390. Highland Brewing Company – St. Terese’s Pale Ale

Posted By kkozlen on Jan 22, 2012 | 0 comments

This beer was given to me several months ago by my sister’s friend, and it has been sitting in my beer fridge until I could get around to reviewing it.   I’ve heard a lot of good things about Asheville, NC and the beer culture, but don’t think I’ve gotten to try any beers from there, until now.

The bottle says, “A golden ale having a slightly malty body balanced by an assertive American hop flavor. This pale ale displays a delicate hop nose due to the process of dry hopping with Cascade hops. A crisp and refreshing beer perfect for any occasion.”

Location: Enjoyed a snifter glass, at home in Bloomington, IL.

Numbers: 5.1% ABV, 24 IBUs, 170 Calories

Ingredients: Grain: 2-Row Brewers Malt, Munich, Extra Special Malt, Flaked Barley. Hops: Cascade, Chinook

Appearance & Aroma: I it’s very clear, and copper in color. When I first poured it, there was a lot of carbonation in it and the head was fairly bubbly. After a few minutes, it became a thin, fluffy, off-white head which stuck around, and left some nice lacing on the glass. The aroma is bready with a little bit of caramelm and a hint of spicy-earthy hops.

Taste & Feel: It’s a light bodied and has a creamy mouth feel. There is a light, sweet maltiness upfront with some light bready and caramel malt flavors in the middle.  This quickly gives way to an earthy and spicy hop bitterness which continued through the clean finish and lingered a bit in the aftertaste.

Food Pairing: The beer flavors were primarily bready and caramelly with a bit of bitterness on the end.  Therefore, I think it would go quite nicely with some baked or grilled chicken, bringing out the light flavors of the beer and highlighting the clean bitterness.

Overall Impression: I thought this was an extremely drinkable, light, crisp, and refreshing pale ale. I really enjoyed the bready and caramel-like flavors, and it transitioned quite nicely into a very nice, crips, and clean, bitter finish. Overall, it was a very good beer.  I’ve got a few more beers from this brewery in my beer fridge, and I’m really looking forward to trying them now.

My Rating: