Sierra Nevada Pale Ale Review

Name: Sierra Nevada Pale Ale
Style: American Pale Ale (APA)
ABV: 5.6%
IBUs: 38

During the first four years I was doing this blog, I reviewed many beers but there were some that I simply missed for reasons that are beyond me. I’m not speaking of rare beers but craft beers that are widely consumed. One of those beers is Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, a beer which I remember from my dad’s old company picnics from back in the mid-90’s as it was one of the beers of choice of my Dad’s younger co-workers who were fresh out of college.

Now I’ve reviewed quite a few beers from Sierra Nevada but never this one and my reason is because….well, I though I already reviewed it. That is, until, I dusted off the website and looked at the archives. Am I ashamed? No, but just a tad bit embarrassed.

Appearance – Dark orange with a mild amount of haze to it, along with some abundant carbonation. The head itself is pretty foamy and there's a healthy amount of lacing left behind.


Aroma – Caramel malts dominate the nose but behind that are some bitter and light piney hoppiness.


Taste – Much like the nose, the caramel malts hit you on the front of the palate. This gives away to the bitter and light piney hops in the back with the malts taking a back seat. The aftertaste has a lingering hop bitterness along and a light maltiness.


The balance of hops and malt is optimal here and while it’s nothing new, it’s a very easy drinking beer. As such, I can see why this is a standby for many beer drinkers everywhere; Myself included. As the old saying goes: If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

Odell St. Lupulin Extra Pale Ale Review

Name: Odell St. Lupulin Extra Pale Ale
Style: American Pale Ale
ABV: 6.5%

It's been a busy past couple of days with the 4th of July and getting more stuff moved into my new place, so I'm going to be playing catch-up with some review drafts that I have.

As such, the first beer of the day that we will be looking at is St. Lupulin Extra Pale Ale from the Odell Brewing Company based out of Fort Collins, Colorado and is listed as Summer Seasonal by the brewery.

St. Lupulin pours a fairly clear orange color with just a slight haziness. The head, while starting out fluffy, becomes quite thin but stays that way. There is also some decent lacing to be had here as well.

The nose has a very sweet kick to it in the form of freshly peeled oranges and a bit of floral hoppiness hanging off of that. There is also some mild caramel mild sweetness in there but it's quite secondary compared to the rest of the aroma.

Flavor-wise, it's very citrus hop forward but not in the overpowering sense but rather that freshly peeled orange sort of way. With it are some floral hops, mild bitter resin hops and a malty backbone, which is more prominent here than it was in the nose.

The palate is fairly moderate in terms of body weight with a bit of thickness to it. The carbonation is fairly mild and a creamy-like texture which makes it fairly easy to drink.

I found St. Lupulin to be a very good American Pale Ale. While some people may find the flavor a bit one-sided because of the strong citrus characteristics, I found that to be it's strength and I think that makes it stand out amongst other APAs. If Odell were to make this a year-round offering, I would definitely be finding myself having this again.

Odell St. Lupulin Extra Pale Ale - 9/10

Fargo Brewing Iron Horse Pale Ale Review

Name: Fargo Brewing Iron Horse Pale Ale
Style: American Pale Ale
ABV: 5%

Tonight is a fairly special review because it's a beer from a brand new brewery called Fargo Brewing. As you may have guessed from the name, it is based out of Fargo, North Dakota. This will also be my first time trying out a beer that is made in North Dakota.

At my local liquor store, they just started carrying this in six-pack cans. Since I'm always looking to try out the latest beers, I picked up a sixer of Fargo's Iron Horse Pale Ale. On the can it's described as a "great, sessionable, hoppy pale ale that makes hop lovers go crazy." At 5% ABV, I think that is pushing the boundary of what I consider a "session ale" but let's try this out to see how it is.

Iron Horse pours a hazy orange color with a very frothy head. I'm not picking up on any visible carbonation and the lacing is sticky and moderate.

The aroma starts off with a prominent caramel maltiness and citrus hop sweetness, showcasing the Falconer's Flight hops very well. There's also a light touch of toffee thrown in for good measure. If you were to put a blindfold on me, I would think that I was smelling an IPA.

The flavor is surprisingly floral hop forward with some caramel maltiness and a bitter dry hop aftertaste. Interestingly enough, it's fairly subdued compared to what the aroma showcased.

The body is fairly lightweight and the carbonation is also very subdued as well, which makes this a pretty easy to drink beer.

Iron House is no doubt a good beer, but the flavor feels a just a little bit one-dimensional in comparison to the nose. While seasoned Pale Ale fans aren't going to find this groundbreaking, it's still pretty tasty and I think this is a great beer to introduce someone to the American Pale Ale style. On top of that, it is a good sessionable beer that manages to achieve a reasonably good flavor profile that can be enjoyed throughout the evening.

