Friday, June 29, 2007

THE CAMPAIGN FOR REAL ALE, TEXAS STYLE

I’m of course referring to the simply-but-truthfully-
monikered REAL ALE BREWING of Blanco, TX, whose very good FULL MOON RYE PALE ALE I tried last month and enjoyed to the tune of about a 7/10. Here’s another pale from them that’s even better – the RIO BLANCO PALE ALE, a bottle of which I was fortunate enough to pair with a huge plate of homegrown Mexican cuisine the other night. The key with this one, which the brewery calls a “uniquely Texan interpretation of an English-style pale ale”, is the addition of clean, crisp-tasting Czech hops, and that make this the sort of pale ale ideal for a hot day outdoors – while keeping it deep & malty enough to not have that watered-down “summer beer” taste. On the aroma scale, this one’s tough to beat. Not that beer’s for inhaling, mind you, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy multiple whiffs of honey and hops from this one. Very pleased to have given this one a whirl – a big 8/10 for sure.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Awesome! I have been enjoying these a lot since the heat's stoked up in Tejas and you're right - an awesome summer beer. Texas against the world!

Lee said...

Glad you're digging one of our favorite Texas breweries, but you still haven't had their best beer: Fireman's 4, which has been a hit in Austin bars for a while now, and is just now available in bottles. I didn't exactly review it, but I did blog about it here: http://i-love-beer.blogspot.com/2007/06/do-you-dream-of-stacks-upon-stacks-of.html