Brewery: Magic Hat Brewing Company, South Burlington, VT

Brewery Description: “An ale whose mysterious and unusual palate will swirl across your tongue and ask more questions than it answers. A beer brewed clandestinely and given a name whose meaning is never revealed. Why #9? Why, indeed. A sort of dry, crisp, fruity, refreshing, not-quite pale ale. #9 is really impossible to describe because there’s never been anything else quite like it. Fermented with our 150 year old strain of top-fermenting English yeast.”

Brew Style: Pale Ale, 4.6% ABV

Recommended Glassware: Shaker, Lager

The Ugly Truth: Is that I lost my notes on this beer and am trying to write this about a week after I drank it. I’m going to do my best to go from my memory, which sometimes resembles Swiss cheese more than a steel trap. I’ve had #9 a multitude of times and I’ve always enjoyed it. It pours an amber color with a decent head on it and has a good aroma. The taste isn’t bitter; fairly smooth with a little bit of bite towards the end. The finish I always found to have the faint taste of peach to it, which helps smooth it out. As far as pale ale goes, I think #9 is somewhere in the middle of the road in terms of the scale. #9 is a great beer, but the range of pale ales I’ve had in my life has been pretty vast with some excellent beers comprising the upper scale. Its a good beer that probably won’t disappoint most pale ale lovers.

EDIT: So I finally found my notes and it went pretty much as I have it there so I’m not going to change anything.

Verdict: You know what…I got nothing. Its a 7 out of 10 bottlecaps.