Cascade Pale Ale

Stevens Point Brewery
Stevens Point, WI

Available: WI, IL, MN, MI, IA, OK, IN, KY, MA, RI, MD, VA

Stevens Point Brewery, in Stevens Point, WI, is the fifth oldest continuously operating brewery remaining in the United States.

ABV: 5.4
ABW: 4.3
Color: 8
Bitterness: 33
Original gravity: 1054

Being a denizen of Cascadia (what many of those of us who live here call the Pacific Northwest), I tend to shudder when I meet a beer from somewhere else named to reflect the region. But Point's pays a respectable homage to the land where most of the world's Cascade hops are grown. It pours a clear, bright light amber with a thin, white head that lingers through much of the glass. The aroma could be a bit more assertively "Cascade-y," but offers whiffs of grapefruit and pine along with a touch of lightly toasted malt. The flavors follow perfectly with what the aroma promised—no surprises here. And that's fine for a pale ale. This is a beer that can be enjoyed by both experienced beer fans and those just entering the arena.
- Lisa Morrison

If you're looking for aggressive hopping, this beer's not for you. Cascade is here alright—peppery grapefruit notes well in evidence—but this won't really deliver for anyone craving a serious lupulin hit. It's also a little underpowered. What it does do, however, is offer a gateway to interesting hop flavors for the inexperienced, especially as it's so easy drinking, well balanced and refreshingly bittersweet on the palate. In many respects, it reminds me of Cascade-hopped beers from the UK, where brewers are generally more cautious than their American counterparts when it comes to loading the copper.
- Jeff Evans

Lisa Morrison
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.

Jeff Evans
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 and one of Britain's best-known beer writers.

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