How could two things so similar be so different?

Pictured to the right are two beers that are labeled as Pale Ale. So they should be pretty similar, right? Wrong, they're quite different.

A lot of runners first experience the beers from Deschutes Brewery - of Bend, Oregon - when they participate in the Portland Marathon. Their beer seems to be everywhere downtown, including at the host hotel and it's the Mirror Pond Pale Ale that seems to be the most popular of their offerings. This Pale Ale is as smooth as a slide on the ice (made from Pristine water from Oregon's Cascade Mountains), and it says right on the label that it offers a "lush floral aroma."

This may strike a few guys as just a bit feminine and the art work on the label is so floral that a spouse or girlfriend will no doubt comment on how "pretty" it is. But it's a light beer - with the same alchohol content as in most domestic beers - that goes down just fine for those who've completed a 26.2 mile run with a few thousand friends.

Contrast this with the macho-look label of the India Pale Ale from the Rubicon Brewing Company of Sacramento, bottled by Sudwerk. The label says "tough" and the taste of this IPA is like that of a bold coffee ranging somewhere between a French Roast and a Sumatra blend. The masculine approach is naturally matched by a higher alcohol content. With the Rubicon IPA odds are that no one will feel the need to tell you how attractive the label is, nor will they wonder if it has a lush floral aroma.

Smooth and light like tea, or dark and bold like coffee, both of these are exemplary beers. Just don't wait until you get to Portland or you may have to run more than 26 miles before you get served.