Looking back at Point Cascade Pale Ale
Point Brewery features an ongoing "Pour It Forward" initiative where a different beer is featured each month with proceeds benefitting a local nonprofit organization. For October of 2026, visitors to Point Brewery's tap room will see a familiar beer return to the on tap line up: Cascade Pale Ale. While this throwback beer isn't as historically distant as some of their brews we've helped bring back to life, it has a important backstory of its own.
First, let's tackle the question of what a pale ale actually is. Ale refers to the type of yeast used in the beer. When you brew, you either ferment with lager yeast, which ferments at a lower temperature suceeded by a conditioning, or lagering, period, or you brew with ale yeast, which ferments at a higher temperature and is heartier against temperature swings.
The first known beer that Point Brewery created when they were first founded in the 1850s was actually an ale, and more spefically a British-style stock ale. In those days before mechinical refrigeration and the brewery's lager caves near McDill pond, an ale would have been a safer bet to taste better sooner and longer. As the brewery took root and became more sophisticated, and with the increase of German immigrants wanting lager style beer, the brewery soon moved in that direction for their products.
Next, let's talk about the "Pale" label. Nowadays, and in the case of Cascade Pale Ale, pale ale usually denotes a hoppier style of brew. However, as the word implies, the style was originally more about the color of the beer. According to craftbeer.com, the term pale ale initially described English ales that were not as dark in color as the popular porter style. With the British Empire counting India among its colonial possessions, a style was created called the India Pale Ale. There is a myth out there that the extra hops were added to prevent spoilage, however, the beer at first was just a seasonal fall offering, which was shipped to India, but also sold to wealthy British elites as an exotic product. So really, the IPA label was more marketing than anything else. Read more about that here.
As American beer evolved into the late 19th and early 20th century, pale once again referred to the color of the beer, as well as the ingridients, as was the case with Point Brewery's products. During the 1900s and through to the years before Prohibition, the brewery marketed beers called Pink's Pale and Pink's Crystal. Pink's Pale was a corn adjunct lager, while Pink's Crystal utilized rice. "Pink" was in homage to the brewery's plant manager, Nicholas "Pinky" Gross.
The reason for adjuncting the beers was consumer preference paired with the availability of American brewing ingredients. According to historian Lee Reiherzer of the Oshkosh Beer Blog, "The main reason adjuncts came in was to mitigate the high-protein content of American barley. The higher protein made for a heavier beer, an often cloudy beer, and a beer that was much less shelf stable than beers brewed with lower-protein European malts. Brewers in America realized early on that American drinkers preferred a lighter-bodied beer and the only way they could produce that was to use adjuncts."
After Prohibition, the brewery, with a few exceptions, stuck with Point Special Lager as their flagship beer (more on that here), and seasonally released a bock, which is a darker lager style. Ales would not return to Point's holdings until the 1990s.
In 1994, the brewery added the popular Point Amber to their portfolio signaling the entry of Point Brewery into the craft beer era. With less constraints around the styles that consumers would drink, Point then created Point Pale Ale in 1995. That pale ales were by then synonymous with a hoppy, bitter flavor was a result of the earlier craft efforts on the west coast. Point's then-Brewmaster, John Zappa, said that Midwest beer drinkers were beginning to develop a more sophisticated palate. "People are going to learn why beers taste differently...they're made to," Zappa was quoted as saying in the Stevens Point Journal.
In 2002, the brewery sold from the Chicago-based Barton Inc. to the current owners of the brewery, Jim Weichmann and Joe Martino of Milwaukee. Around that same time Point Pale Ale disappeared from the Point Brewery product list.
Two years later, in 2004, the brewery announced the return of the style with Cascade Pale Ale. Martino reported to the Stevens Point Journal, "Many beer lovers urged us to brew pale ale again." The addition of "cascade" to the label refers to the variety hops that was central to the beers recipe, which added a hoppy aroma without an overwhelming amount of bitterness.
Point Brewery retired Cascade Pale Ale in 2013 after a nearly 10 year run for the popular beer. So, for the month of October 2026, if you're lucky enough to get it, enjoy the return of Cascade Pale Ale, on tap only at the Point Brewery Tap Room. Plus, each glass benefits PCHS, so drink up!
If you're interested in learning more about Point Brewery's history, consider joining me on a Point Brewery History Tour! They are offered almost every month and feature a deep dive into Point's history.
