Mendocino Blue Heron Pale Ale

Brewed by Mendocino Brewing Company
Style: American Pale Ale
Hopland, California USA

Pours clear gold with a large sudsy head. Nice yeasty/citrus aroma. The flavor starts very non-dimemo and finishes with an unpleasant hop flavor that is piney to the point of a soapy flavor. The mouthfeel is thin with heavy carbonation. An unpleasantly off aftertaste follows. Even though I enjoy heavy hops, this beer needs more than just bitterness to be good

Bottle. Has a good aroma. For a pale ale it is rather tasty. I enjoyed it. The color is clear and golden. And the flavor is balanced. Good beer. Needs to be tried once.

This hazy golden ale poured with a thin off-white head and a floral aroma. The flavor is a bit malty with lots of bitter hop. It leaves a dry chalky taste on the palate. Not too good.

I am going to rate this one but I am not sure if it is not infected. What leads me to believe that it is not infected is that it doesn’t smell of it. That said... Aroma is sour and almost pungent. Reminds me of the mass produced pee colored beers. I smell mild malt and I am not sure but I swear I get rice (grain) aroma. The appearance is very light and a touch cloudy. Once again I will draw a comparison. Looks like (insert mass produced beer name here). This beer reminds me in many ways of some of the rebadged South American beers. The flavor is sour and flat. Not much complexity here. I think I am psyching myself out but do I taste rice? Overall, I don’t like this beer. It tastes cheap looks cheap and smells cheap. Too bad it isn’t cheap.

Pours with a decent American Pale head, lacing is average ... Not as full as most APA’s ... lacks any craft beer characteristics, feels like a mass market APA ... "stiff upper lip ole girl" ... needs work for sure! ..

Pours a hazed gold with a small white head that falls to nothing by the time I sit down basically. Nose is thickly sweet and it reminds me of cooking sugar slowly. Flavor is bitter. Kind of a roasted edge to it as well. Pretty well bodied and not too bad at all. Smooth feel. Very easy to drink. Not a mind blower, but it’s fairly nice.

Bottle. Fuzzy straw color, big soapy head. Smells more like a lager than any pale ale I’ve had. I wasn’t expecting anything from this before sipping, but it really wasn’t bad. Nice hop profile, a bit of spice, and a nice clean finish. All in all, it’s not anything super but it is more interesting than many cheap beers and it’s pretty tasty.

Great beer, got it at the World Market in Summerville, SC. Nice cloudy golden color with a strong white head. Flavor is very clean with strong hoppiness which is right up my alley. Nice body that is what I expected from the color. Overall I will definitely drink this one again it had a great taste with the strong hops that I love.