Our featured beer this week is the sixth release in Summit Brewing’s Unchained Series Gold Sovereign Ale:
Brewer Damian McConn gives the Pale Ales of the Victorian era a modern twist by making our first beer with 100% organic malts. This unfiltered ale offers up pear, apricot and spicy orange aroma, pronounced hop bitterness and bready malt flavor.
The Summit Unchained Series gives our brewers free rein to create any beer style they want. To reinvent obscure traditional brews. To choose the finest, rarest and (gulp) spendiest ingredients. The result? Small batches. Huge flavor.
Up to this point, I’ve enjoyed each and every one of the beers in Summit’s Unchained Series. Will the chain remain unbroken?
Brown 12oz bottle. Same industrial style design as the other labels in the Unchained Series.
Style: English Pale Ale Alcohol by Volume: ???
COLOR (0-2): Golden and somewhat clouded. 2
AROMA (0-2): Bready malt with a little honey. 2
HEAD (0-2): Bright white color. Thin with not much volume. Good lacing. 2
TASTE (0-5): Sweet malts with herbal hops. Medium-bodied with a watery mouthfeel. The ABV is not listed, but you can feel some heat here. Dry finish. Quite drinkable. 3
AFTERTASTE (0-2): Unusual and not especially pleasant. 1
OVERALL (0-6): This is definitely another interesting offering in the Unchained Series. It’s a beer that you probably need to go back to a few times before you can really come to a judgment on it. There are a couple of characteristics that are somewhat off-putting—such as the aftertaste—but overall it’s pretty good. While it may not rank as high as some of the other beers in the Unchained Series, it has a unique flavor and is quite refreshing. As the weather warms in these parts (finally) Gold Sovereign Ale makes for a good choice on a sunny spring day. 4
TOTAL SCORE (0-19): 14
