Ironfire Brewing Company - Synner Pale Ale

New brewery alert! Run by two former Ballast Point employees, Ironfire Brewing Company, located in nearby Temecula, is a new addition to the craft beer scene. Their beer has been showing up on draft at a few places for months now, but they only recently started bottling. I was able to find their Synner Pale Ale a few days ago and decided to try it out.

Before we go into the beer itself, let's give Ironfire a round of applause for this label. Bad. Ass. A cowboy skeleton? Gambling, smoking AND drinking? AND surrounded by loose women? Dear God, Ironfire, you've outdone yourselves. Bravo!

Synner Pale Ale pours a clean looking clear golden color with a nice one finger white head. I noticed a ton of lacing while I was drinking it and the lace leaves huge, sticky foamy patches on the glass. Very nice. As soon as I poured this beer, I got a huge whiff of citrus and piny hops. Even standing a few feet away from the glass, I could pick them up. Not exactly what I'm used to in most pale ales. When I got closer, I picked up some overripe pineapple and mango as well as caramel and a bit of biscuity malt.

The taste opens with a big hit of piny hops. A wave of bready malt follows, and while it's a bit much, it mellows the hops pretty nicely. The finish brings the bitterness back, with notes of lemon zest, grapefruit pith, aspirin and a good dash of hop resin. This is crazy hoppy for a pale ale, but I really enjoyed it. My one complaint is that it finishes a bit unbalanced and bitter, but this is a really solid start for Ironfire. I'll definitely be looking for more brews from them in the future.

Final Grade: B+

Top 100 Beers Tasted: 37