The Oskar Blues Brewery was founded as a brewpub in 1999, replacing a previous Cajun grill owned and operated by brewery founder Dale Katechis. The brewpub was popular enough that in 2002, Oskar Blues began canning and distributing their beers from the tiny town of Lyons, CO. The brewery is notable for being the first craft brewer to embrace cans over bottles. Many beer geeks have a bias against cans, considering them somehow too lowbrow or unworthy of their precious beer. This is an attitude that is slowly shifting, as the canning revolution is in full swing. Canning is good for everyone. It makes packaging and shipping/storage far easier as cans are a much more efficient shape. This trims cost for the brewery and the consumer as well as being better for the environment. Plus cans are easier to pack away (camping trip, anyone?) and any self respecting beer geek will want to drink their beer from a glass anyway, so the vessel used to get it into your glass becomes kind of irrelevant, right? Go cans!
Oskar Blues has been successful enough in their "canned beer apocalypse" that they've joined the ranks of craft brewers who have announced plans to expand brewery operations beyond a single location. Oskar Blues will be establishing a brewpub in Brevard, NC while craft brewing giants Sierra Nevada and New Belgium will set up shop in nearby Asheville, NC. This area of western NC is already a great place for great beer and the addition of these venerable breweries will cement the region's reputation in the craft beer world.
Dale's Pale Ale, named for Oskar Blues' founder, is the brewery flagship. The beer is an American Pale Ale which, as the name suggests, is an American interpretation of the classic English Pale Ale. What this means is that the beer is more heavily hopped using more potent American hop varieties as compared to its English counterpart. While many American Pale Ales can be hopped to levels comparable to an India Pale Ale, APAs will typically have a bit more of a malt profile than IPAs. This added sweetness cuts some of the hop bitterness, leaving what can best be described as a very hoppy, superbly well balanced and drinkable pale ale. The abv of this beer is in range for the style at 6.5%. In short, a perfect beer for a hot July 4th evening.
The beer is presented in a 12oz. aluminum can adorned in a red, white, and blue color scheme. After cracking open the can (hooray for no bottle openers!), I give the beer my good ole strong pour into my Libbey Poco Grande Glass. The pour releases a dark golden beer with a healthy, inch thick bone white head floating on top. The head looks promising; initial indications of retention and lacing are spot on, exactly what I expect in an APA. Clarity is pretty good, maybe a touch of haze. Its still a very pretty beer. Appearance: 13/15
Healthy sniffs in the glass reward my nose immediately: great notes of fresh, green hops! I smell tropical fruit, pineapple, mango, peach. A little bit of pine and notes of freshly cut grass are there too. The hop bill on this guy is fantastic. While hops are certainly the star player here, I do detect some trademark caramel aromas from the crystal malt that was undoubtedly used in this beer. Overall, a very enticing nose. Nose: 22/25
My first tastes of this beer confirm suspicions I had in the nose: This is one hoppy APA! It is so hoppy, in fact, that I would argue it flirts rather aggressively with the stylistic boundary it shares with an IPA. Great flavors here all around, the peach really jumps out at me and the pineapple is strong too. Again, sweet crystal malts are dancing all around keeping the hops at least somewhat restrained. It's kind of a lovely dance they do, actually, this dance that alternately lets me taste each flavor component while maintaining the superb balance that is expected of the style. Some beers that are this heavily hopped will leave a bitter, almost caustic flavor in the mouth not associated with the pleasantly bitter hop flavors. These negatively bitter flavors are due to an overabundance of cohumulones, a component of the hops. This beer exhibits none of that, instead delivering a sturdy framework upon which a healthy, if not terribly original, hop presence can manifest itself. Palate: 45/50
The mouthfeel is precisely what I hoped for in this beer. Smooth and slick, medium bodied, so drinkable. Most importantly to me, this beer finishes very clean. Some extremely hoppy beers are so resinous as to coat the tongue and leave a long lasting reminder of the beer, even when you're trying to enjoy other beers or food. Mouthfeel: 9/10
OVERALL: 89/100
While this is the lowest ranked beer of the three I've reviewed thus far, I want to make it clear that I love this beer. Considering the importance I attach to each segment of the review, any beer that scores over 80 would be more than worth your time, money, and attention. The thing that separates the truly special beers (let's say, 95 and up) is a certain je ne sais pas, the intangibly unique aspects that push a beer into the realm of greatness. But remember, if we are going to judge beer by whether or not the brewer accomplished their goal, then our hats are off to the folks at Oskar Blues. Their beer is tasty and complex enough to appease even the most demanding palates while retaining a refreshing simplicity that wouldn't make it out of place at a backyard BBQ or an all night session. If the beer were more available to me, it would be my go-to APA, which is a style I go to relatively often. Since it isn't distributed in my area, I'm left with the eminently qualified Great Lakes Burning River. Still, solid beer from a great brewery with an even better philosophy. Cheers!
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