Fargo Brewing Iron Horse Pale Ale - 8/10

Two Brothers SideKick Extra Pale Ale Review

Name: Two Brothers SideKick Extra Pale Ale
Style: American Pale Ale (APA)
ABV: 5.1%

I've been on sort of an APA streak as of late and tonight I'm going to reviewing a beer that was actually recommended to me by Seth from Regular Guy Brewing, which is the Two Brothers Sidekick Extra Pale Ale. Seth happens to be a big admirer of Summit EPA and likened the the aforementioned beer to SideKick. As luck would have it, my local store recently started carrying Two Brothers so I'm able to see just how good this is.

SideKick pours a clear yellow color with a fairly foamy white head. The visible carbonation is rather mild and lacing retention is decent.

The nose starts off with a potent floral hop & yeasty scent, which are backed up by a toffee sweetness and a pale malt noticeable pale malt backbone.

As such, the flavor is not too different from the nose. There is a nice balance between the malty backbone and the floral hops and yeasts. I would say the only noticeable difference here is that it's more resiny than the nose leads you to believe and is most noticeable in the aftertaste.

The palate possesses a fairly light body and the carbonation is also very mild as well. As such, one should not have any trouble drinking this.

While the flavor plays it safe for the most part, SideKick is a textbook example as to how to make a good & balanced APA. If you're not really too sure about what to get on your next trip to the grocery/liquor store, you're not going wrong by trying this out.

Two Brothers SideKick Extra Pale Ale - 8.5/10

Deschutes Armory XPA Review

Name: Deschutes Armory XPA
Style: American Pale Ale (APA)
ABV: 5.9%

Originally I was going to continue going through the beers which I received via mail but in a twist of events, a challenger has appeared. For you see, I am not the only beer blogger in Duluth; Quite the opposite. He goes by the moniker Duluth Beer Snob and he also reviews beers but with a Gonzo-esque narration and definitely worth reading!

This morning before I left for work, I was checking out his latest post that focused on the latest offerings from Deschutes Brewing. As I was coming to the end of the post, he was talking about how tasty the Armory XPA was when he mentioned:

• I cannot imagine how good this would be on nitro at the pub. If I were Nick, I’d give it 10/10.

I noticed three things:

1. My name is Nick!
2. The name is hyperlinked!
3. That's my rating system!

So imagine my shock when I clicked on the link and it sent me....to my own front page! Was this a challenge? If so, I accept that challenge! I have to admit it's a pretty bold one considering that I've only given one 10/10 rating since starting this blog up. I just so happen to have bought a bomber of XPA last week, so tonight's review will be Armory XPA. The XPA stands for eXperimental Pale Ale as it was the first beer brewed at Deschutes' Portland location.

Armory XPA pours a hazy orange color with some mild visible carbonation and a soapy head. There is also no lacing to speak of along the sides of the glass. 

The aroma has a rather pungent floral hop and yeast scent that is complemented by some orange peels and pale malts. I do have to admit that it's rather vibrant smelling even for an APA.

The flavor is a lot more floral hop forward with some strong bready yeasts, mild citra-hops, yeasts and a solid pale malt backbone. Much like the nose before it, it's got a very vibrant taste even by APA standards

The palate as a whole is moderate in terms of both body weight and carbonation intensity. It's part-crisp and part easy-drinker.

While I think Armory XPA is an excellent and vibrant tasting APA, it doesn't quite match the complex flavors that I got from 3 Floyd's Zombie Dust, which I consider to be my all-time favorite APA. With that said, this is still a very flavorful beer and it's got a very decent price tag as I only paid about $4.50 for this so you're for sure getting your money's worth here.

Deschutes Armory XPA - 9.25/10

You can also check out the Duluth Beer Snob at www.duluthbeersnob.tumblr.com

AleSmith X Extra Pale Ale Review

Name: AleSmith X Extra Pale Ale
Style: American Pale Ale
ABV: 5.25%

I've already reviewed a couple of beers from AleSmith Brewing Company, a brewery known for their strong beers and found them to be very good (especially the Wee Heavy.) Today I'm going to switch it up a bit and take a look at one of their lower-calibur beers and I've decided to go with AleSmith's X Extra Pale Ale, though part of my brain wants to interpret the "X" as ten.

AleSmith X pours a hazy yellow color with a white foamy head. The visible carbonation is pretty high carbonation and the lacing left behind is surprisingly abundant and sticky.

The aroma kicks things off with a nice floral hoppiness, a solid pale malt foundation and a light yeasty scent.

The flavor accurately reflects the aroma. The flavor starts out with a solid floral hoppiness and the pale malt backbone is carried over wonderfully from the nose along with the yeasty aspect. There is also a light caramel sweetness in here too which helps out the flavor quite a bit.

