Dogs Galore

Beer #680 Bitter Bitch / Wet Dog Cafe & Astoria Brewing Company, Astoria, OR
Previously from this brewery: the same

Today's beer review is a can of Bitter Bitch from the Astoria Brewing Company in Oregon.  In the glass (despite what the crappy photo might otherwise suggest) this beer shows off a dark copper color with a slightly off-white head.  There are pleasing aromas of earthy pine and citrus, and when you drink it down there's a good bit of grapefruit and pine, with a nice bit of bitterness on the finish.  There's some caramel malt in there as well to keep things in check.  Very solid pour.

Bark.

Not the first beer with "bitch" in the name I've come across.  Brewers have some unresolved issues, I suppose.

Thing to Think About Today:
Something quiet from local Philly product Dr. Dog, perhaps?  We leave with Shadow People.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_4_By9NJOc

Day 658: Wet Dog Cafe & Brewery

First Saturday in the past four weeks without a football game and how do I celebrate it? By sleeping past 10:00 a.m. because this is the first time in more than four weeks that I've been able to sleep past 7:00 a.m. And if you know me, you know that I am not a morning person. Suffice it to say, so far Saturday has been glorious.  Me and Mr. Blog Named Brew have some fun planned for this afternoon...day drinking some wine and listening to some music. The wine will be easy drinking and who knows about the music. All I know is that I'm with the one I love and the rest doesn't matter.

Now for the beer. It's the Raging Bitch imperial IPA from Wet Dog Cafe & Brewery (sorry, the website is down. No link for you!) in Astoria, Oregon.

It looked like iced tea in the glass with a thick bubbly tan head. It smelled of pine and grapefruit. The flavor is full of biscuits, citrus pith with undertones of caramel. It's somewhat dry and has lots of big, bold flavor. The one thing I didn't like is that it left a very bitter, almost medicinal flavor on my lips that lingered far longer than I wanted after finishing the beer.

Beer stats
Style: Imperial IPA
ABV: 8.2%
IBUs: 138
Rating: Good

Previously reviewed from Wet Dog
None! This is the first beer from Wet Dog Cafe & Brewery. From a little Internet sleuthing, it looks like a small cafe and brewery on the coast in Astoria. Unfortunately their website appears to be down so I can't give you much more information than that. And if you're wondering how I managed to get this beer all the way on the East Coast, the answer is beer mail. I highly recommend making some beer friends across the country and taking advantage of Priority Mail flat shipping rates. So thanks to my Portland friend Wolf, I get to experience a tasty imperial IPA.

Day 578: Troegs Perpetual IPA

And then there was one...

...one sample of Troegs Perpetual IPA. It poured a crystal clear golden ale with a very white head. It had a super hoppy, pungent aroma. The flavor was bright and bold. Lots of hop flavor. Citrus pith, grapefruit, a little lemon in the finish. If you like hoppy beers, this is one for you.

Upon a bit of research, I learned this beer has ALL THE HOPS! It's brewed with Bravo, Chinook, Mt. Hood, and Nugget. Then it's dry-hopped with Citra and Cascade. So there's a little flavor for you!

Beer stats
Style: Imperial pale ale
ABV: 7.5%
IBUs: 85
Rating: Good

Previously reviewed from TroegsPreviously reviewed from Troegs
His review of Scratch 95 (kolsch), pale ale, Nugget Nectar and Scratch 57 (weizenbock)
My review of Sunshine Pils. Also check out posts from this week on a number of Troegs beers. Why? Because it's Troegs Beer Week on Blog Named Brew!

Day 565: Avery The Maharaja

Mr. Blog Named Brew has a sickness. He freely admits not being able to walk past any of the beer displays at our local groceries without stopping to browse and ultimately buying at least one bottle. He succumbed again recently and we found ourselves in possession of The Maharaja from Avery Brewing Company.

"This," the Mr. declared very definitely after his first sip, "is a top 25 beer." Trust me, he says the exact same thing every time he drinks The Maharaja. So you know it's true.

