Monday Rant: Double Dosage

I had an unusual encounter with a beer this past weekend. This event caused me to split this week's edition of this post into two rants. This tends to happen to me when I have a beer and end up being somewhat disappointed with its flavor. Oh, alright I'll admit the truth. It's usually hops and this was the case once again.

American Pale Ales - A Diverse Style

I wont point names or name fingers, but I had a particular pale ale Saturday evening and for whatever reason it just tasted like an IPA to me. It had wonderful color as well as decent head and attractive retention. Each sip was just a mouthful of piney hoppiness and I'm not the world's biggest fan of that type of bitterness.

When I think of pale ales, I think of something on the British side. I like it on the maltier side with that awesome pale aftertaste. I obviously don't prefer them to be closer to IPA's. I'm starting to discover that within the style of the modern American Pale Ale there is a lot of diversity.

Take the pale ale I mentioned earlier as an example. Compare that to something like Flying Dog's Doggy Style Pale Ale, which is a lot maltier, and you'll understand the depth of the variety in this category. Which leads me to my next venture.

Craft Trends - How Much is Too Much?

Yea, nobody uses this hashtag but me.

This run-in with this really hoppy pale ale also sparked a thought in my mind concerning a trend in today's craft beer scene. Are we getting to the point where some brewers are just putting hops in their brews for the sake of putting more hops in than the competition? Could this possibly be because that's what a good portion of the beer community wants? I'm certainly not going to hate without ruling out that possibility. I try to see all of the angles.

If that's true, then so be it. I might just be in the minority on this one. You might like hoppy beers that are dominated like hops. Especially the pale ale I didn't enjoy on Saturday. That's perfectly fine.

I just get irked when I read things like this at Ding's Beer Blog. If making bigger and hoppier IPA's than other brewers are is what's really going on then craft beer is heading down a road full of pot holes.

Beer Review: Flying Dog Doggie Style Classic Pale Ale

Serving Type: Draft

ABV: 5.5 percent

Appearance: Flying Dog's Pale Ale pours an interesting shade of dark brown. The upper portion of the brew was a dark amber while the lower parts of it were a bit lighter and closer to the orange/tan spectrum. It also has a slight cloudiness to it with a half-inch bubbly, white head.

Smell: This beer was somewhat of a surprise in the aroma department. I picked up some malt that had a roasted scent to it. Behind that was a little amount of citrus, which I assume came from the hops. Here, I usually expect aromas of a lot less strengths such as wheat and yeast. Maybe even some honey. This definitely didn't go easy on the sweetness.

Taste: On the front, I got a ton of that roasted malt I picked up in the scent. The back featured the hop bitterness, which was a bit overpowering for my taste buds. The aftertaste leaves you with that characteristic paleness you expect from beers of this style. It finally came at the last second, but the paleness you'd expect was finally there.

Overall Rating:

In pale ales, I usually expect something a bit sweeter as opposed to dark and roasty. I also don't enjoy an overload of hops, as I think it defeats the purpose of this type of beer. If it's a pale ale, I want it to be just pale. Maybe even a touch of something sweet. Please save the hops for the IPA's.