Smuttynose Shoals Pale Ale

Brewed by Smuttynose Brewing Company
Style: English Pale Ale
Portsmouth, New Hampshire USA

Mondial 2009, Montreal. This beer is the colour of pure copper, and has a decent head. Hoppy (English?) aroma, with caramel malt, grapefruit and a touch of honey. Flavour is quite malty, with some earthy hops and just a touch of dark chocolate. Sweet, but not too sweet. Short finish. An easy drinker.

light brown in your glass, a little fizzy with a nice foamy head. tastes a little hoppy, a little citrusy and a little bitter. exactly what you would ask for in a pale ale. goes down easy and one of my favorite beers to session.

Poured from a 12oz. bottle into a pint glass. The color is dark amber, with a nice foamy whiter head. The smell is citrusy, some hints of lemon and maybe some orange. Also has a nice hop flavor as well. The taste is sweet with touch of malt. Also a bit bitter some citrus flavor and some hops. A good pale ale, goes down very easy and is quite tasty.

On a side note, I love Smuttynose’s label artwork. Cool and classy with a retro artistic flair.

And now back to the beer at hand. She shimmers in a sea of crystal clear coppery depths with glints of amber and garnet where the light fractures her body. Her itsy bitsy puffy white head fades into a paper-thin film. As her head bows out, her nose steps onto center stage and demands attention. Crisp and hoppy followed by an array of sweet breads and grainy mats. Giving her a crisp presence are fresh lemons, apples, peaches, and oranges with a healthy sprinkling of cinnamon and nutmeg. Her cinnamon and spice come into play once more as she gathers all her crunchy toasted bread crusts, dip them lightly into honey, and sprinkles some of mom’s cinnamon sugar on top. Aromatically enticing and balanced, but will her main performance be able to hold up? She steps forward with brisk assurance which I find highly refreshing. Spices up front with the crunchy sweetness of her toasted and honey-dipped crust lead smoothly into bitter citric esters on the top of my tongue which hints of lemon skin. Unlike her initial pour, lace begins to leave their mark along the sides of my glass with each draining quaff. As she warms and we grow ever more intimate, a hint of maple is added to the fray, while her fresh baked breads add a pleasant meatiness which is balanced by her crisp hop presence. Not to be forgotten, crunchy apples, fresh pears, and succulent oranges weave in and out from start to finish. As her performance draws to a close, I call for an encore.

A solid English Pale Ale from Smuttynose and definitely one of the better I have tasted as of late. The English Pale Ale can be an over-produced style that can blur the palate from brewery to brewery in terms of taste and style. It is always nice to come into one that brings a bit of life back into a somewhat old, tired horse. A great session brew and an easy recommendation, I’m glad the Smuttynose Pale Ale is now a regular staple in Florida.

Hazy copper pour...Small white head...Mildly hoppy aroma...Medium body...Mild hop flavor...Good balance of malt...Bit of bitterness in the finish...

Location: Updating my rating from draft at Gilly’s (first time I’ve tried this beer on tap), 7/30/09

Aroma: Fruit, yeast, pine, spice, grass
Appearance: Out of the tap it poured a copper body with a thick, frothy white head
Flavor: Nice balance between some decent grassy hop flavor and bready malts
Palate: Medium body, decently long duration
Overall Impression: Real solid pale from Smutty, nice balance flavor, highly drinkable, with a solid amount of complexity. I think I’ll keep this rating right at 3.3, but I wanted to update and add some stuff from this draft tasting.

Bottle. Pours a copper body with a white head. Sweet chewy grass y, bitter earth and a light nutty character. Hints of citurs and some malty caramel with a pine finish. Nice session ale.

Smells, looks, and tastes like a pale ale. Nice crisp start with good light carbonation and a sweet, sticky mouthfeel.