The golden state of ale

Every August, my friend Hardy McLain comes to town from London, where he’s lived for 20 years, and we try to get together for a couple of beers at what he calls a real bar, meaning a place like Henry ‘N Harry’s Goat Hill Tavern in Costa Mesa, where they not only offer you peanuts to munch while you’re drinking, but, more important, they have more than 120 beers on tap, many of them English.

So, Hardy orders his usual, a Bass pale ale, and I get a Poleeko Gold from Anderson Valley, and when our bartender, Monty, puts the two brews in front of us, he casually mentions that they don’t sell much Bass these days.

“Why’s that?” Hardy asks, tossing his peanut shells on the floor.

Monty nods toward my California pale ale. “That’s better,” he says.

Hardy screws up his face in disbelief, then takes a sip of his Bass, followed by a sip of my beer, then repeats the process twice more. Looking as if he’s just lost a bet and isn’t happy about it, he mumbles, “He’s right.”

What is going on here? When did a Brit -- even an expat Brit -- ever acknowledge that an American beer was better than its English counterpart? Have the beer gods changed allegiances? Apparently so.

In the beer world, Ireland is famous for its stouts, Germany for its Pilseners and California for its pale ales. OK, maybe not right at this moment. But soon. Very soon. Pale ales are the Tiger Woods of golf. When he was still an amateur. They’re the Norah Jones of jazz. Before her first album. In short, there’s a definite buzz about this old school-style beer with a West Coast spin.

“If you want to taste a pale ale the way it was intended to taste, you should go with one of the handcrafted California ales,” says Sang Yoon, owner, chef and beer sommelier at Father’s Office in Santa Monica. Yoon, a former chef at Michael’s and Chinois on Main, has 36 micro-brews on tap at his “gastropub.”

“California pale ales are definitely what’s going to put America on the map as far as beers are concerned,” says Joel Johnson, head brewer for Bear Republic Brewing Co. in Healdsburg, Calif., talking by phone as he stirs a bubbling kettle of Racer 5, a hoppy brew considered one of the best in a crowded field of new West Coast players. “They’re the new American standard in small, handcrafted beers.”

Bear Republic is just one of a growing number of craft breweries, many in California, that are gaining a national and international reputation for putting their signatures on what was, for almost 200 years, an iconic British beer style. Shortly after Britain colonized India in the late 18th century, English brewers -- known at the time for their dense, almost chewy stouts and porters -- began experimenting with a new style of beer to send to overseas Brits.

What they came up with was a copper-colored beer with a higher alcohol content and an aggressive hops flavor -- crisp, slightly bitter, with a strong malt nose -- noble characteristics that helped keep the beer stable as it journeyed in casks to India.

Although developed primarily for export, India Pale Ale (IPA) soon became a pub favorite with thirsty Londoners as well. In 1890, Bass became the first brewery to receive a trademark in Great Britain for pale ale. That brew, called a “bitter” by the Brits, is still one of the best known in a long line of distinguished English beers that includes Fullers and Samuel Smith’s Old Brewery Pale Ale. In fact, for most of the last century, when you asked for a pale ale or an IPA, what you got was undoubtedly British.

But that all changed in 1976, when David Grossman, a young chemistry student and beer fanatic from Cal State Chico, began a home brewing operation and experimented with his own version of English pale ales. Two years later, he and a friend, Paul Camusi, cobbled together a small brewery out of dairy tanks, a soft-drink bottling machine and equipment salvaged from defunct breweries. They named it after their favorite hiking grounds and on Nov. 15, 1980, brewed the first batch of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale.

Beer aficionados were immediately smitten with its floral bouquet, spicy flavor and exceptionally hoppy finish, a result of the brewer’s use of generous quantities of Cascade hops. A legend -- and a new style of American beer -- was born.

Today, more than 1,000 brands of pale ales are brewed around the country, and some of the best come from California.

“California brewers tend to hop the beer more than either the British or East Coast brewers of pale ale,” says Yoon, who admires British pale ales but believes they taste better in England. “They’re hit or miss here,” he says. “Mostly because it takes a month or longer in travel time to get here.”

And California-style pale ales also have a tendency to be more floral than their British cousins. This too comes from the hops.

“Our hops are better over here,” says David Gatlin, head brewer for Anderson Valley Brewing Co., whose Poleeko Gold Pale Ale is one of the most popular at Father’s Office. “British hops tend to have a certain mustiness to them that give their pale ales an earthy taste with roasted flavors. California-style pale ales tend to have a floral bouquet with citrus aromas.”

