Although pale ale is a staple of the craft beer industry and likely the style responsible for growing the industry in the US from 80 breweries to over 1700, pale ale is many times underrated and under-appreciated, even by yours truly. In my quest to find great session beers (to balance against the super high gravity beers), I decided to get some friends together to have a blind tasting of pale ale. The results of this party culminated in both this story as well as an article I wrote on Menuism.com about American Pale Ale.

I asked each person who came over to bring a six pack of pale ale. The options ended up with were Full Sail Pale Ale, Grand Teton Sweetgrass, Drakes 1500, Deschutes Mirror Pond, Deschutes Red Chair NW Pale Ale, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, Something Something, and a control beer, Alaska Summer Ale.

After a quick meal of cajun-style meatloaf, I poured, in secret, two to three beers per person in three separate rounds. Each plastic cup had the name of a person plus A, B, and C to be used for the ratings. During each round we leisurely tasted, discussed the beer, recorded a rating between 1 and 10 for each beer, socialized, and snacked on cheese, crackers, and fruit. It was a great time and it gave us an opportunity to try several versions of the same style of beer.

The pale ales we tried were across the spectrum from hoppy and bitter, like Sweetgrass, to a more malt-forward beer like Mirror Pond or Full Sail, to hoppy yet malt-balanced beer like Red Chair NWPA. Based on the ratings, the clear favorite of the group was Full Sail Pale Ale. You might think, that based on this outcome, another malty beer might be the runner up but instead it was the balanced and somewhat hoppy Red Chair NWPA. The complete results are listed below. The maximum number of points possible was 10 times 6 people: 60.

1. Full Sail Pale Ale – 46
2. Red Chair NWPA – 43.63
3. Grand Teton Sweetgrass – 42.57
4. Drakes 1500 – 42
5. Deschutes Mirror Pond – 41.3
6. Mission St. Pale Ale – 41.18
7. Alaska Summer Ale – 38.5
8. Sierra Nevada Pale Ale – 34.2

The tasting party was quite educational and increased my appreciation of this style of beer. Special thanks to Liz, Jason, Eden, Brian, Andrew, Michael, and Basma for making this party a success.

The craft beer made by Full Sail Brewing Company is of high quality, reasonable price, and easily accessible in 27 states. In fact, I’ve seen it at every Trader Joe’s that I’ve been to in California. Their pale ale is no exception to their high standards of quality. On a coast dominated by super hoppy and bitter pale ales, Full Sail has made a beer that is a refreshing departure by being more malt-forward than hops-forward.

This award winning beer, including a gold medal at the Great American Beer Festival in 2008, is described by the brewery as follows:

Our Pale Ale has a fresh, hoppy aroma that comes from two (top secret) Northwest hop varieties, while two-row Pale and Crystal malt give it a mild sweetness that finishes clean and crisp. Feeling out of whack? Put on some music, crack a Pale Ale, and readjust your balance.

If I had to guess the hop varieties used in this beer, I would go with Mt. Hood and Willamette or maybe a touch of Cascade to replace either one of those.

Date Reviewed. May 10, 2011

Where I Found It. BevMo on Van Ness in San Francisco, CA

Serving Type. 12 oz. bottle to a nonick pint glass.

Appearance. Full Sail Pale Ale has a crystal clear, light amber and coppery color with a white head. The head doesn’t have much retention but it does leave a nice lacing ont the glass. The beer appears to maintain a very thin layer of white foam on the top.

Aroma. The aroma of this beer is comes primarily from the malt. It has a malty and with an earthy spiciness to it coupled with woodsy note almost like cedar. It also has some hints of a floral hop bouquet, which complements nicely the grainy aroma. Possibly more of a noble hop nature to it and maybe just a dash of vanilla to accompany the malty aromas.

Flavor. This pale ale is nicely balanced with a subtle malt sweetness that is nicely balanced by a touch of bitterness from the hops. This beer, at 37 IBUs, has more than a touch of hops but the balance and flavor of this beer is clearly more malt-forward than hop-forward. Although this beer is more malty than hoppy and has some sweetness, I would not consider it a sugary-sweet beer. It has a nice balance. The malty-cedar and spicy-earthy notes from the aroma follow through nicely in the flavor.

