Wiseacre "Regular" Pale Ale

 I'm pretty deep in the Wiseacre at this point. While there may have been some that were right on the border of not being recommended, these guys have managed to produce nothing below my range of beers that I would recommend (2.0 and above). One beer can be a fluke, but six beers is definitely a pattern. I can only expect that this pattern will continue, and these guys appear to have enough talent to get all the way to my top rating (which very few brewers manage).

The somewhat hazy amber-gold beer has a reasonable head that leaves quite a bit of lacing. There's so much lacing, in fact, that I started to wonder if this might actually be an IPA rather than just a simple pale ale. The aroma does not disabuse me of that notion. A strong grassy, grainy malt backs up a very intriguing amount of orange, tangerine, and lots of other citrus. If this said IPA on the label, I wouldn't think twice. But this is a pale ale, so I'm expecting this to be a bit smoother.

First sip isn't all that smooth. It's not exceptionally bitter, but the bitterness that exists is accompanied by a tartness and the grasses come up to fill in the spots that the citrus has not already oozed into. It feels like it's kind of a big beer trying to fit into a small sip. I'm not sure a sip was ever going to work particularly well, but this is certainly not the worst beer I've had at first sip. But, I never just limit myself to a sip, do I?

Tip-in is the ghost of carbonation tingle with orange, tangerine, and plums in a fairly watery base. As the middle rolls in, the grasses rise to meet surging carbonation burn while the citrus slips evenly right between them both. The finish is a harsh downturn into gentle bitterness with carbonation piled on top and bitterness is the only thing left to wave goodbye in the trail off.

Bottom Line: They maintain their streak of recommends, but this one isn't as strong as it could be.

2.25/5