Mirror Pond Pale Ale

Brewery: Deschutes Brewery

Type: American Pale Ale

Alcohol: 5%

Country: USA

It has rained every day this week. Welcome to Danish summer I guess. But today after a morning of rain the clouds parted and the sun came out. So while the sun is shining I wanted to get in some nice light and hoppy beers before the gloom returns. I picked this beer up at a local big grocery store chain. They ran a special selection of American beers for "your BBQ". It was an amazing selection of West Coast American beers, including many I had never seen before here. So here goes the first of my "American BBQ" beers and my first Deschutes Brewery beer ever!

Pours a relatively clear copper color, nice color for a pale ale. Huge fluffy slightly off white head, lasts forever. Really unique nose. Nice amount of malt and hops. Citrusy hops and then also a very unique touch of pineapple and banana. Those two hit me right off the bat as I was pouring. I had to go online and double check this wasn't fermented with any kind of Belgian yeast, that is how pronounced the fruity banana smell was. It doesn't really transfer into the taste. In fact the hops are very muted. I get a lot of malt, sweet caramel, and nice slick mouthfeel. I expected more from the hops after the smell. Nice round citrus taste, very little bitterness. This is an amazingly drinkable and refreshing pale ale. I tend to like slightly more hop forward APAs, but I have to give it to this beer, it makes you want more. Here is hoping it makes it more regularly to the shelves here.