The Maharaja is an imperial IPA, which is an IPA-derivative that I can get behind. Big flavor. Big hops. Big Beer. It pours a bright amber color with a pale beige head. I wrote in my notes that it "smells breast." What in the world does that mean? I'm going with bready--most likely correct because my spellcheck hates when I type bready. There's some honey and citrus hops in the aroma as well. The flavor is citrus, biscuits, lots of hops, and pine. It's a little boozy and has a mild alcohol burn. I like that it also has a strong malt presence to balance out all those hops. (It's brewed with a "deranged amount" per Avery's website and the hops include Simcoe, Columbus, Centennial and Chinook. It's then dry-hopped with more Simcoe and Centennial!)

The Maharaja is part of Avery's Dictator Series. Unfortunately this is the only installment I've ever encountered.

Beer stats
Style: Imperial IPA
ABV: 10-12% (varies by batch)
IBUs: 102
Rating: Great

Previously reviewed from Avery
My review of Hog Heaven (barleywine) and White Rascal with a five-finger discount confession
A Hog Heaven review from the Mr.

Day 482: Green Flash Le Freak

Today is my birthday. There are surprises in store for me tonight. As someone who is very comfortable admitting that she likes to control all the things, all the time, this is a challenging position for me to be in. I'm currently not controlling all the things. I am nervous. It's making me chew on my nails. I'm a freak.

Which leads me to today's beer. Green Flash's Le Freak. It's a combination of a Belgian style trippel and an American imperial IPA.

It poured a hazy golden orange color with a full white head. It smelled of hops, sugar and tart grapes. The flavor is surprisingly smooth. It's herbal and spicy with some breadiness. There a good hop bite in the finish and lots of piney hops.

Beer stats
Style: Trippel/Imperial IPA
ABV: 9.2%
IBUs: 101
Rating: Great

Previously reviewed from Green Flash
Mr.'s review of Le Freak and Rayon Vert and Imperial IPA and Palate Wrecker and Linchpin IPA
I tackle a sampler

Imperial March

Beer #439 Imperial IPA / Green Flash Brewing Company, San Diego, CA
Previously from this brewery:  Just wrote about Palate Wrecker on Tuesday, Marci vs. the sampler, my look at Linchpin IPA

For the second review in a row, I call your attention to Green Flash Brewing - this time for their Imperial IPA.  Over the past 439 days, I've had some truly world class beers.  However, there are a few that I always gravitate towards and tend to keep in the fridge (or the basement).  If you come over to BlogNamedBrew Manor, you're basically guaranteed to find Dale's Pale Ale from Oskar Blues, Milk Stout from Left Hand, Saison DuPont from Brasserie DuPont, something from New Holland, something from Jolly Pumpkin, something from Stillwater, Rayon Vert from Green Flash (which oddly I've never reviewed... hmmm), and a few select others.  In fact, the only thing you're guaranteed to find in our fridge is beer, cheese, and condiments.  Food... not always, unless you count olives as food.

To add to my Green Flash collection, tonight's beer is the Imperial IPA.  In the glass, this beer has a hazy, orange amber color with a fluffy white head.  Your nose finds a ton of grapefruit, orange, and pine, and when you take a drink you get classic IPA flavors of grapefruit and pine, with just enough hint of malt to keep things honest.  There's solid bitterness throughout, and you notice the potent 9.4% ABV as well.  This beer is outstanding; another great example of a West Coast IPA, and going forward you can expect to find it in my fridge.  Stop by some time to share one, but please call before you get here.  And bring pizza.

This picture sucks, but the beer is good!

In case you were wondering, Green Flash takes it's name from the optical phenomena where green flashes can be seen around the sun at sunrise or sunset.  I don't think you need to be on a beach in San Diego to experience Mother Nature showing off... but it is a nice place to watch.

Thing to Think About Today:
This Imperial IPA is so good, it needs some theme music (every good hero should have some).  Couldn't you just picture the Imperial March playing as this beer gets poured?  To help you visualize, I present Lego Darth Vader and the Lego Stormtrooper orchestra (wait, what?).  Now where are Lego Luke and Leia when you need them?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_WERPN8KO8

Did You Raise $12M Today? WE DID!

