20120628

1001 Beers: Pliny The Elder

Beer Number 12: Pliny The Elder



Ok, so this picture is not the one I took... I think my phone deleted it haha but it is one that Louie took and he is the one who gave me this beer... and all the others that we drank together this night. I haven't seen them in almost a year and I am glad we got to catch up before I left town again. We did a little BBQ'n, Drinkin', and fun havin'. A great night... even though we all almost passed out from sleepyness. Louie had some very interesting beers and actually one that I was looking for, which was pretty surprising being they do not release it often. I guess he has been holding onto it for some time.

Pliny is one of the best IPA's I have ever tasted. I had it before and even brought home a growler of it. This is another beer that is hard to explain. Everything about this one is just amazing. Piney, Cirtusy, very clean bitterness and flavor but not overdone in anyway. Just perfect and amazing. There were some intersting facts in the book about this beer. Things I did not know.

Vinnie Cilurzo started Blind Pig Brewing, Started the Double IPA Revolution basically to cover up any off flavors in a beer because thier equipment was not the greatest, He originally aged the beer on oak for nine months, served it on the brewery's first anniversary, took it to the GABF, continued to make the beer annually until he left to brew at Russian River, and then created a new recipe and scaled it up, then named the beer after a Roman Scholar who created the Botanical Name For Hops! Anyway though, lets get to some other brews.



Next Louie broke out the Knuckle Sandwich from Bootleggers. I have never had this one before. I just missed it when I went to the brewery. I was not a fan of anything they had on tap but their bottled beers tend to be really tasty. I am not sure how that process works... maybe the brewery is just dirty. Knuckle Sandwich was very mellow for what I was expecting... maybe not mellow, but it was malty and bitter. I was expecting a thin hop bomb. I really loved it. I will find it again someday.



Next the Imperial Black Phoenix came out. The original Black Phoenix is my favorite beer from the brewery. Again, in bottles! The Imperial version was very interesting. It was very Toasty... Check out the picture.



The Bruery released a beer called Filmishmish and I love the name of it. I loved the beer too. A very good sour brewed with apricots. You could pick them out in the beer and the sourness was very mellow. I am a fan of big sours but this one was well done and it is nice to change taste the range.

So we were looking at various things on Louies computer over the course of the night and when all the windows were closed I saw a picture of Victory At Sea Coffee Vanilla Imperial Porter and I got so excited. I have been wanting to try that beer ever since I first heard of it and I asked him if he has ever had it. Louie looked at me and was like, yeah... Hold on... He walks into the back and comes back with a bottle and throws it in the fridge! That was pretty intense, you have no idea. I know I am easily excited by beer but just the randomness of him having it blew my mind. I loved it! I love Ballast Point. He actually gave me a bottle of Sea Monster & Westvleteren 12 before I left as well. He is very good at finding amazing beers.



After this we popped open one of the bottles of my homebrew that I brought over for him. It was my Fat Bastard BarleyWine... pretty much the only beer I have left being I have not brewed in a long time. I built this beer to age and last the test of time. I am hoping that it fairs well for years to come. We will see for sure. This was my second taste of the beer since it has been bottled. The first was in December, and the second was now. It is coming along really nicely. I am going to open up a bottle for review soon but it turned out very well, I'd say.

989 Bottles Of Beer To Go!

Cheers!

20120625

1001 Beers: Fraoch Heather Ale

So I stopped by a wine shop one day because Washington State is awesome as hell. Oh yeah, I love my PNW! But the reason I did stop was because there was a sign outside of it saying "Fill Your Growler Here! Craft Beer Now Available!". How Badass is that? I love the new WA state liquor laws. Though, I did not get a growler fill. There was really nothing in the store I wanted to pick up. I mean I got a Deschutes Chain Breaker IPA, but that was it...

Until I noticed a 4 pack of Scottish Ales. I figured, "What is the worst that can happen from grabbing this?" Exactly. funny enough, I randomly look in my 1001 Beers book and Williams Brothers Brewing Company is in there and one of the ales listed is actually in this 4 pack.



