Making Beer out of Lemons

While I'd rather not be in Florida, seeing as how a family emergency brought us here, the silver lining is...Cigar City Brewing!

Upon our arrival into Tampa, we went to The Independent which I found on BeerFly. It was hilarious to walk in and see Lagunitas on tap!

The bartender was awesome - very friendly and welcoming. When I asked for something local, she suggested Cigar City, and I tried Jai Alai, an IPA. So delicious! Pretty honey colour, smells sweet and hoppy. Slightly syrupy, nice mouthfeel. The hops are fruity and nicely balanced. I didn't check the ABV, but it seemed like the deceptively strong kind of beer!

Then we had Marshall Zhukov, an imperial stout. This beer is THICK, pours like motor oil. Very strong. Smells sweet and a little smoky. Tastes intense, like getting smacked in the face. Typical malty flavour, with a hint of prunes and raisins. This beer is definitely meant for sipping!

It's unclear how much longer we'll be here - but definitely long enough to try a few more locals.

WHAT IS THIS BEER?!

City Beer Store, Friday evening. Tried a black rye IPA from somewhere local, but didn't have my notebook so I didn't write anything down. I thought I would remember - I WAS WRONG. Dammit. This beer was DELICIOUS. The black IPA is quickly becoming my favourite style, and this one was exceptional. Dark, sweet, nice hoppy crispness. Delicious coffee and tobacco flavours around the edges. Every sip had a hint of something new - it was one of the most complex beers I've had in awhile. Unfortunately City Beer is closed today so I can't figure out what this masterpiece was. Insert frowny emoticon here.

UPDATE: thanks to my friend via Facebook, I now remember that this is Iron Springs Black Magic Rye Black IPA.  It's not listed on Beer Advocate, which is why I couldn't figure it out.  Iron Springs is an awesome local brewery (up in Fairfax).  You should go, and drink their beer.  You won't be disappointed.

Cato's Ale House

Grand Teton Black Cauldron Stout, and Bombay by Boat IPA on cask.

Holy shit. Friends, I live in Beer Nirvana. aka this beer is AWESOME.

At Falling Rock!

It's cool & dark in here, and we have huge comfy chairs to eat our
burgers in. Unfortunately I let the bartender pick my beer for me
(usually this yields exciting surprises), and he poured me a Stone
IPA. Oops. I guess I should have specified that I wanted something
that doesn't come from the same place as me!

We're in Denver!

A quick flight from Oakland and the Lumberjack & I are in Denver. SO EXCITED.

Last June, I bought the LJ a ticket to GABF for his birthday, since he had been talking for as long as I'd known him about how badly he'd always wanted to go. I was excited about taking a trip, and thought the festival itself would probably be okay. If only I had known!

GABF is awesome. Unlike a lot of other festivals I've been to, it's not dominated by douchebags. There was water everywhere, and a lot of the brewers were present and happy to chat (briefly). I think GABF played a big part in my craft beer passion, so I'm thrilled to be going back - and this time, I have a year of knowledge/experience more.

Being the Virgo that I am, I printed out the festival map and list of brewers, so on the plane we mapped out our plan of attack. Like last year, we're leaving out the Pacific region, since we can get all that at home. Last year we hit everything we wanted with about 5 minutes to spare, so it was good that we skipped the Pacific!
I also printed out tons of maps of our area, and walking directions to all the stores, breweries, and museums we want to visit.

Today we'll be lunching at the Falling Rock. Yay Denver!

IPA Extravaganza at a Dinner Party

I love beer.  More than drinking it, I love tasting it - trying different samples, even ones that I hate, comparing & contrasting different styles, making up phrases with dramatic adjectives to describe it (even if I usually end up with "NO" or "WOAH").  This activity is always way more fun with companions.  The Lumberjack is an excellent beer tasting companion.  This is why I date him.

It's also fun to taste beer with large groups of people.  I like hearing multiple perspectives on each beer - often, someone else's description helps me clarify my own opinion, or someone else will taste something (recently Spitfire yelled "basil!" after I yelled "eucalyptus" and her description made the basil flavour become suddenly apparent to me - and after that, I kinda felt like I was drinking a salad.  but that is for another entry.) and it helps me get a broader view of the beer.  So when my friend Axe invited the Lumberjack & I over for dinner and put us in charge of the beer selection, I was thrilled.

[Spoiler Alert: it's really not a good idea to drink a bunch of IPAs back-to-back, as they ruin your palate and then you sit there thinking "uh, I think this is good?" and feeling foolish.  Or maybe that's just me.]

