Valley Brew Apricot Ale

Brewed by Valley Brewing Company
Style: Fruit Beer
Stockton, California USA

sampler @ brewery - clear, light gold with orange glow and no head; apricots very noticeable in flavors and aromas; texture is grainy and thin; wheat, yeast and lemons also mixed in; dry finish; they get the nose and flavor just right without being overall sweet; very nice

Hazy yellow gold with no head. A little apricot in the aroma. Light soft flavors of apricot and wheat malt. It was rather carbonated.

At the brewery, pours apricot in color, with a nose of, well, apricot. No head, and the flavor is a bit sweet, and the apricot is more subtle.

Sweet apricot and wheat nose. very soft palate with slight soap on the finish.

Disturbing coral colar, weird vaguely fruity, slightly rancid aroma. Not really apricoty, just sort of rank and fruity. Not a fan of the aroma at all, and I like apricots. As with the berry wheat, though, things improve once the palate is wetted. Sweet, quite tart, fruity flavor. Mostly clean finish, tart and nearly devoid of bitterness. Not bad. I don’t mind drinking this; I just can’t sniff it.

Not sure what happened to this beer, as it was just about as diacytl as I’ve ever had. Usually Steve is dead-on with his beer, so not sure what happened (I did have this from a growler that was filled earlier in the day). Aroma was very nice with a sublte apricot floating about. Appearance is light orange in color, minimal head. Mouthfeel was light and refreshing but unfortunately that’s where the enjoyment for this beer ended. The apricot flavor took a backseat to the buttery bomb that would follow. I will rerate this beer at another time, during another visit. Hopefully it will be better with a different batch.

Draft. Light golden beer. Apricot aroma. Big apricot flavor with some balanced malt. This is a pretty good fruit beer - fruity, not over powering, very drinkable.