Williams Brothers has a very interesting philosophy on ale. There is a lot of good information in the pamphlet they included but here are some highlights.
Heather Ale Ltd started as a crusade to revive the Scottish tradition of brewing ale from malt and heather flowers.
The variety of flavours has been forgotten-it's hardly surprising that most of today's beers taste the same, they are made with the same four ingredients. Rather than drinking a globally homogenised beer, we are trying to encourage you to try the flavour of the country which it is made. Reflect on why people used local flavours, biodiversity is a practical solution. Enjoy the taste of Scotland.
It talks a lot about ingredients that were used in beer to prior to the use of hops and how many of the materials are hand picked and frozen the same day for use throughout the year. Pretty exciting, I feel. It even tells when the ingredients for each ale were collected. There are 5 ales listed but only 4 in the pack. Damn. The one that is not in here, Kelpie, is a seaweed ale and I would love to find it.

I am just going with these in the order that I had them. So the first, Alba is Gaelic for "Scotland" and it is a Scots Pine Ale. A tawny brown strong ale with spruce and aroma, rich malt texture, complex wood flavour and lingering finish. Best drunk at room temperature from a wine goblet as an after dinner digestive. I pretty much ignored all the glass suggestions. Oh well. Though, I wish would have. Here is a little information from the brewery about this ale.
Introduced by the Vikings, spruce and pine ales were very popular in the Scottish Highlands until the end of the 19th Century. Many early explorers, including Captain Cook, used spruce ales during long sea voyages since it prevented scurvy and ill health.




So, I thought this ale had a sweet, alcoholic, and spicy nose. It tasted like tea to me and kind of drank like it too. Low carbonation, medium mouthfeel and 7.5%. Crazy, right? I am assuming that a lot of the flavors I got were from the spruce and pine. I have only had a couple of ales that used this before and it kind of reminded me of those but tasted nothing like them at the same time. This is very unique.

Next is the Grozet. Grozet is Auld Scots for "Gooseberry". I have never experienced Gooseberries before so this works for me too. Trying new things, Score Yeah! This ale is brewed with Lager malt, wheat, bog myrtle, hops and meadowsweet, whatever that is? and then secondary fermented with Scottish Gooseberries. It goes on to say that it is described by the press as Light pale ale with champagne.




It had a really fruity nose. The bitterness was really light and the ale dries the mouth. You get some bready and fruity notes. I wish I knew what a gooseberry tasted like. I am assuming that is what I was tasting. Pretty great. A good down to earth ale at only 5%.

Ebulum: Elderberry Black Ale.
Introduced to Scotland by Welsh druids in the 9th Century, elderberry black ale was part of the Celtic Autumn festivals when the "elders" would make this strong ale and pass the drink round the people of the village.



Dark roasted, fruity nose. The flavor was really mellow throughout. A bit nutty and roasted on the back end.Another great ale at 6.5%. I spent a little time with this ale. Again though, what the hell is an Elderberry?

Beer Number 11: Fraoch Heather Ale. We are finally here! The information on this ale is pretty interesting too. I mean, it has to be with the importance the brewers put on it and all of the medals it has won.
(Pron: Fru-Och) is Gaelic for "Heather"
Into the boiling bree of malted barley, sweet gale and flowering heather are added, then after cooling slightly the hot ale is poured into a vat of fresh heather flowers where it infuses for an hour before being fermented.



My thoughts. I thought this one was great as well and it sat at 5%. I got nothing bad out of this set. That rarely happens. The nose was very complex. Floral notes of bubblegum, fruit, spice. The ale had a very clean taste. Lemony, Grassy, Herbal, toasty. It really coats the mouth. Loved it. I will for sure be trying to find these ales again. This brewery is amazing.

990 Bottles Of Beer To Go!

Slainte!

20120621

Ovila Tasting

Back home, for just a little bit anyway, about to move onto my next Duty Station but got to take a little bit of time to live carefree. I went over to a buddies house and brought over a few delights that I had been holding onto for a while. I really had no idea when I was going to drink these bottles and I thought I would have done so already, but yup, no better time than now.




It only made sense that we started at the first released and worked our way to the last released. I hear that they created a new version of the Dubbel and I am wondering if I got that one or if this is a bottle of the original. I think I picked this bottle up in Julyish...

Either way, I think this one is a lot better than the original I had. I do not know if the beer, in March 2011, was too young or if that version just had more of a bite than this one. It was great, if the old version, it mellowed out amazingly, if the new, they knew exactly what to fix. Dark fruits, raisins, a bit of a sweetness made this beer great.




Next came the Saison, originally released in June of 2011, I believe. It was spicy up front, the yeast bite for sure must have played a role. There was a weird flavor over top but I have no idea what it was. Great flavor though. It was tingly and fruity. Not my favorite saison but pretty solid.