Day #435 Odyssey Imperial IPA / Sly Fox Brewing Company, Phoenixville, PA
Previously from this brewery: My reviews of Chester County Bitter, Phoenix Pale Ale, and Grisette, and Marci's take on Ichor and Chester County Bitter

I'm typing this post on a quiet Sunday afternoon, with a dog curled up next to me on the chair.  While things are quiet in the house, quite a different atmosphere can be found in State College today, as the Interfraternity Council/Panhellenic Dance Marathon, affectionately known to the world as THON, has officially wrapped up for another year.  I assure you, things were louder than a jet engine in the Bryce Jordan Center when the total raised was announced: an absolutely staggering $12.37 MILLION.  This money is raised entirely by college students to fight pediatric cancer (having raised over $100M through the years) and I could not be more proud to be a Penn State grad right now.

I gave my recap of my experience dancing in THON in this review last year, so I won't repeat all of it here.  However, I will once again say that dancing at THON was one of the absolute highlights of my entire existence, and I can't imagine what my life would be like without that experience.  It helped me realize the pure joy you can experience when helping others, and I've tried to carry that feeling forward ever since.

To celebrate, let's review a beer - the Odyssey Imperial IPA from Sly Fox.  This beer pours a clear, honeyed sort of copper color, and your nose immediately finds a fresh pine and citrus aroma.  When you take a sip, you get a blast of grapefruit and pine, with a good dry bitterness throughout.  You don't have to look too hard to find some caramel malt in there balancing things out, but make no mistake this beer is for the hop lovers of the world.  If you see one, I highly recommend you drink one.

Off kilter.  Sorry.

For those who didn't know, Sly Fox is a frequent supporter of Penn State; last fall, they made a very generous donation to support a scholarship fundraiser at the Penn State Great Valley campus.  Great beer, great people.

Thing to Think About Today:
I usually like to end with something humorous or witty here, making some obscure connection to the brewery or beer name with some pop culture silliness.  But today, I think I'll just leave you with this link to THON's website:

http://thon.org/

Whether you choose to support this initiative (I do), or whether there are other causes that stir your passions, I implore you think about how you can contribute your time, talent, or treasure to those less fortunate than you.  Whatever you give, wherever you give, however you give, I guarantee you'll be making the world a better place.

Formula 409

Day #409 Moebius / Omnipollo, Stockholm, Sweden
Previously from this brewery: Both of our looks at Mazarin

Two interesting things to note about today, which are indirectly related yet somewhat related.

1. Today is the anniversary of Joe Paterno's death. While some people outside of Penn State will never bother to understand anything about Coach Paterno other than what they read in the headlines, most PSU fans recognize that he did not walk on water, but was a good and very decent human being who made mistakes.  Coach Paterno contributed thousands upon thousands upon thousands of good things to the school, his community, and the sport at large - but he'd be the first to point out he wasn't perfect.
2. Today marks post #409 for the blog, which is also the number of games Paterno won as head coach. Yes, the NCAA stripped a number of those wins to "punish" Penn State, but that's another story for another day, as the NCAA is about as effective of an organization as....well, I really can't think of anything as ludicrously ineffective as the NCAA.  I say: 409 forever.

PSU notes aside, today was a good day.  Got to take in a high school basketball game, managed to get some work done, and didn't freeze to death.  Hooray for the small victories, I guess.

Today's beer is Moebius, an Imperial IPA from Omnipollo, a Swedish brewer.  In the glass, you see a hazy orange color, with a wispy white head.  You find an aroma of citrus fruit and pine, and the taste follows suit with tons of grapefruit and lemon, along with a strong pine flavor from the hops.  This beer is strong, as 8.5% ABV, and bitter throughout, with a good dry finish.  Definitely one for the hop lovers to check out.

Hello there.

Omni means many in Latin, and pollo means chicken in Spanish (shout out to the worlds best fried chicken chain, Pollos Hermanos).  This language lesson really means nothing when you combine them in Swedish, I suppose.

