New Belgium Brewing Co.
Fort Collins, CO
Sorachi Ace hops provides a fresh Spring zing with incredible lemon aroma. Nelson Sauvin is next in line with bursts of passion fruit, mango and peach. American favorites, Cascade and Centennial round out this crisp, clean Pale Ale. Dig in!
ABV: 5.6
ABW: n/a
COLOR: n/a
BITTERNESS: 36
ORIGINAL GRAVITY: 1060
AVAILABLE: AR, AZ, CA, CO, GA, ID, IA, KS, MN, MS, MT, NC, ND, NE, NV, NM, NC, OR, SC, SD, TX, TN, WA, WY
Pale ales are always a popular style, but they can also be a bit predictable. New Belgium changes all that with its new pale ale called Dig. Instead of the usual citrusy notes expected in an American-style pale ale, Dig conjures up aromas and flavors that range from passion fruit to white grapes to gooseberries. The anticipated lemony goodness is there, but in more of a lemon cream than full-on citrus—all thanks to lingering Sorachi Ace and Nelson Sauvin hops. Lemongrass and white wine notes end the sip as a tender bready thread wraps Dig up in a pretty package.
Sorachi Ace, Nelson Sauvin and Cascade hops! This was always going to be quite a balancing act and New Belgium has pulled it off with the aplomb of a high-wire acrobat. Everything you’d expect from those extravagant hops drops into place in this attractive copper-amber pale ale—lemon, passion fruit, grapefruit, orange peel, pine and tangy, peppery resins—but at no time does the beer totter over the edge into cloying hop chewiness. Described as a spring seasonal, this beer really is full of the joys of this time of the year—fresh, bright and bursting with life and color.
Lisa Morrison, aka The Beer Goddess, writes about beer whenever and wherever she can and also gets to talk about it on a weekly radio show in her hometown of Portland, OR.
Author of the Good Bottled Beer Guide and The Book of Beer Knowledge, Jeff Evans is an eight-time editor of the CAMRA Good Beer Guide. More of his writing can be found at www.insidebeer.com.
