The United Steaks

Back in the early days of the ‘net, around ‘94 or so, I used to have a Beer Of The Week section on a different web site. The microbrew business was exploding on the scene, but distribution issues kept bottling to mostly regional locals. My beer of the week quest fizzled after a few months when I’d pretty much exhausted the locally available selection. Much has changed in the last 11 years and it is quite easy to keep finding new brew - especially with trading partners in a few of the big beer community sites.

I don’t have plans to return to my beer of the week due to time commitments but my beer updates are getting fairly regular. In honor of my old site, this week’s Beer of the Week is New Belgium Brewery’s Blue Paddle Pilsener Lager.

Blue Paddle is often overshadowed by New Belgium’s flagship brew, Fat Tire - and unjustly so in my opinion. The brew is full of flavor with just the right bitterness that is very crisp and refreshing on the palate. Where Fat Tire blazes the flavor trail for mainstream American brews, it goes just far enough to get Joe BeerDrinker interested in ‘real beer.’ Blue Paddles goes several steps beyond.

On the Web:
New Belgium Brewery
Blue Paddle
Fat Tire