New Albion Ale.

I love history. One of my favorite subreddits besides /Beer is /History. So to get the opportunity to drink a recreation of what is considered the very first microbrewery in the post world war II ravaged aged of beer is so exciting to me. I grabbed a few as soon as I saw them on the shelf and opened them as soon as I walked into the door. Hell, I basically opened it on the doorstep I was so giddy to drink one.
New Albion Brewing Company was started by Jack McAuliffe is wine country Sonoma, California. After attempting to start a brewery in San Francisco high costs forced him to move north. Sir Francis Drake referred to the Pacific Northwest as Nova Albion and thus, New Albion Brewing was started, hoping to slip right in along side the ever expanding wine and cuisine market that was already expanding in Sonoma. And for 6 years New Albion Brewing sold ever bottle of beer it produced, but they didn't produce enough beer to turn Jack's brilliant idea into profit and they had to close their doors. New Albion's influence however was unmistakable. Hopland Brewing Company inherited Jack's equipment (Hopland was founded by New Albion employee Don Barkley) and turned themselves into Mendocino Brewing Company who are still brewing today. Sierra Nevada credited Jack so much that for their 30th Anniversary beer they brewed "Jack and Ken's Ale" (Ken Grossman is a co-founder of Sierra Nevada) that was based on a seasonal barleywine brewed by New Albion called Old Toe Sucker. Every brewer owes a small debt to the first man to fail at his dream but spark the flame that started the fire in America.
Anyways, last August sometime Jim Koch from Sam Adams announced that for the 1st time in 30 years New Albion Pale Ale would be brewed. A truly original american pale ale made with nice bitter hops and simple 2-row pale ale. And god this is a crisp pale. Smell is actually a little weak but that's the only part of the beer that I don't notice. The taste is light malt, a bit of cereal grainyness. It's so crisp on the tongue with a great balance between the malts at the front and a nice floral and bitter hop finish. Nice bitterness left on the tongue with a heavy carbonation on the way down.
I could drink this beer all the time, nice and easy and smooth. It's not the most adventurous beer I've ever tasted, but if I existed 30 years ago (Just sneaking under that time line but that's another story) this beer would be mind blowing and eye opening to everything I believe in. Taste it just to understand what an experience it'd be to drink this after having nothing but shitty Shaffer, Pabst and Bud to drink the entire time.