Canadian Pale Ales

So what's the deal with these?

I was up in Canada a few weeks back and ordered a microbrewed Pale Ale at a restaraunt. When I took a sip, I discovered it was not at all the hoppy flavor I was expecting, but an amazing malty flavor. This was the case with all of the Pale Ales I had up there.

They had great flavor and I don't want to knock them, but what would they be considered style wise? Canadian Pale Ales?

I lived in western canada, and most of the craft breweries there were more influenced by british styles than california styles. Of course, I can't speak for the beer you were drinking specifically, but what you're describing sounds a lot like a british pale ale.

Might help if you narrowed it down, Canada is a big country. Also, anything calling itself "Canadian Pale Ale" that I've tried has been quite hoppy.

I labeled it "Canadian Pale Ale" trying to distiguish it from other Pale Ales.

With regards to British styles, I thought those were bitter/hoppy as well, bitters/esb's etc.

The beer I was talking about was: Powerhouse Pale Ale by Mt. Begbie Brewing.

SkiNuke said:

I labeled it "Canadian Pale Ale" trying to distiguish it from other Pale Ales.

With regards to British styles, I thought those were bitter/hoppy as well, bitters/esb's etc.

The beer I was talking about was: Powerhouse Pale Ale by Mt. Begbie Brewing.

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Check out the Beer Advocate reviews. To the one, they mention not-to-style bready maltiness. That's certainly a British trait.

I would agree that many pale ales in British Columbia, for example, are maltier than those in the PNW. I'd attribute that to the use of things like chocolate malt in the pale ales, as well as not a lot of apparent late hop additions. Similar to British and German brewing. Can't say that I'm a fan of many BC pales for that reason.

In BC, for example, most of the 'older' microbreweries (Granville Island, Okanagan Spring, Shaftesbury, etc.) had very malty pale ales back in the day and I think that they became the standard. This is certainly changing, though, as more PNW styles are becoming the norm, and people's tastes are shifting towards the hoppy.

I'm drinking a Central City Red Racer Pale right now and I find it very similar to Deschutes Mirror Pond - certainly hop forward, but also balanced by a well-thought out malt bill.