Pride & Joy Mild Ale - Three Floyds Brewing Co.

    Pride & Joy Mild Ale is an American Pale Ale brewed by Three Floyds Brewing Co. in Munster, Indiana. The beer's label describes it as a mild, session ale with a hit of hops familiar to fans of Three Floyds' beers.

    The ale pours a golden-orange color with a finger of off-white head. The foam fades, but leaves a thin film on top of the liquid that laces the glass as the ale is enjoyed.

    Pride & Joy smells equally of malts and hops. The hops scent is reminiscent of pine and fruit. The malt scent is sweet and biscuity.

    The Pale Ale feels light to medium bodied with a medium level of carbonation. The beer has an alcohol content of 5% ABV.

    The ale's flavor is mild, yet complex. The signature Three Floyds hops blend hits your tongue up front, but without its usual bitterness and strength. Light pine and grapefruit flavors lead the way for the sweeter bready and caramel malts.

    Pride & Joy is somewhat confusing to the palette in that its flavors are big, but subtle at the same time. With your first sip you find yourself waiting for the hit of bitterness, but it never comes. This is likely the mildest, yet full flavor beer that I have ever tried. With its mildness, I'd recommend this as a transition beer between the common macro-brews into craft ales, especially pale ales. I could easily see how this would be a session beer, as it would never build up a bad flavor, or be too overwhelming after having a few bottles. The only bad thing I can think of about the brew is that it gets the song "Pride and Joy" stuck in my head--annoying, but I can't hold it against the ale.

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Dale's Pale Ale - Oskar Blues Brewing Company

    Dale's Pale Ale is an American Pale Ale brewed by Oskar Blues Brewing Company in Longmont, Colorado. Oskar Blues takes great pride in Dale's Pale Ale, not only because of the beer's quality, but because the brew was one of the first craft brews to be packaged in aluminum cans. If you've followed the blog for long, you may already know that I'm a big fan of beer in cans. Oskar Blues actually packages all of their beers in cans, so they get bonus points for that from me!

    The Pale Ale pours a light amber color with a full, off-white head. The head slowly settles down into a nice film that leaves thick lacing on the glass.

    Dale's aroma is nicely hoppy, with pine and lemon rind. There is a sweet, caramel scent underneath the herbal hops smells.

    The ale is medium bodied and has a moderate level of carbonation. There is a slight astringency to the beer, likely due to the hops content. Dale's Pale Ale has an alcohol content of 6.5% ABV.

Now that's one portable Pale Ale!

     Oskar Blues's Pale Ale tastes less hoppy that the nose would suggest. That's not saying that this isn't an aggressively hopped Pale Ale though! Bitter lemon rind and resinous pine bite your tongue before being mellowed by sweet caramel malts. The hops leave a lightly bitter, citrus-like taste in your mouth.

    Dale's Pale Ale is a bit hoppier than I would usually recommend for a hot day, camping, or as a "lawnmower" beer, but I really feel that it would be extremely refreshing in any of these situations. Dale's heartiness would make for a satisfying drink after hard work as well. I guess I can see why the can's labeling seems to hint at Dale's being taken hiking quite often.

    Oskar Blues just recently became available here in Indiana. If all of their beers are this good or better, I can see drinking a lot of them in the future. I feel like Dale's is a bit hoppier than the normal Pale Ale, though that's perfectly fine with me. If you're not afraid of a Pale Ale with a bit more bite than normal, give Dale's a try!

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