Tasting Notes: Alesmith: X

Alesmith: X (USA: American Pale Ale: 5% ABV)

Visual: Golden with medium loose froth bubbles head that is just slightly off white. The main body is slightly bitty which makes me think that I should have left the bottle a touch longer before pouring.

Nose: Hop oils. Prickly gooseberries. Toffee and shortbread. Fresh and citrus. Pineapple.

Body: Good bitterness. Gooseberry and elderberry. Grapefruit. Slight sour grapes, Rough hop feel at times. Peppermint. Feels quite dry. Pineapple. Vanilla yogurt in a lightly sweet fashion. If allowed to warm has more custard cream and apricot sweetness.

Finish: Bitter, yet with lots of fresh elderberry. Slight mouthwash and peppermint. Hop oil.

Conclusion: First point. Extra does not start with an X , therefore using it to call this an eXtra Pale Ale is just annoying. Second point. Extra Pale Ale? What, your beer is paler than other pale beers? Who are you marketing to, white supremacists?

Ok, ok, I’ve got that out of my system now. The beer is definitely on the dry end of the pale ales, feeling highly attenuated as it is.  A feel that is both reinforced and contrasted by the flavours. The elderberry and gooseberry flavours are the main part when chilled, and while slightly tart in contrast to the dryness, it seems to contribute to the dehydrating feel of drinking, hence reinforcing and contrasting.

Some times the flavours can push a bit past that into a peppermint and almost mouthwash experience. Light but still not elements I quite appreciate. They show mainly in the finish but it still puts a slightly disjointed element to the flavour.

A pity as the beer has good characteristics otherwise, with an almost NZ like feel to the hops usage. There is good bitterness that complements the dryness without feeling excessive. The vanilla styled sweetness is well understated. It is well crafted, but the main flavour elements feel misused slightly. Never so much as to be unpleasant, but it keeps it from being truly enticing

It is a beer I wish I could say more good about as the polish of the implementation is such that even with the slight off elements on flavours it is easily drinkable.  Better warm than cold, the additional sweetness that comes seems to remove a lot of what I found negative about it. When I criticise here it is not so much it is a bad beer, but I feel that it lets down its potential.

Still, it is a pleasant pale ale, with just a slight wrong path of flavour, not even bad for the most part, just ill suited to the dry character here. A very dry and slightly tart beer of impressive style but slightly underwhelming choice of main flavour

Background: Picked up from Brewdog’s guest beer section, seriously that place is getting too much of my money. Not too much to say on this one. Alesmith have a huge rep, so far I’ve found their beers good but not exceptional with the exception of the awesome Old Numbskull, but they have had enough quality to them they I’m always happy to try more of their beers.