MacLean’s Pale Ale

Brewed by MacLean’s Ales
Style: English Pale Ale
West Grey, Canada

On tap at Communist’s Daughter - transparent copper colour with a small white head. Earthy aroma with some English hops. Flavours of caramel, smooth malt and some nice hop balance in the end. This particular style is sort of limiting, but it’s a pretty solid example. A very good and highly sessionable EPA, and one I’d surely try again. Update: had on cask at C’est What and it is a revelation. Supremely balanced flavours are intensified and a real earthy mineral quality shines through with a yeast character. Brilliantly hopped and my new favourite session beer. Draught got 6/3/6/3/14/3.4, Cask gets 7/4/8/3/16/3.8, we’ll split the difference. Good on draught, WONDERFUL on cask.

Cask at The Shepherd’s Crook, Georgetown. This is wonderful stuff. It was dark amber brown with a sizeable fluffy permanent head. The aroma had plenty of citrus and grass in the hops, also a bit of wood. The mouthfeel was medium in body and a bit chewy. I could taste plenty of caramel in the malt with some wood, and some grassy hops behind it; there was plenty of depth in the flavour from the cask with some subtle herbal and earthy elements.

Cask at the Winking Judge. Very nice. i really enjoyed this one, my first try at cask ale. not much carbonation, made for an interesting mouthfeel.

Toasty, dry, lightly caramelly and well-balanced. The toastiness is a yeast effect which is especially evident if you are lucky enough to find this beer on cask.

Full malt aroma, hint of hops, copper colour, small white head with pleasing lace. Lovely malt flavour(candy for adults) nutty and hoppy. Well balanced, good tongue tingle. A really well done Pale Ale.

Nice hoppy pale ale. Good body strength and hop bitterness (I could swear it has saaz hop but that would be highly unusual in a pale ale)

Sampled at C’est What’s Spring 2005 Festival of Small Breweries. Light copper-orange colour. Aroma is earthy and subdued. Flavour starts fruity and a little buttery, and finishes with a very well balanced hop character. The flavours felt a little stale, but generally, I liked this.

Hazy amber ale with a thin creamy off white head. Light english hops in aroma, with notes of caramel. In mouth, however, the hops are very present, in your face, with a very woody character, followed by sweet caramel, and lingering bitterness. A nice EPA. Used to drink this in Guelph, in 92-93, and they havent lost their touch.