#9 - Magic Hat

Before this post I have a few small comments. 1.) I have known a good deal of people to enjoy this beer, so I figured I should give it a try. 2.) Magic Hat calls this a "not quite pale ale"...not sure what that means but it should be interesting in some way. 3.) Really Magic Hat...REALLY? Your website is MagicHat.net...a quick google search doesn't seem to indicate that magichat.com was taken...soooooo....WTF mate? Anyways...as Michael Bolton says in the Lonely Island "Jack Sparrow" video..."now back to the good part!"

Vitals:

Name: #9

Style: American Pale Ale

IBU: 20

ABV: 5.1%

Gravity: 11.8 deg. Plato

Purchased at: Trixie's Liquor BYO 6-pack

Descriptions:

Appearance: Pours a brilliant copper color with about half a finger of head. Pretty clear beer with light carbonation bubbles. The head flees the scene immediately but leaves a nice thin filmy off-white cap on the beer. Slight lacing here, but not much.

Smell: Fruity, mostly. Apricot and peaches on the nose; you get a very slight whiff of pale malt, but almost no hops whatsoever. Judging from the smell and the IBUs I expect this to be a fruitier ale than an APA; don't expect much hop bite, which is disappointing.

Taste: This tastes like someone mixed a mildly disappointing APA with a fruit beer. This is a perfect example of a beer that just doens't come together well. The peach doesn't come through; you get some apricot but it doesn't mesh well with the malt really and you get some hop bitterness at the end with virtually no good hop flavor. You get some piney notes, but not much else. The after taste is pretty awful; soapy and metallic.

Mouthfeel: Very light beer, but not a lot of carbonation. You don't get a good hop flavor like I mentioned, but you get a scraping sensation on your tongue and the feeling sticks with you.

Overall Grade: D

Comments: I was looking forward to this because I'd heard a lot of people who liked it. This beer sucks (IMHO); some beers come together so well and others just don't. It's hard to describe, but you get it in the experience of drinking it. This beer just does not come together at ALL. I would avoid this at all costs if you can help it...

Cheers,

Hurls