San Marcos Pale Ale

Brewed by San Marcos Brewery & Grill
Style: American Pale Ale
San Marcos, California USA

Draft at brewpub, early Dec ’05. Clear orange copper pour. Grassy hop aroma and unfortunately loaded with butterscotch. Malty and butterscotch flavors, touch of citrus lemon hops, and a touch sweet. Diactyl unfortunately.

@ SM Brewpub: Why must there be butterscotch oin the beer. I can’t stand the smell. Hazy amber with an off-white head. Aroma of BUTTERSCOTCH and earthy hop. Light malt on the flavor with some acidic hop flavors running through. Medium bitterness and semi-dry.

(22-ounce bottle, purchased at the brewery) Very woody, malty and lightly toasty nose has a slightly sour aroma as well, and that's a good lead-in for this beer because the flavor is similar; This is a malt dominated pale ale, much more toasty than others in the category, with a mildly bitter hops, and a mild sourness that detracts from the overall impression of the beer; That's too bad because without the sourness, this would be a pretty decent beer; One could think that the sourness indicates a bad bottle, but this was recently purchased fresh at the brewery; Amber in color and slightly cloudy; Off-white head fades to a thin sheen after a few minutes and leaves a fair amount of patchy lacing

This pale ale poura with a golden orange body topped by a thick head with some lacing. The aroma is sweet and slightly hoppy with some malt notes and a grainy, bready character. The flavor is sweet yet bitter and hoppy with a grainy, bready note. Medium bodied and slightly dry.

Pale golden in color. Toasted malty aroma. Fruity, malty, caramel, predominantly sweet flavor. Finishes fairly clean with little bitterness. They call it a California Pale Ale but it seems more typical of English versions.