Review of Palmetto Pale Ale
Posted By Ken Sunday, 24 April 2011 11:07
While Zach was on his trip to Denver, I was on a (for better or worse) much longer trip to the Charleston, South Carolina, area for 2 weeks. My first night there, I stopped by the restaurant next door to my hotel on Daniel Island to grab dinner and a couple drinks. The Palmetto Pale Ale is actually second beer I tried, after a tall draft of Sweetwater 420 (which I also need to review), since it was on the happy hour special. I had intended to leave after that, but ran into a co-worker at the bar with me, so ordered the Palmetto Pale to drink while we chatted. After all, why not take advantage of all beer possibilities we cannot get here in Indiana? Read on to see what I thought.
Ken's Review
Taste: A- If you follow us on Untappd, which you should, you would have probably read me checking this one in a lot over the course of the two weeks. After one sip of this stuff I was hooked. It is an American Pale Ale, so it definitely has its hop notes to it, which I love. The hops are not overwhelming, but just kind of skirt below the line of being a perfect balance. It has a decent amount of body to it, and the taste envelops your tongue within about a half second, and has a nice wave of flavor that peaks and then levels out after swallowing.
Packaging: B The Palmetto line of beers do not have a lot to their packaging in general. In fact, they are pretty much all the same, with the exception of label color and wording of the beer that is inside. There is the trademark Palmetto tree in the center of the bottle, which I have been told is the state tree. Palmetto appears above it, and Pale Ale below it in cursive handwriting, with Charleston, South Carolina, below that. Not a lot to it, but there really doesn't need to be.
Value: B+ The Palmetto Pale Ale, in the several places I had just a bottle, ran me in the vicinity of $3.75 to $4.50 a bottle. Can't really argue a whole lot on that. I did have draft a couple times that cost me about $5.00, so all-in-all a reasonable price expectation. A sixer of this, in the one place I saw it, was $10.99. Add in tax, then yes, this does start to get a little out of range in the quality/cost ratio. But being that this is one we cannot get in Indiana, I would happily pay the prices here when I could obtain some.
Drunkeness: B+ Palmetto Pale, after doing some research, is a 5.7% American Pale Ale. Definitely not slacking off, but also not trying to fuck you up too fast. If it were any higher content, this would probably not be that good of a beer, and would be too much as far as taste, content, and alcohol goes. So I like that it gives a little bit more to you without trying to be too big about itself in this department.
Overall: B+ All-in-all I was very happy with this beer, obviously, since I drank so much of it in a 2-week span, and brought bottles home in my suitcase. Charleston is a really interesting city, and that is in line with the interesting nature of the Palmetto line of beers. I was able to try a couple others, and while they didn't "do it for me" like the Pale did, I think they are representing Charleston well. I look forward to being able to try their entire line, which isn't very large, and I would recommend any chance to get a taste or a bottle of their beers, don't hesitate.