Sudwerk Pale Ale

A golden ale with a thin white head. A light malty aroma with nice British hops, resinous and nice. In mouth, a classy pale ale with citrussy hops, lighter bodied. Nice. On tap at brewpub, August 27 2009.

On tap at the brewery. This was my least favorite of Sudwerk’s beers. Light straw in color, with a nice citrus hop and honey aroma, but the flavor was quite dry with an overly bitter and slightly soapy finish. Just no malt to stand up to the bitterness, and the soapy finish was distracting.

Very bready yeasty flavor. Some sweetness, but thankfully dry. Pours straw yellow.

On tap, part of the 10 beer sampler. The worst one of the night. Couldn’t even finish my 4oz sampler glass. Not much body and a terrrible bitter finish.

On tap at Sudwerk. Kinda weak and skunky for the brew-type. The xtra was much better. I’ll echo the mention of the dish soap taste.

Draft at the brewpub. Think the board said Plain Old Pale Ale. Maybe not. Aroma of pale malt and some sort of hop. Nice though. Amber gold color with an ok white head. Flavor is lightish pale ale with floral/citrus hop. Thinnish body with mild and creamy carbonation. Good drink. Finish is flowery, and has a fair amount of bitter. Delicious rather than hoppy. Decent pale ale. It was fun to alternate this with the Dragonfly.

.3 Liter on tap at the brewpub. The aroma appears to have some sort of dish soap presence, unfortunately. Plenty of orange citrus hops are also present with some light grassiness, too. A bit subdued with some sweet malts also present in the nose. Transparent orange-golden body with a small white head and nice lacing. Citric hoppy flavors to start. A bit tart and carbonated, too. Very very light maltiness in the middle, followed by some tannins. Dry, bitter, resiny hop bitterness finishes this beer. Too bitter, too dry, too unbalanced. Over-hopped and harsh, much like their brown ale.

On tap at the brewpub. The bartender was calling this an IPA, but I’m sure this is the beer that I had. Dark amber with an off-white head. Something was wrong with the keg connection, as the beer was exploding out of the tap and delivering only glasses full of foam. After that subsided, you could enjoy a rich sweet caramel maltiness and a grapefuit citrus hopiness that is present, but not obnoxious. I’m always reticent to rate an ale after having consumed many german style lagers because the hops are a different beast and the ale suddendly reminds you why we love ales. So, within the context of having had several lagers, this really stood out. I’m not so sure that I would have found this to be that outstanding at a pale ale tasting. But I’d be happy to try!