Samuel Adams New Albion Ale - Boston Beer Company (Samuel Adams)

northyorksammy

Ontario (Canada)

3.24/5  rDev -4.1%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3

Bottle from Premier Gourmet. Fairly basic pale ale, lagerish. Yellow bodied with a small amount of white head. Medium mouthfeel. Very mild bitterness. OK drinkability. A small cut above a macro beer. This would have been above average 30 years ago or so.

Serving type: bottle

03-17-2013 01:44:02 | More by northyorksammy

ChainGangGuy

Georgia

4/5  rDev +18.3%
look: 5 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

12 ounce bottle - $1.79 at Total Wine & More in Kennesaw, Georgia.

Enjoy By: Jul 2013.

Appearance: Pours a medium yellow body with a light, airy, tall, snow white head. Sticky wisps of lacing on the way down.

Smell: Just a gentle whisper of maltiness, as lightly bready as can be with equally modest notes of spice and lemon.

Taste: Lightly bready, mild-mannered pale malts with just a touch of imparted sweetness. Lightly spicy, peppered hops hinting just a bit little of lemony citrus and an altogether soft bitterness, though it's amply bitter to rebound the sweetness. Drying, faintly bitter finish.

Mouthfeel: Medium-light body. Medium-plus carbonation. A bit lighter and more sprightly on the tongue than most.

Overall: A particularly pale pale ale, feeling more blonde-ish to me, though I liked it for a simple, easy-going brew that kind of grows on you.

Serving type: bottle

02-01-2013 01:31:07 | More by ChainGangGuy

brentk56

North Carolina

3.05/5  rDev -9.8%
look: 4 | smell: 2.75 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3

Appearance: Pours a clear golden color capped by two fingers of foam; both the retention and the lacing were notable

Smell: Really unusual grain bill - smells of bread, corn and a hint of caramel; grassy hops in the back

Taste: The malt bill is even more unusual on the tongue, bringing bread, caramel, corn syrup and a load of diacetyl; although the beer is malt forward, there are some grassy hops that arrive in the mid-palate and linger vaguely into the finish

Mouthfeel: Medium body with moderate to high carbonation

Overall: The sweetness of the beer gets to me after a while and though I am enjoying the history, this is not a beer that I would want to try again

Serving type: bottle

05-18-2013 01:27:56 | More by brentk56

UCLABrewN84

California

3.99/5  rDev +18%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Best before 7/2013.

Pours a hazy orange with a foamy beige head that settles to a partial film on top of the beer. Foamy rings of lace line the glass on the drink down. Smell is of malt, grain, and an earthy, grass-like aroma. Taste is much the same with a nice bready flavor on the finish. There is a very 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 a good beer that is tasty and super easy to drink. While it's not really a standout compared to today's offerings, it's pretty neat to be able to try this beer.

Serving type: bottle

02-13-2013 02:41:06 | More by UCLABrewN84

TMoney2591

Illinois

3.29/5  rDev -2.7%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.25

Served in a Lagunitas mason jar.

Gettin' a slice of American brewing history in me today. This stuff pours a clear brass topped by a finger of off-white foam. The nose comprises light grapefruit peel, light biscuit, and light sweet flowers. It's weak, but inoffensive. The taste brings in more of the same, along with a bit of mild grass tossed in for good measure. The body is a light medium, with a light moderate carbonation and a lightly creamy feel. Overall, a decent little sessionable pale, though nothing all that special or memorable.

Serving type: bottle

02-16-2013 20:21:08 | More by TMoney2591

zeff80

Missouri

3.3/5  rDev -2.4%
look: 3.25 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.25

A - Cloudy, golden orange color with a one-finger head of white foam. It left sudsy trails of lace on the glass.

S - It smelled floral and grassy.

T - It tasted of citrus and sweet caramel. Very grassy and some spice.

M - It was crisp, sharp and smooth. A light to medium bodied ale with a dry finish.

O - This is okay. I expected better for an original craft beer recipe.

Serving type: bottle

02-04-2013 02:39:10 | More by zeff80

metter98

New York

3.46/5  rDev +2.4%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.25

A: The beer is slightly hazy light yellow in color and has a moderate amount of visible carbonation. It poured with a finger and a half high white head that took a long time to die down, leaving a thin head covering the surface and lots of lacy rings of bubbles down the sides of the glass.
S: Light to moderate aromas of grainy malts in the nose along with notes of floral and grassy hops.
T: The taste is similar to the smell, except that it also exhibits some hints of herbal hops. A very slight amount of bitterness is present.
M: It feels medium-bodied and a little crisp on the palate with a moderate amount of carbonation.
O: This beer is easy to drink. Although the Cascade hops seem a bit muted compared to today's standards, this beer is definitely in a league of its own if you compare it to the other beers that were available during the New Albion Brewing Company era in the late 1970s/early 1980s.

