Pyramid Audacious Apricot Ale

Brewed by Pyramid Breweries
Style: Fruit Beer
Portland, Oregon USA

Rated 5/20/06: The best by date is smudged on the bottles so it’s hard to tell if the year is ’05 or ’06 either this sixer is past prime or has some time left. Either way this beer is a golden orange (rather interesting) color with an extremely thin head moderate carbonation and zero lacing. The aroma is primarily apricots sweet and inviting. The taste is filled with apricots that lead way to a bit of malt, interesting to say the least but well done. The mouthfeel is sticky and empty a real let down. Fruit beers can definately be a challenge and this one pulls it off successfully but there is a lack of mild complexity that could really set this one apart.

Bottle. SOmewhat cloudy, golden color, nothing to really write home about. The box says that this is America’s favorite fruit ale, but I have my doubts.

The aroma is apricot, period. The color could be called a hazy apricot. The head is not really there. Starts a bit thin. The beginning is wheat, immediately followed by apricot. The finish is wheat and apricot. No hop noticed, but that’s probably good for a fruit ale.

12 oz Bottle-Pours a cloudy golden/orange color w/a very slight head & decent lacing. Sweet aroma. Had a sweet flavor of apricots, fig newtons, cane sugar, & raisens. Very much like a Wheat. Light, easy drinking, inoffensive. Warm weather session brew. Has a light, sweet finish.

No sustained head, a very feint aroma that suggested Apricot. the heffe base comes through but the fruit flavor is only grudgingly there. The beer loses points in my book by playing it too safe. The apricot flavor resembles dried Apricots and are one dimensional. There is nothing in common with biting into the fruit.

12 ounce bottle into a Weizen glass, cloudy golden with a decent sized head. Aroma was a heavy dose of apricot. Flavor was dominated by apricot and some notes of a standard wheat beer. Not too sweet. So-so.

Bottle, pours slightly cloudy golden-orange. Small head hangs around a bit. Aroma is delicious apricot with some slight spice. Taste is similar, but less so, and has some corn-grain flavors as well. A slightly dry and sour, metallic finish makes this beer not too sweet, and overall pretty refreshing. Palate is almost creamy, and has some nice tingle. Nice spring-summer time refresher brew, and the higher rating is for the category, as I am not a fruit beer lover, but this is one of the better ones out there I have sampled.

Amber pour from the bottle. Not much head but some lacing. Tasted a little flat. The apricot flavor was noticeable but didn’t overwhelm which was nice. I haven’t drunk many fruit beers but this one seemed acceptable overall.