American Pale

What ho! Time for another evening now that there is less rain and it's been a long day (when isn't it a long day?). No matter, the night has drawn in and the car is charged, work has been done, sometimes having to do things twice because I have a memory like a sieve. Also because I am inefficient and my room is far from tidy, but I digress. Tonight I am continuing with my ignorance of the time of year and my apparent obsession with beer that comes in 330ml cans for reasons. It is, of course, the turn of Fourpure Brewing Co.'s American Pale in a lovely green can.

All that and we have a wood-burning stove (not currently fired) and furniture has been moved around to be better used. It is a disjointed look at my home life and make no mistake. Another addition to Tryanuary. Would you like to know more?



Straight away it opens beautifully and the aroma is very nice on the pour. Good head develops and sticks around but rapidly begins to thin and disappear. I really like the cans, I think, because they allow for such an easy pour and they are better in some ways than the bottles - mainly because the measures are smaller and I can monkey around with the angle a little more easily. I think mainly I like the idea that it is relatively new and such. I am a bit of an advertiser's dream I know. No matter. The tropical hops quickly dominate with plenty of grapefruit and hints of tropical fruits abounding. I think there's a touch of mango and maybe something like passionfruit but I'm not certain. At least Willow agrees that this is rather tropical and I think I can go with that. Nice aspect to it, a bit coppery, but with a reddish hue that actually makes me think of a tropical fruit juice and I suspect that this is deliberately done. The head peels back to remain a worty scrub and there isn't much in the way of carbonation, allowing this to behave more like a pulled ale but without the creamy texture that often comes with that delivery method.

On to the tongue, this pours like a less citrus-y version of other APAs that I have had. Opening with that grapefruit hit and a skein of bubbles before rolling into a nicely balanced malt and some fresh almost citra like hoppiness in the middle. It keeps a dryness over the whole affair, like a blast of air from an equatorial desert by way of some fruiting rainforest trees. It's nice, quick and without any nonsense. Following a highly flavoured chinese-style dish that I concocted with plenty of tobasco sauce, this performs rather well, beating the burnt out nature of the aftermath of that hot food and yet not rolling into domination either. Good down the sides, but a pretty slick mouthfeel without getting full or thin, and then back to the aftertaste where the fruit remains but dried out and ready for putting into some kind of bready pudding. The carbonation is a shallow affair, quick to crest and then drift away in the middle of the taste, leaving the hops to work unaided by yeast or alcohol, though this is a strong one at 5% ABV and this is not to be underestimated.

It works well as I go through it too, plenty of variety and variation in the taste and the way it works so that I don't get too bored nor too comfortable. I can see that I shall be having many more of these yet and that the canned delivery method is worth seeking out in future. It does rather make me feel that I missed out a little by not sampling their wares back in Leeds that time (click here) and feel that I ought to be getting more in. I have an IPA of theirs on standby too, so that should be a good one to enjoy.

This American Pale is definitely the sort of ale to have of an evening. You don't savour it nor wonder at its complexity. There is no subtlety and no attempt to make this a rarefied and interesting experience. This is proper sessionable ale with a good taste to it, a good use of hops and something just interesting enough to set a party going or else chill out with a good board game like Catan or somesuch. In a group this ale would do well, the sort of get tongues moving and people loosened up enough to have the big debates and chats. For me, in the living room, it's enough to unwind a little bit without getting sozzled and useless. A tad over-priced, even on offer, but I'm not going to complain as I like the grapefruit and the tropical hops it provides.