Hello and welcome to a very special "Reviewin The Brews" as this week is one of a celebratory nature here at Brewin Around as we are celebrating Western Mass Beer Week and what better way to do so than review a brand new brew made especially for the festivities? It is the Manhan Trail Pale Ale, made from a collaboration between Abandoned Building Brewery in Easthampton and home brewing shop Beerology in Northampton. I am very excited to try this but first some background info.
Now I'm going to hold off on talking about Abandoned Building Brewery until a future time, but Beerology is a local home supplier of everything from malts and grains to brewing accessories. It was started by a husband-wife team of Mike Schilling and Jordana Starr just last year. Both have a long history of home brewing and have a passion for brewing out of anybody I've seen yet. The one thing I do recall from the first time I met them was that Mike is actually certified with a degree in brewing science from a program run by a school right in Munich. The couple also run classes nearly every week, so I might have to get on one of those. But for now, let's see how this beer holds up
First Impressions: Looking at the can, there is a very unique look to it. I would love to know if that is an actual bridge on the trail. I don't do any biking so I wouldn't be able to tell you. The brief description is very helpful for out of towners who would be interested how it got it's name and is perfect for advertising Beerology, especially given how it's still very new to the area.
Appearance: Pours to a pale gold color, very cloudy, heads starts out medium sized before slowly settling.
Aroma: Very fruity. If I had to guess maybe some berry flavors or even orange.
Taste: pretty hoppy flavor, you can definitely feel it in the after taste. More of a bite than Pinthouse, but that was to be expected. Somewhat juicy. The mouthfeel was somewhat sharp
Overall: Pale ales and me will probably never completely see eye to eye, but as long as the taste isn't very hoppy/piney, I should at least tolerate it. Perhaps that just shows my bias towards the smoother tasting New England style IPAs, but that is moreso my personal preferences. There is always gonna be people that will pick that as it's preference and that's OK, different people, different favorites. Having said that, I'd say this was a successful collaboration between Abandoned Building and Beerology, I enjoyed the design of the can, the aroma was very welcoming and just the idea was very nice coming from a local Easthampton resident. I am eager to see how Beerology's home brewed version turns out if i get the chance to try it, but for now, I give this a ***.75/*****
Thanks for reading, the second edition of "Goin Through The Breweries should be next up but until then, Cheers to you!
Comments
Post a Comment