My Own Great American Beer Festival

Yikes, I haven't written anything in like 2 weeks.  Well that's going to change.

If you are into craft beer then you must be aware of the biggest craft beer festival that is held annually in Denver, Colorado.  The Great American Beer Festival is a 3 day celebration of craft beer where hundreds of brewers bring their creations for consumers to sample and judges to...well...judge.  I have never been but would love to someday.  It is literally the biggest craft beer celebration of all.

Inspired by this festival, I decided to peruse the list of last years medal winning beers.  There were 83 categories of beer up for judging.  Each category handed out gold, silver, and bronze medal recognition for deserving brews.  As I was browsing the list, I saw several beers that I currently have on hand in my fridge.  So I decided that I will pay tribute to the Great American Beer Festival over the course of the next 3 days by enjoying and reviewing some of the beers that won medals last year.

First up is Firestone Walker's Pale 31.  This was entered in category 49 last year under American Pale Ale.  There were a total of 105 entries in this category, and this beer won Gold.  I haven't tried this one before, and my awesome sister and brother in-law happened to send me one a few weeks ago.  Let's dive in:

Choose your vessel:  Bell's tulip.  Probably should have gone with a standard pint glass, but felt that a gold medal winner deserves a special glass.

The Pour:  Beer pours a fairly clear and bright golden color with a small one finger head.  Some mild lacing develops throughout consumption, but nothing substantial.

Aroma:  Bursting with crisp floral, citrus, and bitter hop aromas.  At the same time it smells quite delicate and light.  Incredibly impressive aroma for such a light and low ABV beer.

Taste:  Up front you get a little malt and fruity hop sweetness that quickly turns to citrus and pine hop bitterness.  The bitterness is there at the finish, but in a subtle way that just lingers ever so slightly.  This one is extremely light in mouthfeel, and the crispness of the hops make it ridiculously drinkable.  Medium to light carbonation.  This goes down so smoothly.

Overall:  This is a little pale ale with big hop flavors and ridiculous drinkability.  It's right up there with Zombie Dust for me in terms of how smooth and drinkable it is.  At 4.9% it's also extremely sessionable.  I could easily put away 6 of these in no time.  Incredible pale ale here.  It is packed with hop flavors, but the light mouthfeel and smoothness keeps you wanting to drink and drink and drink it.  I almost wish I had like 3 of them to pour into a large stein so that I could just guzzle the crap out of it......it's that good.  I actually just reached for what I thought was my last drink, only to find the glass was empty....and I won't lie...I was a little sad it was gone.  Well deserving of the Gold Medal in the American Pale Ale category. Get it if you can.

Beer Style #1....The American Pale Ale

People often ask me what my favorite beer of all-time is.  I struggle, usually, to come up with an answer.  I obviously have favorites, but comparing Two Hearted to KBS for me is like apples and oranges.  Both are awesome in their own ways.  So this got me to thinking about different beer styles and I decided to start writing about them.  Not sure how many styles I will write about, but at the end I will provide recommendations and some of my favorites.  Today let's talk American Pale Ale.

American Pale Ales are usually quite different from British Pale Ales.  Typically with an American Pale Ale you get a significantly higher hop characteristic.  Not enough to make it an IPA, but the lines between the two styles are much more blurry.  British Pale Ales generally have a much more prominent malt profile, making them sweeter, a good example of this is Bass Pale Ale.  The American Pale Ale tends to usually have a more dominant hop presence.  Still, the APA is usually clean, crisp, and refreshing.  The American Pale Ale is also usually relatively low in alcohol content.  They typically hover in the 5%-6% range, which makes them quite drinkable.  The balance of hops and malts make the American Pale Ale a perfect beer for those drinkers who aren't quite ready to have their palate thrashed by an IPA or a Double IPA.  I have a buddy who generally hasn't been all that into craft beer, but then I introduced him to Sun King Osiris and he loved it.

The American Pale Ale is a great "gateway" style to getting into craft beer because it's usually suitable to many palates.  It's not intimidating in the flavors it puts out there.  There are some that are hoppier than others, but that's the fun in trying things out.  Probably the first true craft pale ale I tried was Sierra Nevada Pale Ale.  It definitely has a more dominant hop profile, but upon my first sip I did not find it to be offensive.  But there are lots of great APA's out there.  So let's take a look at some of my favorite American Pale Ale's.

1. Three Floyds Zombie Dust:  Generally only available at Three Floyds Brewpub, this is in the conversation for me of my favorite beer of all time.  If you ever have the opportunity, it's highly recommended, and it consistently ranks as one of the best American Pale Ales in the country.  If you can't find it, then I suggest...
2.  Three Floyds Alpha King:  Usually easier to find and just as awesome in its own way.
3.  Schlafly Dry Hopped APA: Generally easy to find and full of awesome flavors.  Great beer.
4.  Upland Helios Pale Ale:  One of the less intimidating APA's out there, very drinkable and rather easy to find in Indiana.
5.  Victory Headwaters Pale Ale: Nice citrus hops to this Pale Ale.
6.  Founders Pale Ale:  Some crisp malt and hop flavors.  Well balanced.
7.  Flat 12 Walkabout Pale Ale:  If you are ever in Indianapolis, this one is a must try.  The use of Galaxy hops gives this APA a distinctly sweet and passionfruit hop profile.  The sweetness plays well with the malt tones.  Truly an awesome APA, but only available at the brewery.  My favorite local APA.
8.  Sun King Osiris Pale Ale:  My second favorite local APA.  A really good every day drinking pale ale.  My buddy Matt really enjoys it, so trust me, you will too.

Those are just some of my favorites, and most of them are easy to get if you are here in Indiana.  My favorite American Pale Ale is Zombie Dust, by just a hair over Alpha King.  If you are unsure about craft beer and pale ales, my recommendation is to go to your local shop and do a mix and match six pack of pale ales, have some friends over, and have a good tasting.

Cheers to the American Pale Ale....what are some of your favorite American Pale Ales?