Mendocino Blue Heron Pale Ale

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

My least favorite of the Mendocino beers. Overly dry finish and too watery. look elsewhere for pale ale. Go for Sierra Nevada instead.

Hazy Yellow, actually on the green side of yellow. Mild aroma. Crisp / fresh pale ale. Quality brew. Bottle conditioning gives a soft carbonation feel. Medium mouthfeel. makes the palate slick. Full Bodied beer. I’m liking these guys more and more. Black Hawk stout and White Hawk ipa are very good...

Tap @ Mendocino (Old Saratoga Brewery) - Pours golden with a white head. Doesn’t have a lot of aroma and it is really hoppy. I don’t really ever choose this when I go to the brewery, but it’s worth a try.

Bottle at Box Seat in Nashville, while watching my Illini beat Missouri. Pours golden with a slight haze and white head. Not much aroma, but I pick of some fruity hops and pale malts. Pale malt backbone with some mild grassy hops at the forefront. Finish has a faint bitter spiciness joined by some notes of grapefruit and honey. Nothing groundbreaking here, but good enough and better than drinking sports bar swill.

Bottle. Pours cloudy golden with a thin white head. Aroma is fairly mild, with some light fruit and malt, and a bit of hops. Flavor is considerably stronger, with lots of malt and bittering hops. Bitter, and occasionally seems like it’s going to offer some complexity, but doesn’t quite manage to. Kind of strange, really. Plus, a kind of annoying bitter-wood aftertaste. Not terrible, but not my thing either.

Bottle. The beer pours to a transparent pale gold body with a fizzy white head. The aroma is blueberries and pale malts. I swear its blueberries. Like the blueberry muffins from Einstein Bagel Co. The flavor is malty with some light dark-berry hops and bitter grassyness. Some strange things going on in this one. The palate is moderately balanced. Average at best.

Pours out a light golden color, formed a foamy, with large bubbles, head. Very light aroma of hops, and a bit of hops. Flavor is of hops and malts, quite bold in taste. Borderline IPA, but without the smooth finish. Not as refined as say Sierra Nevedas Pale Ale, but drinkable enough.

The East end brewery in Hong Kong is one of the few places where you can samle a reasonablr variety of American beers that are removed from the mainstream. Mendocino seems to have a big presence here and in this one there is a pretty good demonstration of what an APA should be. Good orange hue with fine head. Fruity citric nose and good mouthfeel demonstrate the attributes of the style. It finishes well and is a pleasant enough beer that could be part of a session.