Thing to Think About Today:

I just played some Frightened Rabbit in this space a few days earlier.  I've been listening to them nearly non-stop since then, and they have a new album coming out next month.  So, let's close out the evening thinking about the first song released from the new album.  Please enjoy The Woodpile, because I do.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KY4j8Ow-CTs

"Would you come and brighten my corner?"

The Countdown Begins!

Beer #336 Swamp Ape / Florida Beer Company, Melbourne, FL
Beers to Go: 30

As you see, the countdown is officially on!!  We're now just 30 beers away from crossing the finish line, which is very exciting.  If anyone out there knows someone at a publishing company who might want to buy the rights to our novel, please send them my way.  I really need to figure out a way to pay for all of the beers along the way.

Today is a PSU game day, and I'll be watching at a tailgate fundraiser.  This is important because I'll be watching on a thirty foot screen, which is a completely surreal way to watch football.  And what goes better with football than beer?

Today's beer is the Swamp Ape, an Imperial IPA from Florida Beer Company.  When you pour it, you see a hazy honey amber color.  The aroma is floral, with citrus and pine, and is that hint of smokiness perhaps?  When you take a sip, you get some honey sweetness, malt, and a dry, bitter finish.  This beer confuses me, because I swear upon all that is holy I picked up a bit of bacon flavor in there.  Maybe I'm wrong, what do I know.  If you're in the market for an Imperial or double IPA, you can give this one a shot, but you might be better off with beers from Hopping Frog, Dark Horse, Central Waters, Bell's, or Weyerbacher, to name a scant few.

I do like the packaging. That ape means business.

If you're ever driving from Daytona south to West Palm Beach along US 1, feel free to stop in and pay these guys a visit.

Thing to Think About Today:
So, I've never run across a swamp ape, but I do fondly recall Grape Ape.  Who's with me on this?  Kids today don't need all of these strange new shows (the Wiggles? Seriously?), they need some Hanna-Barbera and Warner Brothers cartoons.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXxkfxRiAEY

Beer 332: Florida Beer Co. Swamp Ale and Random Thoughts

Did you vote? I voted. I was #92 at my polling station. I wish I remembered what position I held in previous elections to know whether there were more or less people voting. I tend to show up at the same time every year so the nerd in me is curious about it.

In addition to doing my civic duty, I'm also trying to eat healthier.  It started with a fancy-pants new juicer and a boatload of fresh fruit and veggies. Wegman's is probably wondering who stole my frequent shopper card and is buying all that produce! I am the world's worst quasi-vegetarian. But now once a day, I take a pile of stuff that looks like this:

2 cups grapes, 2 handfuls spinach, bunch of kale,
head of broccoli, lemon, lime, apple, pear

...and turn it into two pint glasses of deliciousness. Or at least what could be construed as delicious if I got the sweet to savory ratio right. So far the juices have ranged in color from brilliant green (should have gotten a photo of that one!) to the color that results after giving a 4 year old all the orange, green and brown crayons to color with. I couldn't bring myself to create evidence of that one. Hopefully as I get more adept at making juuice, I'll share some of the results. For now, you're better off not seeing the fruits (ha!) of my labor.

In other random thoughts, did you know there's a song about James K. Polk -- the 11th President of the United States? Oh there is thanks to They Might Be Giants.

James K. Polk by They Might Be Giants

Things I like about President Polk. If it wasn't for his passion for the Oregon Territory, Portland, Oregon may not have become the beer mecca that it currently is. 54-40 or fight, indeed. 

Speaking of beer but not one from Oregon, let's talk Swamp Ale Imperial IPA from the Florida Beer Company.  This is a whopper of an imperial IPA weighing in at 10% ABV.  The label tells me that it is brewed with five distinct varieties of hops to create an unbelievable, relentlessly hopped India pale ale. They got that right.

