Sierra Nevada Wants to “Revitalize” This Classic American Beer Style
Taste may be subjective but you won’t find many beer lovers who disparage Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. If it isn’t the most universally beloved craft beer of all time, it’s certainly one of the most influential.
When Pale Ale came out over 40 years ago, American beer was big and it was bland. “For the most part, it was really a light-lager landscape,” Sierra Nevada founder Ken Grossman once told Gear Patrol in an interview.
Back then, Pale Ale was loud, brash and unapologetically hoppy. To make it, Grossman used Cascade hops, a relatively fringe variety at the time, to “Americanize the beer we were producing,” he said.
Sierra Nevada is the third largest craft brewer in the country, with Pale Ale paving the way for Americans’ obsession with even hoppier beers.
Decades later, Sierra Nevada is the third largest craft brewer in the country, according to the Brewers Association, with Pale Ale paving the way for Americans’ obsession with even hoppier ales — such as Torpedo Extra IPA within Sierra Nevada’s own catalog.
In fact, by today’s standards, the beer community describes Pale Ale as “balanced,” “very smooth” and “rounded out with no intense sharp edges.” In other words, a respected recipe but not exactly cutting-edge.
Which begs the question: in the age of the IPA, is Pale Ale yesteryear’s beer?
Source: www.gearpatrol.com
