastes of pine resin with a caramelly finish.