Look closely at the hop bill on Cellarmaker Brewing Company's newest pale ale and one name shows up twice. Simcoe appears in whole form and again as Simcoe Cryo, which is the same hop stripped down to its lupulin.

Get Pitted is a West Coast pale ale at 5.7 percent, brewed with Burgeon Beer Company and released through Cellarmaker's presale, with cans shipping Tuesday. The full bill reads Simcoe, Centennial, Freestyle Tropical Fusion, Krush Cryo and Simcoe Cryo.

Cryo products are made by freezing hops and separating the lupulin, the resin-bearing glands that carry most of the aroma and bitterness, from the leafy plant matter around them. The concentrate delivers hop character without the vegetal load that comes with pushing the same aromatic intensity through whole cones. Using Simcoe in both forms is a way to get its grapefruit and pine signature in two different registers from one variety.

Tropical Fusion is the outlier here, and the most interesting line on the list. It comes from Freestyle Hops in New Zealand, and it is not a single variety at all. It is an in-field blend, meaning Riwaka, Southern Cross and Motueka are grown together in one block and picked together rather than combined afterward in the brewhouse. Dropping that into an otherwise American hop bill is where the beer's tropical side is likely coming from.

Cellarmaker describes the result as crisp and dry, with tropical fruit, bright citrus and a little dank over a clean, light malt base, finishing snappy. The brewery frames the collaboration simply: both breweries have a long-standing affinity for pale ale, so they made one together.

Burgeon is based in Carlsbad, at the southern end of California, which is the "buddies from down south" of Cellarmaker's telling. It has been brewing since 2016 and has real standing in exactly this style, including a Great American Beer Festival silver medal for a Mosaic pale ale. The partner choice fits the beer.

Get Pitted is available through Cellarmaker's presale until Tuesday morning.

Editor’s Take

Pale ale is the style breweries make when they have nothing to prove, which is why it is the hardest one to get noticed for. There is no barrel, no adjunct, no fruit puree, nothing to hide behind at 5.7 percent. You get a light malt base and some hops and then everyone finds out whether you can actually do this. Two breweries choosing to collaborate on a pale ale specifically, rather than on the obvious triple-dry-hopped something, is a bit like two guitarists agreeing to meet up and play scales. I mean that admiringly.

What tickles me is the hop bill, which is anything but modest about it. Simcoe turns up twice in two different physical forms, there is a second Cryo powder alongside it, and then a New Zealand in-field blend wanders in from the other side of the planet. That is a fairly maximalist approach to a style whose whole reputation is restraint. Catch it next to fish tacos and something will probably click.

Source & Editorial

JollyPint independently prepares release articles using information published by breweries through newsletters, websites, and other official public communications. Brewery-supplied descriptions and tasting notes are reported as provided, while editorial context is added by JollyPint.

Get Pitted Runs Simcoe Twice, in Two Different Forms

Two California breweries that both take pale ale seriously split a batch of one. The hop bill runs Simcoe in two forms, a pair of Cryo powders, and a New Zealand blend picked as a blend in the field.

Source & Editorial