Serving type: bottle

03-20-2013 00:55:37 | More by metter98

Knapp85

Pennsylvania

3.08/5  rDev -8.9%
look: 4 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3

Poured out as a clear yellow color with a nice white head on top. The retention and lacing were pretty good on this beer. The smell was pretty typical, some malt and hops on the nose but nothing that really stands out. The taste of the beer is pretty traditional, it's well balanced but kind of boring. No real dominant flavor really jump out at me. The mouthfeel is nicely carbonated and light bodied making this beer a very sessionable brew. Overall it's a decent beer but nothing too exciting. Glad I got to try it though to see what it's all about.

Serving type: bottle

02-23-2013 00:00:59 | More by Knapp85

russpowell

Oklahoma

3.35/5  rDev -0.9%
look: 2 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.25

BBD of Jul 13

Pours straw colored with a finger of pearl colored head. Zero head retention & lacing

S: Grassyness & faint biscuitty malt notes, pears, & apples

T: Follows the mose, some golden delicious apple & floral hops up front. Pears, straw & delicate hops as this warms, slight honeysuckle notes. Finishes with orchard fruit, crispness & grassyness

MF: Light bodied with slight carbonation, okay balance

I'd like to think I was drinking a call back to craft brewing history, but who knows how accurate this to the original? Easy to drink, but nothing I would buy again

Serving type: bottle

02-11-2013 03:28:49 | More by russpowell

Halcyondays

California

2.94/5  rDev -13%
look: 2.75 | smell: 2.75 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

12 oz. bottle,

A: Pours a very light clear yellow with a fizzy white head. Solid retention, but not great to look at.

S: Grainy notes, malt, some floral hops.

T: Bready malt with some grass, spicy hop character, but overall on the light end.

M: Light-bodied, crisp, clean, easy drinking. Tastes a bit watered down.

O: An OK drinking beer, I guess American craft had to start somewhere, but not something to revisit.

Serving type: bottle

01-20-2013 03:46:03 | More by Halcyondays

jwc215

New Jersey

3.89/5  rDev +15.1%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Best by June 2013:

Pours golden. Small bubbles steady rise to form a frothy head that leaves a fair amount of lacing.

The smell is of citric and tropical fruits. Soft, but pleasant.

The taste is of citric and tropical fruitiness from the hops mixed with honey sweetness and cracker-like bread.

A well-balanced, easy-drinking brew here. A basic, refreshing pale ale!

Serving type: bottle

02-14-2013 13:50:51 | More by jwc215

RblWthACoz

Pennsylvania

3.48/5  rDev +3%
look: 4 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

Awesome. I get to drink a little bit of history.

It's definitely more mild and mellow than what I am used to for the style now. But there is a decent bitterness to it. Malty sweet thing going on. Fairly aggressive carbonation. Easy to drink.

It's funny to think that this was probably a very flavorful beer to many people 30 years ago. I wonder what they would have thought of our present day hop bombs.

Serving type: bottle

03-03-2013 06:03:45 | More by RblWthACoz

rhoadsrage

Illinois

2.65/5  rDev -21.6%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 2.5

(Served in a tulip glass)
June 2013 stamped on bottle
A- This beer pours a crystal clear golden straw yellow with a thin film of snow white head that is supported by tiny bubbles that pop to the surface.

S- The sulfury aroma has some hop hints in it with a field corn aroma coming on strong but dissipating pretty quickly. The aroma is pretty clean over all

T- The soft green hop note has a dry sulfur flavor to it with a lingering field corn note that fades to a bitterness that grows in the after taste. There are hints of hops in the aftertaste and a soapy flavor over takes it.

M- The medium-light mouthfeel has a soda pop fizz that scrubs the flavor except for the bitterness out of the taste.

O- This beer has a big fizz that washes out most everything except the field corn and sulfur flavors which start to take on a brie cheese flavor as it warms. There is no malt flavor or hop flavor except for the bitterness, and it was tough to get through 12 oz of the beer.

Serving type: bottle

01-30-2013 14:56:42 | More by rhoadsrage

Billolick

New York

3.53/5  rDev +4.4%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.5

12 ounce bottle with best before dating notched onto the side of the label.

Pours lightly hazed, near golden amber, looser bubble lite tan head, bubbles rising to the top and leaving some moderate sheeting and slippery lace.

Grassy hop nose.

Easy drinking and moderatly hoppy APA. Nothing really blowing me away here. Decent every day sorta creation. Worth a try but not something I'm dyin to go out and get more of.

