Icelandic Pale Ale - Einstök Ölgerð

UCLABrewN84

California

3.34/5  rDev -2.1%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.25

Best before 12/3/13.

Pours a hazy honey orange with a foamy orange-khaki head that settles to wisps of film on top of the beer. Small streaks of lace form around the glass on the drink down. Smell is of malt, earth, and some subdued citrus zest hop aromas. Taste is much the same with citrus and brown sugar flavors on the finish. A slight metallic flavor comes out as the beer warms up as well. There is a mild amount of hop bitterness on the palate with each sip. This beer has a good level of carbonation with a crisp mouthfeel. Overall, this is an above average beer that is drinkable but not very well put together in my opinion.

Serving type: bottle

04-02-2013 02:26:02 | More by UCLABrewN84

flyingpig

United Kingdom (Scotland)

3.4/5  rDev -0.3%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

330ml bottle from Good Spirits Co. (Glasgow - £2.50):
Light and very clear amber colour with a thin, bubbly white head that settles to a patchy lacing after a couple of seconds. The drink looks relatively still as well.

Light on the nose with some caramel and faint hops as well as some citrus and pine plus a few lighter malts as well and a touch of sweet fruit. Pleasant but it could have done with being stronger.

Clean, light malts to begin with hints of caramel and fruit, mainly tropical and a touch of hops. A fairly basic pale ale taste but a nice one that seemed to tick the right boxes.There is some biscuit malts as well and a general sweetness to the beer.

Light bodied with moderate carbonation and a very crisp, clean finish. There is some sweetness and only the faintest hint of bitterness rounded off with a dry finish.

A little weak but overall it was a nice beer. Up there with the cleanest and most crisp tasting beers and due to this it was very easy to drink and quite refreshing. Definitely a nice introduction to Icelandic beers without really standing out.

Serving type: bottle

02-13-2013 11:01:40 | More by flyingpig

Fatehunter

Oregon

3.43/5  rDev +0.6%
look: 3 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.25

Poured a half finger of head on a medium amber colored body.
The aroma is caramel and honey. Pleasant.
The taste starts out with mild bitterness, moves to chalky bitterness and finishes sour. A bit disjointed.
The texture is crisp with moderate carbonation.
A descent pale ale.

Serving type: bottle

02-04-2013 04:20:30 | More by Fatehunter

StJamesGate

New York

3.58/5  rDev +5%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5

Goldenrod with some brown highlights and rimming clotted cream-colored head that speckles.
Gooey toffee, roasted nuts, and orange bark on the nose - all subdued.
Golden crunch biscuits with a bit of butterscotch and dried orange rind and mulchy hops.
Lemon barley sweets finish and mildly bitter linger. Light, round, some chew.

This lines up much better as an English Pale Ale, and not an exciting one. Cascade must be in minimal amounts and I taste (or imagine I do) a leafy bitterness from Northern Brewer. Not getting chocolate malts, either. As for the water quality, I'll take their word on it about the glacier.

Not as crisp or as interesting as it could be.

Serving type: bottle

12-14-2012 19:14:44 | More by StJamesGate

MDDMD

Pennsylvania

3.4/5  rDev -0.3%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

A-amber color with a modest white head and good lacing

S-biscuity malt, faint citrus and pine

T-malt, bread, citrus, pine, decent bitter hoppy finish, slight astringency

F-medium body with moderate carbonation, crisp

O-a decent pale ale, some good flavors

Serving type: bottle

09-17-2012 00:37:21 | More by MDDMD

BlackHaddock

United Kingdom (England)

3.23/5  rDev -5.3%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

31st August 2012: Icelandic or should I say ‘Einstok’ tasting evening at a mates house. He’d bought two bottles of four different Einstok brews. All poured carefully into a ‘Straffe Hendrik’ badged chalice.

Second beer was a 33cl bottle of this: misty dull amber body with no head at all.

The smell was malts firstly and then a weaker cereal/fruity aroma.

The taste was initially semi-sweet malty molasses then a bitter, dry finish arrived as the hops asserted themselves.

Interesting without testing your taste buds, not what I was expecting (in a good way) at all.

Serving type: bottle

09-03-2012 13:23:01 | More by BlackHaddock

elNopalero

Texas

4.05/5  rDev +18.8%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4

This pours a honeyed amber yellow color with serious foam that tightly compacts once it dies down. There’s a honeyed sweetness rounding out the lightly hopped aroma, and an almost-tropical, pineapple-like hop profile. Lightly hopped with an upfront bittering tailing into a touch of resiny pine. Lightly flavored with tropical hop flavors and a slightly dry finish that is very agreeable. I noticed a light toast on the malt that comes across as it warms. The second of this brewery’s beer that I’ve tried—both have been noticeably crisp and it makes me wonder if there really is something in the water up north.

Serving type: bottle

07-17-2012 19:44:27 | More by elNopalero

Philousa

California

2.28/5  rDev -33.1%
look: 3 | smell: 2 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 2 | overall: 2

Shiny metallic copper in color with thin, airy head. A little lacing. Clarity is great. Light coppery malt, some biscuit but nothing really stands out in the nose. Faint hint of hops, but I've no idea what kind. Thin flavors, some nuttiness, a little biscuit, then it turns bitter. Copper penny bitterness takes over. No real pine or grassy bitterness. Mostly metallic.Thin mouthfeel with a dry finish.

As you can tell from my description, I wasn't really feeling this. It isn't a good sign when you are describing the lack of flavors or aromas. Pass.

Serving type: bottle

05-30-2012 04:00:01 | More by Philousa

CwrwAmByth

United Kingdom (Wales)

3.9/5  rDev +14.4%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Poured from a 330ml bottle into a pint glass.

Pours a deep amber colour with a nice head that shrinks to a small layer, with some nice lacing as well.

Smells fairly hoppy and aromatic.

Tastes very hoppy, some light malts in there too for balance. Quite a thick mouthfeel with a decent amount of carbonation.

Overall a fairly decent beer.

Serving type: bottle

04-03-2012 14:06:44 | More by CwrwAmByth

jazzyjeff13

United Kingdom (England)

3.28/5  rDev -3.8%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

A 330ml bottle with a BB of Aug 2012. Picked up from my local beer specialist. I like the hard viking dude on the label.

Poured into a Sam Smith's pint glass. A clear, deep golden-amber colour with good carbonation. Yields a large head of frothy off-white foam that subsides rapidly. Aroma of aromatic hops underpinned by light caramel malt. Notes of grapefruit, citrus and grain. Nice.

Tastes of light malt with an aromatic hop character and a crisp bitter finish. Slight malty sweetness. Notes of grapefruit, citrus, grain and faint yeast esters. A hint of diacetyl in the background. A dry bitterness upon swallowing. Mouthfeel is smooth and prickly, with decent body. Mildly astringent. Aftertaste of aromatic hops.

A pretty good effort, particularly coming from so close to the arctic circle. The aroma is pleasing, with a good dose of citrus hops. The flavour is similar, but the hop character is weaker - the taste doesn't quite match the quality that the aroma promises. Nonetheless, it's certainly drinkable and goes down nicely. Can't wait to try more from this brewery.

Serving type: bottle

01-03-2012 23:17:43 | More by jazzyjeff13