Oh, the Quad. I have never had this beer before today. I bought a bottle of it, once released in November 2011, and it has been waiting for me ever since. I love everything that this beer stands for. It is a great example of the style. I am hoping I can get my hands on barrel aged version once it comes out but I would love to just have this one over and over again. Very malty and the dark fruits were just miraculous. It had a major boozy nose but it did not burn like other beers. When drinking it the warming sensation you feel is to die for. Fig. Yeah, Fig.

This is such a great series and I plan to pick up the 4 packs of Dubbel once they are released. The Saison is supposedly being replaced by a Golden Ale I believe, and the Quad is just being revamped all the way around apparently. I want to locate the few bottles left while I still can.

Cheers!

20120618

1001 Beers: Sierra Nevada... AGAIN!

The simple things in life are what makes it worth living. Stopping fill up the tank with gas on a road trip.

I guess that runs you about $50.

Realizing that you are on the only road that leads directly to Chico and Sierra Nevada Brewery... The stuff dreams are made of.

So, the last time I went to the brewery, I had almost the biggest beergasm of my life and I didn't even make it in time for the tour or any of that... Well, this time I got there at about 1230pm. Tours run almost every hour. I could have cried and I had my growler in the back seat... I know, knowing I had no intentions on going there, that doesn't make sense. But as a good Soldier, Always ready.




So, Sierra Nevada is probably my number 2 or number 3 brewery. It is hard to figure this out. I mean, you all know Numero Uno is New Belgium. Duh, but when it comes to Deschutes and Sierra Nevada... I'm torn. I really do not know how to decide. The thing that really sucks is I have never been to the Deschutes Bend Brewery. Only the Portland Pub. Not that there is a problem with that, but when it comes to the original or the second... The original is where I want to go. Which also brings me to this. I am so glad I made it here again being I am moving out to North Carolina and Sierra Nevada will be opening up out there soon. Only 250 miles away!!! MWAHAHAHA!!! but anyway...

This time, like I was saying, I made it to the tour. I thought it was pretty awesome at first just to be there and was totally expecting the same tour I get from every brewery that I have ever been to. While this one followed the same basic format, it took the cake for all the ones I have been a part of. It revitalized my love for homebrewing.

Not that it was gone, but since I have no brewed in over a year and I do not know when I will be able to again being my housing situation and equipment situation have not been completely hashed out yet, but I just have not been around it other than talking about it. I miss it.

Like all of the major craft breweries, Ken Grossman started out as a homebrewer and with a partner in the business but then went big time and yada, yada, yada. He sticks to his roots and that is what counts. But when it comes to the tour, they take you throughout his whole world. The whole brewhouse smelled like my kitchen... or rather a brewery. The mash, the boil, the crushing of the grain. You could smell it all. I loved it so much. I missed it so much. They start with the early days of his brewing and moves to more modern but you are along for the whole ride. You do the classic, we are a craft brewery and taste the malts we use in beer thing, (I was chatting with the tour guide, so he knew I am an All Grain Brewer but they still have to go through the motions), but then we got to do stuff I have never done on a tour to date.


THEY LET US PLAY WITH THE HOPS!!!



And that was just the start of it. After playing with the hops, the grain crusher, putting our heads in the mash tun, lauter tun, and watching it head into the boil kettle, we actually got to taste the wort that was run off from the mash. They had a sampling of Torpedo available for us. Which was super awesome because that is one of my favorite IPAs... or rather, XPA. However you refer to it.

This was just so exciting because as I brewer who has not been brewing, I know how this whole process is done and with the plant in production, it was like I was doing it again. The only thing that would have made it even more similar would be if we got to taste the hopped, post boil wort and take gravity readings haha! But yeah...

They went into a lot about the brewery. About how environmentally conscious they are, what they are doing for the environment, the community, and the customers. That was all pretty cool as well. They gave us info about every step of the process, including bottling and kegging. They are actually pretty efficient and it makes me appreciate them even more. But it was after this that we got to the point that everyone goes on the tour for. The Tasting. I assumed it would be nothing less than the best but there was an amazing offering on tap and we got to try them all.

