It's #FloridaBeerFriday. Every Friday, we take a look at a beer brewed in the Sunshine State, giving analysis to the burgeoning craft beer movement of Florida.
Victory over bad beer! This is the feeling you get when drinking from a can of Intuition Ale Works' People's Pale Ale, what with the pseudo 'Soviet Constructivism' motif of an angled revolutionary flag and red color scheme. On the design side, I've been a fan of Intuition's graphic and font choices: minimalist, clean, easy-to-read. But I digress...
Yes, People's Pale Ale is the self-described flagship beer from the Jacksonville-based brewery, and is considered quite popular, even in the online communities. Ratebeer gives it an 85 both overall and within the American Pale Ale style.
See also: Funky Buddha's Fuhgeddaboudit Red Ale at Anthony's Coal Fire Pizza
This is a fun APA on the ingredients, having North American 2-Row, Red Wheat, English Crystal, and Belgian Caramunich malts making up the grain bill. The addition of Magnum bittering hops along with Cascade and Centennial place this beer solidly into the APA camp.
These ingredients lend themselves to a beer that is a brightly clear amber/orange color with a mild white crown of foam. The aroma is a light toast with a hint of wildflower and lemon, but otherwise very tame. Tastes of a super-balanced pale ale, but on the lighter side: almost straw-like and only a mild grass bitterness to it. Perhaps from the specialty malts I was expecting more complexity of flavor, but it's again very tame and not overly complex.
That makes this a super-sessionable beer, or one of those 'come to the Dark Side' transition craft beers for the macro drinkers of our lives. At 5.3% abv, it's in the easy-drinking range for most craft beer.
For now, Intuition Ale Works is available almost exclusively in north Florida, but this past January the brewery made a deal with Brown Distributing to expand their distribution throughout the state. Now, if you're headed to the Gainesville, Tallahassee, Ormond, Deland, or Daytona areas, chances are you'll find IAW on draft. South Florida distribution is yet to be confirmed - but hope springs eternal.
Get out there and #DrinkLocal.
Doug Fairall is a craft beer blogger who focuses on Florida beers, and has been a homebrewer since 2010. For beer things in your Twitter feed, follow him @DougFairall and find the latest beer pics on Clean Plate's Instagram.
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