Out of the 12-ounce brown bottle pours a coppery-colored beer infused with ruby hues and topped with a beige cream lace. The distinctly clean lager aroma is a bit sugary and boozy, with some alcohol spice, and steely caramel in the nose. Full and rich-bodied, with a near-chewy center. Creamy, silky mouthfeel.

Tremendous malty base, with a deep-rooted non-cloying sweetness and a juiciness reminiscent of overripe stone fruits, meaty and fleshy. Suggestions of booze-soaked banana bread, toasted grains, burnt sugars, slight leathery bite, with a spicy and warming alcohol and soft vanilla bean notes emerging under the caramel base. Hops are quite delicate, but present with suggestions of pine, watery citrus rinds and flora. Whispers of smoke? Perhaps. Finishes with a big, rounded residual sweetness and a touch of fresh dark breads, but all in all, it’s rather clean.

This dark golden brew, lightly tinted orange, is hop-forward, as any self-respecting pale ale should be, with moderate fruit and citrus. Though the hops are the most immediately recognizable factor — again, as they should be in an American pale — they give way to a lightly malty backbone that lends crispness and drinkability. Unlike many pale ales, Dale’s Pale Ale resists the temptation to let the hops overwhelm, instead letting them work in a context that ends with just the right bitter snap.