The Super Bowl is not an excuse for crappy beer. So we’ve decided to highlight some beers that are easy to find in the grocery store but won’t make you sacrifice quality as you watch the biggest game of the year. We got it started yesterday with the pregame show. Light beers will always be the “pregame”, “minor leagues”, “arena league” of beers. Face it, good beer has calories. Don’t waste ‘em on this or this…save ‘em for a few great brews!

We’re kicking off the big game with Pale Ale. Pales are a step up from the basic and mass-produced types that you find spending millions on witty or sexy Super Bowl ads. Most of those are Lagers or Pilsners (barely) and many of these just don’t taste good at all.

A good Pale Ale will be slightly bitter (because of the hops) but for the most part, balanced. We like these three: Sweetwater 420 Extra Pale Ale, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale and Yazoo Pale Ale. All three are easy to find in your local grocery store.

Sweetwater 420 Extra Pale Ale comes from Sweetwater Brewery in Atlanta. They make a bunch of great beers that you can get pretty much anywhere in the Southeast. It’s a classic pale…one of the better we’ve had.

Yazoo Pale Ale is brewed in Nashville and distributed throughout Middle Tennessee and Northern Alabama. If you’re in town, you know how good this one is. If you’re ever coming through Nashville BUY SOME! It’s our favorite pale ale. *especially great straight from the Yazoo Tap Room*

Finally, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale is probably the most widely distributed craft beer in the USA. You can get it just about anywhere and it’s good! If you’ve seen it in the store and wondered about it…try it!

Next up: our picks for the perfect halftime beer.

On 11.13.08 Yazoo Brewing tapped a keg of their Fresh Hop IPA at 12th South Taproom in Nashville.  This was a part of their one keg events held in and around Nashville and also in Memphis TN, Birmingham and Huntsville, AL.  They tapped one keg at various pubs for one night and when they were gone, that was it.  We were excited to be able to check it out.

Hops preserve beer. Pale ales originated in Britain but because of the heavy trading between Britain and India (mostly for spices) the IPA (India Pale Ale) was born.  Because they were traveling by ship the British had to find ways to keep their Ale fresh for a longer period of time.  So when they traveled to India more hops were added for preservation and this is why India Pale Ales have more of a hoppy taste.

The Fresh Hop IPA is awesome.  It has a little bit of a bitter (citrus rind) taste that stays in your cheek bones for a second when you first sip it but the finish is really smooth.  The smell is somewhat floral with a little bit of pine needle.  It kind of smells like Christmas.  GRADE : A

Rather than just crafting our thoughts from this wonderful evening into something fancy we thought we’d share them as we wrote them down. We drank three different IPAs…here you go!

Yazoo Fresh Hop IPA:

Christmas

Bitter…Citrus Rind…Bitterness stays  in your cheek bones

Floral

Smell is amazing!

It’s smooth for an IPA.

Samuel Smith India Ale:

Nose(smell): spiced wine? Red wine….spiced red wine (haha)

Completely different.

Chocolate covered cherries that didn’t get tipped all the way…..covered in pine needles.

Dogfish head 60 min IPA:

You’re in the happy forest, getting happily slapped by pine trees. Really strong. Oh wow that’s strong. Pine tress equal hops.

Conclusion:

Yazoo was super consistent and balanced. Didn’t lean too much to one side. If we were going to drink more than one IPA in a night we would have the yazoo.

Dogfish head - closer to yazoo than the Samuel Smith

No, not the 80’s glam metal band…

and not the Dodge car…

We’re talking about the new stout beer from our friends at Yazoo Brewery.  Yazoo has taken their popular Onward Stout and given it a little kick by combining nitrogen with carbon dioxide.  When you order a beer on tap carbon dioxide is used to dispense it, adding a little nitrogen during the pour lowers the amount of carbon dioxide and gives it a different taste.  Stout beers tend to have a bit of a coffee taste, the Nitro Stout definitely still has that but it doesn’t have as much of an aftertaste. We think that makes it even smoother and easier to drink.  We know they have it at 3 Crow Bar in East Nashville and we think the Nitro is a limited run so go out and give it a try.  We’re glad we did.

GRADE : B+