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Josh Weikert's picture

Grateful Pale Ale

July, 2017
Judges Rating: 
95
Aroma: 
23 / 24
Appearance: 
6 / 6
Flavor: 
38 / 40
Mouthfeel: 
9 / 10
Overall Impression: 
19 / 20

Grateful Pale Ale by Starr Hill Brewery is an American Pale Ale (BJCP category 18B) that hits on all cylinders: this is an excellent beer that you can drink for days.

It pours a brilliant gold with a low but persistent white head, and the initial aroma is of rich grain and grassy, piney hops. The nose is well-balanced, and doesn't surrender all of its ground to the hops. The flavor adds peach to the mix, and otherwise echoes the aroma: honey and biscuit, pine, grass, and medium-high bittering come together nicely before finishing dry. If there's a complaint here, it's that the bitterness is just a hair too harsh: I felt a light prickling on the tongue that seemed to be caused by more than just carbonation.

I would note, though, that this is a very minor complaint in a very major beer. Easily one of the best pale ales I've had in a long while.

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