My argument is that SNPA isn't a Pale, but an IPA, based on taste. SNPA is noticeably more bitter on the tongue than Mirror Pond. It stands with any American IPA (excluding the modern sweet, murky, frooty ones), and apart from most other Pales, on the palate.
Yeah, I feel the same. I’ve had it and it’s fine but not something I’d buy over SNPA. But I’ve not had it in years, so perhaps it’s worth a revisit? I was also thinking about revisiting Steel Rail Pale Ale.
Yeah, the New England style pale ales piss me right the fuck off. There have been various instances where I’ve ordered something labeled as a pale ale while out hoping it won’t be hazy only to get it and see that it’s hazy. My assumption, at this point, is that everything labeled any variation of pale ale is hazy unless it specifically says west coast style next to it. I don’t even fully read labels at liquor stores anymore. I see “IPA” -and move on.
In the 1970s and 1980s, the industry (US and UK) pretty much considered IPA and Pale Ale synonymous (the US Bass label -below- at the time said IPA, and M. Jackson's short list of then recognized beer styles said the same thing). In the US, while there were once scores of beers labeled India Pale Ale by the 1980s the last survivor was considered a "brand" of Falstaff (then owner and brewer of Ballantine India Pale Ale), as well as the import Labatt IPA. The original post-Repeal Ballantine label emphasized "PALE ALE" with "India" in smaller font, outside the brand/style name.
@jesskidden Time travel a classic pint of Bass Ale for a craft beer drinker to enjoy today and no way, no how would it be labeled an IPA.
It's a good question. As you probably know, they expanded into Ft. Collins a few years ago, but that venture failed? (I believe Breckenridge took over the facility) So there's just the Atlanta facility now I believe. The website indicates they distribute into 42 states, but I'm not sure how accurate that is. I used to see the 420 in cans and on tap in Oregon, but not since the Ft. Collins brewery was taken over by Breckenridge. It’s actually been a couple of years since I last saw it in either Oregon or Washington.
Call it what you want. Just keep brewing it as it is and keep it around in bottles. I try to buy any SN I see to help them out. Never had a poorly made beer from them. Some I did not like but I keep going with them. Guess I would say they are my desert island beer company I first had SNPA in the late 1090’s. Wow it was amazing. I drank it for years and around 2009-2020 I lost a taste for it. I was all about huge hoppy beers and SNPA just tasted blah. As I have moved toward lagers more since 2020 I love SNPA all over again. Enjoy
It seems like their Little Things series of beers is their popular beers nowadays. Are you a fan of these products? Cheers!
I bet it was after you'd gotten so used to drinking gruits back then. First taste of beer with hops must've been mindblowing.
I remember reading Michael Jackson on the difference between stout and porter. MJ’s opinion was that it was up to the brewer, there was no difference other than that a brewery who makes both usually calls the stronger of the two a stout. That same reasoning applies to PA and IPAs made in the US, a brewery who makes both a pale ale and IPA should call the bigger, hoppier beer an IPA, but the same is not true for the UK. In the U.K. there was no rhyme or reason as to what beef is called a pale or India pale ale, oftentimes the IPA would be a weaker of the two.
I agree, one could see it as an IPA. And I completely understand what you're saying. If I compare it to something like say, Smuttynose Shoals Pale Ale it likely would come off as more bitter. I rememeber my first Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, it was SO incredibly bitter to me! That being said, it was released in 1981, and to me is the quintessential American Pale Ale BECAUSE it is hop-forward. Celebration Ale is their IPA and I think most would be able to tell the difference between the two.
Oh, yeah - agreed. Well, I'm not sure there's anyone alive who's tasted classic Bass Ale* but the point was - what was thought to be a Pale Ale or an India Pale Ale, by the industry and by the proto-beer geeks, when beers like SNPA and Anchor Liberty Ale were first created, brewed and marketed. For instance, Maytag on Liberty Ale from a Lew Bryson interview: The other thing about Liberty Ale that is often ignored in these "first craft IPAs" discussions, is that it didn't really become a regular Anchor release until 1983 (though the recipe was used for some Our Special Ale vintages before that was converted to a spiced Brown ale). * Ron Pattinson's research, for instance, has found the turn of the century Bass Pale Ale was 6.5-7% abv. I'd imagine it was also much higher hopped at the time. And at least one Bass bottler labeled it an IPA.
Could it be that the drier or more hop forward of the two was the IPA? That was the impression that I got from Jackson's writing.
I think that was true when the beer was actually being exported to India, they called it something like “Pale Ale as Produced for Export to India.” Those beers had a lot of time to age on dry hops and Brett, so there was probably nothing left for spoilage organisms to eat. In the 20th century though, it doesn’t seem like there was any logic behind the naming process.
I avoid those like the plague. I know I have had some of them but there's so many of them its hard to keep track and tell the difference.
Me too. I get it that SN feels compelled to brew these beers, given the current market, but these aren't standout efforts from SN. At least not imho. They aren't the reaon I buy SN beer.
LOL! Because the present is hazy, but it does seem to be clearing up some. I suspect that in time SN will cut back on their hazy portfolio. Anecdotal evidence seems to suggest that the popularity of hazy beers may be waning somewhat, though I suspect they'll never completely disappear. Regardless, 4 or 5 hazy IPA's at any one time seems a bit much.
