Drank: Piston Pale Ale (Laurelwood Brewing)

By Martin Cizmar

It seems like beer styles have been around forever. Actually, though, the first efforts to codify the world's many stripes of brew only date to the Ford administration, and the style categories we talk about today owe much of their shape to Portland writer Fred Eckhardt's 1989 book The Essentials of Beer Style. Now, 25 years later, those styles shade every pint. That means it's important to install the appropriate updates. When it comes to "American Pale Ale," the style tag applied to Laurelwood's newly formulated and bottled Piston and India Pale Ale, we're witnessing a merger. This pale 5.6 percent ABV brew has only 35 bitterness units, but you taste all of them thanks to citrusy Simcoe hops. It's perhaps a tad lighter and crisper than the average Portland IPA, though downright syrupy compared to some. Oh, and it's definitely poundable. 

WWeek 2015

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