Ballast Point Pale Ale

Can't say the bottle's too attractive here.. I like fishing as much as the next man on average but yeah.. pale ale. And an amberjack.

And then you get it home only to find out it's actually a Kolsch. WHY CALL IT A PALE ALE THEN ?? This is not going well.

Taste wise (and this was before I found out it was a Kolsch) it put me more in mind of Coopers Pale Ale than anything else. Quite bland, slight unripe apple, slight metallic notes, uninspired pale malting, and earthy, dusty hops.

I always think 'well America is a long way away' and it's true most of the stuff we get here won't be to the same level as the nectar straight from the source. But even by that measurement this struggles against the other similarly handicapped US beers tested thus far.

Live by the sword, die by the sword: if this calls itself a Pale Ale it will be rated as one, and as such I pronounce it very disappointing. 3.0