Recently
I’ve set a goal to become a more educated beer taster/reviewer. A friend of
mine who works in retailing craft beers gave me some information on the
relatively new phenomenon of the Cicerone. The Cicerone program consists of
different levels of education and testing in order to obtain valid
certification for serving, knowing, and recommending beer. There are three
different levels of certification: The Certified Beer Server, The Certified
Cicerone, and the Cicerone Master. The first level of the program is a
self-study program that follows a syllabus for the material on the exam. My
friend and I decided to organize a study group to prepare ourselves for taking
the CBS exam. We decided to include our own taste testing sessions as part of
the study in order to improve our “beer senses.” The goal is to compare and
contrast similar beer styles or beers within a style in order to fine tune our
palates.
For the
first tasting comparison we formed a Pale Ale lineup including multiple beers
from the American, English, and Belgian Pale Ale styles.
American Pale Ales (APA)
Ballast
Point Brewing Company – Pale Ale
-Based on the Kรถlsch
style beer. Munich malts
-5% ABV
First
Impressions: Not hoppy at all. Very crisp and light beer.
Firestone
Walker Brewing Company – Pale Ale (Pale 31)
-Cascade, Centennial, and
Chinook hops; Munich malts
-4.8% ABV
First
Impressions: Slight copper color. Expected hops scent and taste; not
overbearing. Slight scent of wood. Smooth and crisp.
Flying
Dog Brewery – Double Dog Double Pale Ale
-Columbus, Warrior, and Cascade;
Crystal Malts
-11.5% ABV
First
Impressions: Actually classified as an
American Double / Imperial IPA. Very intense hop flavor with a subtle sweet
ending. Alcohol burn feeling.
English Pale Ales (EPA)
Samuel
Smith’s – Old Brewery Pale Ale
-Barley malt, honey, aromatic
hops; Irish Moss
-5.0% ABV
First
Impressions: Sweet malt smell with a slight hoppy/bitter taste.
Fuller
Smith & Turner – Fuller’s London Pride
-Toffee, caramel, sweet; slight
hop and spice
-4.7% ABV
First
Impressions: Light, sweet malt smell and taste. Slight hop and spice flavor.
Belgian Pale Ale (BPA)
Brewery Ommegang
– Belgian Pale Ale
-Columbus (bittering), Celeia
(aroma), Cascade (dry hopped); 5 specialty malts
-6.2% ABV
First
Impressions: Citrus, esthery, spicy. Some cloudiness and medium carbonation.
Brouwerij
Huyghe – Delerium Tremens
-Malt blend (munich, biscuit,
and aromatic); Belgian spice
-8.5% ABV
First
Impressions: Champagne smell, sweet malt flavor, slightly dry with a hint of
spice. Cloudiness, sediment and medium carbonation.
Summary:
Even though
all of these beers fall under a “Pale Ale” description, the styles vary greatly
between regions as well as individual breweries. For the purpose of the comparison, we will
exclude the Double Dog Double Pale Ale (which is actually an IPA – we failed to
realize this when we purchased the beer). All of these beers were very drinkable
and have a similar rage of color that is classified as “pale.” They all have
some malt flavor, either primary or secondary. All are very light bodied with
no overbearing aftertaste. With the APAs, the hop-flavor is the primary star. They
also seem to have lighter carbonation and less spice than the others. There
seems to be more variation between breweries with the American Style Pales. The
EPAs were slightly more of an amber color mostly due to the type of malts used.
The sweet malts are the primary flavor with very little hoppy notes and spice.
These beers are visually very clean and crisp compared to the others due to the
use of fining agents such as “Irish Moss.” The BPAs are very distinct in their
styles. These beers are cloudier than American’s and English styles and tend to
have a slightly higher level of carbonation and spice.
