Ah, Friday, it's been too long since we last met. Well, seven days, to be precise, but does it count if it feels like it's actually been a month of Fridays??? This is the first Friday in ages that I haven't spent in a hospital, doctor's office(s), or chemo room. I wasn't sure what to do with myself other than to ask my partner-in-zymurgy about reviewing beer. Apparently a night of playing Cards Against Humanity with friends is out because I cracked a rib earlier this week, and it really hurts to laugh, cough, breathe. I usually laugh so hard that I'd probably crack another rib. Instead, let's drink a beer to numb some of the pain in my ribcage.
This is an award-winning beer, having been voted the best IPA in the country in a poll or two. It usually makes the top 10 beers of the country. It also took the gold medal this year (for the second time) at the World Beer Cup in the IPA category. Made in San Diego, this is one of the quintessential West Coast IPAs. The Tupac to the east coast's Biggie. Ballast Point started out, as so many breweries these days, by homebrewing. I'll tip my hat to that historical nugget. As a hophead, I've been dying to drink this. This hopaliciousness shall wait no longer.
It pours a crystal clear golden color with a quickly dissipating white head that was about a finger high. It has since decreased to a fluffy cloud atop my beer. The aroma on this is wonderful. so good that I waved it under Nathan's nose just to torture him with the scent. As it has warmed a tad, I'm picking up notes of caramel, toffee, and plenty of generic citrus and pine. Lots and lots of pine. Taking a sip, my taste buds are assaulted (in a good way) with fresh pine needles that fades away to caramel notes and then fades into oblivion with a note of freshly zested grapefruit and perhaps some mango. The carbonation on this is fantastic for a 7% ABV brew, and it leaves a vaguely sticky feel in the mouth.
I'm not sure if perhaps we sat on this for a bit too long, or if it's just not as dreamy as I'd hoped. The brewery's description speaks of peach, mango, apricot, and lemon. I'm not picking up many of these flavors, although the after-aftertaste does lead to a hint of peach. What I am left with is a strong desire to drink this closer to its bottling date, and to try the habanero version of this (please bottle it soon, as it's only available on tap in the taproom and at special events).
4.5/5 caps
-Jennie
So, apparently, Jennie is a big meanie head. Making me take a waft of this fantastic hoppy goodness, knowing that the anticipation may, in fact, actually kill me. It's been a long ass week at work, the busiest since I've been there with the company (2 1/2 years). I have aches and pains in places I didn't know existed; doing my own job (export shipping) while helping out with Mike with all the freight shipments (49 skids for one shipment today, along with the over abundance of orders to hit/exceed quota as it's end of the month and end of fiscal quarter). Enough about work, it's the fucking weekend now, right? You (and Jennie) are probably tired of hearing me bitch about work. Enough of Jennie's torment, I finally get to delve into this. How many of you actually read the second portion anyways? We should have a poll to find out.
As I turn on the Frank Turner (yes, I've been listening a lot to him lately, if you have a problem with that, clearly you haven't heard him), I admire the gorgeous golden color of the half-pint that's in front of me. There's still some puffy white head lingering, which shocks me as it's been about a half hour or so since Jennie started her review. So, since this has had time to warm up, the aroma is an interesting concoction of... hang on.... *sniff* pine, citrus, peach, caramel and some tropical fruits. Fantastic smelling. Oh, how I've longed to have this on my taste buds... but as I taste it, is it that we sat on it too long (purchased more roughly 3 months ago, sorry, but shit's happened that was out of our control). The hops seemed to have died off some, fuck, I feel like a terrible person now. I'm catching caramel from the malts with pine notes. Following the pine notes I catch some citrus and peach notes. Pretty much what was in the nose, but fainter. This is smooth drinking on the front end with bitterness toward the back. It's a nice crisp beer with decent carbonation that leaves a slight puckering with hints citrus in the finish. As Jennie said, this would be better fresher, but same point, it's enjoyable at this point where we are now. To ask, where are we? What are we doing here? Why are we here? Well, I don't have the answers to all the questions, but me, personally, I'm here to bring beer reviews to you to help me escape from the pains of daily life. I drink 'cause I'm thirsty, I drink 'cause I'm dry. I'm not quite yet 30, but I feel like I'm dying. I drink cause I want to, 'cause I need to, 'cause I don't know what else to do with my time. I won't say it, you can see it in my eyes....
4.5/5 caps
-Nathan-
Food pairing: Nathan's step-dad's recipe for jerk pork (AKA Mr. Jerry's Jerk Sauce)
Cheese pairing: A nice hunk of creamy habanero jack
Music pairing: Sublime, "Doin' Time"
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