Mouthfeel. Full Sail Pale Ale is a medium to light bodied beer with a nice smooth texture that is just shy of being described as velvety.

Overall. When so many American pale ales are so hoppy, Full Sail provides a refreshing departure with a finely crafted malt-forward pale ale. Hops are not absent, instead they accentuate the hardiness and grain-qualities of the malt rather than introducing citrus or pine notes. This beer also does not have a harsh bitterness to it, instead it has a smooth bitterness. This beer is full of flavor but if you put it next to much hoppier and much more bitter beers, it will seem flat and with less flavor. I highly encourage you to start your session with this great beer and maybe you won’t feel a need to move on to something with more aggressive hops.

Rating. My ratings below are on a five point scale with five being the best score.

• Appearance (6%): 4.5
• Aroma (24%): 4.5
• Flavor (40%): 4.5
• Mouthfeel (10%): 4.0
• Overal (20%): 4.0
• Total: 4.35

Information

• Style: pale ale
• Brewery: Full Sail Brewing Company
• Alcohol by volume: 5.4%
• IBU: 37
• Grains: two-row pale malt, crystal malt

Deschutes Brewery of Bend, Oregon has a solid line of year round beers and many times an even better line-up of seasonal ans special release beer. The spring seasonal beer from Deschutes in 2010 is the Red Chair NWPA (Northwest Pale Ale). I thought it would be heard to beat Cinder Cone Red from 2009 but they did it.

This beer has a nice balance between hoppy and malty and I found it to be an excellent beer to accompany a long day of snowboarding. When I saw this beer at Northstar-at-Tahoe during lunch, there was no doubt that I was going to pick some up. Although, this beer worked well in cold weather, I think it would be great anytime of the year.

Deschutes named this beer after the oldest operating lift at Mt. Bachelor and they describe this Northwest Pale Ale as follows:

What makes this copper colored beauty so wildly popular?  As a debut Northwest Pale Ale, it’s an adventure all its own.  It has a plush body with satiny caramel flavors derived from seven varieties of malt.  Yet, despite it all, it remains a hop-forward ale with that distinctive citrusy punch.  Just minus any mouth-puckering bitterness.

Date Reviewed. April 5, 2010

Where I Found It. Draeger’s in San Mateo, CA.

Serving Type. 12 oz bottle to pint glass.

Appearance. Red Chair has a creamy meringue-colored head with average retention and a crystal clear orange-brown color.

Smell. The aroma of this beer is a little toasty, bisquity, syrupy, and malty. The hop nose is very noticeable with a hint of citrus, like orange and grapefruit, Squirt comes to mind. The hops are not earthy and certainly not grassy. It includes a hint of pine, a dash of cedar, and some citrus. The bouquet of fresh green hops predominates.

Taste. The bitterness of Red Chair is very apparent and a bit spicy but it contributes to the crisp drinkable nature of this beer. It is balanced by just enough roasted malt sweetness to smooth out the bitterness without having being too sweet. This is a very enjoyable and delicious beer.

Mouthfeel. Red Chiar is a medium bodied beer with an average amount of carbonation and it goes down smoothly.

Drinkability. I find the balance of this beer makes it highly drinkable and easy to quaff several. It has just enough sweetness to counter the bitterness of the hops. It has a crisp nature to the bitterness that make it quenching and quaffable. I find that there are aspects of this beer than can adapt to nearly any beer craving. I wish it was offered all year round.

Rating. My ratings below are on a five point scale with five being the best score.

• Appearance (20%): 4.5
• Smell (20%): 4.5
• Taste (40%): 4.5
• Mouthfeel (10%): 4.0
• Drinkability (10%): 5.0
• Overall: 4.50

Information

• Style: IPA
• Brewery: Deschutes Brewery [more info]
• Alcohol by volume: 6.4%
• Bitterness: 60 IBU
• Beer Advocate rating: 3.92 (as of May 1, 2010)

Other Reviews

• Brewed for Thought - Beer of the Week: Deschutes Red Chair IPA
• The Full Pint – Deschutes Red Chair Northwest Pale Ale
• Drink Hacker – Review: Deschutes Brewery Red Chair IPA
• Beer Douchebaggery – Deschutes: Red Chair NWPA
• Beer(ein)stein – Red Chair NWPA Review

I was flipping through my copy of North American Clone Brews [Amazon] when I came across a recipe for Black Dog Ale, on page 81, from Spanish Peaks Brewing. It seemed to be the perfect recipe for what I wanted and it was a beer that I have not had in ages and have not seen in the stores for a long time.

