Sweetwater 420 Extra Pale Ale

Someone once said that too much of a good thing......is a good thing. And I have to say that I agree with that person in the case of the Sweetwater folks here in Atlanta. I really enjoyed the IPA so I figured, "What the heck? If it ain't broke, don't fix it!" What I mean by that is I have some of the Trappist beers in my "beer cellar" in my garage, thanks to David with his article, Aargh! Promoting Iced Beer (check it out), but I was really impressed with the IPA so I wanted to delve a little bit further into the Sweetwater repertoire with the 420 Extra Pale Ale. And I am happy to report that the Sweetwater folks are rather consistent.

Here we go with the aroma! It has a beautiful hop and floral aroma, not as prominent as the IPA, but kind of a toned down version of it. I also noticed a bit of a malty undertone, which went nicely with this beer.

420's color was a nice pale gold, which I thought held up to its name. It seems that some of the pale ales that I have had the pleasure of sampling did not come off as looking too pale at all.

The taste is what got me, though. It has a great hop flavor to it. But it is not as prominent as the IPA, which does make sense. What I loved about this beer was the malty taste of it, it seemed to balance out the hops just right. It had a toasty afterthought as well.

Would I recommend this beer? Only if you like good beer, so....duh! I am little disappointed to see the prices of some of my favorite beers starting to inch upward, and Sweetwater 420 Extra Pale Ale is no exception. Most of you know that it was a bad year for hops, and that is definitely going to affect the price of your favorite beers. Oh well, it won't stop me. I actually drank this with a Boston butt pork steak (don't judge me) and some canned peas. Not your greatest meal, but it flowed!

Beer-O-Meter: Solid 18 pack