Fruity Nectar of the Gods
Jul 19 '05
The Bottom Line The fruit- enhanced flavor of this beer is obvious and it makes it easy drinking and acceptable, but some more body would be helpful.
California means many things to many people but to the beer lover, the Golden state is most important for its large number of independent craft brewing operations. One of the many breweries located in this state is Humboldt Brewery, a company founded by former NFL player Mario Celotto and his brother Vince. One of this company’s brews is Pale Nectar, an American Pale Ale.
Basic Characteristics of This Beer:
This beer has a color that is mostly gold with some tinges of orange. The body of the beer is well- filtered and clear, with only a slight chill haze. The aroma is fruity, piney, and a little bit spicy, like citrus with sprinkled herbs on top. Foam is average at best, with just enough to leave lace along the sides of your glass as you consume.
Tastes present in this beer include a little bit of earthy pale malt, followed by the taste of caramel, and then citrus fruit at the end- mainly orange and grapefruit. The beer seems like it is going to be sweet tasting overall until the hops kick in at the end, switching the taste sensation to bitter but not by any extreme measure.
Humboldt brews this beer using two- row pale malt, Munich malt, Carapils malt, and crystal malt. The hops used include fuggle, Chinook, cascade, and centennial. The final product has a bitterness rating of 40 IBU and an alcohol content of 4.8 percent by volume.
Food Compatibility:
Foods that would match up best with this beer include most any main course prepared with fruit as one of the ingredients. Foods like lemon chicken, sweet and sour chicken, pasta dishes, salads, and other fruit- enhanced foods make good companions for this beer.
Final Thoughts:
Humboldt Brewing is a company that has been in existence on and off again for more than 150 years. It was originally opened in the mid 1800’s, went defunct in 1940, and was later revived by the Celotto brothers in 1987.
This ale is most certainly hop- enhanced and the dominant flavors present are citrus from the fruity esters and a small amount of spice. When I first tried this beer today, I was expecting a fruity beer. With a name like pale “nectar”, it just sounds like a fruity brew. And that is exactly what I got. Upon opening the bottle, the fruity/piney/floral aroma greets the nose with anticipation. The flavors that follow are fruity and spicy, with only a small amount of sweet malt fighting for survival underneath the taste of hops.
This ale does indeed finish on the bitter side. But the fruit flavors and the thinner body make it seem sweeter than the IBU level would normally indicate. There is a certain amount of sweetness contributed by the fruit and the malt mixture. And with the body of the beer being a little lighter than others, it makes the taste a little less intense than expected, helping to reduce the bitterness to a manageable level.
Humboldt Pale Nectar isn’t a great beer product, but I think it’s good enough that most people will like it. A little more body would improve the overall taste a little bit. But taken as it is, this is still a good glass of brew. I’m giving Pale Nectar a rating of 3.5 out of 5 stars. It’s no classic, but it does have enough good taste to make it a beer worth seeking out.
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