Southern Star Pine Belt Pale

Brewed by Southern Star Brewing Co.
Style: American Pale Ale
Conroe, Texas USA

Sixteen ounce can pours out a foamy offwhite head that towers above a hazy honey amber body. Enormous globs of sticky lace cling to the glass. Aroma has a huge assault of spruce pine hops, with toasted caramel hints and herbal notes underneath. Creamy body is near full, with more than ample carbonation. Taste has an overriding pine hop bitterness. Interesting malt bill provides some biscuity caramel. Very different, but intriguing and enjoyable.

Can thanks to bu11zeye, sampled on 6/28/08: Pours a transparent bright orange copper with a spotty-lacing off-white head. Aroma of lightly sweet toasty grainy caramel malt with some piny hops. Body starts with some effervescent carbonation and toasty pale grainy malty flavors. Finishes drier and crisp. A decent pale ale, but couls use a more assertive hoppiness.

Amber pour with an off white head. Aroma of pale malts and hops. Smooth and slightly creamy.

In short: A yeasty dusty filthy messy pale ale. Next!
How: Can 16oz. Consumed fresh a few weeks after receiving it from Blutt59. Thanks a lot Bob.
The look: Cloudy orange-amber body topped by a medium off-white head
In long: Nose of Pine-Sol™ with some oranges and bread. Taste is unusually filthy for the style, very yeasty, dusty, old orange juice, toasted dry bread, a little caramel, pine-tree, strange raspberry flavour and acidity, white-sugar sweetness, medium bitterness. I was turned off by a strong dusty yeast character of the beer that doesn’t fit with the style. Not refreshing. And that acidity just did sit well with me. The body was more about the yeast than the malts. This is certainly not a boring beer and it is (unfortunately) quite tasty for a Pale Ale. This really isn’t a clean refreshing Pale Ale. And Pale Ales are not porn movies, they are more enjoyable when they are not filthy.

Dark golden color with hints of amber. Nice thick head of tan foam with quite nice retention and some damn fine lacing. Smells like half a grapefruit covered in pine sap. A hint of lemon zest. Nice hint of malt sweetness. Slight bready yeastiness. Not nearly as hoppy as I anticipated. It’s there, just not ’in your face’. Light citrus blast followed by a good level of malt sweetness. Caramel biscuits served with grapefruit juice in front of the window that opens onto a pine tree. Feels smooth and light. Medium bodied, I’d say. Not too creamy or silky. Good carbonation level. This would be a good Pale Ale/Amber Ale for session-ing. Nice and easy to drink.

16oz. Can: Aroma of malts, hops, toasting, and light caramel. Poured amber/copper/orange in color with a small, off-white head that diminished but lasted throughout as a film on top of the beer. Cloudy. Sparkling. Full of small particles throughout. Flavor is lightly sweet and lightly bitter. Tastes of malts, hops, toasting, slight caramel, slight pine, resin, light wood, and light herbs. Medium body. Lightly dry texture. Average carbonation. Hops, malt, wood, slight caramel, and slight herb finish is lightly dry.

Courtesy of northernbrews<P> Can: The aroma consists of moderate caramel and some mild citrus and floral hops. It pours a hazy amber with moderate amounts of very fine sediment and a moderate off-white head. The flavor starts with some mild caramel. The finish is moderate earthy and floral hops with a hint of pine. It’s medium bodied with soft carbonation and mouthfeel.

With huge thanks to blutt59. Appearance: Amber body, some visible carbonation and a nice white head. Aroma: Delicious malty-hop with dulled mango, earth, bread and lemons. Flavour: Wow, delicious cotton candy hops, raspberry, sugar, tangy-ness, with a long pineapple finish... a great little beer indeed.