English Bay Pale Ale - Granville Island Brewery

TerryW

Ontario (Canada)

2.1/5  rDev -32.9%
look: 3 | smell: 2 | taste: 2 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 2

Pours clear dark amber red with next to no head, just a ring to show. Unremarkable.

Don't like the smell. Comes across as an industrial brew, nothing inviting about it. Taste is pretty much absent. Mouth feel is slightly spritzy and metallic. Unpleasant tinny, bitter finish.

Not much pale ale about this at all. A poor effort. Macro-style.

Serving type: bottle

08-14-2012 00:06:39 | More by TerryW

MisterClean

California

2.13/5  rDev -31.9%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 2 | feel: 1.5 | overall: 1.5

A - Pours samber-golden, bit of head, which dissipates fast. Loaded with carbonation.

S - Amber malts, caramel, and honey. Good for a Pale Ale, but almost resembles an amber or a lager minus the amber malts.

T - Honey and caramel, lots of earthy hops (relative of saaz I'd guess).

M - Awful. Bitter and too sweet.

D - Couldn't finish. Taste and mouthfeel leave more to be desired.

Serving type: can

06-28-2008 03:52:33 | More by MisterClean

donniecuffs

New Jersey

2.85/5  rDev -8.9%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3

Had this at Joe Forte's Restaurant on a recent trip to Vancouver. Poured copper with two fingers of offwhite head and great lacing. Decent amount of biscuit and malt in the nose, but not much else. The taste revealed biscuit toast and walnut, but not much fruitiness or hoppiness. Not much of a finish either. Not much carbonation in the feel, but it was smooth, and the nice head retention added a subtle creaminess to it. Decent session beer, but definitely needs a more robust flavor profile.

Serving type: on-tap

07-13-2010 21:47:15 | More by donniecuffs

atigerlife

Hawaii

3.43/5  rDev +9.6%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 3 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5

Pours an amber color. Clear. No carbonation rising. Small white head that is creamy. Good lacing.

Aroma is sweet, malts, yeast.

Taste is crisp, light hops, bready and sweet. Somewhat bland.

Mouthfeel is light/medium. Smooth and creamy and cleansing.

Overall, a decent brew. Somewhat lacking in flavor, but very sessionable.

Serving type: on-tap

05-27-2012 21:37:33 | More by atigerlife

MeisterBurger

Ontario (Canada)

2.68/5  rDev -14.4%
look: 4 | smell: 3 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 2.5

Pours a rich clear caramel amber topped by a lively head that laces well.

The aroma is caramel and a tinge of halitosis.

The taste is mostly minerally carbonation with light caramel malt. Not overly pleasant peaty, earthy yeastiness in the finish

Light body. Like it's watered down. Meh.

This is a beer that just is. There isn't a single way in which it stands out.

Serving type: bottle

07-14-2011 01:22:47 | More by MeisterBurger

mickeymac

California

3.5/5  rDev +11.8%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

This seems to be the beer of choice at many restaurants and bars in Vancouver. I tried it on tap at several and found it to be a solid but unexciting selection. It has a slightly fruity taste with enough hops to keep things interesting: a middle of the road pale ale to be sure. On this bright side, it would probably make a good crossover beer for friends looking to move into better beers from macros.

Serving type: on-tap

08-08-2004 06:32:10 | More by mickeymac

thehyperduck

Ontario (Canada)

3.23/5  rDev +3.2%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

341 mL bottle pulled from a six-pack bought at the LCBO. No packaging date apparent, but this hasn't been in the store very long - so even considering the shipping distance, I doubt it's past its prime.

Pours a translucent amber-copper colour, topped with nearly a finger of frothy, off-white head. Retention is weak; the head is gone before a minute has passed, leaving only an uneven, soapy cap behind on the surface. Decent aroma that leans toward the malty side; bready malts, toffee and nuts are dominant, with some fruity esters rounding out the nose. A little buttery.

So far this reminds me more of an English-style pale ale, and the taste seems to confirm it. Lightly toasted, bready malt backbone, with hints of caramel. A very mild, buttery, nutty flavour. The hops are not the center of attention here but they do come forward in the finish, providing flavours that range from an earthy, leafy bitterness to a slightly citrusy one. Malty, minerally, slightly dry aftertaste that doesn't linger long. On the heavier side of thin-bodied, with mild carbonation and a creamy mouthfeel. A little watery, but enjoyable enough.

The influence of English brewing traditions is obvious - I would be most comfortable calling this an EPA, but even 'amber' or 'brown' would probably be more appropriate than APA. That being said, it's not a particularly impressive pale ale, regardless of style.

