Pale Ale

Sep 05 2016

Folded Mountains Majesty (er, an A-rated beer from Aldi)

Dave returns (!) with a review (!!) of a beer from…well, duh, Aldi. Is it worth the money? Does it get a good grade?

Hello, sports fans. I’m back. (I won’t bore you with the gory details of my absence; suffice it to say I can now tolerate some libations. And I’m also visiting Aldi again.)

I thought I’d return to what made me happy about beer – the pale ale – and used the most recent trip to Aldi as an excuse. So let’s give this one a try: Folded Mountains Pale Ale. From Aldi. Did I mention I got it at Aldi?

Taste

In a word: Hoppy. That, to me, is a good thing. I want a pale ale that pushes the boundaries between hoppy goodness and IPA bitterness. (I have discovered, through years of research, that my own preference would be an IBU figure of about 45.) This one has to be right in that zone, I would bet.

Allow me to apologize for being wrong all these years. The correct term is “International Bittering Units.” I thought it was “Bitterness.” Oops. Metasip regrets the error.

My all-time favorite beer is Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, and this reminded me a ton of that. (Foreshadowing the eventual grade for this one.)

Profile

5.3% ABV. One is plenty for the aging beer-drinker with cluster headaches. (Brewed in Rochester, NY.)

Value

If memory serves, I spent $6.99 on the six-pack.

Let’s talk about pricing for a second, not on this stuff, but on all ales. WHAT GIVES? I’m telling you, it’s like I took a break from drinking, came back, and everyone raised the price on everything. Why? Because they can? Because they should? Supply and Demand? The FDA?

Srsly, $10 is becoming about the norm for a six-pack of anything “craft brewed” – and I get it, you need to charge a premium, but I’m all like “whoa!”

Metasip Grade: A

Yeah, I’m going there. This is an A-rated beer, and I don’t care that we give out so few As and it’s been at least a year since I rated beer here. From the first sip to the last, this beer reminded me of Sierra Nevada, and that’s a really good thing.

Please go get some. Thank me later.

Jan 04 2015

All the beers from Destihl reviewed

(Not all of ’em. I’m not a lush.)

Still, Destihl is a small Midwestern microbrewery and restaurant. Let’s learn a little more.

On a recent trip to Central Illinois, I had the chance to sample enough of their beer to conclude that Destihl knows what the heck it is doing. While I couldn’t review all the beers from Destihl, the ones reviewed – five of them – were good enough to register four-plus stars, or at least a B+, on the Metasip scale. They have two locations, one in Normal and one in Champaign – both fine college towns, but only one with a playoff-bound football team. (Dig explained here: NCAA Football Championship Subdivision Bracket.)

So we’ll break format and waltz through five of the beers from this gastropub-slash-brewery and Bob’s your Uncle!

Normal Blonde Ale: B+

Normal IS the name of the town. Don’t poke fun – very livable city – and the state Normal School was founded there, thus the name. And thus the name of the blonde ale. 16 IBUs, 4.9% ABV, and mild in flavor. Good for those who want to have more than one – though the brewery serves 4-ounce sizes, too.

120 Schilling Scotch Ale: B+

Can’t find info online about this one, but my notes tell me it was strong – 9%+? – and had an overpowering flavor. But not a BAD overpowering flavor. Good job for a Scotch Ale, so we gave it a B+.

Nutty Brown Ale: A-

Higher in ABV at 5.6%, and higher in IBUs at 34. Right in my wheelhouse, too. The nuttiness put it over the top – we upgraded our rating from B+ to A- upon further review.

Belgian Pale Ale: A

This one also got an upgrade. Why? We helped down a growler later, then came back a few nights later and had more. Winner. Just a standout Pale Ale. I think the IBUs were probably around 40. I think the ABV was around 5. I don’t care, though, either way. This was the best beer we had in our trips there.

Sour Peach: A-

Not for everyone. Photo below – but I gotta tell ya, this was a sour beer that, really, if you’re into sour beer, wasn’t TOO peachy. And was quite tasty. I’d have it again, when I’m in the mood for sour beer – which I occasionally am – so I give this a good score.

All the Destihl beers reviewed?

Well, not all of them…but a good chunk. Well, five. Five of them.

Ever anywhere near Central Illinois, give these folks a try. You’ll be delighted.

Jul 20 2014

Goose Island Green Line Pale Ale

I had the same feeling about this that I had about two gluten-free beers I reviewed: BEER! (Wait, it’s “sustainably brewed?” BONUS!)

Goose Island Green Line Pale Ale – I thought it got its name after the Green Line of the CTA – Chicago’s version of the Tube or the T or the Subway. Sorta, it did – but not really. It’s more about the fact it’s brewed using “green” methods. But I’m not going to talk about how wonderful it is that a beer is brewed using sustainable methods. I’ll let those sustainability blogs talk about it instead.

Here’s a little from a site called Beerpulse: Goose Island Sustainable Beer.

Here’s one from Huffington Post on the green beer movement in general: Huffington Post Sustainable Beer.

Wait, here’s one from the company itself! Goose Island Beer.

Enough about sustainability and the warm fuzzies you can get from saving the environment. What about the beer?

