Ballast Point / Kelsey McNair / Stone San Diego County Session Ale - Stone Brewing Co.

Mebuzzard

Colorado

4.47/5  rDev +12.3%
look: 5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

This is a great beer, probably one I'd pick up in 6-packs as my go-to beer.

Pours a bright, light golden with a very white, fluffy and dense head. Great looking beer, nice lacing. Perfect.

Almost perfect on the aroma, as it is missing some malt to balance it out. Hop forward; citrus and some banana. Dry, light and mouth watering.

Citrus, of course, as the main flavor. Blood orange, persimmon tartness, tangerine finish. Very light biscuit malt, could use a bit more balance if aiming for hitting the style.

Dry and crisp feel and finish. At 4.2 abv this is quite drinkable. Rivals the Levitation.

Serving type: bottle

09-25-2010 21:51:44 | More by Mebuzzard

Gmann

New York

4.18/5  rDev +5%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 3 | overall: 5

Pours a slightly hazy golden color with a small, dense off-white head that settled into a solid ring. The aroma is of a beautiful grapefruit hop, quite buddy and fresh. Some tropical fruit notes and honey. The taste is not quite as strong as the aroma. The hops are more grassy, herbal and grapefruit rind and the malt is quite weak. It is still very hop flavorful. The feel is light and very carbonated. It just feels very thin for a APA; almost watery. I must say this is a very flavorful session brew. Strong hop flavors without the blistering high ABV. I would like to see the malt a tad thicker but it is a good trade off for the low ABV.

Serving type: growler

12-05-2010 00:55:24 | More by Gmann

onix1agr

Pennsylvania

4.58/5  rDev +15.1%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 5

12oz bottle poured into a Sam Adams perfect pint glass.

A light touch of orange with yellow around the edges makes up the this very pretty looking beer. It looks like a bitter bomb str8 out the gate. A hard pour yielded about a 1/2 inch of semi firm white stuff that settled into a cap. Nice spots on the glass.

Wow, San Diego never smelled as good as this one (i'll admit, never been to the west coast) The smell burst out with hops and alot of em. Bitter hop scents with a bunch of pine and citrus including lemon and the other usual suspects. The malt, well it hardly makes a dent, wonderful scent. Excellent!

From the nose, I knew this would be a treat. Im greeted by a dousing of hops, hops overload, they really cramed them in here. Citrus and pine up front, they really run neck and neck. In short, grapefruit, mango, pine, lemon and some malts again barely make a dent. Hop forward.

Feel is bitter, but not a palate crusher, it's no hopsickle in other words, but boy is it bitter. Light bodied with a very nice amount of carb to keep the aliveness going. While big, the bitterness does not stick around the mouth forever like the certain moyland product mentioned above.

I am really into session beers and I think I found one of my favorites, since recently turning into a semi hop head (i hate using that term) this fills both of my needs. Flavorful and not dangerous. If one of these breweries does not take this recipe and run with it, it would be a travesty to the beer world. Please Stone or Ballast Point (both who distribute to PA), please run with this one in the future.

Serving type: bottle

10-24-2010 19:08:17 | More by onix1agr

Durge

Connecticut

4.03/5  rDev +1.3%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4.5

A beautiful clear amber with a modest white cover and fair lacing. The aroma is IPA like citrus woodsy hop. Solid and enticing. The flavor is bright citrus, grapefruit straw-biscuit, crisp with minor carbonation but very refreshing. Pretty light in body and very drinkable with a crispy feel. Lots of biscuit and floral ideas here. Grassy finish with an almond sweetness hidden somewhere. A very pleasant surprise to find at the Ale House in Amesbury, MA.

Serving type: on-tap

12-02-2010 05:17:24 | More by Durge

dbrauneis

New Jersey

4/5  rDev +0.5%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

A: Pours a hazy golden yellow with some hints of orange in color with some very light bits of dark (almost black) sediment through the bottom 50% of the glass. The beer has a half finger tall off-white head that reduces to a very thin layer covering most of the surface of the beer with some patches and a thicker ring at the edges of the glass. Moderate to significant lacing is observed.

S: This beer has a very pleasant aroma, some light biscuit malts with lots of different hop aromas. The hops contribute pine, grapefruit, citrus/lemon, and just a hint of bitter orange rind.