It poured an apricot color with a fluffy white head.  Lots of sweet and bitter hops leap out in the aroma.  The flavor is pepper, fruit esters, cinnamon, rum, burnt sugar. Some nice, rich malts are also hiding in there to balance the intensity of the hops. Oddly beeradvocate.com slammed it in the reviews, but I like it. And I like it enough to give is a great rating.

Cheers!

Beer 314: Brash Brewing and Black Tie Quizzo

You know you're entirely too comfortable with a bar when you randomly show up in a floor length gown on Quizzo night and don't give a damn. Yes, if any of you were at TJ's last night, I was the one in the purple floor length gown. And I suppose I could have just said gown and you would have known it was me...not like I had competition from someone in a red gown for example.

You may be wondering why I went formal on Quizzo night. Let's just say the food at the gala I attended earlier in the night was meat-centric and practically nonexistent and I had the chance to knock off another brewery if I hit my favorite bar. End of story.

What I didn't realize is that The Bollocks from Brash Brewing weighed in at 12%! Holy mackerel! It was probably the last thing I needed after a few glasses of wine and champagne. 

The Bollocks is an imperial IPA. It poured a hazy amber color. It really wasn't as orange as this photo indicates. It had a thin head but left lots of lacing behind. It smelled strongly of caramel, which carried through to the taste. There were lots of fruit-forward hops (most notably citrus) in the flavor as well.  

I didn't find much information on this brewer other than they exiled themselves from Texas due to ridiculous beer laws and made a new home in Ipswich, Massachusetts. It looks like they've only been producing there since July 2012. So far I'm impressed. This is a good beer.

Cheers!

Beer 299: Iron Fist Uprising

Reasons why I belong in a loosey-goosey, nerdy, liberal museum environment: 

Coworker: "How was your meeting?"

Me: "(name redacted) brought her boobs to the meeting." 

Tonight's beer is the Uprising imperial IPA from Iron Fist Brewing Company. It packs a wallop at 12% ABV and is brewed in California.  

It poured a red-tinged amber with a thin white head. The ale was bright and clear. It smelled of hops and honey.  The taste reminded me of fall spices...cinnamon, orange zest. The high alcohol content hid beneath some butterscotch flavor.  It had a bit of a hop kick but had a great balance overall.

This is a good beer.  Cheers!

Beer 289: Brew Kettle and Holy Cow!

For whatever reason, typing the number 289 today struck me in a "Wow I've been at this for almost a year now" kind of way. There's just two months left. Holy cow! What am I going to do with myself after beer 365?

For now I'm going to drink this Old 21 imperial India pale ale from The Brew Kettle Production Works in Strongsville, Ohio.


It has an ABV of 9%. It poured with a thin off-white head on a bright, clear amber color ale. It has a very fruity hop aroma with a little grapefruit.

The taste is terrific. It has a very full mouthfeel...very round. It's tart and a little bitter with a light sweetness...maybe even a bit of caramel flavor and finished with a big hop kick at the end. This is a great beer. Cheers!

The Post With Parentheses

Beer #286 Old 21 Imperial IPA / The Brew Kettle, Strongsville, OH

It's a hustle day today - started off in the city for a Red Cross awards ceremony (we didn't win), hit the Beer Yard (one of the better beer distributors you'll find in the Philly burbs) to stock up for the tailgate, and now I'm eating lunch (thanks, Whole Foods!) and writing about beer.

Today I'm going with the Old 21 Imperial IPA from The Brew Kettle.  This one came as a gift from a friend  (thanks, Pat!) who picked up a few lesser known beers during a recent trip to Ohio (boo, Ohio!).  In the glass, this one is a clear copper color, with a thin white head.  Your nose picks up a strong citrus aroma, and the taste gives classic pine and lemon flavors, although there's a bit more sweetness than I was expecting from.  This is one of the easier drinking double IPAs you'll find, but it does pack a strong 9.5% ABV.  Great beer for a Friday where I'm relaxing at home with lunch rather than working.  Cheers, people.

Typical Friday

This brewery started up in 1995, and they spend a lot of time helping home brewers get started.   That works.

