Brew Review - Green Flash Extra Pale Ale

I've been out of new brews to drink for a few days now and I was itching to get something different and more along the lines of a session beer. I found a decent one in the form of an American Pale Ale (APA)called Extra Pale Ale from Green Flash Brewing Company of San Diego, California. I had heard a lot about this brewery recently and was eager to try one of their beers. My local liquor store just started stocking brews from this brewery about a month ago and it was time to try one. During my beer run I also picked up a nice IPA and Strong Belgian, but I'll wait for later to review those. Tonight, I was going to drink a nice session beer.

This beer was eager to get out of the bottle. The moment I popped the cap the foam started oozing out of the top of the short squatty 12oz bottle. The beer pours a wonderful gold color and had a nice white foamy head. The foam went to the top of the glass and then some. I had to wait a bit for the foam to settle. The head sticks around for a while. You could see that it was well carbonated and clear, not hazy.

The aroma comes out a nice sweet grassy and citrusy smell. Green Flash put in a mix of Cascade and Chinook hops in this ale. Very aromatic. The taste was initially bitter but not overly so. There is a semi-sweet taste that is well balanced with the hop bitterness. You can't help but notice the hops throughout the entire tasting. It is one that I can get very use to. There is a generous amount of premium pale malt in this beer but maltiness is not the dominant character here, the hops are.

The taste reminds me of two things, a mild IPA and a hopped up macro brew, all at the same time. This is much better than a macro brew because the aromas and hops are so much more noticeable. This is a quality session beer that tastes good cold out of the fridge. I could easily drink a few of these on a hot day.

While I don't know the IBU rating, I'll bet it's between 45-60. The alcohol content is a low 4.8% ABV so you can certainly handle this brew without a problem. I got this beer at a 10% discount and paid $7.64 for a six-pack. A decent price considering many of the other craft brews go for a couple bucks more these days.

The beer rating sites tend to go low key on the session brews and give them a modest rating. BeerAdvocate gave it a "B" rating, while Ratebeer put it in the 65th percentile with a 3.24/5 rating and ranked this at the bottom of the brewery's many products. Still, despite being a session beer, I think many craft beer drinkers would go for this beer. It has quite a character of its own and goes down easy. I'll give it a 3.2 out of 5 rating and a thumbs up. I ended up drinking two of these tonight. As the beer warms up the bitterness starts to become noticeable. Keep this cold and you'll enjoy it more.