Serving type: bottle

04-13-2013 16:51:27 | More by Billolick

jlindros

Massachusetts

3.7/5  rDev +9.5%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75

I was excited to try this one. I love what Pretty Things is doing with old recipes and this should be good too.

Pours a nice creamy but bubbly looking 1 finger head that tries to fade pretty quickly but keeps getting reinforced by bubbles streaming from the etch at the bottom of the SA PP glass, crystal clear toasty golden wheat colored beer.

Nose is somewhat reminiscent of Boston Lager, a light crisp malty base, but minus the lager itself, a bit of a cracked straw and doughy malt, and some nice hops, grassy and floral with faint lemongrass, light cracker grainy malt.

Taste brings malts out front again, nothing big though, a crisp lighter side drinking beer. Malts with a mild sweetness, little cracker doughy again and some toasty straw kinda thing but much lighter than the nose, and even a little chewy like. THen hops, plenty of them, grassy and chewy with a little floral and even bit earthy, and fair bitterness that ramps on the finish. The dry finish brings a little more cracker malt flavors and a decently bitter slightly earthy spicy grassy hop profile. A little crisp and fairly clean with very mild yeast flavor late on the finish too, and a faint slightly skunky taste that seems to stick somewhere on the back end of the finish.

Mouth is med bodied, tons of carb maybe a bit too much.

Overall not bad, a decent beer aside from the faint skunky thing going on there. Nice hop profile, decent malts, decent balance, overall pretty good minus the one off flavor.

Serving type: bottle

03-20-2013 23:43:27 | More by jlindros

Zorro

California

3.49/5  rDev +3.3%
look: 3.25 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 4

Pale for a pale ale looks like a lager in the glass. Light gold that is almost yellow. Small white colored head.

Smell is light malt and grassy hop. Smells like a lager too. Light toasted grain aroma.

Starts out light in body with a high carbonation level and a mineral water bite to it.

Mildly bitter it in fact again is more like a lager. Floral and grassy hops and a slight wheat cracker malt in the finish.

Mouthfeel is on the light side.

Overall it is better than the sum of all its parts. An incredibly refreshing beer, I could see this become a common visitor to my refrigerator during the summer.

Serving type: bottle

02-26-2013 03:26:32 | More by Zorro

Beerandraiderfan

Nevada

2.83/5  rDev -16.3%
look: 3.75 | smell: 2.75 | taste: 2.75 | feel: 3 | overall: 2.75

Was at the Reno total wine, as usual, the selection was more underwhelming than the last time. Figured I'd grab a six of this, why not, drink a piece of history.

Pours a nice looking pale ale, lots of golden clarity to it, mostly white colored head, right around the 1" range. Aroma was bready, but lacked the hops. First signal that this was truly an old school pale ale. While lagers may have had more ibu's back then, this pale ale cetainly did not. Nothing bad, but you know, gimme the hops.

Taste, eerily similar to Coors Banquet, which was probably the leading macro in the flavor department back then, this was like they took that beer and decided to amp its malt and hop bill by about 5%. Novel stuff back in 1976, but pretty bland by today's standards. Cool to see how things have changed and grown, but ultimately, I think a purchase of just 1 bottle would have been a better choice for me.

Serving type: bottle

02-07-2013 21:48:39 | More by Beerandraiderfan

Brad007

Vermont

4.11/5  rDev +21.6%
look: 4.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

I wasn't of drinking age when Jack McAuliffe formed the New Albion brewpub. It's interesting to see this trademark continue on as a remind of the roots of craft beer.

Pours a bright golden yellow with a two-finger head that fades quickly. More of a lager color but it suits this ale just fine.

The aroma is the quintessential american pale ale: light, buttery with just a touch of hop character around the edges. The hops remain in the background as they should.

Lots of flavor, mainly rich buttery malt and a nice, subdued grassy hop bite. Bite? More like a nip here. Flavorful. Not what I was expecting.

Ditto for the mouthfeel. Lingering baked bread dominates the mouthfeel. Very pleasant. Crisp.

Sometimes, brewers seem to forget the idea of an american pale ale being an introduction to hops in general and will often cram more hops than are necessary into such a beer. New Albion kept it simple and I'm glad to see that this recipe lives on.

Serving type: bottle

02-10-2013 02:39:28 | More by Brad007

mothman

Saskatchewan (Canada)

1.63/5  rDev -51.8%
look: 3 | smell: 1.75 | taste: 1.5 | feel: 1.5 | overall: 1.5

This beer tastes like one of two things: Old or an adjunct lager.

The main flavors in this beer are corn (or something like it) and grassy hops. It is very bland. It doesn't taste much like a pale ale.