Final Grade: 3.23, about a C+. A decent Canadian interpretation of English pub fare. I'd drink this again if offered, but it's not something most beer geeks are going to want to seek out. Give this a try if it piques your interest, but if you're looking for a quality EPA you're better off trying something from across the pond. I'd be happy to re-review this if I ever find myself in BC, where it's more likely to be fresh.

Update: Retried this on 8/19/2012 (via Molson's hand-picked 6 sampler pack), and was a bit less impressed than last time so I lowered the score a bit. The aroma is a bit bland, and the mouthfeel is less creamy/more watery than I remember. Not planning to revisit this one unless I happen upon a tap somewhere.

Serving type: bottle

03-17-2012 22:56:03 | More by thehyperduck

slitherySOB

Ontario (Canada)

2.73/5  rDev -12.8%
look: 2.75 | smell: 2.75 | taste: 2.75 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 2.75

Probably the weakest beer in their mix pack, this pale ale has no hops whatsoever. Pours a clear caramel colour with one fingers worth of head that barely lasts. Smells of sweet malts, biscuits, and cinnamon. Tastes more biscuit than the smell. Medium body mouthfeel and kind of dry in the finish. A beer I will not be seeking a sixer of, but if they served it at the bar, I'd drink it.

Serving type: bottle

03-31-2013 19:15:50 | More by slitherySOB

jackorain

Pennsylvania

2.48/5  rDev -20.8%
look: 4 | smell: 2 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 2

Had this at the hotyel bar on a recent business trip to Vancouver.

A-Dark amber, clear. Thick foamy head with very good retention and great lace. A very attractive glass of beer

S-Caramel malt biascuit malt, no hops to speak of on the nose. very mild aroma overall.

T-Carmel malt, biscuit malt, toffee, a hint of coffee. Very malty character. This part was not bad. However, the floral and earthy hop that follow have an odd funky off taste along with them. This off taste continues to linger for quite a long time. There is not the tradition mild hop bite and bitterness expected with an APA.

M-medium body. Smooth but prickly carbonation another dicotomy.

D-I couldn't drink another.

Serving type: on-tap

07-28-2007 16:52:38 | More by jackorain

Noxious26

Saskatchewan (Canada)

3.18/5  rDev +1.6%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

355ml can poured in mug.

Clear, copper-amber colour. Head 1/2 inch beige-orange. Head reduces quickly to a thin layer.

Aroma is sweet & a little fruity. Slightly malty with little hops in background.

Taste is sweet with roasted malts. Perhaps a little too sweet for a pale ale. Smooth. Has a mild bitter bite to the aftertaste that lingers for awhile.

Medium bodied mouthfeel that is well balanced.

This is easy drinking and mild in taste, but not what I usually expect from a pale ale. This isn't a bad beer, but it isn't great either. Another middle of the road beer for Granville Island.

Serving type: can

06-22-2005 03:17:44 | More by Noxious26

leaddog

Alberta (Canada)

3.61/5  rDev +15.3%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

Appearance- Pours a light copper brown with a 1/4 finger of bubbly head.

Smell- Caramalts, hint of vanilla, light earthy hops.

Taste- Caramalts, light earthy hops, and a touch of butteriness.

Mouthfeel- Medium bodied with light to moderate carbonation. Pleasant smoothness to the body.

Overall- A fairly tasty pale ale by Granville with a good caramalt backbone. This brew has some characteristics that lean towards the EPA classification rather than an APA.

Serving type: bottle

05-04-2013 03:47:03 | More by leaddog

trevorwideman

Manitoba (Canada)

3.2/5  rDev +2.2%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 4

355ml can sample poured into a pint glass.

Not a bad looking brew. Pours a coppery-red colour with a 1/2 inch head that dissipates quick. Mild carbonation. Smell is swwet, but not overly so. Very much an apple juice/apple cider type smell with a little pear and roasted malt for good measure. Not much in the way of a hop presence here I'm afraid, but still smells good.

Taste is inoffensive but a little bit boring in that respect. Not terrible though, the apple juice character remains, with a sugary caramel malt presence coming to the forefront, and a slight acidity on the tongue. Where oh where are the hops? This an incredibly easy-drinking ale, more fitting in the British style than the American, with a creamy, slightly watery mouthfeel. Really slides down like water. I usually prefer a heavier ale style, but I could easliy down pints of this on a night out.

Serving type: can

09-23-2006 00:41:53 | More by trevorwideman

CrazyMike

Alberta (Canada)

3.13/5  rDev 0%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.5

Clear amber/copper appearance with thick white head that sticks around for a while. Smell is mostly of bread, hops and caramel.

Taste is mainly made up of bread and caramel malt, has a hint of grain and sweetness as well. Thin, but buttery, body with moderate carbonation. Strange combination. Aftertaste is bitter.