Thing to Think About Today:
Because I'm a little high strung about things lately (see my phone post from yesterday), and because I spent the morning with the great people of the Red Cross, here's some Otis REDding (see what I did there?) to mellow us out on a sunny and warm Friday afternoon.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOsNCYFOeBs

Beer 276: The Gubna and September 11 Ramblings

I'm of the mind that if you're going to claim patriotism on one day, you really need to follow through the other 364 days. I'll also admit that I'm not the most patriotic person in the country. I've freely stated on more than one occasion that my fellow citizens embarrass me. Or so I thought.

Today started quite normal except for the fact that me and the Army of Dachshunds were on our own for wake up call, breakfast and the rest of the morning routine. Without someone else to trip over in the morning, I'm pretty efficient and found that me and the guys had time for breakfast outside. If you weren't out at 7am today, treat yourself to it tomorrow morning. It is GLORIOUS this week. I even remarked to Sal how beautiful and perfect it was. He agreed if that's what dropping a deuce in my flower bed means.

I headed off to work and that's when it hit me. It's September 11 and the day looked eerily similar to the one eleven years ago. Only I noticed how clear and so very blue the sky was much earlier...something I didn't notice eleven years ago until I was trying to figure out how to get from Philadelphia to my home. My mind wandered the way one's mind wanders when thinking about such a terrible event and I flipped on the radio for distraction. And that's when I turned into a patriotic blubbering mess.

God rest her soul...that Whitney Houston could sing the national anthem.

There was so much encouragement on the radio and online to spend time today doing something for someone else. Isn't that the way you should always conduct yourself? If you don't look out for others, do something kind for others, then doesn't that mean you're only looking out for yourself? And if you're only looking out for yourself, you're probably being a dick. And that goes against my philosophy of life: Don't be a dick.

So on this 11th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, don't be a dick and carry that with you from September 12 to September 10. You'll thank me for it.

My other advice for today...drink a Gubna from Oskar Blues Brewery. Gubna is an imperial IPA (10% ABV) brewed in Longmont, Colorado. The name of their tasting room is The Tasty Weasel. I've been there and it is awesome. Plus they do a great tour...very thorough.


The Gubna poured a deep, hazy orangey brown with a white head. It left lots of lacing inside the glass as I happily made my way to the bottom. The smell was a little off putting...kind of skunk-like. The taste is resinous and woody. It had some floral hop to it and a fantastic brown spiciness. I can't put my finger on the best word to describe the spice. Maybe something that goes into chili to give it a earthiness but not heat? Does that make sense to anyone? Hello?

Having been to Oskar Blues in person and having sampled many of their beers, I was surprised at how much I liked this one over all the others. I'll give the Gubna a very good.

Cheers!

Full Speed Ahead

Beer #270 TRI-PA / Full Pint Brewing Company, North Versailles, PA

Dearest Insurance Company,
If you would like me to pay the premium on the home insurance policy, you may wish to consider sending me a bill.  While I believe I'm quite perceptive, my powers of telepathy apparently have not yet matured to the point where I can anticipate when bills are due or in what amounts.

I notified you that we were refinancing back in the spring, and yet the bill for our policy was still sent to the old mortgage company to be paid from escrow.  Which would be hard to do, considering they don't have my mortgage any longer.  All of this may help explain why I didn't pay it - but thanks for the letter telling me you're cancelling our policy.  Enjoy the check I dropped off today, but realize that's money I could have spent on ESP lessons.

Warmest regards,

Gary

The beer for today is the TRI-PA, an Imperial IPA from Full Pint Brewing.  This one was on draft at Mad Mex in State College - interesting that in a town where cheap macro brew still reigns supreme, there are bars  putting forth very solid beer lists, and Mad Mex is definitely ahead of the curve in that realm.  In the glass, I think this beer is sort of brown.  Well, it was hard to tell due to the fact the bar was dark with green lights all around.  The aroma (thankfully not affected by the dark lighting) has a lot of malt for an imperial IPA, and the taste was more Belgian than IPA in my book.  Instead of a high degree of bitterness, with tons of grapefruit and pine, I noticed more of the caramel malt, sweetness, and stone fruit notes along the way.  Maybe the green light threw off my taste buds?  It wasn't a bad beer by any measure, just not what I was expecting.

