Goose Island: Ten Hills Pale Ale

We had the opportunity to try Goose Island's Ten Hills Pale Ale. It's the first of three in a series of limited releases, and arrived with just a little bit of pomp and circumstance. The two bottles we received were numbered- we had 72 and 73 of 100. The custom label on the bottle featured the signatures of three Goose Island's brewers; Brett Porter, Keith Gabbett, and Jared Jankoski. Small touches, but the kind that go a long way to making us feel like what we have is exclusive.

The ale features perle, cascade and saaz hops, all of which were grown exclusively for Goose Island in Idaho. (This was some of the information included in the letter that accompanied our bottles. More information was included in the bottle opener/USB drive that came with the bottles as well.) The three hops gave the beer a unique flavor, and balanced very well with each other and the malts.

It's got a creamier mouthfeel than you might expect for an American Pale Ale. There's a bready malt flavor that compliments the citrus flavors from the hops. The beer comes out of the bottle a rich golden color with a medium white head that lingered a bit with lacing on the sides of the glass.

I gave this beer a solid 3.5/5.

Thank you to Laura and the rest of the Goose Island team for putting together such a great package and for letting us sample the beer early!

The Big Guy: I was pretty pleased with this pale. Most of the time Goose Island doesn't get to intense with their hops, however this was a hop forward pale ale. There was some light carmel and toffee flavored malts with a great big citrus hop flavor upfront. It had a great bitterness on the back end and overall was a pretty impressive pale ale. I gave it a 3.5 as well

Professor Beer:  I was very impressed by the Ten Hills Pale Ale.  It had big hops, and a nice, lingering bitterness.

O-Dawg:  Mild hop floral nose, notes of honeysuckle.  Medium body that reminded me of Bells: Hop Slam.  I was expecting a lighter body for a pale.  Lots of malt, notes of carmel and toffee.  Finishes with a very mild hop bitter finish.  Leaves the mouth coated in honey.  I would take this any day over any year round Goose Island beer!  Very impressed and hopeful for the next two releases.  Better than avg, not yet a "track this down" 3.5