Connecticut Pale Ale

Connecticut Pale Ale
1 16 oz bottle, $3.75, 5.5% ABV

Purchased at The Spigot, Hartford

I’m writing this review in a weird “in-between” period. My much-loved, oft-hated 2004 iMac G5 has all but died. I can no longer do anything on it other than the barest of minimums. It doesn’t have the capacity to progress beyond OS 10.4 which means it can’t handle any of the browser updates since late 2010. I can’t install Chrome. I can’t watch movies. I can’t go to Facebook or even use Gmail to its fullest extent because most sites no longer support the old versions of Safari and Firefox I try to use.

I can’t add any more pictures to it, as I’ve run out of room. (Yes, I did add a block of RAM years ago). That’s because with new digital camera memory cards, I take much, MUCH bigger pictures. It crashes every 20 minutes or so and the browsers crash even more often.

I’ve been writing CTMQ under these dire conditions for a while now, loathe to spend the money on a new computer. Wait, that’s not true. I just didn’t want to bother with the research and difficult decisions.

I’ve been triaging for weeks now, backing up everything I can and saving off all the pictures and articles and videos and stuff. I am ready for change. I am ready to go fully portable and no longer have a desktop (even though I will continue to use the new one as a laptop… or so I think for now.)

Wait, what? What’s this page about? Connecticut Pale Ale? Oh yeah…

So I knew about this beer and upon seeing it for sale at the Spigot, I bought a bottle and took the picture you see here in the fake-brick background. Classy. I also noted that they had the same beer on tap – prominently placed at the center tap right in front of the area patrons stand to order. Wow, not sure if that was just happenstance or the result of a favor or what, but that’s pretty cool for a contract brewed ale from a southern Connecticut brewpub.

Southport Brewing Company says:

West coast invented, East coast perfected! Our East coast pale is brewed with the finest malts available, giving this pale ale a strong malt backbone to hold up to an incredible pound-per-barrel of Cascade and Chinook hops. A distinctive flavor and aroma of spicy grapefruit and soft smoke will leave you begging for more!

SBC considers themselves the “Pioneers of East Coast Ales and Lagers” which is a ballsy statement. This is owed to the fact that they are the “oldest consecutively owned brewery in Connecticut” or something like that, which is great… until you realize they date all the way back to 1997. Yeah, Connecticut beer does not have a storied past.

So I sat and sipped the beer while watching the Philadelphia Eagles flounder. Perhaps my anger at the big screen action unfairly colored my opinion of the beer, but I hope not.

Notice the similar font between UConn and the beer label

You see, I tried to bore you with my tales of personal computing woe so you wouldn’t read down this far, because I don’t want to impugn the good name of “Connecticut Pale Ale.” But I must…

This beer is pretty lame. It’s limp and unexciting. It has a weird sweetness to it too, that doesn’t comport with my idea of what an American pale is. it’s easy to drink and isn’t offensive, but to carry the name of the great state of Connecticut on the label, a beer must be AWESOME.

This beer is not awesome.

Overall Rating:C-
Rating vs. Similar style:D

Beer Advocate’s Reviews of SBC’s Connecticut Pale Ale
Southport Brewing Company
Back to CTMQ’s Reviews of SBC bottled beers
Back to CTMQ’s Connecticut Beer Page
Back to CT Breweries page

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