Ah, Pyramid. Between owning MacTarnahan’s, being owned by Magic Hat, contract brewing at several locations, it’s tough to know what’s what with them. I still remember the Pyramid of the ’90s and early ’00s, with their Apricot Ale and Snow Cap in particular as strong, leading beers, so I’ve been a bit confused over the various branding changes they’ve undergone over the past few years—if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, and I never thought their old identity or branding was broke.

But that certainly shouldn’t stop me from enjoying the fruits of their latest efforts, their Spring seasonal, Fling Pale Ale. This is one of the three types they sent me just over a week ago, and the one I have yet to have tried (I’ve been drinking and reviewing the other two over the years).

Fling is an American Pale Ale at 5.2% alcohol by volume; it’s moderately hopped (36 IBUs) according to their site, though brewed with three different hops.

Appearance: Pale gold in color, clear. Bubbly—lots of beading—but a minimal pale tan head on top.

Smell: Fresh and floral, green grassy hops. Bright. Toasty-sweet malts, raw bread dough. Nice!

Taste: Surprising rush of bitter hops up front, not what I expected from the fresh floral notes. Clean bitterness, resiny and earthy, kind of a dandelion bitterness. A bit of cracked wheat in the malts, otherwise relatively mild.

Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied with a crisp finish.

Overall: A nice fresh pale ale with big hops—well-played for the Northwest crowd. Otherwise I’d call it a fairly standard pale ale.

On BeerAdvocate, it scores an overall grade of B-. On RateBeer, it scores 3.08 out of 5, and is in their 46th percentile.