T: The flavor definitely follows the smell, there is a very easy to appreciate light bitterness. The malt presence is very light and well balanced with the bitterness contributed by the different hops. I really like how light flavored this beer is with the pine, grapefruit, and citrus hop elements.

M: Light bodied with moderate amount of carbonation. Very dry throughout.

O: This is a really nice sessionable APA, very enjoyable and very easy to drink. This beer has a nice balance of flavor, unfortunately the collaboration is only brewed the one time as I would likely pick some more of this up to have in the future.

Serving type: bottle

04-14-2012 16:36:36 | More by dbrauneis

ngeunit1

California

4.05/5  rDev +1.8%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

A - Pours a hazy bright orange-amber color with a finger of fizzy white head. The head fades fairly quickly to a ring and leaves behind a tad of lacing.

S - Combination of strong bitter hop aroma and some citrus fruit (lots of grapefruit). There is also some sweet malt in the background.

T - Starts off with some nice citrus flavor and some floral hop bitterness. Lots of grapefruit flavor. Just a touch of fruit sweetness and malt in the background. Through the middle the citrus flavor comes through with some nice bitterness leading the way. The finish has some nice lingering citrus flavors alongside some floral hop bitterness.

M - Light to medium-light bodied and fairly heavily carbonated. Almost a tad too carbonated. The leaves a bit of a thick syrupy feeling in the mouth.

D - Very drinkable. Light mouthfeel without sacrificing any flavor. Lots of hop and citrus going on here and it stays really enjoyable all the way through. Only complaint is a bit too much carbonation.

Serving type: bottle

02-17-2011 04:28:03 | More by ngeunit1

billab914

Virginia

4.43/5  rDev +11.3%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

Poured from a 12oz bottle into my Stone nonic pint glass. It poured a light gold, almost amber in color with a thin yet frothy white head to it. It had some nice head retention as I drank it and also left moderate lacing on the glass.

The aroma has a big hoppiness to it. I can definitely pick out the juicy and tropical punch like citra hops coming through. I love the peachy, pineapple like flavors these hops give beers. Another of my favorites, amarillo adds some nice juicy hoppiness of it's own as well. A little bit of grapefruit and pine bitterness comes through in all the hoppiness as well. Excellent hoppy aroma and extremely impressive given the low alcohol content.

The taste follows the nose with some peach and pineapple, juicy citra hops coming through. More of a grapefruit bitterness comes through towards the finish. Excellent hoppy flavors to it overall and all the hoppiness came together very well.

The mouthfeel is light and carbonation is moderate. Drinkability is very good, it had some great hoppy flavors to it and was a very easy drinking beer. It helped that they used my favorite hop varieties as well. The fact that this is a lower alcohol beer just increases the drinkability for me. This is a beer I'd gladly buy often in 6 packs if I could. Excellent beer overall and I really hope we see more beers like this soon.

Serving type: bottle

10-19-2010 23:24:48 | More by billab914

maximum12

Minnesota

4.2/5  rDev +5.5%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 5

Thanks to errantknight & stormking47 for sending me bottles of this almost simultaneously. Eager to try this one; I love my big stouts & barrel aged whatever, but the world is really lacking tasty session beers. Hoping this is one!

Pours a clear light orange mixed with bits of coppper. Nose is good, sweet malts mixed liberally with west coast hops. Great pine & citrus coming off the surface, promising first note.

San Diego County Session Ale brings what I hoped for. 4.2%? Really? Why is this so hard for brewers to do? Pale malts are balanced out vs. fairly aggressive hopping, tropical & citrusy & such-like. Pale malts block & tackel, but then bitterness flows over the palate & washes away both the malt & the subtlety of the hops. Whack bitter in the ending.

"Session Ale" is an accurate description, this is drinkable as all hell. Maybe it's the freshness, perhaps session ales can't travel, or lose their appeal & tastiness quickly.

Excellent beer. Impressive taste from a low ABV beer. I hope this is a trend that come & plants it's low ABV fanny in my neighborhood for a long time.

