Beer of the Weekend #141: The Mad Belgian Pale Ale
Though I’m not done tasting beer in California, tonight marks the end of my traditional Friday BotW posts from the west coast. I will still be in Huntington next Friday, packed and ready to return to the motherland, but I have to draw the line somewhere. Even though the ritual will continue in Iowa — and may butt heads with my revived social life now and then (seriously, this is pretty pathetic) — it is a little sad to finish one of the sections in my California chapter.
After ending a number of other sections in the coming week, the whole chapter ends next Saturday morning. Onward, ho!
The first beer of the weekend is The Mad Belgian Gold Ale, brewed by the Mad River Brewing Company of Blue Lake, California.
Serving type: Four 12-ounce bottles. No freshness date.
Appearance: Straight pour into my Allagash tulip. Color is dark wheat orange; cloudy and much like maple syrup. Three fingers of thick head developed and dissipated to leave a thick lacing and ring around the outside.
Smell: Smells much more like a British pale ale at first, but becomes more Belgian as it warms. Sweet caramel malts, honey, orange citrus, bananas, Belgian yeast. Very enticing.
Taste: The honey from the smell stands out in the taste. Apples, bananas, caramel, yeast. Just at the end there is a very well-balanced hop bite.
Drinkability: Creamy, smooth, and very tasty, The Mad Belgian is, as the carrier says, very quaffable.
Fun facts about TMBGA:
-Style: Belgian Pale Ale. From BA:
Fucking hopheads are ruining everything.
-Price: $9.99/four-pack at the BevMo! on Beach.
-Serving temperature: 45-50ºF.
-Alcohol content: 6.5 percent ABV.
-Food pairings: BA recommends Thai cuisine, tangy cheeses (Brick, Edam, Feta), salad, aperitif, and fish.
-The carrier for TMBGA wins the award for best microbrew nerdiness. This tome is on the side:
Wow. I’m speechless.
-There are other microbrew one-liners on the carrier: “An American Beer, Made in America” (oddly, they overlook the fact this is a Belgian-inspired concoction), “Handcrafted in the Heart of Humboldt County California,” “Liquid Gold,” and “‘Humboldt Style’ Gold.”
The Quiet Man’s grade: A-.
After ending a number of other sections in the coming week, the whole chapter ends next Saturday morning. Onward, ho!
The first beer of the weekend is The Mad Belgian Gold Ale, brewed by the Mad River Brewing Company of Blue Lake, California.
Serving type: Four 12-ounce bottles. No freshness date.
Appearance: Straight pour into my Allagash tulip. Color is dark wheat orange; cloudy and much like maple syrup. Three fingers of thick head developed and dissipated to leave a thick lacing and ring around the outside.
Smell: Smells much more like a British pale ale at first, but becomes more Belgian as it warms. Sweet caramel malts, honey, orange citrus, bananas, Belgian yeast. Very enticing.
Taste: The honey from the smell stands out in the taste. Apples, bananas, caramel, yeast. Just at the end there is a very well-balanced hop bite.
Drinkability: Creamy, smooth, and very tasty, The Mad Belgian is, as the carrier says, very quaffable.
Fun facts about TMBGA:
-Style: Belgian Pale Ale. From BA:
Belgian Pales consume the Belgian brewing scene, and were initially brewed to compete with Pilseners during the WWII time frame. They differ from other regional Pale Ale varieties, by traditionally being less bitter, using aged hops for a delicate hop finish, and boasting sweetish to toasty malt overtones. They should be decanted properly, leaving the yeast in the bottle. This will showcase their brilliant color range from pale straw yellow to amber hues. Most will be crowned with thick, clinging, rocky white heads. Flavors and aromas will vary. Some have natural spice characters from yeast and hops, while others are spiced.
There's a recent growing trend to make much more "hoppy" Pale Ales, to entice the US market and its hopheads. See De Ranke XX Bitter.
Fucking hopheads are ruining everything.
-Price: $9.99/four-pack at the BevMo! on Beach.
-Serving temperature: 45-50ºF.
-Alcohol content: 6.5 percent ABV.
-Food pairings: BA recommends Thai cuisine, tangy cheeses (Brick, Edam, Feta), salad, aperitif, and fish.
-The carrier for TMBGA wins the award for best microbrew nerdiness. This tome is on the side:
This latest release from our Artisan Reserve Series, was orchestrated to capture the best of “Belgian Style Ales” while preserving the duration of longer warmer days. Too often, especially here in sunny blue Lake, we find our day punctuated by a nap after tasting “just one more Dubbel or Trippel.” Welcome our Quaffable Mad Belgian Golden Ale in a Humboltian Mad River American Microbrewed Craft Style, at a reasonable gravity.
We begin with a moderate amount of our House Two-Row Malt augmented with some Golden Naked Oats which have “a special, sweet, berry-nut flavor…and deliver a deep golden hue with light caramel flavors to the finished beer as well as a creamy, satin finish. Honey Roasted Malt rounds out the malt additions and lends an enhanced golden hue and a moderate but clearly stated royally elegant and lightly honeyed sweetness.
The Bad Belgian is delicately hopped with Sterling and Goldings for subtle Malt and flavor enhancing light bittering and aromatics.
The result is a simple yet sophisticated, delicately nuanced, warm weather treat.
The Mad Belgian pours a shimmering gold with a frothy white Cumulus head. Beautiful Honey notes in the nose with he expected forward banana notes, provided by Belgian Ardennes Yeast. The mouth is crisp, dry and a refreshingly effervescent, light to medium body with a dreamy well balanced honey complexity. All the flavor without the nap. Low low IBU’s and only 6.5% Alcohol By Volume. Enjoy with responsible abandon.
Wow. I’m speechless.
-There are other microbrew one-liners on the carrier: “An American Beer, Made in America” (oddly, they overlook the fact this is a Belgian-inspired concoction), “Handcrafted in the Heart of Humboldt County California,” “Liquid Gold,” and “‘Humboldt Style’ Gold.”
The Quiet Man’s grade: A-.
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