Bottled Up: Leelanau Petoskey Pale Ale

Because I have nothing better to do this evening than move the assorted flotsam from my laptop off onto a portable drive - a 1Tb drive; now I feel old, I remember the days when you only got 140kb on a disc etc - I thought I might as well have a beer. Never had a Leelanau beer before, so I opened up a Petoskey Pale.


Another of the US imports from beermerchants.com, this classes itself as a pale ale aged in oak casks. Clean, simple beer then, right? Wrong. Petoskey Pale is a darn site more complex than the label lets on. It poured a hazy amber, a strong surge of carbonation leading to an intense head eventually collapsing under its own weight into brilliant white pinpricks.

The aroma belies the simple 'pale ale' tag. There's brett here but it's.... tangential. It's the fruits that are driving me mad... what the hell are they? Is that peach? One that's been steeped in a fragrant white wine? Even strawberry? Just a hint, mind, of those bits of over-ripe ones crushed in the bottom of a punnet when you pick your own.

Those sweeter flavours are carried along with a pleasing sour note and a surprising light citric hop feel. The brett keeps itching away and there's some lovely floral notes towards a pronouncedly sourer finish. Decent dryness throughout leaves a layer of near-herbally vineous flavours to play with around your palate.

I like surprises - that's why I take all the labels off the tin cans in the store cupboard so I never know what's going on my toast - spaghetti, custard... clams. And here's a genuinely surprising beer. A pale ale, Grand Cru, sour yet calm, barrel aged yet spritely and fresh, dry yet fulfilling. Perhaps it's not a surprise that Leelanau beers are brewed over at Jolly Pumpkin; Ron Jeffries has plenty of pixie dust to go around and it's put to great use in Petoskey Pale.

As you can tell from the picture, Ratebeerians seem to like the beer too. I was surprised to find that I was the first UK rater, though. I know it's not widely available, but I would have though a few hardcore raters would have tracked it down by now. My advice - go get some. NOW!