While the English-style pale ale has been brewed in some capacity since the 1700s, the American pale ale (while wildly popular) is a fairly contemporary creation. Still an outstanding beer today, we can thank Sierra Nevada’s Ken Grossman for the creation of the style when he first brewed Sierra Nevada Pale Ale in 1980. For those who don’t know, American pale ales differ from their British counterparts because of the ingredients used — the hops in the English version are known to be more floral, herbal, and earthy while the American version (thanks to the use of American hop varieties like Cascade) is known for its citrus and dank, resinous pine flavor notes.
We found eight of the best bitter, pine-forward American pale ales to drink any time of year. As a bonus, many of the pale ales on this list are available at most beer or grocery stores. Keep scrolling to see them all and see where your favorite piney pale ale landed.
8.) Oskar Blues Dale’s Pale Ale
ABV: 6.5%
Average Price: $11 for a six-pack
The Beer:
This classic American pale ale is half traditional European and half contemporary American. That’s because it’s brewed with a combination of European malts as well as three specific American hops: Comet, Cascade, and Centennial.
Tasting Notes:
On the nose, you’ll find a ton of caramel malts, honey, citrus peels, and a wallop of dank, resinous pine. The palate is a nice mix of caramel malt sweetness and cereal grains as well as lemon peel, orange zest, and a final flourish of pine needles. The finish is dry, and bitter, and leaves you wanting more.
Bottom Line:
This American pale ale is so piney, dank, and bitter, that you might be thinking that you’re drinking a West Coast IPA instead.
7.) Boulevard Pale Ale
ABV: 5.4%
Average Price: $8 for a six-pack
The Beer:
This 5.4% American pale ale is the first beer ever brewed by Kansas City’s Boulevard Brewing. This year-round beer gets its piney, sweet malt, balanced flavor from the use of caramel malts as well as Cascade hops.
Tasting Notes:
On the nose, you’ll find aromas of tropical fruits, orange peels, lemon, grass, caramel malts, and a field of pine trees. The palate is surprisingly balanced with candied nuts and sweet caramel malts up front followed by tangerine, lime, and a ton of bittern, resinous pine at the finish.
Bottom Line:
This American pale ale might not have the name recognition of some of the others on this list, but it absolutely should.
6.) Sierra Nevada Pale Ale
ABV: 5.6%
Average Price: $11 for a six-pack
The Beer:
When it comes to American pale ales, there are none more well-known than the Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. The OG pale ale that started a revolution. This balanced, pine-forward banger of a beer gets its hop presence solely from the use of Cascade hops.
Tasting Notes:
A lot is going on with this beer’s nose. There are aromas of sweet malts, caramel, and honey as well as orange zest, grapefruit, and a ton of floral, grassy, piney hops. Drinking it reveals a nice mixture of orange zest, lemon peel, grapefruit, caramel malts, and grassy, resinous, piney hops. The finish is bitter and dank in the best way possible.
Bottom Line:
This beer started the American pale ale style and it’s just as flavorful and loaded with pleasing bitter pine today as it was when Caddyshack was in theaters.
5.) Half Acre Daisy Cutter
ABV: 5.2%
Average Price: $12 for a four-pack of 16-ounce cans
The Beer:
This year-round offering from the folks at Chicago’s Half Acre Brewing has been a favorite since its inception in 2009. Brewed with Simcoe, Amarillo, Centennial, CTZ, and Chinook hops, it’s known for its mix of tropical fruits, bready malts, and pine tar.
Tasting Notes:
Complex aromas of tangerine, stone fruits, biscuit malts, grass, honey, and resinous, dank pine needles greet you before your first sip. Drinking it brings forth a nice bready, biscuit-like malt base that moves into tropical fruit sweetness before hitting lemon zest and tangerine juice, and finally herbal, dank pine needles. The finish is a mix of malt sweetness and pine bitterness.
Bottom Line:
This is one for the pale ale drinkers who enjoy a nice hint of tropical fruit flavor on top of the pine resin notes.
4.) Creature Comforts Automatic
ABV: 6%
Average Price: $12 for a six-pack
The Beer:
This memorable American pale ale from the brewers at Athens, Georgia’s Creature Comforts is brewed with a mix of Mosaic and Crystal hops. The result is a refreshing pale ale with a nice mix of fruity sweetness, malts, citrus peels, and resinous pine.
Tasting Notes:
On the nose, you’ll find scents of cracked black pepper, caramel, biscuit malts, grapefruit, stone fruits, lemon, grass, and pine needles. The palate is loaded with freshly baked bread, toffee malts, stone fruits, honey, grapefruit juice, tangerine, and pine resin. The finish is crisp, dry, and filled with pine bitterness.
Bottom Line:
This is a pale ale for the citrus fans. Luckily, it still has the pine needle flavor and aroma we crave as well.
3.) Pipeworks Lizard King
ABV: 6%
Average Price: $12 for a four-pack of 16-ounce cans
The Beer:
This wildly popular American pale ale doesn’t get its hop presence from Cascade like many of the beers on this list. The folks at Pipeworks instead opted to use only Mosaic hops. The result is a pale ale with notable tropical fruit, citrus, and pine aroma and flavor.
Tasting Notes:
The nose is littered with aromas of grapefruit, ripe berries, peach, orange peel, freshly baked bread, and resinous, dank pine. The palate is a mix of guava, mango, peach, tangerine, lemongrass, bready malts, berries, honeydew melon, and a finish of bitter, pine tar.
Bottom Line:
As pale ales go, this is a complex beer. There are so many flavors and aromas, that it will take you multiple samplings to find them all.
2.) Toppling Goliath Pseudo Sue
ABV: 5.8%
Average Price: $14 for a four-pack of 16-ounce cans
The Beer:
Psuedo Sue is adorned with a roaring T-Rex. This is an accurate depiction of this epic American pale ale. Because even though it only features Citra hops, it’s filled with a monstrous amount of tropical fruit, citrus, and dank, resinous pine flavor.
Tasting Notes:
A nose of mango, pineapple, grapefruit, tangerine, lime, bready malts, and bright, herbal pine greets you before you drink this outstanding beer. The palate is a symphony of candied orange peels, grapefruit zest, lemon, mango, guava, caramelized pineapple, sweet malts, and pine needles. The finish is loaded with tropical fruit sweetness and just a hint of hop bitterness.
Bottom Line:
There’s a reason this is one of the highest-rated American pale ales on the market. It’s ridiculously aromatic and flavorful.
1.) 3 Floyds Alpha King
ABV: 6.66%
Average Price: $12 for a six-pack
The Beer:
If you didn’t know it already, 3 Floyds Alpha King is the Indiana-based brewery’s flagship beer. First brewed back in 1996, this year-round staple is brewed with seven different malts and gets its notable hop aroma and flavor from the addition of Centennial hops.
Tasting Notes:
There’s a nice mix of caramel malt aroma that blends well with notes of grapefruit, tangerine, lemongrass, mango, guava, and eventually dank pine. The flavor is centered on grapefruit, orange peel, and other citrus flavors, but moves onto peach and mango before entering the world of sweet, caramel malt, and eventually pine tar. The finish is resinous, dank, and highly memorable.
Bottom Line:
As American pale ales go, this one is definitely on the sweeter, fruitier side. But it’s tempered well with the dank, resinous piney hops.