Rail Yard Ale was first brewed in 1992, four years after Denver's oldest brewpub first opened. This is my first taste of Wynkoop's flagship beer and the first beer they canned.

From the Wynkoop Brewing site:

"Our most popular beer for nearly 20 years, Rail Yard Ale puts a unique twist on the biggest-selling style of craft beer in Colorado.

It’s made with the malts and hops typically used in a German Octoberfest lager, but fermented with a classic English ale yeast. The result is a hearty, refreshing and uniquely Western craft beer.

Rail Yard is an elegant, mahogany-colored beer with a creamy tan head, aromas of biscuit malts and sliced apples or pears, and flavors of toasted malts and caramel."

Here we go...

Pour - ruby-ish amber in appearance with some nice bubbles streaming upwards into a dense mat of off-white foam. It looks malty and sweet just from the appearance. Hold this one up to the light and you've got something to sit back and enjoy with your eyes...but who really wants to do that for very long?

Aroma - sticking my nose into this I get a big whiff of delicious warm maltiness, toasted bread, fresh pressed cider, brown sugar and perhaps a slight tinge of citrus. This smells great!

Taste - toasty, malty and yet very light on the palate. I was expecting something much richer and sweeter. Baked apples meets toasted brown bread. Crisp in the finish with a touch of sweetness left on the tongue. I am impressed by this rather straight forward brew. 

Overall - light, refreshing and yet full-flavored. Great malt profile but not overly sweet. This is actually close to perfect when it comes to a solid American session ale. I really think Wynkoop nailed it with Rail Yard. Fantastic stuff for any occasion.

Would I buy more of it? - if I could, I would. I actually think I could turn some non-craft beer drinkers around by giving them a glass of this. Actually, I am pretty sure I could turn around some folks that think canned beer is bad beer by giving them a glass of this as well. Good stuff.

Note - Wynkoop recently released a second canned offering called Silverback Pale Ale. 50% of the profits from the sales of Silverback Pale Ale will go to the Denver-based Mountain Gorilla Conservation Fund.