Timberline Pale Ale - Howe Sound Inn & Brewing Company

Grunewald

British Columbia (Canada)

3.18/5  rDev -13.1%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

A - poured from a 1L bottle into a weizen glass. It pours clear amber with a white head.

S - malt, minty hops

T - sweet biscuit malt, some hops and a mild bitter finish

M - medium body, light carbonation, and a dry finish on the tongue

D - decent, though the bitter finish and bland flavors would keep me from coming back

Serving type: bottle

09-29-2009 01:50:03 | More by Grunewald

canucklehead

British Columbia (Canada)

3.23/5  rDev -11.7%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.5

This offering seems to get lost in the shuffle between the honey pale ale and Bailout bitter and Baldwins and Coopers ESB. Not particulary hopped or full in mouthfeel, I find this beer kinda bland. Needs more hops and also needs a personality. Choose the abovementioned beers if you want to drink the ales from this brewer

Serving type: on-tap

09-24-2009 11:11:21 | More by canucklehead

shivtim

Georgia

3.53/5  rDev -3.6%
look: 4 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

Had on tap in Vancouver. Mostly clear, haystack colored with a nice white head. Nose is fresh hay/hops with a slight cloying sugar. Less malts that I'd like. Taste is an earthy peat/hay and general barnyard mix. Slight hops. Some sugary grain/metal flavors. Errr, "flavours." Decent mouthfeel and drinkability.

Serving type: on-tap

07-15-2009 13:19:35 | More by shivtim

lumikuuro

British Columbia (Canada)

4.83/5  rDev +32%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 5

1 litre bottle with new artwork for 2009.

Appearance: Slightly opaque, coppery gold colour with tight two finger white head when poured into English style glass pub tankard. Head thins and remains with heavy ring and heavy lacing.

Aroma: Floral hops and gentle mixed fruits, with a distant hint of chocolate.

Taste: Lots of hops, bringing mixed citrus and vague red berry flavours, balanced with a gentle malty backbone. Restrained golden syrup sweetness that blends the fruitiness.

Mouthfeel: Medium bodied, medium carbonation.

Drinkability: Refreshing, tasty, rewarding. An excellent pacific northwest pale ale.

Serving type: bottle

04-26-2009 07:00:46 | More by lumikuuro

IronDjinn

Alberta (Canada)

3.33/5  rDev -9%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 4

Another Howe Sound bottle I picked up at Spinnaker's liquor store while in Victoria.

Comes in a 1 L brown flip-top bottle. Pours out a mid-bodied transluscent amber, loose frothy white head that recedes to a creamy cap, lots of lacing.

Mild caramel malt, some toasted biscuity malt, with grassy and fruity hops on the nose.

The flavour, while enjoyable, seems quite muted, doesn't seem to fully deliver. The malts seem washed out, and the only highlight is a mild hoppy finish and aftertaste to actually put a footprint on your palate. There's potential here, I'm still quite enjoying this pale ale, but the volume on the flavour needs to be turned up a few notches to make it truly noteworthy.

The mouthfeel, like the flavour, also seems to be more on the watery toned down side of the spectrum.

An auspicious stepping stone ale perhaps, but there is so much more that this pale ale can offer with a bit of fine-tuning. Yet if there were such a thing as a lawnmower ale, I'd grab this one in that context for a refreshing hot day quaff, it does goes down easy and smooth.

Serving type: bottle

07-22-2007 22:36:18 | More by IronDjinn

BDTyre

British Columbia (Canada)

3.4/5  rDev -7.1%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

Decent offering from Howe Sound. A little bit on the light side for what the brewery describes as an amber ale, although I guess "pale ale" is a fitting term. Very light copper colour with a slightly cream coloured head.

Smell is faint, and rather bland. Sort of a mild malt smell. Really light hops to it. Slightly sour background Fortunately, the hops are a bit more prominent in the taste, but there is a wierd, sour aftertaste and a bit of acidity in the initial flavours.

Carbonation seems a bit too high, and overall this is not quite as impressive as some of the other Howe Sound beers I've had. Needs a bit more work, and if so it could be outstanding.

Serving type: bottle

03-12-2007 04:58:08 | More by BDTyre