Thursday, March 5, 2009

March 2, 2009: Great White Ale




For thousands of years, beer and brewing culture has been seen as a man's world. I think that most people today still believe that. Beer is sometimes unfairly characterized as liquid testosterone; the fuel for sporting events, belching contests and fistfights. Sure, there are assholes out there who abuse alcohol and give beer a bad name, but times are changing. Beer is no longer just for frat boys and football fans. As brewing culture becomes more sophisticated, so too does the consuming public at large. Lost Coast Breweries is a great example of how the brewing industry is changing for the better. Lost Coast Brewery was founded by two women with a vision in the late 1980's, in Humboldt County, Ca. Barbara Groom and Wendy Pound were pioneers of sorts for women in the beer business, starting their own microbrewery from scratch and building it into one of the most respected craft breweries on the west coast. The girls at Lost Coast Brewery clearly know a thing or two about brewing a quality beer, and Great White Ale is the proof.

Great White Ale has almost everything going for it. The first thing that I noticed about this beer was the murky, golden pale color that is synonymous with . On taking the first sip, my taste buds were rewarded with the refreshing taste crisp citrus. Great White Ale has strong flavors of peach and orange that compliment the bitter edge of the hops nicely. It's tricky for a microbrewery to get the intricate flavors of a white ale down, but Lost Coast Breweries has done a respectable job with Great White Ale. I'd like to see a more substantial head and better lacing, but that's about it. Despite the success of their business, Lost Coast Breweries is still relatively small and it may be hard to track this one down unless you're at a really hip bar or you happen to get lucky and spot it in the grocery store like I did. If you like Belgium's Blue Moon Ale, give Great White Ale a try for a fraction of the price; you won't be disappointed.

Cheers,
Ian

www.lostcoast.com

www.lostcoast.com

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