Genesee Brewing Co., American Pale Ale (Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference), 5.3%abv. (APA)

Purchased at my local Sainsbury’s supermarket, this beer is said to be brewed by “Tap Room Brewing Company”, for the Sainsbury’s under the “Taste the Difference” range of products. Coming in a slim 355ml slim brown bottle, BB 09/2013, served cool in a straight beer glass.

3.5/5 Appearance: dark amber in colour, a quickly built-up fluffy/cottony off-white beer head comes with a decent retention, sitting on top of healthy streams of medium-sized fizz-bubbles.

3.5/5 Smell: lightly citrusy notes on top of sweet barley teas upfront; given a good swirl, mildly spicy notes of hops and light caramel join force with sweet lemons, nectars and overripe pear-ish esters to render an aromatically fruity profile overall. Quite pleasant.

3.25/5 Taste: very effervescent, to my surprise, the foretaste is citrusy-malty with a light touch of caramel, followed by a lemon-rind-ish bitter-sourness and powdery floral taste as of American hops. A medium-level bitterness lingers in the end, coupling with the dark tea-like tannic feel. A few sips down the line, the finish starts to come with more acidic-sweet nectar-ish undertones.

3/5 Mouthfeel & 3.25/5 Overall: the mouthfeel is rendered somewhat too… sharp by the carbonation level, while the body is initially ok but then gradually loses its grip as the palate warms to the flavour, ending somewhat thin-ish after a few minutes into the drink. This contract brew doesn’t seem to sparkle, I’m afraid. Now carrying on to try their “Tap Room IPA”, to see if it’s any better~~

--Yau (16/02/2013)