The palate as a whole is moderately weighted with some light carbonation. Overall, this is very easy to drink!

It's a relief to see that AleSmith can tackle the lower ABV beers with ease. AleSmith X is a very tasty American Pale Ale and it's very easy to drink! I picked this up for around $5 and you're getting more than your money's worth here!

AleSmith X Extra Pale Ale - 9/10

Deschutes Red Chair NWPA Review

Name: Deschutes Red Chair NWPA
Style: American Pale Ale
ABV: 6.2%

It's time to look at what I consider to be Deschutes Brewing's most popular Spring Seasonal offering: Red Chair NWPA, which is classified as an American Pale Ale. NWPA is an acronym for Northwest Pale Ale, but I'll be sticking with NWPA because it's easier to type.

I remember having Red Chair NWPA on tap a couple years ago down in Cannon Falls, MN after touring the Cannon River Winery, who by the way make fantastic wines. This is my first time having it in a bottle so let's see how this holds up.

Red Chair NWPA pours a hazy orange color with a thin soapy head, which has pretty good retention. The visible carbonation is quite high and it's leaves behind some pretty good lacing!

The nose is quite citrus hop forward with pale malts, light toffee mild floral hops and yeasts. If it weren't for the yeasty aspect, I would say this smells an awful lot like a traditional West Coast-style IPA.

With the flavor, I'm picking up on some pungent citrus hop notes, toffee, yeasts, and pale malts. The aftertaste is a bittersweet citra-hop flavor. The palate with this one is quite heavy body and moderately carbonated.

When you consider everything: The aroma, flavor and even the palate; It's pretty much got one foot already inside the West Coast IPA territory, with the other being in American Pale Ale. With that said, Red Chair NWPA is still a very good beer that's worth checking out.

Deschutes Red Chair NWPA - 8.5/10

Lucid Dyno Review

Name: Lucid Dyno
Style: American Pale Ale
ABV: 5.2%

Lucid Brewing is a newer brewery that opened it's doors here in Minnesota in the past couple of years. What's unique about this brewery is that they share the same space with another newer Minnesota brewery: Badger Hill Brewing, whom I have reviewed a couple of their offerings before.

For my first review from Lucid, I'm going with Dyno, their American Pale Ale style beer.

Dyno pours a hazy orange color with a foamy head. The lacing is quite abundant and possesses some mild carbonation.

The aroma is rather yeasty, with notes of floral hops, caramel and barley.

Taste is fairly identical to the aroma but with more of a resiny taste. Aside from that are floral hops, yeasts, biscuits and mild caramel maltiness. It tastes a lot like another well-known Minnesota beer: Summit Extra Pale Ale.

The palate is moderately weighted and mildly carbonated. It's somewhat crisp but very easy to drink.

They say that imitation is the most sincere form of flattery, which holds true in this case because Lucid Dyno is strongly resembles Summit EPA. From the flavor right down to the ABV, it's hard not to draw comparisons between the two. Regardless, it's a solid American Pale Ale that's worth checking out.

Lucid Dyno - 8/10

Third Street Brewhouse Three Way Review

Name: Third Street Brewhouse Three Way
Style: American Pale Ale
ABV: 5.2%

I picked up a couple more offerings from Third Street Brewhouse a couple of weeks ago. As some of you may know, they are the offshoot of Cold Spring Brewing based out of Cold Springs, Minnesota. Lately they have been releasing a wider selection of beer styles and Three Way Pale Ale is one of their newest entries. For those with a dirty mind, the name Three Way refers to the 3 types of hops used in the beer.

Three Way pours a dark hazy orange color with a semi foamy head. The carbonation is fairly high and it has some good lacing retention.

The nose starts out with a strong lemon zestiness with some bready yeast notes to compliment it. To round it out are some floral & piney hops.

The flavor takes on more of a bready characteristic with floral & citrus hops and pale malts. The aftertaste is mainly floral hoppiness and lemon zest; Almost reminds me of a pilsner.

The palate is fairly moderate in terms of weight and carbonation, as expected, is quite high. These qualities give it a fairly crisp feel.

Three Way likes to call itself for a sessionable ale and I think it does a pretty good job of doing just that. The flavor isn't particularly complex, but it is good enough to the point that I would consider buying it again.


Third Street Brewhouse Three Way - 8/10

Deschutes Hop Trip Review

Name: Deschutes Hop Trip
Style: American Pale Ale
ABV: 5.5%

You know the old phrase "If you love it so much, why don't you merry it?" Well I might as well be asking Deschutes Brewing this very question because in the past 7 months I have reviewed two other fresh hop beers from them: Fresh-Squeezed IPA and Chasin' Freshies. What I have here now is the trifecta of fresh hop beers from Deschutes: Hop Trip. Unlike the previous fresh hop beers, both of which were IPAs, this beer is an American Pale Ale.

