Sorry for the long post, but if you can wade through it, I would appreciate comments. The pending arrival of TG beers into MN has got me thinking of doing my own taste test of American-brewed American / English Pale Ales. The timing will be dictated by when PS shows up in a store near me. First, the rules I've more-or-less decided on... The beer must be a regularly brewed beer claimed by the brewer to be either American or English Pale Ale within the 4% to 6% ABV range. (i.e. no one-time, no specialty stuff, no high ABV stuff, just "normal" pale ales.) It must be available in distribution in MN in a store near me (sadly, then, no New Glarius or Three Floyds... Maybe a drive to Hudson isn't out of the question... Are they available there?) It will have a representative sample of MN-brewed pale ales. It will have a representative sample of other mid-west brewed pale ales. It will have a representative sample of "national" pale ales. And, of course, PseudoSue. This is a lot of beer, so I'm not sure how to go about this that will be a fair test. Maybe some kind of bracket so I'm not tasting more than 3 or 4 at a time? Maybe a MN bracket, a mid-west bracket, and a national bracket? Also, what beers should be included. Here is my list of candidates so far: MN: Summit Brewing Extra Pale Ale Indeed Brewing Company Day Tripper Pale Ale Lift Bridge Crosscut Pale Ale Badger Hill High Road Summit Brewing Hopvale Organic Ale Lake Superior Brewing Special Ale Lucid Brewing Dyno Third Street Brewhouse Three Way Midwest: Great Lakes Brewing Co. Burning River Pale Ale Toppling Goliath Brewing Co. PseudoSue Bell's Brewery Midwestern Pale Ale National: Sierra Nevada Pale Ale Lagunitas Brewing Co. New Dogtown Pale Ale Deschutes Brewery Mirror Pond These are all west coast. Any east coast suggestions? (Must be in distribution in MN). Any thoughts on the "rules"? Any thoughts on how to go about doing the tasting(s)? Any thoughts on the list? Adds? Removals? Replacements? The MN list seems long, so some will likely be dropped. Also, some of the top MN breweries (e.g. Surly, Steel Toe, Bent Paddle) do not seem to brew a "regular" pale ale. Any other MN suggestions?
As far as national distribution goes I would suggest Knee Deep Citra. According to seek a brew Knee Deep has limited distro in MN. I traded for one and was very impressed. As far as east coast goes, maybe Victory Headwaters? For Midwest, I would switch out the Bell's Midwestern Pale Ale with their regular Pale Ale, and maybe add Founders Pale Ale to the mix. You really should try and get your hands on a New Glarus Moon Man though, I found that it is one of the things I like best about moving to WI (there aren't many, though).
THB West Bank Pale Ale is a solid offering Bottle/Canning Dates are always a factor Is this a Blind Tasting? What is your scoring/grading criteria, or are you going solely by taste? I had recently done a blind Citra Ale tasting
Thanks for the replies... I've added the Knee Deep, Victory, and Founders to my list. It was my understanding that Bell's Pale Ale was slightly reformulated & renamed Midwestern. I could be wrong, though. Yeah, dates will be an issue for the out-of-state beers (and even some of the slower-moving in-state beers for that matter). I intend for it to be a blind taste. As for THB, I was intending to limit this to bottle / can only, just for my own logistical convenience. For scoring, I am planning on using the BA L-S-T-F-O rating system. I'm no certified beer judge by any means, so it will be my preferences. Yeah, I really want to. A drive to Hudson is looking more and more likely, especially if I could also pick up something else for this test that is not available in MN... Zombie Dust, maybe? Another possibility for the "national" bracket: Dale's Pale Ale
Looks like you are correct about the Midwestern Pale Ale. I really wasn't a fan of that one, but I liked Bell's Pale Ale when I had it way back when. I have heard great things about Central Waters Horseshoes and Hand Grenades APA too, but have not tried it myself. Not sure if the Cities saw any distro of it either.
