McNeills Champ Ale

Brewed by McNeills Brewery
Style: American Pale Ale
Brattleboro, Vermont USA

On draught at the brewery, 8/5/2005 with Eyedrinkale. Pours a soft, peach-toned body, light golden-hay and just a shade of copper. Film of white head, with moderate retention. Glassy/clear appearance. Aroma of soft, fruity yeast and hops, no bitterness, maybe some caramel and just straight up pale malt sugars. A bit of dry yeast. Flavor begins with lots of fruit, pineapple, orange, apricot, peach and more pale malt. Low carbonation, fuzzy feel to th texture, with some wateriness on the end. Unlike the Yukon gold, this one did have some astringency problems, getting papery on the end, and quite dull/bland. Not sure what caused this, but it really seemed to kill the beer. Just a regular old APA, really. Medium body.

Slightly cloudy and bold orange in color with no head, nor any other movement. Nice sweet and snappy aroma, accentuated with grapefruit, apricot, nectarines and lemon sugar drops. Hits the palate as crisp, light and brisk. Bitter, but not overdone. Hop profile strikes first and recedes with a papaya and honeydew sweetening complex taking center stage. Carbonation is toned down to allow the hops to make the music, along with a nice malty profile in the background. A nice summer night drink. Big thanks to tpkenned for getting this to me!

Very nice and drinkable APA. Nicely hopped and balanced. This was my last in my tasting tonight and it held up. Session beer with a kick.

Dorée aux reflets orangés, légèrement brouillé, faible mousse blanche. Arômes houblonnés suggérant le citron., Un brin de diacetyl de détectable. Agrumes, citronné, malt pâle, une touche de caramel. Corps est plutôt mince. En fût chez McNeill’s, 22 Mai 2005.

Translucent and orangey golden, with only a ring of lace. Clover honey and grapefruit hops. Good stuff. Very well balanced. Sweet malt cascades into a light hop bitterness. Low carbonation makes this creamy smooth and very drinkable. APAs like this are rare in my neck of the woods, so I enjoy them when I have the chance.

Pours a cloudy light brown with no noticeable head. Smells of banana. Tastes very bitter at first with hop and malty undertones. Mollows out nicely. Good, but not as good as some of their other creations.

Caremelized malts, some buttery diacetyl and orange-citrus hops in the nose. Clear pale copper coloured body is topped by shy, white, large-bubbled head that diminishes rapidly to ring. Buttery flavour with strong citrus-orange hops and caramel malts. Lasting bitterness in the aftertaste. Somewhat slick in the mouth with low carbonation and somewhat thin body. Bottle (City Market - Nov. 2004).

Gold witha creamy white head. Nose is citric and hoppy, a bit buttery. Flavor citric with some caramel, and a bit tart. Believe this one was starting down the long slide to infection, but wasn’t too noticeable yet.