[S2/E38] IPA? Nope. It's a Pale Ale.

Sep 21, 2015

Season 2, Episode 38 – This week, we’re still high on hops, but low on ABV. Hoppy pale ales are on deck.

While we all love IPA and their juicy hoppiness, drinking more than a couple can really take a toll on your soberness. Luckily, breweries everywhere are making hoppier-than-usual versions of pale ale, which by style are lower in alcohol than IPA. This week, we’re drinking some of the best hoppy pale ales we could get our hands on.

Off Color Brewing – Troublesome

To break in our palates, we’re starting with a wheat gose from Off Color Brewing called Troublesome. We’re big fans of the artwork for this beer, as well as the contents inside. We were able to pick this up locally in Costa Mesa, California, which is rad because this beer is great! The salt presence is very much subdued while the beer is crisp and clean. Good stuff.

Now to the pales. First up is Pseudo Sue from Toppling Goliath Brewery. This beer has a lot of hype behind it, and for good reason. This beer divided the room, mostly because of the hop character and lack of proper bitterness. But, we are being a bit hypercritical (hey, we’re a beer podcast), and all agree that it’s a great beer overall.

Hoppy Pale Ales

Next up is the citra hopped Zombie Dust from 3 Floyds Brewing Company. This beer is great, and very highly sought after. Greg is well known for not being a fan of the citra hop, but he love this beer. We all agree—it’s great.

Grunion from Ballast Point Brewing & Spirits is up next. We’re quite partial to this local SoCal brewery, and this beer is simply excellent. Its massive hop nose and clean, dry finish is reminiscent of and IPA with the alcohol content of a pale ale. Grunion and Zombie Dust are pretty much on the same level as far as quality and overall tastiness, which is great for us in SoCal, since we can’t get Zombie Dust locally.

Over-hopped pale ales are nothing new, but they seem to be popping up more and more lately. Freshness of a hoppy pale is of great importance, more so than IPA, due to its lower hopping rate and alcohol. As with IPA, find the freshest possible batch before purchasing.

BREW THE SHIT OUT OF IT.

Beers from this week’s episode:
Off Color Brewing: Troublesome
Toppling Goliath Brewing: pseudo Sue
3 Floyds Brewing Company: Zombie Dust
Ballast Point Brewing & Spirits: Grunion

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