American Pale Ale (for Sainsbury's Taste The Difference Collection) - Genesee Brewing Co. / Dundee Brewing Co.

BlackHaddock

United Kingdom (England)

3.48/5  rDev +10.8%
look: 3 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

355ml bottle poured into an 'Augustijn' badged goblet on 8th Dec 2012.

Looks OK: light amber body with a thin white covering on top.

The nose was a mixed bag of smells: nothing too strong but notes of both hop citrusness and some mild maltiness.

The blend and mixture carries on into the taste: pleasant balance of flavours again nothing too strong but the malts take centre stage before a slight hop bitterness towards the end of each sip.

Can't pretent this is wonderful but there is nothing wrong with it. Not an expert on APA's so style wise I've no idea if it follows the classic flavours. Pleasant enough, but without setting the world alight.

Serving type: bottle

12-08-2012 15:17:01 | More by BlackHaddock

wl0307

United Kingdom (England)

3.29/5  rDev +4.8%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.25

Purchased at my local Sainsbury’s supermarket, this beer is said to be brewed by “Tap Room Brewing Company”, for the Sainsbury’s under the “Taste the Difference” range of products. Coming in a slim 355ml slim brown bottle, BB 09/2013, served cool in a straight beer glass.

A: dark amber in colour, a quickly built-up fluffy/cottony off-white beer head comes with a decent retention, sitting on top of healthy streams of medium-sized fizz-bubbles.
S: lightly citrusy notes on top of sweet barley teas upfront; given a good swirl, mildly spicy notes of hops and light caramel join force with sweet lemons, nectars and overripe pear-ish esters to render an aromatically fruity profile overall. Quite pleasant.
T: very effervescent, to my surprise, the foretaste is citrusy-malty with a light touch of caramel, followed by a lemon-rind-ish bitter-sourness and powdery floral taste as of American hops. A medium-level bitterness lingers in the end, coupling with the dark tea-like tannic feel. A few sips down the line, the finish starts to come with more acidic-sweet nectar-ish undertones.
M&O: the mouthfeel is rendered somewhat too… sharp by the carbonation level, while the body is initially ok but then gradually loses its grip as the palate warms to the flavour, ending somewhat thin-ish after a few minutes into the drink. This contract brew doesn’t seem to sparkle, I’m afraid. Now carrying on to try their “Tap Room IPA”, to see if it’s any better~~

Serving type: bottle

02-16-2013 19:04:14 | More by wl0307

StJamesGate

New York

3.04/5  rDev -3.2%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

Amber-tinged gold with lots of fizz and loose white film and the odd trail.
Lagery grain with only the most diluted, children's aspirin-type orangey hops.
Baguette crust and some unripe peach, a sour grain sack hit, and diffuse grass and grapefruit juice hops.
Faint lemondrop finish and dead, slightly tingly linger.
Light, lively, slight cling.

Wow - this makes Red Hook look like Port Brewing. Lager notes left and right in a fairly naked attempt to appeal to the crossover drinker - watery, too carbonated and most Czech lagers probably have more hop presence. A waste of time bringing this across the Atlantic.

Quenching, but that's it.

Serving type: bottle

05-10-2013 18:40:37 | More by StJamesGate