Serving type: bottle

01-02-2011 04:09:45 | More by maximum12

ArrogantB

Colorado

4/5  rDev +0.5%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

12oz bottle $4. I was quite interested to try this collaboration to see how hoppy it really was. They are not fucking around, this is a very, very hoppy beer no matter the ABV. The smell is all grapefruit, citrus, straight hops, very nice. The taste was more of the same but also super bitter, almost too bitter but there really is no such thing. This is a great beer for hopheads but I'd say its no session beer just because it really assaults your palate and its not cheap. Levitation is still the best hoppy session beer I know of.

Serving type: bottle

09-16-2010 03:50:50 | More by ArrogantB

ehammond1

California

4.03/5  rDev +1.3%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Bottle (2010)

Holiday Wine Cellar
Escondido, CA

Slightly hazy golden orange and amber. Thick off-white head that sticks around for a bit and then leaves gobs of sticky lacing down the glass.

Pungently hoppy aroma--lots of citrus and floral notes along with some sweet baking bread and biscuits. Well balanced, though still pungently hoppy. Pretty impressive, especially since this bottle has actually been sitting around for quite some time now.

Incredibly well balanced and massively drinkable. Lots of citrus and piney hops balanced well with a biscuity, bready malt backbone. This reminds me of Stone's Pale, with it's very biscuity malt presence, though this Session Pale seems more pungently hoppy. It's delicious stuff.

Medium mouthfeel.

A fantastic session pale--this and Stone's own Levitation seem quite similar to me. This one leans a little further toward the biscuity side of things while Levitation is a touch more sweet and caramelly.

Serving type: bottle

07-29-2011 01:53:35 | More by ehammond1

johnnnniee

New Hampshire

4.05/5  rDev +1.8%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4.5

Pours a deep golden color with a smallish fluffy white head that sticks to the glass on the way down. Smells of grapefruit and earthy citrus and pine hops and a tiny hint of caramel malt sweetness if I squint a bit. Taste is earthy bready lightly caramel with lots of pine and citrus. Finishes kind of dry with a long lingering earthy pine bitterness. While not all that complex it tastes pretty damn good. Body is medium to thin, mouthfeel is watery with a hint of resin, medium to high level of carbonation. I like this one for its simplicity, it doesn't get overly complex but is still very flavorful. If this weren't close to four dollars a bottle I might actually enjoy a session of these.

Serving type: bottle

11-25-2010 00:50:00 | More by johnnnniee

Overlord

California

3.93/5  rDev -1.3%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

Pours a very, very light gold with some orange highlights. Big white sudsy head.

Smells like ... citrus. Whoa, nice aroma to it. Hey, this could be pretty good, despite its anemic ABV. Some tropical pineapple, a bit of orange, some grapefruit ... maybe some green pine needles.

Taste, unfortunately, is a let down. THere's zero malt presence, and the hops unfortunately come across a bit flat and thin. Not A bad tasting beer, but needs more oomph to it.

Great light, crisp, refreshing mouthfeel.

Serving type: on-tap

10-10-2010 03:47:37 | More by Overlord

msubulldog25

Oregon

4.2/5  rDev +5.5%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

12 oz. bottle snagged a little while back at Whole Foods-Fremont; poured to a pint glass. Just checked the etched 'ENJOY BY' date... whaddaya know? '11 10 10'...hey, that's tomorrow. Just made it.

A collaboration between brewers from Stone and Ballast Point and North Park Beer Co.; add homebrewer Kelsey McNair, recipe creator.

A: Lovely copper/gold, glowing and sharing generous bubble streams. The finest haze - may be purposeful or may be signaling the near-expiration of this one (Of note: I tried this once on draft weeks ago at Bailey's but don't exactly recall the look). Pillowy white fluff atop, a densifying finger-plus head that leaves sparkling rings of foam.

S: Big drifting aromatics - sweet pine, sweeter grapefruit, luscious lemon-lime and pungent green herbs.

T: Fresh greens and loads of blended hops (lemony Citra really pops - others include favorites like Amarillo and Centennial. Also Simcoe) start this with a brassy evergreen and citrus burst. Zestiness trails off enough at each sip to allow some maltier caramel notes to surface, then candied fruit rind reenters and finishes. A pretty complex mouthful.

M: Ample mouthfeel, a juicy drippiness from all those ridiculous hops, but pleasantly balanced. Milder feel (i.e. not over-rich on carbonation), but a spicy sparkle and lasting bitterness.