@MNAle Ill be in WI this weekend, Id be happy to pick you up an HHG(if still available) and a moon man for you, providing you are able to meet somewhere in the Minneapolis area
Warning: pseudoSue is an unfiltered, grainy beer single-hopped with Citra, an outstanding variety that a lot of "old-school" craft beer drinkers disdain. It's going to stand out massively in your line-up, for better or for worse. pseudoSue isn't the ultimate pale ale for people who love pale ales; it's the ultimate pale ale for people who tend to find pale ales boring (and who like Citra). pseudoSue is not boring. More Minnesota suggestions (I don't necessarily endorse these, but you should be able to find them in bottles or cans): Fair State Pahlay'Ahlay (recently bottled in bombers; I don't know if this will be a regular in Fair State's lineup; hopped with Citra so good for comparison to pseudoSue) Flat Earth Angry Planet Boom Island Silvius Big Wood Jack Pine Savage Fulton The Ringer Odell 5 Barrel Pale Ale (Colorado) is a national English pale ale suggestion. Evil Twin Hipster Ale is an East Coast APA suggestion. Evil Twin is a gypsy brewer based out of New York. Hipster is brewed by Two Roads in Connecticut. Dale's Pale Ale is above your 6% ABV limit. So is Zombie Dust, and you're not going to find it in Hudson anyway. Note that a lot of the best newer beers that a few years ago would have been marketed as APAs now are being marketed as session IPAs. A good resource; play around with the toggles: https://www.beeradvocate.com/ratebeer/?path=/top/american-pale-ale/us/minnesota Added: Blind tastings inevitably are informative, especially when you're tasting within a style.
Thanks, but I'm not quite ready to kick off the test. But, heck, if you can score some Moon Man and HHG, I'd take some off your hands for a "pre-test"! (I've never tried either.) I live in the south metro; I can meet you anywhere a "reasonable" distance from the Burnsville/Apple Valley area.
Thanks. Yeah, I was aware that it may be difficult to do a truly blind test with a beer like PS. I expect it to be visually obvious that it is NOT an EPA, for example. Floaties, etc., don't bother me, though. One thing I'm interested in doing is comparing the kind of pale ale PS represents with the more traditional take on the style, like Summit EPA or SNPA. I'm considering raising my upper ABV to more like 6.5%-ish to accommodate beers like Dale's, Dogtown, or even ZD if I can get any of that.
Sue is an absolute hop bomb. Aside from maybe Day Tripper, none of the beers you are proposing to pit against it are in the same ball park stylistically speaking. It's an IPA masquerading as an APA.
Bent Paddle's new one, Lollygagger. If you do make a trip to Hudson you can pick up Smuttynose Shoals Pale Ale. I am sure there are other East Coast pale ales available but cannot think of them. Dogfish Head I suppose.
I've been rethinking this. Too many beers, so I need to make some roster cuts (sorry, NFL training camp starts tomorrow...)... @islay got me thinking, too, with his comment about blind testing within style, so, ... Instead of a "border battle" style of MN, Midwest, and National brackets, I'm thinking about "style" brackets: 1. Traditional Pale Ale, and 2. Non-traditional Pale Ale. And, if the beer is difficult to get, it is out, regardless of how worthy it is. The whole test is gated on the availability of PseudoSue in a store near me, so this list may change based on what is available at the time. I have left in a road trip to Hudson for Moon Man, since I really want to try it, and since the non-traditional but easy to get list is a bit short. I've decided to keep the ABV, though, in the more traditional range of 4-5.9%, so 6% & above was one of the roster cut criteria. I still want to keep a good sample of MN beers just because I do! (Consider it my affirmative action plan!) Here are the candidates: Traditional: Summit Brewing MN Extra Pale Ale Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. CA Pale Ale Deschutes Brewery OR Mirror Pond Indeed Brewing Company MN Day Tripper Pale Ale Non-traditional: New Glarus Brewing Co. WI Moon Man Toppling Goliath Brewing Co. IA PseudoSue Fair State Brewing Coop MN Pahlay'Ahlay Summit Brewing MN Hopvale Organic Ale I'm still open to alternative suggestions, but I do want to keep it to a total of 8 beers, 4 in each bracket, with 2 MN beers in each bracket. (Pitting the Summit Hopvale against those other three may be a misfit... any suggestions for another MN beer?)
Sierra Nevada is a classic they are the first and best pale ale in the country with out them we wouldn't have a craft beer industry.
I wish I could pit today's pseudoSue against what it was a year and a half ago. That'd be an interesting taste test
Another suggestion would be Fargo Brewing's Iron Horse pale ale. Not quite a MN beer but close and it fits your criteria.
