Beer Review: Smuttynose Star Island Single

I committed a bit of a beer faux pas while enjoying this beer, and I hope the beer world is able to forgive me for it. Our glasses are in a general state of dirtyness, so I poured this beer into a red plastic solo cup. Yeah, I know... it's just like being back in undergrad. Ok, on to the beer. Nose starts out very sweet, smelling of grain as if it's an Adjunct Lager. As it sits, the yeast begins to grow in the nose. After a couple of minutes, this begins smelling like an American Pale Ale. It does smell a tad like an american take on a lighter belgian wit, must be the coriander coming through. Doesn't excite me a whole lot, reminds me of the days when I thought that Blue Moon wasn't part of Bud's evil empire and was a very respectable product. Taste is a bit tart and tangy, perhaps a little bit of solvent taste coming through at the hop signature. I remember watching something where Peter Egelston made a comment about the "Single" style as a belgian session ale. I could see why. This beer is basically Smuttynose's take on wit-session ales. It's not terrible, but, on the other hand, not terribly exciting. I could see this being extremely popular with the blue moon crowd. At the same time, this beer self advertises as a "session ale," which I could see quite plainly - mission accomplished. I'm not a huge fan of wits or any beer than uses sour/tangy tastes quite yet, but I can't fault the beer for that. It accomplishes what it attempts to accomplish quite well and has that trademark Smuttynose yeasty taste that works so well in its Pale Ale and IPA.

My Rating: 8/10

Poured: I don't really want to talk about it...

BeerAdvocate: Link