‘Aggressive hop profile’

Hop heads, as pale ale lovers are called, like to compare their favorite beers to California Cabernets. “Hop-driven beers do the exact same thing to your palate as a big red wine,” Yoon says. “Hops provide tannin, so you have that parched dryness in your mouth. The more hops a brewer uses, the dryer the taste.” Which means that most California-style ales are too overpowering for sushi, grilled fish or even a hamburger. But as with California Cabs or Pinot Noirs, there is a whole range of flavor profiles in these pale ales.

“Stone Pale Ale doesn’t taste anything like AleSmith’s X [both from San Diego], and Sierra Nevada [Pale Ale] doesn’t look anything like Mendocino’s Blue Heron [Pale Ale]. Their color, weight and style are completely different,” Yoon says.

“I put a spicy lamb skewer item on the menu specifically to go with very hoppy beers like Racer 5. California pale ales in general have a very aggressive hop profile, which tends to go with foods that have a ‘hot’ flavor profile, like grilled meats with a spice rub or anything with peppers or cumin or Spanish smoked paprika.”

Even better with spicy foods, as far as Gatlin is concerned, is Anderson Valley’s Hop Ottin’ IPA, which, says the brewer, is “as hoppy as they come. It’s got a pretty high alcohol content [7% by volume] and a lot more flavor than a British IPA.”

Hop Ottin’ IPA, like many of the most popular California pale ales, is available in draft and bottles, and although Gatlin says there really shouldn’t be much of a taste difference between the two, “the draft will be a little fresher.”

In fact, says Chase Corum, a beer buyer for Costa Mesa’s Hi-Time Wine Cellars, which carries more than 50 IPAs and pale ales, the biggest difference in taste isn’t between draft or bottled but between English and American beers, and he says the Americans are winning.

“The California guys have really upped the ante as far as the hop profile is concerned. That’s the big difference between British and West Coast-style pale ales. A lot of people who are used to drinking Sierra Nevada come in and taste something like Bass, and they don’t even believe you when you tell them it’s a pale ale.”

Some California brewers also make English-style brews that have a more noticeable malt character. Bear Republic concocts English E.S.B. pale ale that, says Bear Republic’s Johnson, is “modeled after Fullers and Bass. It’s very mild in hop bitterness, compared to our IPA, and has a higher malt profile.”

For some reason, beers with a higher malt profile, which makes them sweeter and more caramelly, appeal more to women.

“If you were to say beer has two genders, malts and hops, women tend to flow towards malt and men towards hops,” Yoon says.

American-style pale ales have played a role in weaning beer drinkers from light, flavorless lagers. Adds Johnson, “A beer like our Special XP is really a very middle-of-the-road pale ale. It’s the sort of beer that we hope someone will try who is used to always ordering a Pilsener. And if we can get you to try that, well ... “

Johnson leaves the thought unfinished. But surely the idea is that as California brewers expand beer drinkers’ tastes, our palates will expand, just as they have with wine, and soon ordering a fine Healdsburg-brewed exceptional pale ale will be no more unusual than asking for a Russian River Pinot Noir.

And who knows? The time may come when a normal bloke who ambles into a London pub and orders a “bitter” will be served a Bear Republic Racer 5.

Wouldn’t that be grist for the mill?

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Handcrafted in California

California pale ales are widely available at retailers including Beverages & More, Trader Joe’s markets and fine wine shops.

AleSmith X (About $3.28, 22-ounce bottle) Light-bodied ale with strong citrus flavors.

Anderson Valley Hop Ottin’ India Pale Ale (About $6.99, six-pack) Hoppiest of the bunch, with a rich citrus aroma.

Anderson Valley Poleeko Gold (About $6.99, six-pack) Honey-gold color with floral bouquet, citrusy finish.

Bear Republic English E.S.B. (About $2.99, 22-ounce bottle) Rather mild, English-style IPA.

Bear Republic Racer 5 (About $2.99, 22-ounce bottle) Very aromatic, strong brew, with an abundance of hops.

Mendocino Blue Heron (About $6.99, six-pack) Medium-bodied IPA with an excellent hop and malt balance.

Sierra Nevada Pale Ale (About $6.99, six-pack) Rich, amber color with a spicy finish.

Stone Pale Ale (About $7.49, six-pack) Medium-bodied ale with a malty sweetness.

-- David Lansing