ReaperAle Deathly Pale Ale

Brewed by ReaperAle Brewing Company
Style: American Pale Ale
Lake Elsinore, California USA

Hey its a hopped up Pale Ale from the West Coast. What a surprise. never imagined somebody would "enhance" a style by just adding in a bunch more hops. Actually, I wouldn’t even call this a Pale Ale, its more like a DIPA light. It less like a SNPA and more like a GD Hercules Lite (i see a brand new marketing campaign for this beer). Basically, I am lowering my overall score because of the brewers lack of creativity.

Pours a tranlucent golden amber with a medium bubbly off white lacing head that sustained. Aroma of orange, pine and floral hop presence up front with a nice caramel malt balance. Flavor does not come across as nicely as the aroma did. Bitter up front, some alcohol, pine, some maltiness and caramel hidden in there. Flavor did get a little better as I went through this bomber.

From bomber. Pours amber with an off white head. Caramel malt and earthy hops in the nose. Flavor follows with a bitter finish. Ok, but a pretty malty pale.

Average frothy off white head. Cloudy burnt orange color. Not a very complex beer but decent. Smells of caramel and citrus. The citrus comes through in the taste as well with orange dominating. Medium bodied. Slightly sweet and a bitter finish.

On Tap in Carlsbad; Grapefruit and spiced hops; rounded, lightly sweet but balance flavor, a little perfumey. OK.

22 oz. bottle from BevMo. Bottle conditioned. Bottle is a few months old. Pours really clear, nice light copper. Big 1+" off-white, yellow, tan, creamy, chunky head. Lasts for a while to a nice thick layer of foam. Big lacing. Aroma isn’t very strong, probably b/c of the age of the bottle. But it is good, mostly hops. Florally and citrusy with a little bit of underlying malt sweetness. Smells like a good pale ale. Flaver is good and really well balanced, but towards the hops and bitterness. Definitely bitter, but not too much. Solid backbone of malts to back it up. Floral, citrus, and sweet malts. Palate is medium, a little thick, but balanced nicely by a decent amt. of carbonation and a nice, sharp, dry finish. Overall a really good pale ale. Nicely balanced, very tasty, and easily drinkable.

In Bottle: This is a thouroughly underrated beer. Pours a dark amber color, great looking head. It smells piney, almost floral. Why do they call this a pale ale? This is absolutely a wonderful west coast IPA. Good good stuff.

Almost copper in color. pours a big froth w/ medium hangtime. Pretty hoppy for a pale ale. The usual flavors of and IPA yet more mellow. Not much to report other than it’s mellowness. Seems to be the signature for these guys.