Cricket Hill American Ale

I just sat down to relax after a rather intense evening of playing of tennis (yes, I drink beer and play tennis) and figured what better way to quench my thirst than with a nice, crisp, refreshing beer. So, I opened a bottle of American Ale from the Cricket Hill Brewery, the only beer in the variety pack from them that I haven't tried yet. One interesting point to note is that this beer has the same name has Budweiser's recent attempt at craft brewing (Budweiser American Ale), which to be fair to them, wasn't bad (not great, but it wasn't the American swill I was expecting). According to the guys at Cricket Hill, they were marketing their beer as American Ale long before Budweiser, which I believe is true. Since it's such a general name though, neither company could claim a trademark on the name, so we'll have to settle with two American Ales for now, one from the big boys at AB-Inbev, and the other handcrafted with some local Jersey pride. On to the review!

Aroma: Moderate hop aroma with pleasant citrus notes, predominantly grapefruit. Some hints of caramel and toffee from the malt, and a mild biscuitiness as the volatiles dissipate. I believe they may have used a little Simcoe during a late hop addition, because I'm getting a tiny bit of that classic "cat-pee" scent (I know "cat-pee" sounds horrible, but it's a characteristic of the Simcoe hop and used in moderation, it lends a certain complexity to the overall aroma).

Appearance: Medium-light to medium copper with a small white head that falls apart rather quickly. Some lacing on the glass, but again, it falls back in after a short time. The beer is crystal clear and I can see little bubbles of CO2 climbing the walls of the glass as I hold it in front of my computer screen.

Flavor: Light malty sweetness that quickly gives way to some hop flavor, finishing on the bitter side. The beer is definitely more heavily hopped on the aroma than in the flavor, though hop bitterness is prevalent in the taste. I get a touch of graininess as well from the malt. The beer is slightly out of balance in my opinion; I think they should cut back on the IBUs (International Bittering Units) a bit and allow the malt to shine through.

Mouthfeel: Medium body with a medium-high carbonation. Nothing special going on in my mouth right now (I handed this one to you on a silver platter--who's gonna take it?).

Overall Impression: The beer has an incredibly inviting aroma that disappoints a bit when it hits your lips. I would love to see part of the hop bittering addition moved to later in the boil, without changing the amount of hops, in order to provide more ample hop flavor, while decreasing IBUs. For those who don't know about the brewing process, there's generally 3 types of hop additions you can make in your boil (hence Miller's "triple hop brewed" ad campaign--it's called the brewing process jackasses!): bittering (60 min from the end), flavor (roughly 10-30 min from the end), and aroma (roughly 0-10 min from then end). The longer hops are boiled, the better hop utilization you get (more IBUs). So, let's say for argument's sake that 1oz of hops at 60min produces 10 IBUs and no flavor/aroma because all the volatiles are boiled off. If that same 1oz was moved to 15min, maybe it would produce only 5 IBUs, but some hop flavor and maybe a little aroma would remain. So to get back to the American Ale, I think the beer would benefit from a smaller bittering addition and a larger flavor addition, which will bring the maltiness in balance with the bitterness and provide some hop flavor to partner with that wonderful aroma.

That's all for tonight; don't forget to drink your beer!