180. Bluegrass American Pale Ale

Bluegrass Brewing Company is in Louisville, KY. This beer marks the end of our solo beer drinking holiday tours, as I am back in Dayton and ready for more Midwest hijinx. Described on the bottle as a “hoppy full-bodied American Pale Ale,” Bluegrass’s Pale Ale is a cloudy copper with a rocky, large head. There is not much overall aroma: slightly sweet and slightly bready malt aromas combine with spicy and piney hops. It starts fairly sweet, with a prominent crystal malt character, and then moves into a more well-rounded, definitely American malt profile, and finishes on the sweet side, but cleanly. Hop bitterness and flavor appears in the middle, with grassy, piney, and floral/citrus notes. The grassiness lingers through the ending, which is appropriately bitter. Medium bodied mouthfeel that is slightly creamy, smooth, and well carbonated. A decent beer overall—a bit more sweetness than we’d like, but not overdone. Technically ok, but not compelling; they could up the hop presence all around to better balance out the malt profile.

From the BBC website: “An American standard, BBC APA is a full bodied and heavily hopped American Ale. It is copper in color and brewed with a blend of pale and crystal malts, balancing the citrus and pine flavors from large doses of American and English hops to create a very drinkable, hoppy ale. BBC APA is a hophead’s dream!”

Bad pour! Bad pour!

ABV: 5.79%
IBU: 55.2

(12/27/2009)