Taste: 5 Finish: 4 Visual: 3 Aroma: 1
Total: 13
Ballantine was the 4th largest brewery in the US about 5 million years ago. They were sold and now owned by Pabst. Given the major brewing companies generally don't do ales, let's see how Pabst has brought the Ale back with a vengeance.
It has a nice deep golden color. The head is very thin and brittle. The aroma is of very mild hops and some off vegetables. Not appealing.
It's sweet on the front of the tongue. It's very bright with a lot of fizz on the tongue and a bit of acid. Not much in the middle. In the back is a bit of hops. Throughout it all is a mild sweetness which is actually nice. It finishes pretty quickly with a bit of sweetness and what I'll call boiled vegetables. That's a bit off putting. I usually notice that in beers from Holland/Netherlands that may be a bit stale.
Overall, Ballantine produces an almost not bad ale from a mass production brewery. I can say I am pleasantly surprised since I was expecting this to be terrible. It's actually drinkable and I would prefer it over many other American lagers. But it in no way competes with its British and European counterparts.
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