A Few Spring Pales

Bill of It’s Pub Night fame recently posted a review of Pyramid’s spring seasonal, Fling Pale Ale (HERE). In his post, he hit on an interesting point; a Pale Ale seems like an odd choice for a spring seasonal. And I have to agree, especially when most ‘spring’ brews hit store shelves in the middle of winter.

Still, it doesn’t look like my personal opinion holds much sway in the brewing world. Looking over my notes from the last couple weeks, I myself have tried three spring pales; the aforementioned Fling, Deschutes’ Red Chair and New Belgium’s Mighty Arrow. Since Jeff already posted a great review covering both Fling and Red Chair (HERE), I was going to skip those two, but I’m bored waiting for the KLCC Brewfest to start, so I figured I would go ahead and chime in with my $.02.

Fling – Pyramid
Style: Pale Ale
ABV: 5.2%
IBU: 36
Malts: 2-Row, Caramel
Hops: Nugget, Willamette, Cascade/Fuggle Hybrid

I was initially going to pass on Fling. PyraMac has been disappointing as of late; Goose Bump being the only exception. But, after positive reviews from Jeff and Bill, I decided to grab a bomber.

Fling poured an extremely well-filtered light yellow, far lighter than it appears in the picture below. The aroma was dominated by citrus hops; the simple grain bill of 2-row and caramel unable to muster any presence.

The beer tasted very crisp and was much less bitter than the aroma let on; most likely the result of a generous amount of late or dry-hopping. The Cascade/Fuggle hybrid kept things interesting, providing a unique hop flavor that is noticeably different than that of a standard Cascade. Overall, I was surprisingly pleased; easily the best of the brews currently offered by the Ziggurat.

Mighty Arrow – New Belgium
Style: Pale Ale
ABV: 6.0%
IBU: 35
Malts: 2-Row, Honey Malt,?
Hops: Cascade, Amarillo

Mighty Arrow was my favorite brew from New Belgium last year. Well, favorite brew not from their Lips of Faith series.

The beer poured a clean orange color with a thin white head. It had slightly more body than Fling and a distinct honey sweetness. I am a big fan of the Cascade/Amarillo combo and it was definitely the high point of this brew. While Mighty Arrow’s bitterness was on par with that of Pyramid’s brew, the hops were a little brighter, giving a big grapefruit taste.

I think this year’s version of the Arrow is a touch sweeter than the last. The bottle I drank seemed to get thicker and sweeten as it heated up. Definitely a brew to enjoy cold.

Red Chair - Deschutes
Style: Pale Ale
ABV: 6.4%
IBU: 60
Malts: 2-Row, British Crystal, German Pilsner, Cara-pils, Munich
Hops: ?

Red Chair poured a copper color with amber/red highlights and a sticky white head. And like the previous brews, it too had a big citrus aroma. Unfortunately, this is where the similarities ended. Red Chair’s hops were neither sharp nor clean and completely at odds with the sweet, dense body. I think this is a good example of a beer trying to do too much.

Of the three beers, Mighty Arrow was the winner, followed closely by Fling, and Red Chair way back in the distance; B+, B and C respectively. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Fling transition to year-round brew, fleshing out Pyramid’s current line-up. God knows they need it.

Anyway, it’s 5:00 now, time to wrap this up and head off to the Brewfest.

Cheers!
Kevin