12 Beers of Christmas #6
Sierra Nevada — Pale Ale
Well this had to be in there. As well as the Brewery across the Bay, Sierra Nevada looms large over Northern California. Pale Ale is the Pale Ale — A perfect expression of Cascade hops in a single beer. I been to the tap room in Chico twice this year, thanks to a Chico wedding (where naturally we drank SN beers). It’s stunning — a huge brewery (by my experience), and a beautiful building. The room holding the kettle and whirlpool is incredible — almost grecian, with images of the brewing process adorning the walls. The brewery tour starts with a taster of Pale Ale and then you can go next door to the restaurant and try the Draught Style Version.
In the restaurant you realise there’s a lot of beer that Sierra Nevada makes which never leaves Chico. Saisons, Black IPAs, Experiments are all on rotating taps in Chico.
And now the Bay Area — the Berkley Taproom will now be pouring and growler filling some of those beers. The barrel aged Torpedo is especially wondrous — a crazy growler fill considering the ABV but a magical taster of aging an IPA in wood.
But it’s the Pale Ale that’s always surprising. A while back Amy and I were watching an Octopus devour San Francisco at our favourite cinema. I was drinking the mildly hopped IPAs, and Amy was drinking Pale Ale. I had a taste and immediately realised I had made the wrong choice — the Pale Ale was bright and pin sharp, beautiful hop character. I wanted to swap beers right there.
A few Golden Pints have talked about White Shield this year. I love White Shield, it’s a perfect British IPA. Fairly plain, not over hopped, not sickly malty. It’s, honestly, a fairly ordinary beer but drinking it is like drinking a whole heap of history in a beer. It goes beyond the ingredients and becomes something else. I get the same feeling drinking Pale Ale — it’s the history of Craft Beer, Northern California and The West Coast in a glass of beer.
It’s one of those things that it’s almost crazy how ubiquitous it is. And how many people can recognise it. The first decent beer I made here was a Perkins Pale Ale — simple malt base with a blast of Cascade. Amy tried it and said it tasted like Pale Ale. We had it with her sister at thanksgiving, and again, her brother in law said it reminded him of Pale Ale. This is not a humble brag but a demonstration of how Pale Ale perfectly captures the hop. Pale Ale is not only one of the iconic craft beers in the US but it’s a true demonstration of brewing maturity.
It’s just a fantastic beer that keeps revealing more and more.
