I love good beer but I’ll be the first to admit that when I plan on doing some serious drinking, I generally can’t stomach several consecutive heavy stouts or hoppy IPA’s. During marathon sessions, I make a huge sacrifice in taste for drinkability and usually reach for something light and domestic. But the other night, I stumbled into a sixer of Santa Fe Brewing Company’s Santa Fe Pale Ale and after downing the half dozen, I may have found a crushable beer without flavor compromise. I should have bought the twelve pack.
Versatility is this beer’s greatest attribute. You could sip a few after work or give’er before a night on the town. The crisp, clean, American-style pale ale taste has just enough hop bite to give it character yet doesn’t become tiring after three or six or eleven bottles. A cooler full of these should be a summer BBQ requisite. Especially if that summer BBQ might get a little extreme.
Actually, Santa Fe Brewing Company is fast becoming one of my go-to microbreweries. They make killer beers, many which offer unique takes on traditional styles. Look for canned Happy Camper IPA and Imperial Java Stout when cruising the beer aisle before your next backcountry trip. The first is perfect for mountain sunsets—the second, for hair-of-the-dog sunrises the morning after.
