Base Camp West Coast Pale Ale

A serviceable and solid 5.4% ale, I got familiar with Base Camp West Coast Pale Ale during a stay with my in-laws. When I travel, I always buy a lot of beer for reviewing purposes, but I also make sure to pick up a sixer or a case of something for late-evening sipping. Enter a sextet of these li'l guys from Fernie, British Columbia’s Fernie Brewing Co.

The beer comes in 355mL cans with a camper van and surfboard vibe. A copper-toned ale, Base Camp pours with a thick cover of off-white suds. It has a nose that is sweet and fruity, but also sticky and dank. The flavour is a touch too sugary at the front end, but complimented with tropical notes. The back end has some resinous IPA qualities, but kept in check.

As I said off the jump, Base Camp is a serviceable beer. I don’t mean that as a pejorative. True, the beer will never be a star, but it’s pretty well made and tastes nice. True, I did find it overly sweet and insufficiently crisp, and it lacked the crispness I was expecting from a West Coast Pale Ale, but I still found myself gratefully reaching for another late into the night.

Rating: 7.0 out of 10.