Miasmatic Review

Key West Sunset Ale

This week’s beer was bought for me by one of the best bartenders in the world while he was on Vacation, how cool is that? I guess I frequent his bar so much that he just felt obligated to serve me even while on vacation. Tonight’s beer is sponsored by Honorary Enabler, Drake of the Hope and Anchor in Loves Park, Illinois. The beer he picked was Key West Sunset Ale by the Florida beer company in Melbourne, Florida.

It came in a 12 oz brown bottle. The label starts as orange at the top and fades to a yellow at the bottom. There is a black boarder with yellow wheat grains on it. It says Key West at the upper half. There is a picture of a sunset through palm trees on it and the name Sunset Ale in white script under it. The neck label has a picture of a conch shell in a black circle. In the circle it says, “The Original Beer of the Conch Republic.”

The beer itself has an orangish amber color. There is no cloudiness to it at all, light passes through easily. You can make out images easily looking through the beer. A thin white head formed when it was poured into the glass. It faded quickly to nothing. There is no lacing on the glass or a ring around the edge.

The first thing you notice when you smell it is a citrus hops scent. Feint grainy malt finishes off the scent of the beer. The smell itself isn’t very strong and until it warms up almost to room temperature and then a caramel malt scent becomes more noticeable. The flavor is much like a scent. There is a thin malt flavor with a grapefruit and floral hops. The flavor really opens up, much like the scent, as it warms. The caramel malt flavor becomes more noticeable.

This is a light bodied beer with mild carbonation. There is no coating or creaminess to it.

This beer is pretty unassuming. The scent and flavor isn’t all that impressive. What it has going for it is that it is an easy to drink beer. It doesn’t sit heavy in the stomach. I reviewed this beer on a hot summer day, and this seems to be a perfect beer for just that, hanging with friends at the beach or lounging around a pool on a hot day. After I finished the first one, I wished I had a second one in the fridge to help fight off the heat of the day. It’s not a great beer, but it isn’t bad either, I give it 4.5 out of 10.