Ooooh yeah, I’ve got me a new summer beer. Amber-copper, decent head. Nose is quite hoppy, sharp and citric, some noticeable sweetness. Is quite hoppy, lots of grapefruit, good bitterness. Has just a lovely amount of malts to back up the hops, quite sweet, a bit toasty, slighty nutty. Just a beautiful balance. Palate is perfect, a bit lighter than most pale ales but has a glorious, creamy stickiness to it. The combination of the citric hops, sweet malts, and lovely palate make this just wonderfully quaffable, will be very appreciated on a hot day as it has both complexity and drinkability. Excellent stuff. Could not be any better.

Solid beer. Just the right amount of bite, not too strong. Very refreshing!

All good things come to those who wait as they say. The number 3 APA in the world is the best I’ve had to date. Crisp, citrusy, hoppy, full bodied, Terrific APA. Best I’ve had. I like this better than the Alpha King. Only obstacle for this to be my favorite is Sierra Harvest Ale. Until then this one will be very hard to beat.

This beer, an American Pale Ale (APA), announces it’s arrival with a healthy "hiss" from the release of the cap. This fact is well seconded in the beer’s ample carbonation, which produces a fluffy, white, two-finger head on top of a bright, orange-tinged liquid. Hop aroma wafts from this ale in waves that demand to be noticed. Love the wonderful nuances of hop aromas derived from different varieties of hops? Here they are: grassy, citrussy, floral, pine-aromatic. In fact, one might fear, from the aroma, that this beer will be all hops with no malt backbone to support it. Fear not! A healthy, substantial caramel, biscuity, sweet graininess provides plenty of malt backbone to support the explosion of hop flavor you get in every sip. This is an exceptionally well-balanced APA. The obvious use of multiple hop varieties does not lead to an excessively bitter beer, either. In that aspect, this beer is also very well balanced. Drinkability with this beer is utter and complete. It is a deligfht from the moment it cascades down the side of your galss to the last few moments when you find yourself staring at the ceiling, through the bottom of your glass, as you savor every last drop of this memorable Pale Ale. For those of you interested in the origins of this wonderful APA: It was developed by a young graduate student at Virginia Tech, a home brewer, in the 1990’s. Once he had perfected the recipe, he took it to Jerry Bailey, owner of Old Dominion Brewing Co., in Ashburn, Virginia. Jerry liked it enough to agree to contract brew the beer if its creator, Kenny Lefkowitz, would market it and find his own distributor. New River Pale Ale hit the streets in September of 1999. In September of 2000, Kenny Lefkowitz was awarded a Bronze Medal for his American Pale Ale by the Great American Beer Festival in Denver, Colorado. Tragically, Kenny Lefkowitz died suddenly of a massive coronary in March of 2001. A congenital heart defect he never knew he had robbed the American beer culture of this exceptional young man at the age of 32. It is a testament to Kenny’s creativity and vision that New River Pale Ale has been well decorated in beer circles: it took the Silver Medal at the 2004 GABF and was named Grand Champion at the United States Beer Tasting Championships in 2004 and 2005.

A great interpretation of the American pale ale. Great hop flavor and aroma from the mixture of 3 of the 4 C’s and Amarillo. Plenty of malt base to support the modest bitterness and supply a subtle sweetness for hopheads to the casual drinker. Definitely one of the best American pale ales from a east coast brewer.