Leinenkugel's Pale Ale Review

Name: Leinenkugel's Pale Ale
Style: American Pale Ale
ABV: 5.8%
IBUs: N/A

First they have given us an India Pale Lager, then they gave us a Braggot and now they have given us, of all things, a Pale Ale. Yes, it looks like Leinenkugel's has finally started to embrace craft beer trends that have been around for years. Better late than never I suppose, right?

So today we're looking at their Pale Ale, which is actually part of their 12-pack sampler but I managed to grab this as a single bottle. I also saw Heart of Oak sitting on the shelf next to it at the store I was at so perhaps I'll grab that next time I'm there. Doing some research on this beer, I haven't really been able to pull anything up about this beer aside from that it's a very new addition to their line up.

Appearance - Mildly hazy orange color with a very high amount of visible carbonation. The head is foamy yet soapy in appearance, leaving behind just some mild lacing.

Aroma - Pale malts with some mild floral hops and a some lager yeasts. I'm also getting some pils-grassiness, which is a unusual for this style.

Taste - Pale & pilsner malts and some lager yeasts upfront with some mild floral hops and cereal grains towards the middle. Towards the back I'm getting some more yeasts with some light spiciness, which caught me off guard. The aftertaste is made up of light bitter hops, which linger for a couple moments.

While it has everything that makes up a pale ale, as a whole, this feels very underwhelming and frankly a bit too light in the areas of flavor which matter the most (i.e. hops & yeasts.) It's nothing I would consider to be offensive, but after seeing what Leinenkugel's has produced over this past year, this is a bit of a let down.

Leinenkugel's Pale Ale - 6.5/10