Chicagoist's "Beer of the Week:" Cooper's Extra Pale Ale

By Chuck Sudo in Food on May 21, 2008 6:00PM

After a full day in trade show hell, we needed a beer to the point that we might have accepted a Budweiser if it was presented to us. Lucky for us we moseyed past the Food and Wine of Australia booth before it came to that.

The Australian-based Coopers Brewery is noted for making simple, clean beers, and home brew kits. We've actually experimented with their malt and yeast extracts in the past and came t the conclusion that brewing is best left to professionals. Anyway, whenever we're at West Town Tavern we order the sparkling ale with the weekly fried chicken special. At the NRA show, we went through an quick tasting of all the Coopers varieties available.

We left the booth hankering for Coopers Original Pale Ale. Brewed as a classic English bitter and bottle fermented, it pours with a light color tinted by a cloudiness from the yeast residue in the bottle. The palate is filled with light floral and citrus, and a medium bitter finish from the hops. The flavor profile had us immediately craving seafood; pale ales and seafood are a perfect pair.

Coopers makes some other worthy selections. But for ease of accessibility for non-beer drinkers, we have to recommend Coopers Original Pale Ale as Chicagoist's "beer of the Week."

Reminder: The second annual Reader's Choice "BotW" selections are only two weeks away. If you think you can sump us or have a quality craft beer you absolutely think we should try, e-mail us. You could win a Chicagoist t-shirt in the process.