In Praise of Pales

I've been in a distinctly Pale frame of mind since an afternoon on Acorn's Motueka IPA a few weekends ago. What a beer; refreshing, bitter and incredibly well-balanced, its a must-try if you see it. They'll be brewing single-hopped beers throughout 2010, and I personally can't wait for the next one. What with that, the clocks going forward soon and the spate of -dare I say it - sunshine - we've enjoyed in the last ten days or so, it's been pales all the way at TGS Towers.

Hook Norton's Hooky Gold's a decent drop; straw on the nose with an earthy undercurrent, the beer itself is light, bright and packs a decent citrussy wallop. We had a couple of bottles of this with some Paella recently, chilled slightly, and it went down a treat, cutting through the strong, garlicky flavours of the food with ease. Another solid, classy beer from a solid, classy brewery.

Another interesting one (although I'm not sure how widely available it is) is Copper Dragon's Freddie Trueman. A one-off beer brewed to remember the great man, it's not what you expect; almost Koelsch-like, it's a zesty, lively pale with masses of sherberty lemon & lime on the nose. Copper Dragon may have had a rough time of it of late but it's always a pleasure to drink new beer from them - but they don't often branch out into seasonals. A shame - CD certainly have their fans.