Draught Style Pale Ale, Kellerweis (Which is one of the reasons this post is part of my 1001 Beers series), Old Chico, Summerfest, Ovila Dubbel, Torpedo, Southern Hemisphere, & Hoptimum. This was pretty much a dream come true. I learned a lot of good things about these beers and the brewery along with the expansion during the tasting portion. I know I forgot to mention this earlier, but there were only 4 of us on the tour. Yeah, I know what you are saying but it was a Thursday afternoon, again 1pm. This made it all that much better. They gave us a souvenir for the hard time we got. I will carry it always.

Beer Number 9: Kellerweis. I loved the Spice, Clove, Banana, Citrus of this beer. It was done in perfect harmony. I do not like very many hefe's, but when they are done right, they are damn amazing. This is a pretty good example. I should have included this one as well in my Blue Moon alternative project.

After the tour I did the touristy thing and checked out the gift shop. I freaked when I saw a sign and thought that the 30th Anniversary Grand Cru was $99.00 a bottle but, with a little help, figured out that was the price for a case. Not bad. Though, I only got one bottle of that. I also picked up a Jack and Ken's BarleyWine. I already have a bottle in the cellar but being I only had one I did not know when to drink it. It was that classic battle of, "This is not the right occasion, I am scared it is not ready to be drank yet, etc. etc.", so now I have a bottle to have and one to save... or drink immediately after I finish the first. Then the choice came down to Pale, Torpedo, or Southern Hemisphere...

I knew I wanted the Torpedo, so that was one down but then it was a hard choice between the Pale and Southern Hemisphere. I know, it sounds easy but I just drank a bottle of Southern Hemisphere the day before and I was torn whether I wanted it again or not since I just had it on the tour too. I decided to go with the Pale. The reasoning... SWMBO picked for me and both was not an option haha! Buying for came with a cool little bag. I also got a bar towel and BBQ sauce, but yeah... after this, it was time for some eats! Both the Torpedo and Pale will get their own 1001 Beers post since I bought very fresh bottles.




This is now the part where we get into the food. I had a burger, but that is not important what is are the beers I had with lunch. They were all just tasters but it got me another 1001 Beers check in and some brewhouse specific releases. Big Day IPA (made for an employees special day), Side Car Amber Ale (damn good. What an amber should be.), Brown Ale (again, very good.), Ovila Quad (my love for this beer is so amazing, you have no idea), and the 1001 Beers, Beer, Bigfoot 2012.

Beer Number 10: BigFoot. On my first sips of this I got a dark hop bitterness, mellowed out by a bit of citrus. I think I picked out some raisins, but it ended kind of sweet. This beer was pretty boozy but that was to be expected, even in a 2oz? pour. I was expecting a bit more of the hops to present themselves. They were there a bit in the beginning, but from past experience (maybe it was not as fresh as I thought it would be for a 2012), I just thought I would see more. Especially after the whole Celebration Ale deal. But yeah. I had a great time here and I cannot wait to visit the new brewery and come back to the old.

Prost!

991 Bottles Of Beers To Go!

20120615

1001 Beers: Blue Moon

Beer Number 8: Blue Moon Belgian White

So, I know I did this a while back and offered an alternative, but it is in my book of 1001 Beers and my sister in law still has this stuff in her house. I figured a free one plus knocking it out of my book would be best so here we go.




It still sucks.

That is all.

Fine. Well, apparently this beer was originally brewed at Coors Field by the SandLot Brewery and it got really popular in the Denver during the games. They say you can only get a real pint of Blue Moon, brewed on the original, small system developed by Keith Villa. I am not sure how this one compares to the mass produced version by Molson Coors but if I were ever in the stadium, I would walk into the pub and get me a glass. Who knows, maybe it will be a big surprise. Only one way to find out.




Again, even after another tasting about a year later I stick to my impression. Read the whole review at the link above, but here is my Overall profile.
Blue Moon: It was far better than my initial taste about a year and a half ago, and it does stand above anything else I had from this brewery. Though, the taste that I had is not something I want in my beer. I see this as a worst case scenario beer and I really do not want a glass of water. It does the job but not for the craft beer lover like myself. I give this beer a 3/5. Would I buy it while out to eat... Probably not, but after this second tasting this is maybe an option. Coors is making money off of this beer without me purchasing it, so I do not really want to contribute to their success, but, like I said, they do not need my help anyway.
993 Bottles Of Beers To Go!

20120612

Pyramid Alehouse





The things I do for my family. Nikkee and I took our niece out for her birthday to find a propeller hat for her birthday. She told us that is all she wanted. She wanted it so that she could act like she is flying away sometimes. That's an easy gift, so why not. Just so happens that our trip took us up to Seattle... and that she was hungry once we got there. Oh, how convenient is it that Pyramid Alehouse is not even a mile down the same block?

