"pale ale" news and stories

With winter on its way out the door, it's time for me to start phasing out barley wines, stouts and other burly beers in lieu of the latest crop of lighter, easier-drinking brews. Here are my 10 picks for toasting the coming spring.

Firestone Walker Solace:
This April marks the first time that the Paso Robles, California, brewery has bottled its spring seasonal. It's worth the wait: The unfiltered Solace combines elements of the German hefeweizen and Belgian saison, creating a tangy refreshment with hints of banana.

Ithaca Ground Break Saison:
Hailing from upstate New York, the hazy, farmhouse-style ale drinks bright and crisp, packing heaps of fruity notes and a spicy-yeast profile. Don't worry: It's not as barnyard-tasting as its Belgian counterparts.

While pseudo-speakeasies concocting perfectly calibrated cocktails may be an unstoppable trend, we prefer a different kind of cloak-and-dagger operation: Speakeasy Ales & Lagers, one of the Bay Area's top breweries. Since its 1997 inception, Speakeasy has won suds fans with its full-bodied beers fashioned in steam-fired stainless steel tanks and kettles, then aged in a cool cellar.

Though the malty, generously hopped Prohibition Ale and the citrus-wheat White Lightning Wit are winners, we pine for the super-drinkable Big Daddy I.P.A. Ho-hum, you think, yet another bitter India pale ale. But hear us out, for Daddy is not your normal mouth-puckering ale.

"Compared to other IPAs, Big Daddy is quite dry, so its profile is novel and completely out of style," says Speakeasy president Forest Gray. "We are not interested in making beers that are difficult to drink, just so we can say that it is hoppier than someone else's beer. We pride ourselves on the fact that one can actually drink Speakeasy beers and enjoy them."

And we definitely enjoy Daddy. The pale-gold ale (6.5 percent ABV, about 50 IBUs) packs a juicy citrus scent, with a touch of malts tossed in for balance. The taste is a hop wallop -- grapefruit sweetened with a sprinkling of sugar -- but Daddy still drinks crisp and as dry as a desert afternoon, with the bitterness lingering like a lush at last call.

Once again, Daddy knows best.

What other West Coast IPAs do you crave? Spill it in the comments.

Joshua M. Bernstein has written about brews, bars and booze for New York Magazine, Time Out New York, ForbesTraveler.com and the New York Times.

Organic beers seem to be all the rage as of late. Either that or my "rage sensors" are a bit slow on the uptake. Either way, more and more I'm seeing the words "organic" on labels and hearing people talk about organic alcohols.

When it comes to organic food, people often speak of benefits to taste or their health. However, after speaking with representatives from a number of organic breweries, many of them pointed out most craft brews use a higher quality of ingredients to begin with, leaving less room for true organic beers to separate from the pack. One of the biggest distinctions, it turns out, is the use of organic cleansers when cleaning the brewing equipment, which (pardon my skepticism) I find hard to believe will translate into any major jump in product quality or add to my longevity.

Still, organic products do benefit the environment and support organic farmers, so if you're the type who loves to look out for our planet (and I guess we should, huh?) drink all the organic beers you like. My point though, when it comes to rating organic beers on taste, don't expect them to receive any special considerations.

So imagine my surprise when one of the best beers at this year's NY Brewfest turned out to be a certified "USDA organic" serving. With an almost too strong grassy, herbaceous nose, Wildfire Extra Pale Ale by Four+ Brewing fulfilled my desires for taste bud-blowing hoppiness with a dry, bitter finish that was out of this world. This product is probably a love it or hate it beer based on your affinity for hops, but if you're a hop-head, here's an extremely quaffable opportunity to be environmentally friendly.

Bonus points to the brewery for succeeding against the odds: Four+ (who is directly affiliated with the Uinta Brewing Company) is located in the not so beer friendly city of Salt Lake City, Utah, proving once again that you can't leave Utah out of the craft beer conversation.

[Photo Credit: fourplusbrewing.com]