Alesmith - X Extra Pale Ale

Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there! Hope your day was filled with drinking good beers and lots of BBQ. Good or bad, BBQ is always at least pretty decent.

Tonight I'm drinking another relatively local beer. From down in San Diego, this is Alesmith X Extra Pale Ale. This is a 5.25% abv American Pale ale that according to the bottle, is brewed with American hops and features notes of citrus and pine with a delicate malt sweetness. I'm a fan of hoppy pale ales so let's see if the X from Alesmith lives up to the hype... assuming there is hype on this beer. This was bottled back in April of this year so it's somewhat fresh. Let's get it poured.

X pours out a golden straw in color with a nice two fingers, to three fingers, of a fluffy, rocky white head. The head sticks around for a bit and once dissipates back into itself leaves behind a really nice foamy lacing. There's a little bit of carbonation coming up from the bottom but not a lot. This looks like a pretty nice pale ale. Nothing too crazy going on here. Let's get the nose.

First thing I get is a nice hop bitterness. Quite a bit of pine here. There's a big burst of citrus. Grapefruit, orange, maybe even some peaches coming through. There's a little bit of a breadiness. There's a lot of sweet malt here as well. Definitely reminds me a bit more of an IPA than it does a Pale Ale. There's maybe even a little bit of an apple juice character coming through perhaps even an apple skin. Sorta adds to the sweetness but gives it a little bit of a bite in the nose. Smells really nice and refreshing. Let's see how X tastes.

Immediately I get that hop bitterness which is immediately followed up by some peach sweetness. Middle of the mouth I'm getting almost a caramel sweetness. It sort of acts as a vehicle for the bitterness to makes it's way to the back of the palate. Sides I'm getting some orange juice, fresh, with maybe a bit of that orange pith. Back end there's more malty sweetness and a lingering hop bitterness. X finishes pretty dry with more bitterness than anything else. Medium to slightly medium-light body on the mouth feel.

So overall, X Extra Pale Ale from Alesmith is pretty decent. I'm glad to have found a San Diego Pale Ale that isn't bordering on a Pilsner. This drinks like a perfect blend of IPA and Pale Ale which is very nice. The tastes followed the nose pretty well. The apple like character I was picking up didn't show itself in the taste but the citrus and bitterness were nicely balanced. Check this one out if you can.

Rating: B