D: Remarkable how much flavor is packed into a true session beer (arguments aside about worldwide definitions of the term, 4.2% qualifies in any language). Really terrific to find such a well-crafted 'mini-beer', especially considering all the BIG X-TREME stuff that tends to dominate the craft market. Minor drawback: a 12 oz. bottle runs $3.50, a pint poured for a premium at Bailey's; regardless, a beer I'd gladly enjoy again.

Serving type: bottle

11-10-2010 02:22:41 | More by msubulldog25

Reagan1984

Massachusetts

4.63/5  rDev +16.3%
look: 5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 5

Enjoyed a couple pints of this last night at Lord Hobo in Cambridge. I am happy that this beer turns out to be my 1,000th review. Stone is one of my favorite brewers and this style is something that I am seeking. Highly hopped APA's with lower ABV... This is in the category with Half Acre Daisy Cutter for me. Both great beers.

The first thing I am going to mention is that this beer will visually get a 5 in my book. It's the perfect looking beer. The head, color and incredible lacing were all just perfect.
1 ½- 2 fingers of creamy white head sit atop a light orange amber colored beer with a sunset type brightness to the color. The lacing was absolutely perfect and provided a map of rings as to my journey through the glass. My wife was laughing at me as I showed her how perfect it was. Yep, I'm a beer geek.

Aroma was bright and fresh. Mostly citrus notes and very floral. Just awesome. A beer you sit and smell for a couple minutes before even taking a sip.

So, how do we convince Stone to make this beer available all year-round?
Floral Citrus flavors explode in your mouth with a perfectly balanced cracker, bready malt flavor. Definitely hop focused, but there is just such a give and take here that works perfectly. Just fantastic.

Crisp refreshing mouth feel and an overall sense of freshness. Medium bodied and both dry and oily if that can happen.

Just a joy to drink. I'd consider placing a tap in my home for this. Right up there with Daisy Cutter as a great beer dancing on the line between APA & IPA

Serving type: on-tap

10-24-2010 20:09:24 | More by Reagan1984

prototypic

Ohio

4.3/5  rDev +8%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 5

San Diego County Session Ale is a light copper color. It's a tad bit hazy, and looks a little orange when held to light. A cream colored crown sits on top and stands over two fingers tall. It's slow to recede, and leaves a wealth of sticky lace in its wake. Good looking stuff.

The nose is quite good. It's very hoppy! It smells mostly piney, but there's some citrus grapefruit and orange that follows. There's a light caramel malt scent. It's a little sweet, and clearly behind the hops in terms of strength. It shouldn't be surprising that there's no alcohol in the nose. Yeah, it's not complicated, but it does smell nice. No hophead could deny that!

The flavor is likewise impressive. It kicks off with a very piney, bitter hop flavor! Citrus orange, grapefruit, and pineapple flavors follow and only add depth the hop flavor. I don't think I've ever encountered such a strong hop flavor in a beer this light. Excellent. There's some caramel malt underneath. It is a tad sweet, but mostly yields to the intense hops. I wouldn't say it's balanced. Alcohol is buried. It finishes bitter and dry.

San Diego County Session Ale has a light body. Carbonation feels light and restrained. It surprisingly has a smooth feel for lighter bodied beer. I'm impressed. Drinkability is incredibly high! This is incredibly tasty stuff for a 4.2% abv beer! It goes down so easy, and the abv really is attractive for drinking multiple bottles.

I really didn't know much about this beer before tonight, but I love the concept and the end result! If you're a hophead, you should love this beer and the idea behind it. It's a lower abv beer that's chock full of flavor! For anyone who hates not being able to session IPAs, this is intended for you! I love it! I actually hate that it's not available all the time in 6-packs. Find it while you can.

Serving type: bottle

11-21-2010 03:35:33 | More by prototypic

illidurit

California

3.93/5  rDev -1.3%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

12 ounce bottle courtesy of Ryan and Mike at West Coaster. Pours clear and golden with a frothy white head. Aroma is fruity with peaches and mangoes, bright and tropical suggesting Simcoe/Summit. Flavor moves completely away from the fruity aspect of hops. Mostly oily and resinous herbal notes with a tea-like dryness. Somehow it manages to avoid being astringent. Malt character is barely there, as it should be. Pretty cool beer.

