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 Dogfish Head Shelter Pale Ale
by erik lars myers
 Brewer: Dogfish Head, Rehoboth Beach, DE
Style: Pale Ale
At first pour, it doesn't look like a very impressive beer. It looks average; a nice golden color, perhaps a little cloudier than you'd expect it to be, with very little head. If you smelled it, you'd think it was mild, not very strong on flavor, but probably nice to drink. When you taste it, you'll want to head through the whole 6-pack.
It's a beautifully subtle beer. The Dogfish Head website will tell you that Shelter Pale is "brewed with premium barley and whole-leaf Willamette & Columbus Hops" and "has a strong malt backbone and a slightly nutty flavor." What this means is that the end flavor is neither overly hoppy nor overly malty, but a gorgeous blend of both and what that means is that this is a beer for everyone.
If you don't like malty beers, this beer will be hoppy enough for you. If you don't like hoppy beers, this beer will be malty enough for you. If you don't know what you like in beer, you probably won't mind drinking this one. It's exactly what Pale Ales should aspire toward.
Watch out, though, at 5% alcohol by volume this beer will sneak up on you. The flavor is strong enough to cover the taste of alcohol, but mild enough so that you can put it away quickly. If you're not a heavy drinker, it'll hit you faster than you expect it to.
Shelter Pale is distributed through most of North America, so it should be fairly easy to find, and since it's Dogfish Head's "flagship" beer it's a little easier to find than some of their other brews. If you're looking for it, you can find a list of distributors on their website, and from the distributors websites you should be able to find a seller near you.
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