Pale Ale
Hub City Brewing – Stanley, IA
5.8% ABV

Myself and the crew of Midwest Beer have amassed a small collection of midwest area craft beers, none of which are from the great state of Wisconsin.  We love Wisconsin, and we really love Wisconsin beers.  But seeing as though we all live here, it can be very easy to fall back on them, leaving less focus and fewer reviews on the rest of the midwest.  So in the interest of deliberate fairness, we are drinking out-of-state for the next several beers.  Check back for all of our reviews, which will be posted in no particular order.

The other night I sampled my first offering from Hub City Brewing, which hails from Stanley, Iowa.  I want to say that the overall impression was mixed at first.  But it ended up winning me over slowly.

Pale poured a coppery orange-ish hue that was equally hazy and pretty.  The head was on the average to low side, off-white in color.  Aroma was earthy, giving off hints of pine and a faint warm bread scent.  Caramel malt was quite subtle, and there was a clear presence of citrus.

The mouthfeel was rather smooth and creamy.  But it took several sips and concentration to reach that conclusion.  The taste seems to overpower a little, which left me nearly skipping over any attention to mouthfeel.  Pale Ale is a little bitter, although lacking any distinct hop flavor.  Overall the dominant sensations are musty, slightly floral, followed by the orange citrus first detected in the aroma.

I have nothing against any of these elements working together.  The main shortfall of this beer in my opinion is that they exist apart from each other, with no apparent attempt to balance each other, or fade into one another.  They’re all just standing around at the party, but no one is dancing.

That said, I still like this beer.  The flavors are good.  There is nothing at all off-putting about it.  It doesn’t taste anything like any other pale ale I have had (take that as good or bad).  And most importantly, I enjoyed drinking it.  Today my hat goes off to Iowa.

Eriq – 3.5 of 5