I bought a pint of Okanagan's Pale Ale at a restaurant on New Year's and I thought it tasted like a macrobrewed lager - weak on all the ingredients except for adjuncts. This place was not known for its beer selection so I just thought that maybe I got served the wrong beer, which could have happened very easily since all the other beers were macrobrews. So when I saw a 6 pack of these at an LCBO, I decided to give the beer a second chance and see if I was served the wrong beer or if Okanagan's Pale Ale is as good as I remember it being.
For starters, this is a pretty bad ass label. Look at it!
I honestly thought that the bottle I picked out of the 6 pack was missing the front part of its label because all I could see was text and numbers. Nope, the front of the label is there, and this is it.
The moment the beer came out of the bottle I realized I got served the wrong beer. This real one, has a much darker color than the one I got at the restaurant, a color very much like pale ales I have tried. It also pours with a thin off-white head, another indication that I got the wrong beer before. The aroma is better too, much more potent too. There are sweet dried fruits, hops, a bit of pine and some very faint buttery notes. Oh yeah, I definitely got the wrong beer on New Year's. The taste is where the beer starts to reveal its darker side. Everything up to this point pointed towards a pretty solid pale ale, but unfortunately the taste is a bit weak. Some of the notes composing the aroma are still there, but they are all fairly weak and combine to create a very carbonated, mildly bittersweet ale with some raisins, hops and a sprinkle roasted malt. The finish is fairly decent, but very short. The sweetness is initially amplified but quickly subdued by the hoppy notes which come with a side of dried fruits and a nice spicy twist. All this sounds great, but it quickly fades away to leave a lager-like taste in your mouth. This would have been an excellent pale ale if only there was more of the flavour. Even at this level of flavour, the ale might appeal to those who are interested in getting into pale ales but find the taste to be too rich.
Scores:
C0st - $11.95 for a 6 pack
Taste - 5.9/10
ABV - 5%
Overall - 6/10...I feel like giving it an extra 0.1 for the fantastic label
Expected more but for it's purpose of appealing to the macro masses it offers a lot better alternative.I would love a bit more pop but it is a more than decent brew and a good introduction to get the uneducated off the terrible adjunct filled macro brews that offer nothing.
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