2: Freshchester Pale Ale

BEER #2

FRESHCHESTER PALE ALE, CAPTAIN LAWRENCE BREWING COMPANY, 5.6%

Everytime I head into NYC, I make obligatory beer stops at great joins like the Bowery Beer Room for some browsing. Despite my love of perusing the ever-loving heck out of a great beer shop’s stock, I always make sure that I actually leave with something unique from the area, an NY brewery’s offering or an NY-market-only allocation.

I just visited the city for shits--and the genesis--recently, and I happened upon Top Hops, a new spot that’s been open since the end of January. 20 taps with growlers, this joint was serving beasts like Stone IRS, Racer X, and straight up Geek Breakfast. Coolers abound with hundreds of bottles, I grabbed this single, because I hadn’t yet, and it fulfilled the local beer criteria.Top Hops is nice. They’ll let you taste any draught or cask beer, have a glass, and take out. If you’re in, they’ve got one stellar television and local soft pretzels. Check it out.

Now when I do beer shop in NYC, I always, always, look for something from Captain Lawrence. This NY brewery used to be distributed in New Jersey, but it’s been absent from our market for the past several years. This is very unfortunate, because their beers are killer(I hope to score another Tripel to review on this page), being that everything I’ve had has been above-solid to excellent. They make an excellent Double IPA, so I jumped at picking up this brew, their flagship pale ale.

Freshchester pours picturesquely. The beer’s deep orange body is on-the-button-characteristic of the style, hazy, bright, coppery, and murky. The head on the pour is like sea foam, bubbly and very airy, pillowy. The head rises quickly, but because of its lightness, it dissipates as quickly.

In the nose, I’m pulling some quintessential Pale Ale aromas: grapefruit rind, grassy earth, tin, and other citrus tones, like lemon and orange. A really deep inhalation reveals a slight tinge of booze, but that of earthy fermentation and not of phenols.   

The distinction with the American Pale Ale in comparison to, say, the English varietal is the severity at which the bitterness meets the palate; it’s usually big. This flavor, however, is more mild than I expected, though still hoppy and bitter, because the malt profile mellows familiarly intense American hop flavors, like citrus, pine, and grass. What I get here is something mildly citrus-pithy and more tinny, metallic. Something really balanced, not all in-the-face hops or not as if you had fallen mouth first into the shrub. Still, the grapefruit is the dominant figure, but more its dirty rind from the branch than its deep, bitter flesh. I would enjoy more diversity in the flavor. More hop diversity specifically, something more earthy, more floral, even more biting.

The finish is smooth thanks to the malt. Hop bombs, even in lower abv Pale Ales, can buckle the tongue--which is great--but you need some restraint at under 6%, considering the session-like tendency to consume this one. The malt bill is the guide going down, and it’s working hard to see you comfortably through your tour: fresh, clean, and crisply smooth.

Overall, a nice drink. A warm day drinker, no doubt, but a really smooth and refreshing Pale Ale. It’s something that I’d dig with chinese food, Hunan and Schezwan; a mildly spicy curry and garlicky naan; a cheesey beef burger with Old Bay fries; North Carolina BBQ; and some raw milk cow and sheep cheeses. Cheers.  

Pat Marino lives in New Jersey. He appreciates a heart that's a yolk, peanut butter and the promise of publicly-practiced, communal hygiene.