I have only had one Pyramid Ale before. Their signature Apricot Wheat. I didn't care for it back in my early days of craft beer drinking but I figured I would try it again since a lot about my taste has changed. The funny thing though, I didn't order a single one of their signature ales. I ordered all specialty, brewhouse only beers. I mean, I can get the rest year round in variety packs. Why waste a trip? It doesn't really give me a feel for what the brewery is known for but it lets me know what the brewers like and how they play.





I had the Outburst Imperial IPA, Wit Beer, Dunkel, Full Bloom Lager, and the Pyramid Scotch ale. Full Bloom was by far my favorite. It was very clean, had a small/crisp hop bite. Just a good Lager. The Wit Beer was pretty bland. I could not really tell it was a wheat at all. A very watery mouthfeel. Pretty middle of the line. The Scotch Ale was extremely malty. Sweet at the start, dark fruits, boozy finish. The nose was highly alcoholic. The Dunkel reminded me of coffee, it was a tad yeasty and slightly bitter. The earthy hops were great for it. The outburst IIPA had a nice grassy flavor to start, but it quickly became very overpowering. Wasn't a fan.

Honestly, I was kind of disappointed. They were all just alright, nothing special, IMO. I kind of wish I went with the year round offerings instead but I will get around to those. Besides, the one I hear the most good about, was not available. It was the Winter Seasonal, Snow Cap. I did find some Tap Handles though at an antique shop just down the way. I didn't pick any of these ones up but I thought the Snowboard was pretty cool. I guess now I just wait for that beer to be released.





Cheers!

20120609

VooDoo Doughnuts

On our way back from Los Angeles we decided we should stop at the VooDoo Doughnut shop. This is one of the most popular doughnut shops in the Pacific NorthWest. They make all sorts of crazy things. From Cock & Balls, to the VooDoo Doughnut, and the one I am specifically talking about, The Bacon Maple Bar. Maple Bars have always been my favorite doughnut. I love the filled ones but this is exactly what I get every time I go into a shop. Not with Bacon of course.

There has been so much hype about the Bacon Maple Ale from Rogue that I knew I just had to try it. Luckily enough, I found a bottle of it at Vendome.

Here is a link to the VooDoo description of it. It basically breaks down why and what Rogue did. I still need to drink a lot of their ales, but I have never really been a fan of them to this point, so yeah.



Upon the pour you see a quick, bubbly, big head that fills toward the top of the glass but it dissipates very quickly. Not a bad thing at this point but I assumed that maybe the bacon is playing a reaction creating a loss in head retention. The nose is straight smoked bacon. It almost smelled like something I wanted no part of. I mean it was a good smell, but not something I would ever expect from a drink. I have no other way to describe it. You get exactly what you think you are at this point. I thought the beer would have a medium to thick mouthfeel but it was very light. Pretty much like water but the smokiness sticks throughout it so it lends a weird texture. Though, still good. Bacon all the way with a tad of sweetness, the maple I am assuming but it doesn't really taste mapley... is that a word? And a hint of breadyness. This is definitely an experience. But what is better than having a beer alone? The beer paired with its namesake doughnut.

Paired with the Doughnut. Interesting to say the least. Though, in a good way, once again. Remember to swallow before you taste your beer. I have had bad experiences with similar pastries before. The sweetness of the doughnut kills some of the smokiness but the bacon flavor remains. I do not know if this is from the bacon alone or the beer. I am assuming the beer. Very intense.

Overall, I would say a good doughnut and a good beer. Would I do it again? Yes. When? Who knows.

Cheers!

20120606

1001 Beers: Alaskan Amber

Beer Number 7: Alaskan Amber



Tonight we went out for my wifes, her twin sister, and my birthday dinner... Sure you think they are on separate days, but they are not! Weird huh... My wife and I were born on the same day... but anyway, that is not important at this point in time.

I have only had the Alaskan IPA and Smoked Porter but I must revisit both of those since it has been so long, so I have kind of considered the Amber to be my first experience with this brewery. I did not like the Smoked Porter on my first visit but that was like the 10th craft beer I have ever had, so I am not really counting it.



