Mad River Steelhead Extra Pale Ale

Brewed by Mad River Brewery
Style: Golden Ale/Blond Ale
Blue Lake, California USA

(12 oz bottle) And here’s another one of these beers that I haven’t had in many, many years, used to think was extremely hoppy back then, and now can’t imagine on what planet this beer would be considered extremely hoppy. In fact, this is a pretty light, fruity beer with a nice balance of a mildly sweet and grainy maltiness coupled with a moderately bitter hoppiness that stays in balance right through to the finish. The nose is grainy, lightly hoppy, with some mild sweetness. Light to medium bodied, but doesn’t seem thin or watery. Medium yellow in color, and fairly cloudy from fine sediment. Small off-white head fades to a sheen. Overall, this is an easy drinker, good when you don’t want anything heavy, which for me, is a rare occurrence!

12 oz bottle-pours an orange hue with minimal white head-no lacing. lemon citric aroma-acidic sweet lemongrass. Flavors of straw, citric hops, spicy and floral. lots of pale malts. light crisp body that was light in the refreshing way. an average pale.

12 oz. Bottle. This beer was more like an unfiltered Belgian ale / hefeweizen, rather than a Pale ale. I hate this bait and switch method that some brewers use. I don’t like either style, so I wouldn’t buy this again. I was looking for a Pale Ale. I did however purchase other Steelhead beers along with this one. I sure hope they are more representative of their styles than this beer was!

Hazy, pale yellow color. Smells and tastes of banana and wheat(?). This is not what I was expecting when I opened it. It’s a very easy drinking beer but not what I look for in a pale ale.

I overchilled this one, so the head is small and white, and the body is a hazy straw color. The nose is more malt than hop. Nice balance, a little sweet, some nice fruitiness. I'm giving this the benefit of the doubt, due to the overchill, so I may be overrating it.

bottled. very tame and inoffensive. soft grassy, pine aroma, some mango nectar sweetness and not much sign of a finish

Served in the 12 oz brown shortneck. It is a light orange /dark yellow ale in appearance, its quite hazy and there is no head to speak of. The aroma is very citrusy..though not in the usual "pale " way..this reminds me of a hefe for some reason. The taste though is unmistakable..classic American pale ale , loads of hops and a nice enough malt backbone.Good bitter aftertaste. Pretty nice feel on the tongue for a pale..its quite smooth and easy to go down. A good drinkable beer though has some odd characteristics.

Bottle poured a nice golden color, looked good but not much of a head. aroma was fruity creamy and just a little hoppy. Very good taste with a creamy mouth feel and very easy drinking.