Back when I was doing Canned Beer Week in February, I spoke with Marty Jones with Oskar Blues Brewery and he sent me three cans of their beer in a promotional shipment: Dale’s Pale Ale, Old Chub, and Gordon. I didn’t get them in time to coincide with that week and unfortunately it’s taken me until now to review them, but here we (finally!) are.

Dale’s Pale Ale was the first American microbrew to be canned (back in 2002). It’s a generously-hopped 6.5% alcohol Pale Ale in the American style. This beer right here will go a long way toward changing doubters’ minds about canned beer.

Oh, and I don’t mean for BridgePort to be competing with Dale’s in the picture there… I just thought it would be fun to throw a logo glass into the photo mix every once in awhile to mix things up a bit.

Appearance: Nice bright orange-copper. Creamy looking head that’s slightly off-white.

Smell: Hoppy—a not-quite-fresh hop character that’s green and earthy. Sweet malt, almost cloyingly sweet. Hops are enjoyably floral.

Taste: Big hoppy bitter punch right up front… full of earthy, grassy notes that make me think of warm hop fields just before harvesting. A touch of spiciness playing at the edges. Malt is sweet though neutral and light, with caramel notes.

Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied and nicely chewy without being heavy.

Overall: Excellent hoppy showcase pale ale; could very easily be a "fridge standard" for me (if only it was available in Oregon!).

On BeerAdvocate, it scores a grade of B+. On RateBeer, it scores 3.76 out of 5 and is in their 95th percentile.