Sam Adam's Pale Ale

      Another Pale Ale to look at while I'm on the subject.  It pours out a nice medium gold, very different from the Kirkland's.  There is a lot of lovely caramel here with a whiff of hop.  This is actually pretty crisp with a fair amount of hop up front.  However that quickly subsides and the nice caramels come out.  Again, on the finish you get a bit more  hop.  This is a bit hop heavy, but I like it, you can at least discern the other flavors.  This is a decent Pale Ale that I might drink again, but I would not seek it out.

Pike Heirloom Amber Ale

      Once again I'm grabbing a big bottle of Pike.  Their stuff has been so good I have a hard time resisting.  Heirloom pours out a classic amber and has scents of rich caramel and herbal bitter hop.  This stuff has lots of rich caramels up front, than the hops come up very strong.  However they don't overwhelm the other flavors.  This is an excellent example of a very hop heavy beer that still has balance of flavors.  This is crisp, refreshing and flavorful.  I could drink this stuff all day.  Pike once again has produced a real winner, and if it wasn't for their undrinkable stout they would have a perfect record. Go get it.

Carolina Pale Ale

This pale ale is brought to us courtesy of the Carolina Brewing Company, not to be confused with the Carolina Beer Company. This beer pours out a clear medium gold. The nose has citrus and some mild hop bitters. First impression, much heartier than I expected, nice body. There is a touch of citrus perhaps, but notably rich caramel. There's more hop bitterness up front than I thought there would be, but it's very brief jolt before the other flavors hit. There's some nice hop on the finish as well. This is a very balanced, flavorful beer. This is one of the better American style pale ales I have had. I would think this is a versatile beer, good with food, great for general entertaining during any season. Nice.

Carolina Brewing Co.

New Belgium Mighty Arrow

This is the second of the non-N.C. New Belgium beers for our drinking pleasure. Mighty Arrow Pale Ale is apparently a Spring beer, although I had to go to their website to figure that out. It pours out a clear medium gold, not very pale. The nose is well, a lot of bitter hop. There's also some honey apple scents, although well disguised. I feared the hops would overwhelm, but it's better than I thought. Yes, there is a lot of hop up front and a momentary bitter rush on the finish, but you can also taste this nice bittersweet honeysuckle flavor. This is a very crisp beer with a nice medium body. It's quite refreshing. I thought this beer might be good with a variety of foods, so I raided the fridge and was proved correct. This is a solid beer, but sits on the edge of balance, a little more hop would have ruined it. Worth a try. Next up, my rant.

http://www.newbelgium.com/

Left Hand Jackman's American Pale Ale

The Left Hand Brewing Company out of Longmont, Colorado, brings us Jackman's American Pale Ale. Jackman's pours a lovely golden amber color with a nice creamy head. There's a little bit of fruit on the nose along with hop bitterness. There is a lot of bitter hop up front which sort of mellows out to reveal a little lightly toasted malt and yeast. My first impression of this beer is that it's over-hopped. That isn't necessarily about quantity, but about balance. And this beer is a little unbalanced. But, hop crazy beers seem to be in fashion, so if you like those you would like this. Otherwise this is a straight up well crafted ale. O.K. but not exciting, this is really what a standard mass market beer should be but isn't. The name is a little suspect to me .Jack man, Than a left hand reference, weird.