Tasting Tuesday - Drifter Pale Ale

Our featured beer for this installment of Tasting Tuesday is Drifter Pale Ale from Widmer Brothers Brewing. Widmer Brothers has quite an interesting history even though they only date back to 1984. They became perhaps best know for their Hefeweizen, and grew steadily in the Northwest US throughout the 80s and 90s. In 1996 they made the move to bottles and greatly expanded their footprint.

Perhaps most interesting is that Anheuser-Busch InBev holds a stake in this brewery. In 2007 Widmer Brothers and Redhook merged to form the Craft Brewer's Alliance. Since Redhook had already formed a distribution-based merger with AB Inbev, the formation of the new company became, in effect, a merger between Redhook, Widmer Brothers and AB Inbev. Due to the nature of this business relationship, AB Inbev has no direct control over Widmer Brothers' product, and it certainly shows.

Drifter Pale Ale

Widmer Brothers Brewing - Portland, OR

Style: American Pale Ale

ABV: 5.7%

IBUs: 28

Appearance: Pours dark honey, thin off-white head. Not the greatest pour in the picture, but still very short head that settles out fast.

Aroma: Very even blend of hops and malt. As head settles, the malt comes even more forward. A touch of sweeter fruit, mostly apricot find their way through on a deep inhale.

Taste: Very smooth up front, then a touch of hops in the middle. A nice alcohol dryness follows, and notes of dried apricot and butter make a really welcome appearance.

Mouthfeel: The carbonation was relatively low, but unlike the Austin Amber I reviewed, it complimented the malt flavor well. I attribute this to the slightly better blend of malt and hop bitterness on display with Drifter. There is an almost honey-like smoothness that is very in line with the beer's appearance. Nice dryness as well - keeps the sweet in check.

Overall: I was very impressed with this beer. It has a lot of the malt character I really enjoy, and the hops were balanced well. I think if I had to get picky, I would want the hops, especially the Summit, to make more of an impression earlier in the taste. I think what really got me in this beer's corner was the balance between sweetness, bitterness and dryness that made it interesting and complex. Very well done and simple enough for a casual drinker to catch onto.

Drop me a line here or on Twitter with your thoughts on Drifter Pale Ale. Cheers!