Sierra Nevada Pale Ale
Poured into a frosted glass before I could stop the bartender. Pours a clear dark copper, thick dense head, some lacing. Smells of bready/slightly sweet malt with fruity/floral hops and mild esters. Taste is pungently bitter and sour upfront. Pithy and herbal, almost vegetal. Finishes pretty clean with a moderate lingering pithy sour-bitterness. Not much malt on the palate - just a touch of breadiness and very slight sweetness. Mouthfeel is very thin, overcarbonated. Overall it's too bitter and sour, and not enough malt to balance. Hop aroma and flavor are a bit lacking. The flavors it does have taste stale. As it warms it releases more of a malty-sweet aroma, but there still isn't much more than bitterness on the palate. If someone offered me another, I'd take it, but I wouldn't order it.