Hop Trip pours a hazy orange color with a foamy head. The lacing is quite abundant and the carbonation has a mild appearance.

Citrus hops and grassiness are quite prevalent in the aroma upfront, with some lemon zest and mild toffee notes. I'm also getting hints of yeast in here as well.

The flavor takes on more of a piney hop characteristic and putting the citrus hops more in the background. Just like in the nose, the lemon and toffee-malt notes are still present here. There is also a bitter resin quality which makes up the aftertaste.

The body is quite heavy along with some stronger-than-normal carbonation. It's a little harsher on the palate than desired but nothing that isn't manageable.

Out of all of the fresh hop offerings from Deschutes, this one is the runt of the litter. It's got a good taste and you're making a bad choice by trying this out, but it lacks the vibrancy & complexity of it's counterparts.

Deschutes Hop Trip - 7.5/10

Southern Tier Live Review

Name: Southern Tier Live
Style: American Pale Ale
ABV: 5.5%

Southern Tier is best known for their stronger interpretations of traditional beers (pumpkin, helles, etc.) but it seems that this offering is more traditional in terms of style. Named "Live" for it's.......liveliness or something, is an American Pale Ale, which according to the brewery, has strong citrus hops balanced with malt breadiness.

Live pours a darker hazy yellow color with a foamy head. The lacing retention is good and the carbonation is mild in appearance.

Bready yeasts permeate the nose along with lemon zest, citrus & piney hops, and pale malts. There's a bit of a Pilsner influence in the aroma that's pretty easy to distinguish.

Flavor-wise, it's got a surprisingly potent floral hoppiness and lemon-zest. This is all followed up by yeasts, barley and pale malts. It's a bit earthy overall and the citrus hops are mysteriously absent.

The carbonation is somewhat moderate in intensity but the overall weight is rather light, giving it a nice crisp feeling.

Though it lacks the citrus hoppiness touted in the commercial description, Southern Tier Live is still a good American Pale Ale. Check it out if you see it!

Southern Tier Live - 8/10

Grand Teton Sweetgrass Review

Name: Grand Teton Sweetgrass
Style: American Pale Ale (APA)
ABV: 6.0%

Idaho's own Grand Teton Brewing has been popping up all over the midwest as of recently. For a state mostly associated with Potatoes and Napoleon Dynamite, they've made quite a name for themselves in the past few years. Earlier this year I reviewed their Pursuit of Hoppiness and found it to be rather good so I figured I should check out their Sweetgrass APA to see how it is.

Sweetgrass pours a bright hazy orange color with foamy head, some decent lacing and mild visible carbonation.

Floral hops and yeasty notes starts things off in the nose, followed by some grassiness, caramel, and pale malts. A bit earthy smelling for an APA if I do say so myself.

Flavor consists mainly of floral hops, caramel, grassiness, pale malts, and bitter resiny aftertaste. Overall, the flavor is rather bitter even by APA standards.

It's got a fairly light body and the carbonation is pretty moderate, giving it crisp feeling on the palate.

For a beer with the word "Sweet" in it's name, this is a pretty bitter tasting beer. All and all, it's not a terrible beer but there are much better APAs out there than this.

Grand Teton Sweetgrass - 6/10

Flat Earth Angry Planet Review

Name: Flat Earth Angry Planet
Style: American Pale Ale
ABV: 6%

Flat Earth Brewing is a brewery based out of St. Paul, Minnesota and have recently opened up their new location at the old Hamm's Building. Their beers are, for the time being, only available in Bombers or Growlers. They have a pretty solid year round line-up and some pretty awesome seasonal offerings.

Since they have moved to their new location, I have not yet been on a tour of their new facility. I did, however, take a tour of their old facility which was located right down the road from Summit Brewing about 3 years back. It wasn't what I would call large by any means. Still, the fact they were able to produce that much beer in such a small building is an accomplishment!

I'm going to start off with the beer that got me into Flat Earth, their Angry Planet Pale Ale, which is an American Pale Ale made with organic ingredients. 

Angry Planet pours a dark amber color with a fluffy 2 finger head. I can make out some carbonation along the sides of the glass. It also has some lacing along the sides.

The smell is a sweet aroma floral hops, caramel, yeasts, and malts. The flavor, on the other hand, give a much needed boost to what is in the aroma; with it's rich floral hops, oranges, caramel and yeasts.

The body is moderate in terms of body weight and the carbonation is quite moderate as well. It's easy to drink yet can be sipped and enjoyed at the same time.

Not only is Angry Planet local, but it's also organic and very tasty! I'll be adding this to my list of "Good for any occasion" beers.

Flat Earth Angry Planet - 9/10