Mighty Arrow Pale Ale

I admit it. I'm a softy for animals -- especially in a brewing context (have I ever mentioned that my little little girl [cat] Sophie prefers IPAs?). So with this in mind, the fact that it was still 'Best Before' 29JUL09, and this was on sale was all enough for me to put aside my boredom re: New Belgium, and I grabbed a sixer for the heck of it.

In short? I'm rather pleased with this beer, to be honest. A very nice, very "sessionable" American Pale Ale.

A bit muted in the aroma -- neither the Cascades nor the Amarillos really play a role in that regard. No matter, they carry their fair share of the load in the front of the boil.

The mention of "honey malt" in the write-up kinda scared me -- can't count how many beers I've run across that have royally sucked due to too much honey malt in the bill. But here? The nuance of the honey malt plays nice with the hop bill.

Other folks have mentioned that they'd like to see a bit more gumption in the hop bill. I'm a diehard hophead, no apologies here..., but I'm not sure I agree with this notion. I think upping the IBUs would make this a bit stingy in the mouthfeel (ala SNPA), whereas I think this works as is, as a late Spring/early Summer sessionable Pale Ale.

Recommend.

//TB