Luckily there is a pretty great brewery located in Jackson, Wyoming called Snake River Brewing that gets me a little more excited about driving through next time. I picked their Snake River Pale Ale to represent Wyoming in my 50 beer challenge.
One of the interesting things about their pale ale is that it comes in both bottles and cans. While I hear various opinions on bottles vs. cans, I figured this would be a great beer to do a side by side tasting and see if there was much, if any, difference.
Both the bottle and can looked identical once poured. It’s a light gold color that is fairly clear with small carbonation bubbles gently making their way to the top of the glass. There is a pretty decent sized white head on top of both (they were slightly different sizes only because I tried to pour them both at the same time), that leaves some great lacing on the glass.
Appearance Winner: Tie
Between the two, the can had a slightly stronger, and I thought better aroma. Both are laced with a gentle dry hopped floral smell that is backed by a biscuit like malt and some slight citrus. The hop bitterness definitely shined a lot more in the beer poured from the can.
Smell Winner: Can
The taste of this beer is incredibly smooth with some slight bitterness that fades into a sweeter toasted malt flavor that’s in line with the pale ale style. There was quite a bit of difference though in the two beers with the canned version quite a bit hoppier and slightly more complex. Maybe it was just the slight taste of aluminum that made it better, but I definitely enjoyed the canned beer quite a bit more in regards to the taste.
Taste Winner: Can
I probably would have thought this was a pretty good, but average, pale ale if all I tried was the bottled version of this. However I am really impressed with the flavor of the canned version. Both are smooth, fairly light, yet have some great bitterness to make this an amazing summer beer (well, I could drink it year round).
Overall Winner: Can
This is the first time I’ve tried a can and a bottle of the same beer side by side and I was a little shocked that I preferred the can version over the bottle. It just had a little more character, but overall both were pretty delicious beers.
I guess this goes to show that some pretty amazing things do come out of Wyoming.
My Snake River Pale Ale Review: A-
Here are the details:
ABV: 5.2%
IBUs: ?
Style: American Pale Ale
What’s your thoughts on Snake River Pale Ale?
