Tree Brewing Company: Cutthroat West Coast Ale

One phenomenon of the Craft Beer revolution is that geographic monikers get added to beer styles.  Until recently you never had an American Pale Ale, or a California Pale Ale or indeed a West Coast Pale Ale so breweries often take creative license with the definitions.  In my mind West Coast Pale ale is synonymous with American Pale Ale, which is synonymous with a whole pile of hops, however they only advertise this as being 38 IBU (and is just called West Coast Ale) so I didn't know what to expect, as it turns out I got a pretty good beer.

Cutthroat pours a nice burnt orange colour, which as loyal readers will know, is what I consider a sign of a proper pale ale so it was already promising.  The nose is not strong, but has a nice subtle sweet malt smell to it, some beers have really potent noses and weak tastes, this one has a weaker nose but good taste so that is a plus.  The sip opens with a slightly watery and minerally taste, this can be a bit deceptive as it progresses into a very sweet malt middle.  They say it has toffee notes, which I agree with, it's actually more like caramel to be specific but it's quite nice.  This sweet malt progresses into a distinctly ale-like finish with a surprisingly citrussy hop taste to it.  The hops don't have much of a presence until the finish/aftertaste but they are a welcome addition.  Overall it's an interesting beer, it starts as a sweet malty beer that is reminiscent of a Vienna lager (Stiegl and Gösser are good comparative examples) but the finish is an assertive reminder that this is indeed an Ale.  I find that the watery intro is an odd contradiction that makes me struggle to fully enjoy the beer, it's good but not great.

It's brewed in BC but distributed across Canada.  In Ontario you can get it in the LCBO, a full list of cities is available on their website.

Alc 5.0% IBU 38

Rating: 3 Steins

What you need to know

Website
http://www.treebeer.com/

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/treebeer?fref=ts

Twitter
@treebrewing

Brewery Address
1083 Richter St
Kelowna, BC
V1Y 2KG