ONCE upon time all beer was dark, ranging from a chestnut brown colour right up to jet black. Considering that beer has been around in some form or another for thousands of years, the paler hue it has adopted in the last two to three hundred years can be seen as a relatively new innovation.
However, when we tend to think of beer, we immediately see a golden or light coloured liquid. Even when you want to communicate your beer drinking in emoji form, there's little wiggle room to indicate what colour your beer is. All beer is yellow and foamy in the emoji world.
So, when pale ales came along, shortly to be followed by crystal clear lagers, things all got a little brighter in the beer world.
The last century or two has seen infinite variations on these themes, and the advent of American IPAs has skewed styles further.
So what is a pale ale and how does it differ from an IPA? The key word is balance. IPAs, especially those of the new world, tend to quite unapologetically hop forward. Pale ales, on the other hand, although delighting in many hop varieties, tend to let other aspects of the beer get a look in.
That was certainly the case with the couple of pale ales I sampled this week.
First up was Prisoner Of Love from Dublin-based Whiplash in a 440ml can which boasts the brewery's trademark original design.
It's a 5.2 per cent pale ale which celebrates the Cascade hop, this gives off rather fresh and floral aromas.
It pours a hazy, golden colour with some lively carbonation. there's some sweet, biscuity malt which is balanced out by the piney and citrus hop profile. There's moderate bitterness, but nothing too overpowering and all elements of the beer are allowed to shine.
Up next was Steady Rolling Man, another 5.2 per-center, this time from Cheltenham-based Deya.
It pours a fairly pale amber colour with a white head and there are citrus and floral aromas. Again, the flavours are quite balanced - a slight bit of white bread malt, some intense tropical flavours and a fairly clean, crisp and bitter finish that doesn't linger too long.
