Rich’s Pale Ale 2.0 Tasting Notes
Rich’s Pale Ale 2.0(US-05) Tasting Notes:
Appearance: Pours a deep orange with shades of brown. A one finger slightly off white head dissipates slowly leaving the glass rimmed with lacing.
Smell: Strong orange and grapefruit, piney and resinous, subtle floral notes accompany a slight malt sweetness.
Taste: Smooth clean sweetness with a mild hop bite on the initial sip, complemented nicely by a moderate hop medley of citrus and pine. Finishes with a hint of herbs and orange, a lingering bitterness and hints of carmel round out the flavor profile.
Mouthfeel: Moderately carbonated, feels somewhat thin, nice interplay of hop aromatics and malt sweetness with a slight edge towards the hops.
Drinkability & Notes: This being the second version of my pale ale I was able to tweak the recipe, specifically in the addition of a touch more crystal malt in hopes of achieving a better balance. This version is definitely more balanced than the first and the hop aromas align closer to those found in some of the popular commercial examples of the style. In the first recipe I used CTZ and Summit which were a bit too aggressive in both bitterness and aroma and pushed the beer towards the upper limits of the Pale Ale range. These tasting notes are from the SafeAle-05 fermented batch, which is evident by the extremely clean fermentation. There are no noticeable yeast flavors, however upon tasting the gravity samples there was a noticeable difference in the bitterness between the US-05 and the Burton Ale WLP23 versions, with the US-05 being much more bitter. I will provide tasting notes for the WLP23 fermented batch in the near future, which I suspect will be a bit more complex.
Unfortunately, I had brew day problems that forced me to completely drain my mash tun mid mash (never switch dip tubes in a rush) and subsequently caused my mash temperature to drop into the 130 degree range. As a result this beer finished slightly higher in alcohol than anticipated as well as slightly thinner. The additional 2-4 gravity points that would have resulted from a proper mash temperature would have really set this beer off, as I prefer my Pale Ale’s to have a slightly maltier mouthfeel. With that being said I believe this recipe is much more balanced than the first, with a great blend of malt and citrus/pine hops aromatics, and based on the reactions from my friends and family will be a contender for first kegs to kick at my wedding later this year.
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