While we sip away on this freshly brewed can of Devil's Ale we'll let our minds wander to warmer places - like Chandler, Arizona - where this delightful American Pale Ale calls home. This year we hope to make it out to Scottsdale, Arizona for the 2nd AmeriCAN Canned Craft Beer Festival held on May 19th. SanTan plays host and a ton of great canned brews will be on offer. Cheers!

From the SanTan Brewing site:

"Devil's Ale is of the new breed of American West Coast Pale Ales. Devil’s Ale won a Gold Medal at 2011 GAZBF. It is the highest rated Pale Ale in Arizona receiving 96 points from Draft Magazine. Deep, golden maroon in color, Devil’s Ale is defined by a delicious citrus hop character derived from Cascade & Centennial hops grown in the Pacific Northwest, balanced with a firm caramel malt flavor."

Here we go...

Pour - dark golden or amber in appearance with a half inch of dense white head on top. Nice overall pour that's clean and clear.

Aroma - citrus, bread dough, burnt sugar, candied orange peel and some hints of caramel and malt balls. Aroma reflects a mort malty side of the pale ale family so we'll see how if the taste matches up.

Taste - first thing that comes to mind is balance. At first I'm confronted by a bitter, hoppy, citrusy mouthful of flavor that is almost immediately backed up by a wave of brown bread and biscuity malt flavors.The hoppiness of Devil's Ale certainly lifts it into the ranks of a very good American Pale Ale and each sip will remind you of that. This leaves the palate dry in the finish, just enough to stick your head back in the glass and take another sip. Very well done!

Overall - like malt kissed hops...or is it...hop kissed malt? Whichever you look at this is a solid American Pale Ale with a very nice malty backbone and some great citrusy hop notes as well as a crisp and bitter finish. Very tasty and certainly worth stuffing into your cooler, your backpack or your suitcase!

Note - at one point this beer was called Sun Devil Ale but apparently Arizona State University (home of the Sun Devils) got all upset about it and pushed the brewery to change the name - whereas Louisiana State University was pretty excited to work with Perfect Tin Brewing Company in Baton Rouge in the brewing (and canning) of a beer called Bandit Blonde which will be the official beer of the LSU Tigers. Go figure.