Starr Hill Pale Ale

Brewed by Starr Hill
Style: English Pale Ale
Crozet, Virginia USA

njoyed as part of the Starr Hill box set, which includes the Amber Ale, Jomo Lager, Pale Ale, and The Love (a Hefeweizen) and for the all-too reasonable cost of $15.40. "For Brewery-Fresh Taste, Purchase Before Month Notched: February." With no year listed, this is either very old or right-on-schedule! Appearance: Pours a dulled, near clear, orangey body with a well-sized, reasonably lasting, frothy, white head. Meager, splotchy lacing on the way down. Smell: Starr Hill’s Pale Ale gives off an aroma of day-old biscuits gently and carefully dusted with finely-ground spices and well-dried herbs with some faint background scents of toffee. Taste: Malts displays tastes of moderately-toasted biscuits and sweet hints of caramel and toffee. Small, background note of apricot fruitiness. Floral, spicy, lightly herbal hop character with a medium-light amount of sweetness-tempering bitterness gleaned from the British hop additions. This one finishes appropriately dry and lightly bitter with some further noted biscuity tones. Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied. Medium carbonation. Drinkability: Just a good, drinkable beer with the right amount of maltiness and bitterness and one that pairs rather well with the just-released Systems Officer album, particularly the track "East".

One of six different bottles picked up by this brewer. I like this one much better than the Amber Ale. Pours nice gold-orange colour, crisp and clean. Nice head. Nose is grass and slightly hopped. Some bread malts and banana. Taste is the same as the nose, though more bitter than I had anticipated, which was good. Citric notes, some fruit, though very faint. Nice pine crisp finish. This one is decent.

Bottle from Rodman’s. Pours a dark orange with a big frothy white head that has moderate retention and lacing. Very hoppy aroma that oddly still smells lager-like. Mostly pine in the hops notes, but some underlying citrus. Moderately thick palette. Moderate carbonation. Malty and hoppy, intense pine but some caramel on the finish. Almost tastes like an Irish red. Pretty good.

Tried a sample at Brewfest Tallahassee. Not impressed by many of their beers. Leans towards malty and some definite problems.

Orangish-gold pour. LIght head. Aroma is citrus, biscuit, and hops. Flavor is pretty good. Blend of caramel malt and medium amount of hops.

reddish brown with nice white head. moderate carbonation for style, nice floral hoppy nose. some moderate bitterness followed by a very nice floral and complex english hop flavor, the beer then finishes very dry with some yeasty esters, but not much in the way of malt character. the beer ends up being like an english hop version of a west coast ipa, hop forward and dry, which is an interesting idea, but english hops generally dont tend to be complex enough to carry a beer, but a worthy try and the best beer I have had by this brewery (with the love weizen)

Light honey orange with an off white foam. Aroma is spicy, herbal hops, crystal malt. Taste is more malt forward, crystal malt, herbal piney hops.