Einstök Ölgerð Icelandic Arctic Pale Ale

Here's the deal with Einstök: the Icelandic white ale that I had was supposed to be their flagship product. What I had found was that it was just kind of okay. The toasted porter, however, was positively outstanding. So, what does that mean to this beer that I'm trying a whole four years after the last time I had one from this brewer? Well, there is a best way to find out.

The beer is unusually amber in tone, and the off-white head sticks to the sides to leave quite a bit of lacing. This is an IPA-level lacing, and that makes it a lot of lacing for a regular pale ale. Of course, I've never had an arctic pale ale before, but I don't even know what is entailed with this being its own thing. The aroma is caramel malt with the spiky scent of pine and floral hops. I still don't know what to make of this, but it really has me wanting to try it.

First sip is the pine and caramel all mixed up together. This is a very straightforward beer, and it doesn't seem to be harboring any nuance that I couldn't detect in the aroma. It certainly not bad, and it has a fullbodiness that most simple beers would have replaced with a wateriness. Instead, this feels like a full beer the whole way, but it's very simple in its presentation.

Tip-in is light carbonation burn with caramel malt and some highlights of the yeast. The middle is where the hops come in, and they are in both the pine and floral variety. The carbonation is much more muted toward the middle here, and the caramel is just enough to keep the hops from getting very bitter. Some slight bitterness hits at the finish with the caramel malt reasserting itself before the yeast leaves a dust as part of the trail off.

Bottom Line: Certainly a good enough beer, but it's not a standout.

2.75/5