It's brown, right?

This brewery is a newcomer to the scene, and it appears they've set up shop in an old John Harvard's brew pub.  Looking forward to trying some of their other offerings as they make their way east across the Commonwealth.

Thing to Think About Today:
In the recognition of Full Pint and things that are full, we'll go with a Head Full of Doubt/Road Full of Promise, a quite fantastic and wonderfully mellow song by an incredibly talented group, The Avett Brothers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEr9gMYdkHI

Beer 268: Full Pint Triple IPA

Me with a little time on my hands is a scary thing. Stuff knocked off my to do list today included:
-all the laundry
-cleaned out all the stuff I never wear from my closet and bagged it up for Goodwill
-found the desk in my at home office (!)
-watched the final episode of Breaking Bad and will now suffer my own withdrawal until summer 2013 when it returns for the final season
-made magic in the kitchen resulting in this...




I can only take credit for the chocolate, chocolate chunk muffins. The pickled peppers are all Gary's doing. The muffins are from Joy the Baker's cookbook. If they're anything like the blueberry muffins I made from the same book, we are in for a definite treat!
Today's beer was found at Mad Mex in State College this past weekend. The food at Mad Mex is average at best but they have an everchanging and pretty impressive beer list.
The Full Pint Brewing Company's TRI-PA was sold to us as a triple IPA...but we went for it pretty much because we've never encountered this brewery before. And the rule lately is drink it as soon as we find it. Don't assume it'll still be around tomorrow. Ah the pressure of the final 100 breweries!




The TRI-PA poured an opaque sort of chalky-looking brown. This photo doesn't do it justice. It had a resinous hop aroma with underlying sweetness. The flavor was fig, malt, rich caramel sweetness. It was kind if boozy (9% ABV) up front, fruit in the middle and hoppy at the end. Honestly I think there was just too much happening with this beer. It was only ok in my book. But the brewery is relatively young and I'm excited to try some of their other stuff.

Cheers!

Good Weekend? Oh, Indeed....

Beer #169 Daddy Fat Stacks / Roy Pitz Brewing Company, Chambersburg, PA

Couldn't be happier with how today turned out.  Managed to get a good ride on the bike, spent a few hours drinking and listening to music at Chaddsford Winery, went to the dog park with the hounds, and walked to our local ice cream parlor for dessert.  I may be a simple man, but today was near perfect.  And I get one more day off tomorrow?  Oh, INDEED.

Thanks, Omar.  I'll take it from here.

The beer for today is the Daddy Fat Stacks from Roy Pitz Brewery, which calls Chambersburg home.  This one came on draft at Paramour, and I continue to be impressed with their efforts to get some interesting and unusual brews on their beer list.  This particular draft shows off a deep amber color, with a fluffy head that dissipates.  Your nose picks up the aroma of malt, and when you drink it, you get flavors of malt up front, with toffee and caramel in the middle, with a hop bitterness on the finish.  Very dry, this beer grew on me as I worked my way through the glass.  Definitely more malt than I would expect from an IPA, but the balance of malt sweetness and hop bitterness works well here.

This brewery has been in operation since 2008, and from a quick glance at their website, their distribution network looks to be strictly within Pennsylvania.  However, I expect you'll start to see them expand their markets soon enough.  Neither of the two brewers are named "Roy" or "Pitz", so your guess is as good as mine regarding the origin of the brewery name.  Maybe if we ask nicely, they'll tell us the story.

Thing to Think About Today:

If yesterday's closing thought was about a wish for a crazy summer, let's keep the theme going one more day.  What's crazier than the fact that LFO (remember them?) actually managed to have a one-hit wonder back in the 90's?  Let's close out Sunday afternoon with their *cough* hit single, Summer Girls:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1dfEf1qOt4

"I like girls who wear Abercrombie & Fitch"

Seriously, these guys managed 15 minutes of fame with hard hitting lyrics like that?  Where's my record deal?