When I got to the homebrew shop, they were out of Mt. Hood whole hops so I substituted with Vanguard whole hops. The following is a modified version of the recipe from North American Clone Brews. The main differences are the Vangaurd hops substitution, addition of Whirlfloc, substituted crystal 50 with 40 and 60, and the amount of dry malt extract that I used.

• 5 lbs. light dry malt extract
• 0.5 lbs. Crystal Malt 40
• 0.5 lbs. Crystal Malt 60
• 12 oz. white wheat malt
• 4.5 AAU Willamette whole hops (60 minutes)
• 4.5 AAU Vanguard whole hops (15 minutes)
• Whirlfloc wort clarifier (15 minues)

This recipe has a starting gravity of about 1.055 and a target final gravity of 1.012.

I started this batch using the counter-top partial mash method that was described in an article by Chris Colby in the October 2006 issue of Brew Your Own magazine [Amazon]. I have a 2 gallon water cooler and a large grain bag that I use for the partial-mash. In this recipe I mashed the grains with a few quarts of water at 158°F for 45 minutes. I sparged with 168°F water for 5 minutes. I collected the wort and added it to boiling water. Next time I plan on using more grains since the water cooler can accomodate more.

One of the most exciting parts of this homebrewing session was using my brand new 8 gallon brew pot and 60,000 BTU burner. I was able to perform a full wort boil but having not done a full wort boil before, I didn’t know how much more than 5 gallons of water I needed and at the end of the 60 minute boil, I only had 4 gallons of wort. The other new thing that I tried was adding the dry malt extract as a late addition to cut down on caramelization.

As I do for every batch, I created a 1000 mL yeast starter with 5 oz. of dry malt extract. In the past I had problems with fermentation lagging to long or not finishing. That all stopped after I added a yeast starter to my brewing process. Within 6 hours fermentation had taken off. The pictures below were taken about 8 hours after pitching the yeast.

After 10 days in the primary fermenter, I transferred the beer into the secondary fermenter and I used that opportunity to take a gravity reading and sample the beer. The gravity was very close to the target at 1.015. The beer tasted very good, albeit flat and room temperature, with a pilsner like quality in the hops bouquet, probably due to the Vanguard hops. I can’t wait to get this into the keg because I think this will be a great summertime beer.

This malts used to create Paranoid Pale Ale are ESB malt, crystal malt, and honey malt. Simcoe hops are used for bittering, crystal and cascade hops are used for finishing, and this beer is dry hopped with cascade.

Where I Found It. At the top of Northstar-at-Tahoe at the Summit Deck & Grille.

Serving Type. Paranoid Pale Ale was served on tap into a clear plastic cup.

Appearance. The head of this beer is nice and foamy with a slightly darker than egg-shell white color. This beer is crystal clear with an orange amber color. The color is similar to that some dark orange candies.

Smell. The hop bouquet of Paranoid Pale Ale is a little spicy with spruce or pine notes. There is also a hint floral and citrus notes. The aroma comes through with a little caramel maltiness.

Taste. The flavor is malty caramel and vanilla while very nicely balanced with a distinctive cascade flavor. The taste of the hops are slightly spicy, a little floral, but not pine tasting. Although this beer has 40 IBUs, the hop bitterness is smoother and balanced by the sweetness of the malt.

Mouthfeel. Paranoid Pale Ale is a medium bodied beer. The bitterness lingers briefly then is smoothed away by the malt sweetness. The bitterness does, however, builds up on your tongue over time.

Drinkability. This beer goes down smooth with a wonderful hop flavor balanced with the malt. Since it does  not have a harsh bitterness, it goes down smooth. I’m thinking the beer was designed with skiing/snowboarding in mind because it was great with lunch after a morning of snowboarding. It would also be a great après ski beer.

