Tasting: Full Sail Pale Ale

When up in Oregon, my friend Dave and I were enjoying a Rogue Ale, and he said his favorite ale was Full Sail, so of course I bought a 6-pack before leaving Oregon. The Full Sail brewery is located in one of my 2 dream places to live in Oregon; Hood River (the other is Bend). Less than an hour to the sunny side of Mt. Hood, in the Columbia River Gorge, it is an outdoors lover's paradise. It is famous for its fruit, its windsurfing, and access to the mountains and trout streams in the area.

Tasting: Chilled to ~45 degrees (f) from a pint glass.

Appearance: 2.5/3 Slight haze, but a beautiful light orange.
Head: 2/3 Light head that thins before the glass is half empty.
Aroma: 3/3 Almost perfect balance between the tangerine of the hops and the mild, rich malt .
Flavor: 2.5/3 The hops lead out, with the malt following behind. Bitterness balances out the sweetness nicely.
Mouth feel: 3/3 This beer has great body, not heavy, but silky in the mouth. Moderate carbonation.
Overall: 2.5/3 A very nice ale. I have had others I enjoyed more, but it is better than most. The yeast leaves this beer nice and dry but the brewer did not brew it too thin, so it is very nice overall.
Buzz: 3/3 Good buzz after 1 glass, 5.4% ABV.

Dave's is a man who knows good beer. As I progress along this path of beer reviews, I find that my standards are getting higher. 6 months ago this beer would have received a perfect score. Now that I have tasted more, I know that there are a couple ales out there that are hard to beat. I will review them in the next month or so.