Anyway, Alaskan Amber. This was a very enjoyable trip. I thought the carbonation was pretty high but what really stood out was the sweet fruitiness and I got a hint of underlying chocolate. I thought this was kind of odd being I saw no indication that there was chocolate in this beer but that is what I tasted. It was medium bodied and bready. A very nice beer. A great experience from a new to me brewery. 3.5/5

994 Bottles Of Beers To Go!

Prost!

20120604

Conflux No 1: Collage

So one thing I find hilarious about this collaboration, which no one else in the world will find funny, is that the first time I have been to both of these breweries was on the same day. Check it out.

But Anyway, Here we Go...

Collage is actually the first beer in the Conflux series, but it was the second to be released. Back when Number 2 came out I thought I had missed the first one and I was bummed as all hell, but figured oh well. When I heard about the beer dinners for the release I tried to figure out everything so bad in order to make it but my flights would not make it in time. I have 3 of the 4 beers used and I am hoping that the 4th is released anywhere I can get it.





I love how this is one of the first times I was able to appropriately use my glass with a beer. It was oh, so refreshing. Collage DEFINITELY smelled like a Hair of the Dog Beer. This kind of surprised me being I thought it would be more of a Deschutes ale. The two companies came together and, if I understand this right, blended their Dissident, The Stoic (which I have a bottle of in the cellar), Fred, and Adam in several casks. I do not know how they did it but wow... I cannot believe this beer exist.

In the nose I cannot describe what I am smelling, exactly. If you have ever been to Hair Of The Dog, you know the scent I am talking about and I also get a tingly sweetness of a barrel. The mouthfeel was incredibly thick and in the taste, dark fruits are predominately what I experienced. Maybe like a black raspberry. Boozy and warming but it is not overpowering. Very well done... Bravely Done. Overall I found this to be a pretty good beer... but I messed it up, big time.





I failed to realize that they put a BEST AFTER date on the bottle... 4/30/13. Wow, I had to run up to 99 Bottles to grab another. I am glad that it just came out and is kind of easy to get a hold of. I would have hated myself for a while about this one haha! I have no idea when I am going to open this beer again, but I am for sure looking forward to it. Great once, even greater then. If I can find The Dissident... even if I can't, I have plans for the day I open this one up. Wait and see...

Cheers!

20120602

1001 Beers: Boont Amber

Beer Number 6: Anderson Valley Brewing Company Boont Amber



The bahlest steinber hornin', chiggrul gormin' tidrick in the heelch of the Boont Region!


This is what the natives of the Northern Californian town of Boonville will say about this beer. This quite intrigued me... especially being I have no idea what they are talking about. But, nonetheless, This is a great amber ale.

Seriously, one of the best Ambers I have tasted. It had a little bit of a tartness, but overall very clean and very simple. Maybe I am just over the whole hop experience of every other beer in the world but it was very rich. Not in the sweet way, just in how I would expect the flavor of an amber would be. I guess... since you are not me, you don't know what this means but hey. It was damn good. It was slightly roasty and a tad hoppy. The hops filled in the back end. You got the smoothness of the beer up front and did not have to deal with the BS of every amber that is out now. I loved it. A very basic Amber in everyway. I really do not know what else to say.



995 Bottles of Beer To Go!

Bahl Hornin!

20120601

The Brave Experiment

As coined by @bjornidentity from Twitter,I recently opened a random ass growler that I had lying around my room from before I left for basic training. It doesn't really give you a good overview of the beer, but you can read about my journey of that day here.





Doesn't that picture look familiar? Anyway, wow... this beer was just bad after so long. The greatest thing about this was the head... check it out.





Other than that, shitty. Wow, I honestly can not remember how this beer tasted but wow... if it was anything similar to this, I cannot believe that I got myself a growler... wtf? The picture of this beer is so blurry because it is a direct representation of how it tasted. Very sour, smelled funky as hell. I expected it to be a lot bitter but I think when the hops died, it turned this beer to piss. I have no explanation.

Though, I went up to Seattle in order to get my niece a birthday present and I happened to come back past the brewery. I figured, you know, I want to know what I liked about this beer. There had to be a reason I wanted a growler... well, here it is.





It was actually pretty good fresh. It had a very herbal essence to it. A nice hop bite and sweet in the finish. Definitely a beer that I would love to have again and again. I guess my taste were not that bad but I still messed up by leaving it to waste. I have kept a few growlers for some time... ok, only like a week, but I will never again let this happen. Geez, unless... this becomes an experiment haha!

Cheers!