Rating.

• Appearance (20%): 3.5
• Smell (20%): 3.5
• Taste (40%): 4.5
• Mouthfeel (10%): 3.5
• Drinkability (10%): 4.5
• Overall: 4.0

Caption on the Bottle

Although I did not try Paranoid Pale Ale from the bottle, I did find a picture on Flickr.

Classic American pale ale featuring a piney citrus hop nose, a full malt body, and a clean bitter finish.

Information

• Style: American pale ale
• Brewery: Mammoth Brewing Company
• Alcohol by volume: 5.5%
• Hops: simcoe (bittering), crystal and cascade (finishing), cascade (dry hopping)
• Malts: ESB, crystal, and honey
• Original gravity: 1.055 (13.5 Plato)
• Final gravity: 1.013 (3.2 Plato) (calculated)

Other Reviews

• Must Love Beer – Mammoth Brewing Co. Paranoid Pale Ale
• Beer Advocate – Mammoth Paranoid Pale Ale
• Rate Beer - Mammoth Paranoid Pale Ale

Baird Brewing started in 2000 by Bryan and Sayuri Baird and is located at the base of My. Fuji in Numazo, Japan. The brewer’s website describes this beer as follows:

This quenching brew is crafted in the American west-coast style. It sports a beautiful soft citrus hop aroma which gives way to a round, honeyed-fruit flavor. The finish is crisp and refreshing.

Where I Found It. I found this beer at City Beer Store in San Francisco, CA.

Serving Type. I poured the contents of a 355 ml (12 oz.) bottle into a pint glass.

Appearance. The head of Rising Sun Pale Ale has the typical egg-shell white color and lasts an average amount of time. The color is a nice orange caramel color but the clarity is semi-cloudy. It was even more cloudy when I forgot to stop pouring and emptied the bottle conditioning yeast into the beer.

Smell. The hop bouquet has a nice citrus, orange, and floral smell, which is noticeable but not intense. The aroma has background hints of sweet malt and grain. There is a slight touch of vanilla and something that I can only describe as Japanese grape-flavored hard candy.

Taste. As the caption on the side of the bottle claims, this beer is well balanced. It has malty sweetness and is not too heavy on the hops and bitterness. The taste is pleasant and has a honey sweetness with a touch of hop spice. Again, I pick up on another type of sweetness in the taste that reminds me of white grape juice.

Mouthfeel. The mouthfeel is a little too watery for my preferences. The initial hop aftertaste on the tongue is pleasant and fades quickly.

Drinkability. Despite the watery nature of Rising Sun Pale Ale it is highly drinkable. It is smooth, easy to drink, and has a nice hop nose while not being huge on the hop bitterness.

Rating. My ratings below are on a five point scale with five being the best score.

• Appearance (20%): 3.0
• Smell (20%): 4.0
• Taste (40%): 3.5
• Mouthfeel (10%): 2.5
• Drinkability (10%): 4.0
• Overall:3.45

Caption on the Bottle

The following caption is found on the side of the bottle:

This hoppy, brisk and refreshing Pale Ale is indescribably complex, but holds tenaciously to Japan’s prime aesthetic value — supreme balance. Behold, the Zen Brewmaster’s Pale Ale, a perfect beer for drinking now, later, tomorrow, the next day, every day. “In balance there is harmony.” Kampai!

There is also information about the brewery listed on the side of the bottle:

Baird Beer is brewed at the foot of Mount Fuji by Japan’s pioneering craft brewery. Lovingly and authentically crafted, it is unfiltered, re-fermented in the bottle, and naturally carbonated. Please drink contemplatively, Beer Drinker-san.

Information

• Style: Pale Ale
• Brewery: Baird Brewing Company
• Alcohol by volume: 5%
• Beer Advocate rating: 3.84 (as of March 21, 2009)

Links and Other Reviews

• Numazu Traveler – Baird Beer’s Fishmarket Taproom
• Chuwy Reviews – Baird Beer Taproom, Nakameguro
• Metropolis.co.jp – Big Taste, Small Breweries
• Beer Advocate Reviews
• RateBeer.com Reviews