Goose Island Green Line Pale Ale Review

Taste

At a quintessential Chicago experience, the street festival, this one was just about perfect with the quintessential Chicago food – wait a minute, I had a Maple-glazed Pulled Pork Slider. Which I had never had before. Highly recommend, BTW. They were from Kinzie Chophouse.

I’m starting to say that I’m most partial to the pale ale, so I would be MAD if they messed this up. Quite the opposite – hoppy but not too much so, clean finish, slightly bitter but not overpowering. In other words, Pale Ale Done Right.

Profile

ABV: 5.0%. 30 IBUs. <– This combo is becoming my sweetspot.

Value

I was at a street festival, so I paid 6 tickets. Each ticket cost $1.00. So a beer set me back $6. (I’m good at math, no?)

What’s funny – a quick search of the web tells me little about the pricing at a store near you, or me; and I don’t recall ever seeing this in six-pack form at any liquor store. So I did a little research and…DUH…beer is expensive to bottle and transport, so you can only get this on draft in Chicago. Smart!

Metasip Grade: A

We try to grade holistically – see the other posts about Omission and Prairie Path. Those tasted like beer, and so does this one. I think it’s worthy of a solid “A” grade.

But…what do YOU think? Let us know in the comments!

Jul 05 2014

Omission Pale Ale

In our quest to find beer that tastes like beer and happens to be “gluten free,” we are now batting .667.

The latest? Omission Pale Ale, from the folks at Widmer. It’s the second of three that passes – and it passes with flying colors.

Quick refresher: Acupuncture doc suggests I cut back on the dairy and cut OUT gluten. I love me some gluten. This is gonna be bad, right?

Well, in addition to all the other things I can drink, there’s always wine (which has been on equal footing with beer in my book, and with my stomach, for a long time). Yes, it’s possible to be a beer snob and a wine aficionado. Or at least that’s what I tell people.

Anyway, here goes nothing: or, something, actually…the review!

Omission Pale Ale Review

Taste

Why I prefer pale ales to IPAs in about one word: malt.

Or at least what tastes like malty caramelly sweetness. Not too sweet, but it’s gotta be there.

With most IPAs, there’s almost too much bitterness for me – but that’s okay every once in awhile. Just not now, while I’m still recovering from the gluten-free diagnosis.

This Omission Pale Ale has the malty richness up front. Mildly sweet. There’s some hop to it, but it’s not crazy. But really clean on the finish. Definitely nice work.

Profile

The website – which you can visit here – says it’s a “hop forward American pale ale.” But again, and I can’t emphasize this enough, it is NOT OVERLY HOPPY. 33 IBUs. 5.8% ABV. Four different malts may do something to offset the impact of the Cascade hops.

It is – like the Prairie Path we reviewed yesterday – crafted to remove gluten. So they can’t guarantee that it has removed all the gluten, but it’s close enough that they share the test results.

Value

Probably $9.99 – I don’t think I picked up my receipt, because I paid cash and was in a hurry and also got a 12-pack of Leninenkugel’s Summer Shandy to go with and got out of there for $26 with tax and most of the other craft beers are around $9.99 at this store and sorry about the run-on sentence.

Metasip Grade: A-

I think this is on par with the Prairie Path from yesterday. It’s beer – not just gluten-free beer, this actually tastes like beer. Worth a try.

Jul 04 2014

New Planet Off Grid Pale Ale

First of two reviews on beer consumed by a newly crowned, gluten-free beer snob.

I feel that I’m going to need to address two subjects in this review of the New Planet Off Grid Pale Ale. Subject 1: Why am I becoming a “gluten-free beer snob?” Subject 2: Why is a beer that I call “awful” getting a low, but passing, grade?

Subject 1 is pretty simple, really. A couple trips to the Minute Clinic, then the doctor, then the acupuncturist…lo and behold, I may have gluten intolerance. So, doctors’ orders, down with all gluten.

This may impact my work here on the Metasip site.

Most of my favorite beers have some of the gluten. Darnit! Gonna have to do quite a bit of trial-and-error. (You can recommend cider if you’d like – not sure it’s really my thing yet. For some, though, cider can be really hip.

Subject 2: Grading on a curve, or not. Our theory at HQ is this: if it’s in a store, it has passed some series of tests. Some distributor finds it worthy enough to get it into a store near us, and, therefore, it HAS to be passable. I’m not going to give something an “F,” nor will I plan to go into the “D” range very often. “C-,” for now, is going to be the lowest grade. Bringing us to the review…

New Planet Off Grid Pale Ale Review

Taste

If “sorghum” and “brown rice” are your thing, I’m going to recommend you stay away from beer and go find a vegan restaurant that will fry up a little of both with some garlic and shallots. Neither belong in beer.

Aftertaste like a bad shopping mall Chinese restaurant buffet.

Profile

I think it said 5% ABV. Frankly, I don’t want to pull the bottle out of recycling to find out.

Value

I once read a column from the legendary movie reviewer Gene Siskel who said something along the lines of “if the movie is bad, walk out. Your time is more valuable.” So the price – $7.99 – is irrelevant; three sips, followed by mouthwash, and I had to move on to something else.

Metasip Grade: C-

We’ll find “Beer” not “Beer…that isn’t bad for gluten-free.” This doesn’t even qualify as the latter.