The carbonation level is high. It is very crisp. It has a lighter body.

This beer really isn't very good. It was cool to try it, but I wouldn't drink more than 1 bottle. I don't even know if I want to finish this one.

Serving type: bottle

02-01-2013 23:34:30 | More by mothman

JohnGalt1

Idaho

3.36/5  rDev -0.6%
look: 4 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

Surprised to see this on the shelf tonight at Brewer's Haven... Pours a brilliant clear golden... long lasting white head... nice lacing.

Nose is malty with something that reminds me of adjuncts, but not sure... a small bit of spicy hoppiness.

Flavor is on the sweet side with just enough bitterness to barely balance... hoppy flavors are again spicy, with possibly a citrus edge.

Body is on the heavy side, carbonation is small bubble and every present...

Interesting, pretty drinkable... Very cool to see a redux of such a trailblazer.

Cheers to Jim Koch and especially Jack McAuliffe.

Despite my lackluster (but honest) review, it is easy to see how this would have been a mindblower 30 years ago.

4/3.25/3.25/3.5/3.5

Serving type: bottle

01-14-2013 04:57:23 | More by JohnGalt1

mactrail

California

3.61/5  rDev +6.8%
look: 3.25 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.25

A flowery, resiny, sweet fantasy of a Pale Ale. So user-friendly I was three-quarters down the pint glass before I thought to make any notes.

Starts out lemon-tinged pale golden color, with a modest head. The carbonation dissipates, however, and ends up nearly flat before you've finished. On the plus side is the prefumey hop note coupled with a pleasant malty sweetness. A little sctratchy note of hops with just a touch of bitterness. Aromatic nose of grain and gardenias.

Get one of these for Tinker Bell. On tap at the recently opened Fathom in San Diego.

Serving type: on-tap

03-03-2013 05:49:57 | More by mactrail

Stinkypuss

Pennsylvania

3.55/5  rDev +5%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75

New Albion Ale

LOOK: Pours a rich golden color, white foam cap that has some longevity. Little lacing on the pint.

SMELL: Standard aroma of a clean grainy maltyness.

TASTE: Biscuity pale malts are the primary flavor, with a light herbal hop touch. A touch of tangy yeast, and quite bready. Lager like, but very clean and refreshing.

FEEL: Light bodied, with a fullness of malt providing good depth. This is a well brewed beer.

OVERALL: A simple, straightforward beer, but not without its merits. A 12 pack of this in a cooler during the summer sounds like a worthwhile endeavor.

Serving type: bottle

03-19-2013 22:11:12 | More by Stinkypuss

ZAP

Minnesota

3.21/5  rDev -5%
look: 3.25 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.25

A-Apple cider colored...creamy white head...a lot of carbonation bubbles.

S-More of a subtle floral/herbal take on the hops...sweetish sugar cookie like maltiness

T-Basic pale ale without a lot of flavor assertiveness...the floral/herbal hops and malts blend into a sweeter type of pale ale...not much bitterness on this one...

M-A bit overcarbonated but firm body..

O-Nothing memorable about this one but nothing bad either....basic easy drinking sweeter pale ale...

Serving type: bottle

02-24-2013 01:57:28 | More by ZAP

Tone

Missouri

3.58/5  rDev +5.9%
look: 4.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75

Pours a clear, gold color. 5/4 inch head of a white color. Great retention and great lacing. Smells of sweet malt, strong pale malt, slight hop, hint of rice, hint of lemon, and a hint of sugar. Fits the style of an American Pale Ale. Mouth feel is sharp and clean, with a low carbonation level. Tastes of sweet malt, pale malt, slight rice, and slight hop. Overall, great appearance, decent aroma, feel, and body; light and session-able.

Serving type: bottle

04-12-2013 13:43:24 | More by Tone

beertunes

Washington

3.13/5  rDev -7.4%
look: 3.25 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

Poured into 9oz pils glass. Poured a lightly hazy, very light gold color, about the same color as a nice Pilsener, much lighter than most Pale Ale's, with about an inch of white head that had OK retention and and very light lace. The beer really liked like a nice lager.

The aroma was an even, balanced blend of light grains and gentle hops, nothing really stood out, either good or bad. The flavors started out a bit grain forward,were mostly evenly balanced throughout the majority of the beer, and had a lightly bright hop finish.

The body was mostly light and even, but there was just a bit of stickiness at the back that was a bit unpleasant. Drinkability was pretty good, you could have several of these during a session. Overall, a nice enough little brew, nothing worth going out of your way for, but worth grabbing if you see it.

Serving type: bottle

02-19-2013 23:55:18 | More by beertunes