Overall, not a bad beer. It is drinkable and refreshing, but the body is to light. Kind of waters down the rest of the taste. Still, worth a try.

Serving type: bottle

03-08-2011 04:25:10 | More by CrazyMike

GodOfBeer

Ontario (Canada)

3.5/5  rDev +11.8%
look: 4.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5

Very nice looking dark amber with a thick white head.

Smells slightly nutty and malty, some caramel. Nothing really stands out here.

The taste is pretty much the same, nutty, caramel malts, nothing to really write home about.

More like a nut brown ale than a pale ale, needs more hops. Nonetheless not a bad beer, but not something I would buy again.

Serving type: bottle

07-23-2011 23:30:52 | More by GodOfBeer

Converge

Alberta (Canada)

3.7/5  rDev +18.2%
look: 3 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

Alright, I've had this beer a few times now, and it seems like every time I do, I'm getting something completely different. So, I figured now that I seem to have a better idea of what this beer really is, I should come back and do a proper review for it.

341ml bottle poured into a 16oz pint glass.

A - Rather aggressive pour yields a fizzy, light-tan head that's just under one finger and fizzles out fast. Darkish amber-orange in hue, and looks pretty good.

S - A wealth of different warm malt aromas upfront, with a slightly citrusy hops scent looming in the background. It's got a really nice caramel malt thing going on, with some bready and buttery malt complimenting it perfectly.

T - There are times when I've had this beer and it's tasted like a malty masterpiece, and others when it's had a delicious kick of hops in it. This time, it tastes like almost nothing. Is it just this well balanced? This has got to be one the most inconsistent beers I've tried in my lifetime, yet I seem to keep coming back for more. Although it doesn't taste like a lot this time around, there are times when it has an absolute barrage of tasty malt flavors. The warm, bread & butter malt is still present, as is the caramel malt, but it's not as well defined as it can be. As an extension of this, I detect almost zero hops in the finish, despite having a well-hopped bottle of this just last week...

M - Medium carbonation, with medium-to-light body. Nothing exceptional, but fitting. Really easy to drink. Sort of leaves a buttery feel in your mouth afterwards.

D - I really don't know what to make of this beer still. Although it seems to possess a really inconsistent quality from bottle-to-bottle, I still enjoy it every time. It really tastes incredibly simple, without much complexities at all, but something about the malty flavor just appeals to me so much.

Serving type: bottle

08-13-2011 07:25:13 | More by Converge

Seanstoppable

Nova Scotia (Canada)

2.93/5  rDev -6.4%
look: 3.5 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

Received a number of cans from Granville Island Brewery from a friend over the holidays. The is the last of the varieties I had to sample.

Pours a dark amber color, bordering on read, with plenty of head. Some head quickly evaporates, but it then settles to about a finger for a while. Minimal lacing left on the glass.

Slight malt scent, but that is about it.

Taste is fairly simple. Some mild caramel malts. Very light. Slightly watery.

Overall, it is drinkable and it does have some flavor, but overall it is fairly bland. Decent, but not something I would choose unless my options were limited.

Serving type: can

01-01-2010 23:55:01 | More by Seanstoppable

bryehn

Ontario (Canada)

2.8/5  rDev -10.5%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

Pours a rusty amber tone with a definite brown tone. A sizeable, frothy tan head burns off quickly leaving no lace behind before settling as a thin film and collar.

Smells of nuts and fresh grains, with mild butter, alcohol and ripened fruit notes taking shape as it warms.

Tastes of buttery toffee before a solid nuttiness takes over. Very sweet in the finish with an odd, cloying metallic tinge to it.

Very thin and watery overall. Slightly yeasty, creamy feeling on the tongue comes from a light carbonation and long-lasting collar. Oddly sour sensation in the aftertaste.

A thoroughly unimpressive beer that meanders somewhere between a brown ale, an amber and an American pale ale. The metallic/sour finish and aftertaste are enough to keep me from buying it again.

Serving type: bottle

08-22-2011 16:58:29 | More by bryehn

Cwrw

Alberta (Canada)

3.43/5  rDev +9.6%
look: 3 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.5

English Bay Pale Ale is actually not that pale, but coppery, with slight browns and reds. The head was quite minimal, leaving only a small ring. For an English-based pale ale, the small head is not wholly surprising(after all, many of the ales in Britain are not meant to have massive frothy heads). The appearance, however, is simply average; nothing exciting to note. The aroma is worth savouring, although basic in its elements: sweet caramel and malt, with various, dried fruit smells, and perceptible hop, WHEN the beer is a bit warmer, not extremely cold. A very decent aroma for a pale ale, indeed. The taste is quite good, better than average, with strong malt flavour and subtle hop finish, but it is by far a malty offering, not a bitter one. Medium bodied. The mouthfeel could improve somewhat, in that it could be more full, but all considered the drinkability of this craft-brewed British Columbia beer is a touch above the rest. A healthy beer from a respected craft-brewer on the Canadian west coast.

