Pacific Brewing Company - Pacific Golden Ale

Pacific Golden Ale is brewed with a combination of Two-Row Pale, Carastan and Crystal malts. Perle hops are added in two separate additions towards the beginning of the 90-minute boil primarily for their bittering contributions. Jeff later adds a healthy dose of Cascade hops toward the end of the boil to give the beer its pleasant floral aromatic characteristic. A London Ale yeast strain is used and Pacific’s Golden Ale is naturally carbonated.

Immediately look for a predominantly cascade floral hop nose with some pale maltiness evident in the background. We found this light-to-medium-bodied beer to be very clean, drinkable, and flavorful. The flavor is also hop dominated, however, it seems to be the bittering hops that take over here. Look for a very dry, bitter hop finish leaving you with the desire to take another drink. Overall, a great summer beer with a wonderful hop profile.

Founded in 1993, the Pacific Brewing Co. is dedicated to producing extraordinary ales to please a variety of palates. In their brief existence, they’ve managed to rack up three medals at the Great American Beer Festival which certainly underscores their commitment to quality. Head Brewer, Jeff Held, has worked at several prominent California breweries prior to taking he helm at Pacific. Jeff began as low as you can go, cleaning kegs at the Los Gatos Brewing Co. and later graduated into an assistant brewer position which he held for two years. From there, he was offered a position as a full time brewer at one of the state’s more sophisticated lagering breweries, The Sudwerk Brewing Co., in Davis, CA which he left to run brewing operations at Pacific. In addition to the Golden Ale featured this month, the brewery also produces an amber ale, blueberry wheat, and porter. Jeff is currently formulating recipes for a Winter Nut Brown Ale as well as an India Pale Ale.

For more information about the brewery and scheduled tours, call (415) 457-9167.