The Kernel, Pale Ale (Chinook), 5.2%abv. (American Pale Ale)

Purchased at the Kernel Brewery in London, this bottle comes at 5.2%abv.; bottle-conditioned in a 500ml brown bottle, bottled on 11/02/13, BB 11/06/13, served cool in a straight imperial pint glass.

3.5/5 Appearance: pours a hazy, dark orangey-yellow to pale amber-ish colour, coming with very very weak carbonation and a nicely lasting white fluffy head.

3.5/5 Smell: the intense earthy+piney+flowery hop aroma comes in a good balance with the biscuity and gristy pale malts, with an edge of ripe pineapple-ish esters and a pleasant acidic grapefruity note. Pleasant, not very complex.

3.5/5 Taste: the foretaste is quite… yeasty-bitter and mouthful, but the flavour comes rather understated, with underlying citrus bitterness, piney/sprigy hop aroma and a savoury taste as of yeast sediments sitting at the back of a pretty thin platform of pale malts; turning chewy, tannic as of old citrus peels, as hoppiness prevail in the middle, then each sip finishes mildly sour-yeasty and dry-ish in the end. Also, more chewy bitter elements are there to linger at the end of each sip.

3.5/5 Mouthfeel & 4/5 Overall: smooth on the palate, with very fine carbonation lurking on the tip of taste buds, just enough to remind me of its bottle-conditioning status. The body is generally, medium to weak-ish, as the malts haven’t lent a sufficient backbone on balance, while the hop flavour, aroma and bitterness are more prevalent in general. Not bad, but tasting rather experimental. Maybe it’s designed to be had murky. Who knows… Expected to be more pleasant if served slightly cooler and on tap.

--Yau (04/03/2013)