Sierra Nevada Pale Ale

Many American craft brewers are fascinated and entranced by the British beer style known as pale ale. Before lager brewing became the dominant style in the United States with the second wave of emigrants from central Europe, most American brewers replicated the beer styles brought to the continent by the founding fathers: brown ale, porter, stout and later India Pale Ale and its spin-off, pale ale.

The craft brewing revolution that erupted in the 1970s and 1980s, and which now accounts for more than 1,000 small breweries in the US, went in two different stylistic directions. Some brewers, often of German descent, laboured hard to recreate the genuine lager beers of central Europe in the form of Pilsners, bocks, dunkels and helles.

On the other hand, many brewers - some of whom had visited Britain and tasted cask ales - were keen to rekindle the lost styles of the pre-Prohibition area. There are now hundreds of interpretations of pale ale but for many the benchmark beer is Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. It's brewed in the college town of Chico, California, at the foot of the mountain range that gives its name to the beer. The beer, both in bottle and on draught, is now available in Britain and will delight beer connoisseurs. Two home brewers, Ken Grossman and Paul Camusi, launched the brewery in 1981. They started with converted diary vessels but the success of their venture enabled them to build a state-of-the-art plant with imported copper vessels from Germany. Today the much-expanded site can produce 800,000 barrels a year. As well as Pale Ale, there is a celebrated barley wine called Big Foot and seasonal ales, including a pale summer ale and a renowned porter.

But it is Pale Ale that has made Sierra Nevada's name. The beer has won many awards at the Great American Beer Festival and won a Gold in the 2004 Brewing International Awards. The bottled version - which is bottle conditioned with live yeast - is 5.6% and made from pale and crystal malts, and hopped with the Cascade hop variety from the Pacific North-west, famous for the citrus, grapefruit character its gives to beer.

Sierra Nevada Pale Ale Pale bronze colour, topped by a big fluffy head of foam. The aroma is spicy and peppery from the hops, balanced by biscuity malt and tart citrus fruit. In the mouth, there is a superb balance of tart hops, juicy malt and tangy fruit while the long and lingering finish offers a hint of vanilla pods and marzipan before it finally becomes dry, bitter and hoppy but underscored by sweet malt. It is a beautifully balanced and wonderfully refreshing beer. 35cl. 5.6%ABV.

The beer is available in branches of Safeway, Sainsbury�s and Waitrose, along with Booth�s stores in the North-west, �1.39 for a 350ml bottle. A draught version, 5%, is available in selected pubs and restaurants, including the White Horse, Parson�s Green, Putney, Utobeer, Borough Market, London, North Bar, Leeds, and Thomas Rigby�s, Liverpool. A pint costs between �3 and �4.