Serving type: bottle

01-30-2004 10:35:01 | More by Cwrw

mick303

Ontario (Canada)

2.98/5  rDev -4.8%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 3

Beer is a auburn brown in colour, with slight lacing.

Smell is of light malts, a light fruitiness.

This has a flavour of light caramelized malts, quite light on the palate, slightly watery. Refreshing flavour but could be more interesting, bit of fruitiness as well. Mouthfeel felt a bit lacking, flavour was alright and drinkable, but didn't really showcase itself as anything special.

Serving type: bottle

07-24-2012 01:34:43 | More by mick303

Mit

Ontario (Canada)

3.18/5  rDev +1.6%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

a-Amber red colour....light head that doesn't last that long.

s-very slight bready notes....faint malt....very subdued.

t-very faint spicey hoppiness..very much an english pale style beer.

m-about average for the abv.

o-Overall this beer was decent. I would grab it again.

Serving type: bottle

09-11-2011 03:09:45 | More by Mit

vanrassel

Alberta (Canada)

3.38/5  rDev +8%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

Highly drinkable, though unremarkable offering from Granville Island.

It looked decent coming out of the bottle, pouring a dark copper with a foamy head that quickly reduced to a ring and left some sticky lace on my glass. The smell was subdued, despite what seemed to be a few different things contributing to it: biscuity malt, some nice fruity esters — I picked up apple and pear, but who knows? — and faint hops.

My first impressions of the taste were uncharitable: that this is a pretty nondescript beer. Given more time to sample and think about it, I'd say "well-balanced" would be a more diplomatic way of putting it.

There are some real pluses to this beer: a nice lively mouthfeel and clean finish, but in this case I think "well-balanced" is a drawback: as someone else mentioned, this beer is a little malty for the style — I would have preferred more of a hoppy bite. That, in turn, would have won me over.

Serving type: bottle

03-19-2006 18:44:04 | More by vanrassel

BierStein711

Illinois

2.98/5  rDev -4.8%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 2.5

You don't need to have this beer.

What you have here is a silly attempt at an APA, but there is not enough hop.

Amber in color, off white head that lasts for a minute.

Smells of carmel malt

Tastes like stale biscuits.

Not a beer worth your time as it is very watery.

Overall, don't seek out this beer. Have Rickyard's Blonde

Serving type: on-tap

09-09-2012 05:55:48 | More by BierStein711

JanM

Sweden

3.65/5  rDev +16.6%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Poured in an amber nuance with a peculiar but not unpleasant smell. Not much foam in the pint. The taste was sweet and caramel with strong bread/biscuit notes kicking in after a while. Notes of green apple too. Although the taste is rather different from a mainstream pale ale, it is not bad and gives the brew a personality.

Serving type: on-tap

08-25-2007 10:07:56 | More by JanM

Hornet2003

British Columbia (Canada)

3.2/5  rDev +2.2%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 4

This is a clean, crisp tasting beer. Slight caramel aroma. Not too much hops to speak of. Being a pale ale I would have expected more. There is a slight hop flavor in the taste, but very little compared to your average american craft pale ale. Moderate carbonation and light mouthfeel make this a very drinkable beer. Nothing really special, but I guess it makes a good hockey game beer. I prefer their seasonal beers over the year round ones but it's tought o find much wrong with this beer.

Serving type: bottle

02-08-2007 01:24:49 | More by Hornet2003

prosper

Alberta (Canada)

2.25/5  rDev -28.1%
look: 3 | smell: 2 | taste: 2 | feel: 2 | overall: 3

this stuff is ubiquitous throughout the lower mainlaind. I've had it before, and remember that I wasn't impressed, so haven't ordered it. I decided to try it again today, and again - not impressed. It's downright boring. An ale, designed to compete in a field characterized as 'boring,' to sell alongside the light lagers and such.

it's a penny-coloured ale, with a decent white head, and virtually no aroma. What is there reminds me of pool water - a slight chlorine-ish whiff, and some grainy grass. Flavour is not much different - clean and unexciting. Some caramel and slight raisin-y malt, but not too much. Very light bittering, and no hop flavour or aroma. Very light, spritzy body with a lot of carbonation.

I'll take a pass on this next time. Uninteresting, boring - take the opportunity to try whatever else is available.

Serving type: on-tap

09-18-2009 04:55:57 | More by prosper