First up was Hops of Wrath from Dust Bowl Brewing (American IPA, 6.6% ABV).  I immediately liked this beer for the simple reason that the brewery is in Turlock, CA, which is where my family is from.  Unfortunately, that was the high point of the beer for me.  It was bubbly, but felt a little too pinchy on my tongue.  The flavour was too light, and there was no aftertaste.  It just didn't have enough attitude for me.  Nike agreed with me and thought the name was misleading, as the hops were far too mild.  Axe also found it mild, but thought it was more bitter - she liked it but wouldn't drink a lot of it.  Ms. Mars and the Lumberjack were much more descriptive, finding it fruity and interesting - Mars even tasted lychee?  I think she might have been lying.

Nike and Mars pulled out their Houblon Chouffe Dobbelen (Belgian IPA, 9% ABV) next.  It had a huge, fluffy head that looked like a soft cloud on top, and smelled like hay.  Nike and Mars both liked the floral, jasmine scent.  The Lumberjack pointed out that the yeast was much more interesting here than in the Hops of Wrath.  I pointed out that anything is more interesting than the Hops of Wrath.  Axe thought it tasted like summer days at the pool.  She also liked that it didn't have a bitter finish, unlike her other experiences with IPAs.

During dinner (delicious homemade pizzas), we had the 4th Anniversary Double IPA from Port Brewing which is one of my favourite IPAs; it has a really nice malty base to it.  Nike liked it too - it was his favourite so far - and Axe thought "the end is like fireworks."

YuleSmith Summer Holiday Ale (DIPA, 8.5% ABV) was a hit among all of us.  It smells like fruity hops (my favourite kind!), and has a huge head that calms down to a nice density, at which point it has a sweet honey scent.  It's bubbly, a little less solid than the Anniversary DIPA above, with a nice spicey kick.  The Lumberjack also thought it was fruitier.  Axe might have been getting a little intoxicated at this point, as she thought it "smells like bananas and tastes like abandonment."

Our last IPA was the Elysian Immortal (IPA, 6.2% ABV) which was smooth and subtle, and slightly spicey on the tongue.  Axe described it as the opposite of Coyote Ugly (instead, this beer is "Rabbit Beautiful") because, when waking up next to this beer, you would be thrilled at how much cuter it was than you thought.  Yes, this description made a lot of sense at the time.

After dinner, we pulled out the "dessert beers" - basically, an excuse to bring more things to taste.  I first pulled out Beer Geek Breakfast (Imperial Stout, 7.5% ABV), which remains one of my all-time favourite beers.  It's just SO GOOD.  Smells gently of hops, tastes thick and sweet with a nice coffee flavour, and the oatmeal adds a lovely viscosity.  Axe thought it tasted ashy, Flippant liked the charcoal flavour.  Mars liked the coffee/oatmeal combo, and thought it would make a great breakfast.  I couldn't agree more.

Then, we had Older Viscosity (Imperial Stout, 12.1% ABV).  I'm not a huge fan - it's just a little too dense and rich for me.  The Lumberjack loves it.  Axe, however, had a different option.  As her verbal description was a little too foul for my blog, I'll let her before and after pictures tell the story.

before!

after.

After that, she acknowledged "it gets better as you keep drinking."  Interesting.

The last beer of the night was Sierra Nevada's 30th Anniversary Helles Bock (8.3% ABV).  You may remember how much I love the 30th Anniversary Imperial Stout?  So much!  Because it's delicious.  Well, that's what I thought this one was.  I grabbed it off the shelf, planning to share one of my favourites...then the Lumberjack pointed out my mistake.  Oops.  However, this beer was pretty good too.  It was nicely balanced, with a very mellow feel to it.  It was tasty and calm - a good end-of-the-week beer.  Very relaxing.  It was a little wheaty around the edges, but I didn't mind too much.  Had a little spiciness, too.

The next morning Axe claimed to be affected by "beer allergies."  I see.

Rye Beer is Good Beer

I generally thought I didn't like rye beer because I can't stand rye bread. Yes: to me, that made sense. But lately I've been enjoying every rye beer I taste, so I think it's time I admit that I'm a fan.

We brought He'Brew (the chosen beer) Bittersweet Lenny's RIPA to the bbq today, and it's delicious. Malty and slightly sweet, with a spicy kick. The hop flavour is tasty, and the malt balances it nicely, giving it a more solid feel than IPAs usually have for me. I think that's due to the rye malt? Maybe. It's 10% ABV, so I can't drink too much of it, but I'm really enjoying my one bottle.

Also, I cooked my own burgers for the first time. Success!