Beer Man: Surly's Hop Shifter best in unimpressive hoppy sampling

Surly Hop Shifter India Pale Ale

Surly Brewing Co., Brooklyn Center, Minnesota

www.surlybrewing.com 

6-percent ABV

I found out last week while perusing my mini-refrigerator that I had a backlog of American pale and India pale ales to review.

I decided to try several of these. This was not as daunting a task as it may seem, as so many of them were so similar that it only took a few sips to determine their character. 

I find that sampling these styles is like picking apart the differences between Budweiser, Miller, Coors, Old Style, etc. There are differences, but they are so minute, it doesn’t matter much.

However, the winner from my recent sampling was Surly Hop Shifter India Pale Ale, a 6-percent ABV ale in a 16-ounce can. The brewery is generally known for intense, not particularily balanced beers, yet this was the most pleasant of the bunch.

It had a nice lemon-grapefruit balance, and had the best malt flavor of all of these samples. It had bitterness in the background, but it didn’t linger much in the finish.

I should note that hop-forward beers that have little malt flavor do not impress me at all.

Dust Bowl Confused Therapist (10.4 percent ABV, 16-ounce can, www.dustbowlbrewing.com) had a nice aroma of grapefruit and lemon, but pine was still the predominate flavor. It had a slightly dry finish, with a strong and cloying bitterness. It was a nice-looking ale with a golden body and bright white head, but so are hundreds of similar beers.

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Stone Exalted Pale Ale (7 percent ABV, 12-ounce can, www.stonebrewing.com) had a much more resinous pine aroma and flavor with a hazy, golden-caramel body. There was lots of orange and grapefruit citrus in the aroma. However, promises of tangerine were buried in the pine and bitterness. It was still grapefruit-oriented in flavor. What’s with this grapefruit obsession, anyway?

Stone Tangerine Express IPA (6.7-percent ABV, 12-ounce can) was next. With the term “tangerine” and promises of pineapple flavor on the label you would think that they would be the main flavor, but no, once again grapefruit dominated. Maybe the other flavors are more noticeable on tap.

The bitterness was stronger in the main body than in the finish, which was pleasant, as was the look of the golden-caramel body. This is a well-made beer, but it didn’t deliver its tropical promises.

I have a suggestion for brewers: Why not make an IPA that has absolutely no pine or grapefruit flavor? Just the flavors of tangerine, orange, lemon, melon, pineapple, etc.? Especially drop the pine – I’ve never understood how that makes beer taste better. 
I do understand that pine is the major aroma and flavor in many American-grown hops, but that is still no reason to inflict it on beer drinkers.

How about – gasp – not using American hops at all? A brewery owner told me years ago that English and German hops don’t cost any more than American ones. And they don’t have pine and grapefruit notes. There is more to life than Cascade or Willamette hops.

Beer Man sez: Surly wins this week’s hoppy beer competition with its well-balanced Hop Shifter IPA.