Summit Extra Pale Ale

Brewed by Summit Brewing Company
Style: American Pale Ale
St. Paul, Minnesota USA

Sample from tap at the brewery. Pours orange with lacing white head. Aroma is slight sweet fruity and caramel sweet. Flavour is floral, strong bitter and still sweet. Has a nice bitter finish.

My favorite beer, my standby. Always excellent hoppy zip. Slightly better on tap usually. Great aroma and inviting color. This beer has the hops to hit you in the mouth but finishes with a wave of malt and sweetness with a clean finish.

12oz bottle- Light to medium amber body with a nice off white head and an aroma of hops, citrus, and grapefruit. Taste of hops and citrus with a nice dry finish. This is a nice all arond pale.

Deep golden color out of the bottle with a thin ivory head. Light citrus hop aroma. Caramel sweetness with lots of grapefruit rind, orange and a peppery spiciness. It is almost hot on the tongue. Very easy drinking session beer.

Draft. This is the epitome of the beers that I despise -- insane hoppy bitterness with no subtlety, class, or distinction. That noted, this beer isn’t so bad on draft. The beer is toned down versus the bottled variety, and has a pleasant, smooth finish. Many of its super-hop peers are more bitter and less approachable. Summit doesn’t make bad beers -- just beers that cater to a style that I find sorrowfully overrated (see also: Rogue, Sierra Nevada, et al).

On tap in Bloomington, MN – Nice amber color with a medium head with decent lacing. Apparent hoppiness and citrus was present in both the aroma and the flavor. Slightly bitter feel with an honest finish that held on to the tongue. It is a good APA – good enough that I had it a few more times during my three day business trip to Bloomington.

Rated 6/28/06: Extra Pale Ale, not quite sure what that means except perhaps the hop characteristic is to be more mellow, which is the case with this solid ale. Aroma is faint and bitter not too much to detect outside of a typical pale ale. Poured a vibrant copper color with an enormous head that soon settled. Strong carbonation and lots of sticky lacing. Mouthfeel is bitter and crisp with a somewhat clean finish. A well rounded flavor makes this one good beer. Citrus and bitter hops are there but they fade out after they make their presence known. Good malty backbone sure compliments the hops, very well balanced and drinkable. Spicy and peppery this one wakes up the senses but it doesn’t send them into shock.

Pale copper, small layer of off-white. Clean soft citrus hops, a bit of malt sweetness. Marmalade sweetness in the flavor, a good hop backbone. Solid, pleasant pale ale, but not one that stands out from the crowd of APAs.