Oaken Barrel Gnaw Bone Pale Ale

Brewed by Oaken Barrel Brewing Company
Style: American Pale Ale
Greenwood, Indiana USA

Bottle. A fruity and very hoppy aroma (mostly grapefruit, light citrus). Orange-amber pour with very strong visible carbonation and a huuuuge rocky beige head which one can only hope to contain. Taste sweet and bitter, a little too much of the former, with a reminder of sugar. Touch of earthy chewiness, hops win out over an appreciable level of malt. Medium body, crisp bite, and a bone-dry Cascade finish. Nice, simple PA for daily consumption, bonus points for strong aroma and taste and the luscious, lacing presentation. In placing GB among its Indiana peers, I’d say ... better than a Pride and Joy but no Alpha King.

Thanks to Jeff for reminding me I need to rate these bottles of Oaken Barrel, Next is the Gnaw Bone: A clean coppery hue with a small but lasting frothy head and okay lace. The aroma has notes of grassy, piney, and spicy hops. In additional I detected some caramel and biscuity malt and a some citric esters. The taste is rathr straight-forward piney and fruity twang with a nice balance of sweeter malts. Some hop spice on the finish and clean tasting. Within the framework for the genre and quite drinkable on a late summer afternoon.

Draught at Oaken Barrel Brewpub. Poured a nice copper color, with a white head. Hoppy, fruity aroma, but I found it to be rather mild. Flavor was the same way, some caramel, and more hoppy fruitiness, very average APA. Go for the far supierior Superfly IPA instead.

Draught during my Great Lakes region brew tour. Shiny new penny copper pour with a white head. Straight up grapefruit in the nose with a little dash of sugar. There are notes of caramel, grapefruit, pine. Very typical APA. Nothing surprising, but very well balanced. It’s quite clean with no off-flavors. I only had a small taste of the superfly IIPA, but it was far superior to this. I’d recommend that over this if it’s available.

12oz bottle- A copper color with a head that dissipates somewhat quickly. A nice hop flavor with a slight taste of malt. Not a bad beer but could use some more hop flavor.

bottle - Pours amber with some slight haze and a thin head. Smells mainly of fresh hops. The flavor is nicely balanced for a pale ale with plenty of hops kick. It has a medium body with carbonation that’s just about right. The finish offers a final mild hops bite. This is a solid brew.

Pours a cloudy orange with trails of cloudierness throughout. The aroma is really very nice. Pungent with hops, very enjoyable. It’s that sweet ctirus pine with a little bit of malt. Palate-wise, this is pretty standard, not necessarily dilute, and not necessarily sticky or thick. The CO2 is appropriate. The flavor leaves something to be desired. Hops and flavorless though sweet malt. The hops follow the flavor more or less, with a little more fruit maybe. There’s perhaps a little skunk in this bottle too... though I’m not sure as it’s been a while since I had my last truly skunky beer. Benefit of the doubt, still not a monsterous beer.

Orange, cloudy beer with a thin white head. Has a lot of carbonation. Smells and tastes very hoppy. Aroma is fruitier with lemon scents and sugary. Flavour is spicier, dry. Doesnt taste fresh though- aroma is much more pleasant than the flavour.