Serving type: bottle

09-08-2010 05:42:25 | More by illidurit

atsprings

North Carolina

4.05/5  rDev +1.8%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4

12oz bottle into a DFH Signature glass pours a crisp orange with a nice frothy eggshell head that lasts as a thin layer and leaves slight lacing on the glass. Aroma is a surprising amount of crisp floral citrus hops in front of subtle sweet malts, if I didn't know better, I'd guess from the nose that this was a full bodied West coast IPA. The taste is a very nice amount of crisp citrus hops with a nice subtle sweet malt backbone that gives way to a simple yet plentiful bitter citrus hop finish. The beer is very light, crisp, and refreshing. This one was a very pleasant surprise, proof that an enjoyable hoppy beer does not require high alcohol as well. I wish I had picked up more of this, oh well.

Serving type: bottle

09-20-2010 02:14:27 | More by atsprings

LiquidAmber

Washington

3.9/5  rDev -2%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3 | overall: 4

Review from 12/2010 notes. Poured into a Nostradamus flute glass. Pours a slightly cloudy light orange amber. Light head and moderate lacing. Looks nice. Light citrus and sweet malt aroma. Very hoppy start with citrus and spicy hops, light fruit. Approaches a decent APA level of flavor and hoppyness. Finishes with nice hop bitterness. Quite a flavorful ale for such low ABV. Really glad I got to try this.

Serving type: bottle

07-04-2012 03:50:08 | More by LiquidAmber

TheSevenDuffs

Ontario (Canada)

4.48/5  rDev +12.6%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

Thanks to freud for throwing this one in as an extra in a trade.
Poured in to pint glass

A - Slightly cloudy yellow colour with small amount of bubbly white head.

S - Crisp citrus and earthy bitter hops up front with a slight malt backbone. Nice hop nose for 4.2% ABV. Doesn't smell like a typical session beer.

T - Follows the nose - full of bitter hops with predominantly citrus notes and some pine as well. Very faint malt presence. As odd as it sounds to say this about a session beer - this is a true hop bomb!

M - Medium body, moderate carbonation.

D - This is by far the best 4.2% ABV beer that I have ever had. I would buy this all the time if it were available to me. A great concept that I hope catches on.

Serving type: bottle

11-24-2010 03:30:08 | More by TheSevenDuffs

claspada

New Jersey

2.93/5  rDev -26.4%
look: 3 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3

The aroma is mostly citrus, with grapefruit dominating as well, but a few traces of pineapple and orange.

Taste is average at best. Unfortunately the overall flavor falls a little flat. Somewhat salty taste; wierd indeed. I get decent amounts of bitter pine and pale malts, but overall the taste just seems a little hollow to me.

The body is light-medium with an abundance of bubbly carbonation. This beer is fairly refreshing, but I just want more flavor out of this beer. NOT AT ALL worth the inflated "collaboration" price tag associated with this beer. Maybe better on tap, but not necessary to seek out or purchase if over $2 a bottle.

Serving type: bottle

10-22-2010 21:29:47 | More by claspada

sweemzander

Illinois

3/5  rDev -24.6%
look: 4 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 3

12oz. bottle poured into a nonic. Thanks to cjacobsen for tossing a bottle my way!

(A)- Pours a clear orange color that produced a decent off-white head with good retention and lace.

(S)- A dry piney hop profile. Subtle hints of spice in the background.

(T)- Very dry and bitter. Lots of pine with subtle citrus characters. Subtle bits of a sweet caramel or honey too.

(M)- A good carbonation level. Again, very dry and bitter; this would put many IPA's to shame in regards to how bitter this really is. It actually almost kills off any other flavor this would otherwise have.

(D)- Not bad. It would be more sessionable as it is called if it was not so bitter.

Serving type: bottle

04-24-2011 16:19:59 | More by sweemzander

Arbitrator

California

3.23/5  rDev -18.8%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 2

Chilled bottle into a glass. Purchased from K&L in Redwood City.

Ok, ok... This is "not a session ale" by Ding's definition, but since that has never been substantiated by any concrete proof (to my knowledge), I will arbitrarily grant a +/- 5% swing. 4.2% is now sessionable.

