Let's not forget how good Pale Ales can be and how many have disappeared over the years. For instance, I recently rediscovered Sierra Nevada Pale Ale and I am amazed by the great flavor and overall high quality and consistency. SNPA has over 400 pages of 5 star ratings, over 12000 total ratings and an overall score of 90... I feel remiss that I passed by this one for many years in search of beers that are new and exiting (and not nearly as good). What are some other favorite older Pale Ales that are still widely available?
There really aren't around near as much as they used to be. Local favorite is Duckpin by Union Craft. Clean, very flavorful, moderate alcohol so you can have a few. Not sure how big its distro is, but pretty widely available in MD, DC, and NoVA.
They seem to be few and far between these days. And it seems when I do find one, it's a "hazy" variant or DDH, or something else. The classic pale ale is a challenge to find. I was disappointed when Great Lakes discontinued Buring River as I always enjoyed it quite a bit.
SNPA is in my regular mix along with North Coast Red Seal and Deschutes Mirror Pond. I appreciate the more nuanced, malty characters of the later two.
SN Pale Ale is the standard for an american pale. Excellent, consistent, flavorful. I used to love Copperhead from Free State (yeah, yeah, I'm a homer) but it hasn't seemed as grapefruity/bitey for years now. And the gold standard is Bass. Too bad that years if not decades ago, we stopped getting REAL brewed in England Bass and have had to put up with brewed in New York or whatever. I have no idea if Bass ever went back to being imported from England or not as I stopped buying it after I discovered my "imported", pricey Bass was being brewed in america (NEWW YOOOORK?!?..... google the old Pace picante sauce commercials kids)..... Kinda like I stopped buying Red Stripe when I found out it was being brewed in New York until they wised up and went back to properly importing the brewed in Jamaica lager (Hooray! Beer!). All that sed, Bass for a true pale ale, Sierra Nevada for an american pale ale....although some of the area/regional breweries have been putting out some exceptional, interesting variations....BKS, Alma Mader......
SNPA is the reason I drink craft and imports pretty much exclusively now (if I'm drinking beer). Early on I was fascinated by the various microbrews that were popping up, but I didn't try anything that I thought I could drink on a consistent basis. Until SNPA. Back in the day I would still drink Red Hook ESB, Ballard bitter, Rubicon ipa, Full Sail gold, Anchor and the like, but SNPA was my go to beer. Even today, when someone mentions pale ale, SNPA is always what immediately comes to mind.
That "discovery" was pretty easy for the bottles. ABInBev in the US had started learning it's lesson after multiple lawsuits. (But the stuff exported to the US at least as far back as the 90s, even before Interbrew bought Bass, was pretty sad stuff). When and where was it brewed in NY? I remember PA (twice), Holland and Canada. Well, "They" was Heineken after they took control of the brand and brewery from Diageo.
Haven’t seen them in a bit but Flying Dog Doggie Style and Lagunitas Dog Town. BP Grunion was solid as was FW Pale 31. Have only had it a few times but Daisy Cutter is good. Saranac pale has always been a decent, readily available option (although it used to be an English pale). And we all know Zombie Dust doesn’t count. If we are talking 3Fs, you gotta go OG with Alpha King.
FW Pale 31! One of my favorite beer memories is enjoying a firkin version of Pale 31 that I picked up at the FW brewery.
Yes, of course, SNPA. But I’ll also take this opportunity to throw in a plug for Field 41, an always outstanding APA out of Yakima hop country. And speaking of Yakima, a bit of a tangent, but a lot of the best fresh hop beers put out every year are pale ales, not IPAs. We are rounding the corner toward FH season again—and especially in the Northwest this is a sacred time. IYKYK
This thread has reminded me that I have not had Russian River's Row 2, Hill 56 Pale in some time. I will need to rectify that (bottle or tap).
