Chicagoist's Beer of the Week: Solemn Oath's Skinny Jeans Are Ridiculous

By Jason Baldacci in Food on Nov 8, 2013 10:30PM

Naming a beer can be a delicate thing. You want to choose something that captures the spirit of the liquid yet represents the brewers who came up with the idea, created the recipe and released it to the beer drinking public. Sometimes a brewery will choose a name that refers to the traditional style their beer was modeled after and sometimes they'll choose something that is reminiscent of the season when the beer is released. Lately a growing number of breweries are giving their beers names that don't seem to mean much of anything. This doesn't generally bother us too much as long as the beer speaks for itself.

The guys at Solemn Oath have done just that with their latest American Pale Ale called Skinny Jeans Are Ridiculous. It pours a glowing orange-gold color in the glass and we pick up floral tones all over the nose of this one. While there is a malt backbone on this beer, the hop profile is definitely front and center. The hops come across a little fruity, with tropical touches of pineapple and guava along with a little hint of pithy lemon rind before they turn spicy towards the backend and make way for those floral tones we mentioned earlier to linger on the finish. Overall, the beer is pleasantly bitter and while it does drink a little juicy in the mid-palate, it's very dry by the time you gulp it down. At 5.9 percent alcohol content, Skinny Jeans Are Ridiculous is a rock-solid, hop-forward Pale Ale that we will surely order immediately the next time we belly up to a bar and see it on draft. While the name itself may be a little ridiculous we don't think it's any more ridiculous than skinny jeans themselves.

In honor of this wonderfully hoppy beer, we'd like to say a few things about hops themselves. With the growing trendiness of craft beer, people tend to get really excited about hops and the specific beers that showcase them. While we feel this excitement is mostly justified, we also recognize that a lot of people who share in it don't actually realize the role hops plays in brewing. Hops have nothing to do with the color of your beer or the alcohol content. We like to think of hops as the seasoning of a beer. Just like you'll find with food, the right combinations of hops can make a beer truly amazing. But too much can be overwhelming and not enough can leave you incredibly disappointed. Don't think we're trying to downplay hops by any stretch though. A meal without salt and pepper is not one we'd like to sit down for.

Skinny Jeans Are Ridiculous is only available on draft, and it's only available in a handful of places. Check beermenus.com to see where you can grab a pint this weekend.