Oskar Blues cans another classic

By Chuck Mobley

The sight of Deviant Dale’s, a new addition to the Oskar Blues section at Habersham Beverage, immediately piqued my interest during a recent shopping trip, and I confidently dropped the four-pack into my grocery cart.

Oskar Blues Brewery has a huge and hard-won reputation. Starting some 10 years ago with Dale’s Pale Ale, it has since produced several other highly-sought-after products, including Mama’s Little Yella Pils, Old Chub Scottish Style Ale and Ten Fidy Imperial Stout. The fact that these beers are canned is pretty much now irrelevant.

Deviant Dale’s has made an immediate and impressive addition to that record. Released just last year, it has already won a silver medal at the Great American Beer Festival in the American India Pale Ale category.

Once you pop open the can – a 16-ounce tallboy – it’s easy to see why. Rated at 85 IBUs, Deviant Dale’s is intensely, almost comically, hoppy. It boldly delivers the notes that hop heads are looking for – pine, grapefruit and an earthy grassiness. There’s a faint, and I mean faint, malt presence, but this is basically a delightfully bitter experience from start to finish.

At 8 percent ABV (alcohol by volume), Deviant Dale’s is not a session beer. Sip it, enjoy it, and maybe raise your glass, in tribute, in the direction of Lyons, Colo., where Oskar Blues is located.   

Buy this if: You’re looking for a hop bomb, and don’t mind paying $4 a can for the experience.

Leave it on the shelf if: You think Fat Tire or Sam Adams’ Boston Lager are hoppy beers.

Stats and Sites: $15.79 for a four-pack at Habersham Beverage; its grade is an 89 at beeradvocate.com (based on 250 reviews) and a 99 at ratebeer.com; go to oskarblues.com for more information.