Monday Beer Review of The Week: Tap Room 21

This week I tried Tap Room 21′s Pale Ale with one of our other reviewers, AlexisArlington which gave us mixed results about the beer. To be honest we had differing views on this beer, I thought it was middle of the road while my colleague thought it was an excellent beer. Therefore, we will dive right into it and let you be the judge of this pale ale. I poured it into a small glass to check color and aroma; I did like the color reddish amber color when it poured. However, it gave off very little aroma and almost no head which tells me two things, it has a weak flavor and will warm quickly. Now the real debate comes in the flavor profile, I thought the flavor of Tap Room 21’s Pale Ale was rather weak for the style, that the hopps and barely should have been more pronounced and that the yeast and grapefruit notes were too forward. However, Alexis really enjoyed those aspects of the beer, “if you are just getting into IPAs this is a good starting point”. This is definitely a good summer beer, but it is not a beer that either of us would sit back with and drink more than one. In the end, it comes down to the fact that each person needs to try it and decide for yourself.

Rating:

• Drinkability – 3 out of 5
• Flavor – 3 out of 5
• Refreshness – 3 out of 5
• Smell – 1 out of 5
• Overall – 10 out of 20
• Price –$7.99 per six pack
• ABV – 5.3%
• Style – Pale Ale

Monday Beer Review Of The Week: Arcadia Sky High Rye

Arcadia’s Sky High Rye is an excellent spring/summer beer to sit back on warm summer evening and watch the sunset while chilling with some friends. It has an initial mellow flavor of sweet hops and then a strong citrus flavor on the back-end that is almost grapefruit in sourness. I tried this beer while helping my buddy Gino refinishing his basement, this pale ale was super cold, between the chill and floral aroma that comes off the beer, I found this drink to be very refreshing and energizing.  While being only 6.0% ABV it packs a great flavor without a the big alcoholic punch that some pale ales provide. I really enjoyed this pale ale, it was very crisp and refreshing and as I stated before would be a great spring and/or summer beer that I think would go very well with burgers or ribs, heck I would just drink this for the meal and just enjoy the sunsets.

Rating:
• Drinkability - 4 out of 5
• Flavor - 5 out of 5
• Refreshness - 4 out of 5
• Overall – 13 out of 15

Monday Beer Review Of The Week: Roscoe’s Hopp House – Pale Ale

I was at my local beer store day the other day, which is a pretty decent beer store, there is a better beer place in my area, but this store has a good selection, prices and is a family owned business. Anyways, I was looking around the coolers and shelves for something and interesting to try beer wise. That is when I ran across Roscoe’s Hopp House,Pale Ale variety. I am a big fan of pale ales so I thought this might be cool to try and so I purchased it and took it home. I cracked open on the pale ales and poured it into a pilsner glass, it poured with a very light color similar to that of a lager and a short head giving off a strong wheat aroma.. This beer while having a pungent flavor could be hard to pair with milder foods, leaving it best paired with steaks and other strong flavors. In the end this is a great beer, if you can find it and like pale ales, give it a try.

Rating:
• Drinkability - 3 out of 5
• Flavor - 3 out of 5
• Refreshness - 3 out of 5
• Overall – 9 out of 15

Monday Beer Review Of The Weeks: Bell’s Pale Ale

Bell’s Brewery is one of my favorite Michigan based breweries, I have been a long time fan of the their Oberon beer. Well, I know have another one of their beers to add to my top ten list; Bell’s Pale Ale. This pale has  a very distinctive flavor, vibrant bitter hopps and wheat taste. Bell’s Pale Ale pours with a wheat aroma and thick head holding in the flavor and temperature. This is definitely a beer that should be kept in the beer fridge or on tap at all good drinking establishments and household watering holes.

Monday Beer Review Of The Week: Michigan Brewing Company Machinac Pale Ale

So those of you that read this blog on even a semi-regular basis know that I am a big fan of Michigan microbreweries, there is something about the creative spirit of those of us from Michigan that I love and who can’t help but to support their local breweries. Michigan Brewing Company’s Mackinac Pale Ale is a very interesting beer to this reviewer. This is very tasty American style pale ale, with the characteristic stronger flavors that Strong Pale Ales typically have; the pale malt flavor really hits you in your first sip or two. Then as you drink more a slightly hop flavor comes out, but unfortunately this is very much a background flavor. Mackinac Pale Ale pours with a very light head to hit and very little aroma, which is surprising considering that most American Pale Ales which have such a strong and prevailing flavor profile. The flavors of this pale ale would work really well with the rich flavor and texture of salmon, I recommend a recipe found at the Food Network; Honey-Soy Broiled Salmon.

Rating:
• Drinkability - 4 out of 5
• Flavor - 4 out of 5
• Refreshness - 3 out of 5
• Overall – 11 out of 15