Beer Review: Klickitat Pale Ale

Price: $3.65  for a 22oz bottle,  plus bottle deposit

Brewery: Alameda (located in Portland)

Style: Pale Ale

Color: Dark gold, almost an amber, sap looking color. 

Aroma: Hoppy. Poured right from the bottle and I can smell hops almost a foot away. Get the brew closer to your nose and you get a slight hint of grains. 

Body:Light

Stomach Aspect:Very little stomach aspect.  It's a Pale Ale, and you should not be getting "full" by drinking  a pint of this. 

Head:The head is a 1/4" when poured. After sitting for about 3 minutes it has gone down to about an 1/8". The color is a nice white.  

Head Retention: The brew leaves a  trace on the side of the glass for about thirty seconds after you have had a pull. Good head retention. 

Taste: Take a pull of this beer and the first thing you notice is the amount of carbonation. Feels prickly on the tip of the tongue.  The beer has very little flavor on the tip to mid of the tongue. Which indicates low grain flavor to me. Move the beer to the back of the tongue and you immediately get the presence of hops. Swallow the brew and you get a nice aroma of hops on the palate, but wait fifteen to twenty seconds between drinks and you get even more hop presence. Your mouth starts to dry out, almost obtaining cotton mouth.  There is a hint of caramel flavor from grains just before you swallow. 

Conclusion:   This is a brew from a local brewery. If you're in the Portland area, swing by Alameda Brew House and pick up a pint. I wasn't really taken back by this brew, maybe I was expecting more from Alameda.  The color is great, the head is pretty, the body is light, but I think I was expecting more flavor. This is a good beer, don't get me wrong.  But I think a Full Sail Pale Ale might have more flavor. You can show up to events or BBQ's with this brew and people are going to think you're a beer snob, or it was on sale because it's not a major known brew. Either way, if you like Mirror Pond Pale Ale, Full Sail Pale Ale, you might like this Pale Ale from Alameda. 

Just a side note: I think this beer might be better on tap versus a bottle.