A: Pours a murky, glowing orange body in my Hair of the Dog tulip. I poured carefully so I could get it all in the glass in one go. Nonetheless, it maintains a nice cap with a substantial collar for the duration of the drink. Nice.

S: Citrus! It doesn't have the clean, bright aromas of Sculpin; it is instead tempered with a dose of herbal hops, grass, and a touch of pale malt. This is a dead ringer for an IPA.

T: This is extremely hoppy, as the nose might suggest. Unfortunately, that's about it. There's a light maltiness, but I can't pick up anything else. It has a nice grapefruit, orange peel, and grass flavor going on, with the last component lingering into the finish for some remaining bitterness.

M: Dry finish with lingering bitterness. The body is light-medium. Clean flavor, but truthfully, I'd liken it to "watery."

D: I'm not realistically going to pay $4 for this again; I bought it to show my support for the experiment more than anything. Not a successful one in my eyes. What ever happened to the balanced, subtle, refined English malt that Ding is always talking about? This is just dry-hopped to death.

Serving type: bottle

09-21-2010 07:47:09 | More by Arbitrator

scottfrie

California

4.13/5  rDev +3.8%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

12oz bottle into pint glass.

A: Pours a slightly cloudy golden iced-tea color with a couple fingers of oily off-white head that slowly faded into a thick film that left damn near a solid wall of sticky lace down the glass.
S: Very fresh and green smelling. Big notes of grapefruit and citrus dominate, but there is more going on with notes of pine, hop resin, tropical fruits and marijuana. I even get a hint of tea. Very very good smelling!
T: Hints of sweet caramel and toasted malt hints your tongue first, but are quickly overpowered by bitter grapefruit pith and herbal and tobacco flavors. Balanced is not a word for this IPA. The finish is very earthy and herbal with maybe even a hint of mint, and the aftertaste is lingering and bitter.
M: Medium body, dry mouthfeel and even, bubbly carbonation. Surprisingly dry and very bitter.
D: The nose on this beer is great, so is the look. The flavor is far from bad, but it is not as potent and the smell. I would definitely try this again and it's worth seeking out if it's around.

Serving type: bottle

11-26-2010 21:45:56 | More by scottfrie

armock

New York

4/5  rDev +0.5%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

On-tap at Craft & Commerce in San Diego CA

A - Poured a copper color with an off white head that leaves lacing behind

S - Is mostly of citrus hops

T - Just like the smell lots of citrus hops

M - This beer has a medium body with medium carbonation to it

o - I really liked this beer its similar to a lot of Stone beers but at an abv that allows you to drink a number of in a sitting it would be nice if there were more beers out there like this worth picking up

Serving type: on-tap

05-05-2011 19:52:37 | More by armock

Offa

California

2.83/5  rDev -28.9%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 2.5

This is a well-made, but thin, one-dimensional, unbalanced beer of essentially grapefruit with hints of pine and not really anything else, and bitterness that is in of itself not strong but lacking enough sweetness or character to support it. It's hop character is bright and fresh, but one-note and practically all alone. I love some Stone beers, but this, like Levitation, is another loved and supposedly "flavourful" ale for an abv of between 4-4.5% that, in my opinion, really doesn't compare to similar-abv English bitters or other ales, which I find to have A LOT more flavour and complexity.

Anyway, faintly hazy pale amber, it has a medium off-white head slowly shrinking and leaving a little lace.

Aroma is bright, clear, fresh grapefruit and pine, a hint of orange, hint of raisiny malt. Somewhat pleasant for what it offers, due mostly to the juicy, fresh character and seems well-made,it is nevertheless very standard and one-dimensional.

Taste is similar, dryish a lot of grapefruit with a hint of pine and a faint yeasty juiciness barely evident underneath. It has faint minerally element. Bitterness is not strong, but unbalanced it is sharp and too dominant for the thin character of this beer. It is very one-note and merely a well-made, fresh, clean example of a standard, basic, uncomplex, uninteresting, largely characterless, one-dimensional west coast style beer. It quickly becomes exceedingly tiresome.

Serving type: bottle

10-31-2010 03:20:32 | More by Offa