Quick Sips: August 2010

Here is our first entry of Quick Sips, a super condensed and brief synopsis of some beers that we've had in the last few weeks. This one will include thoughts from the last few months.

• Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA tastes amazing fresh (less than 2 1/2 weeks old)
• Weyerbacher Tiny is incredibly delicious (on our fourth bomber)
• Dogfish Head SahTea isn't as good as last years (not enough cinnamon, clove and ginger spices)
• Southern Tier 2XIPA is amazing (but make sure it is fresh.) Blows away most IPAs.
• Bell's Hopslam wasn't as good as last years. Like most IPA's- Make sure it's fresh.
• Great Lakes Holy Moses was a great choice for a spring beer. Glad to see it back.
• Thirsty Dog has come out with three new crap beers (Barktoberfest, Whippet Wheat and Twisted Kilt) and one decent one (Cerberus)
• Some batches of Founders Devil Dancer taste like a THC producing plant.
• Heavy Seas Below Decks Cabernet Barrel Aged is probably the best fresh barleywine out there.
• Goose Island Green Line Pale Ale (Pub Exclusive) is just plain gross.
• Heavy Seas Smoke on the Water wasn't as generic as it's name. Worth the buy.
• Lagunitas A Little Sumpin' Sumpin' Ale is a refreshing summer IPA.
• Great Divide Brewing has some great beers out there (Colette, 16th Anniversary, Titan, Yeti.) We're excited to try more
• Dark Horse has yet to come out with a beer I thought was above average (Crooked Tree, Sapient Trip, Scotty Karate)
• Great Lakes Lake Erie Monster was great fresh but had a tinge too much alcohol flavor.

Founder's Old Curmudgeon

How does one finish a great weekend?... One gets too drunk to even attempt at beer blogging. While this may be the first sign of a problem, we promise to humbly deliver our Sunday beer blog on this Monday. I guess we could say that we gave the Lord a rest. However, on a goodwill mission to a local bar, Oz craftily arranged for an outside opinion for a future review. A*is*n and B**ky (the names have been edited to protect the innocent until we can take away their beverage innocence) have promised to give their American commercial brew opinion on our page. We pretentiously add in advance that their opinion doesn't matter... Just kidding. We value everything a woman has to say. No, we aren't bitter. However, we like our beer that way.

Today, we knew we were in for a challenging beer. Old Curmudgeon... wow, the name even sounds tough. Curmudgeon is another word for a stubborn asshole... hmm... how could we ever relate to this beer? The bottle only warns of a 9.3% ABV and a drinking during pregnancy. Please reference the video below of our first tasting to get an idea of the true power of this beast.

The brew starts strong like a low Db power chord and ends in a tremolo picking blaze. Nick, where are you at when when we need you? Flavors similar to brown sugar, molasses, plum and Noni juice hit the pallet harder than if Mike Tyson fronted a Henry Rollins tribute band. There is a TV Party in my mouth. This is not a gateway beer, it is for full blown drunks, I mean... connoisseurs.

We were challenged and we conquered. We might have lost a battle or two but we won the war of two beers apiece. There were a couple taste bud casualties along the way but in the end, General Lee surrendered. It was not easy to finish all four beers, we could have took the King Edward Van Halen way and whammy ourselves out but we did the Jimi thing and just bent the note until it was right. We scored higher for originality over personal preference on this brew due to the complex uniqueness of the flavor.

Oz Scale: 7.0

Mike Scale: 6.8

Founders Centennial IPA

India Pale Ale (IPA:) A special type of pale ale originated in England. It is brewed with extra hops therefor it is more bitter than most styles of beers. Hops are a bittering agent as well as a preservative that the English used when exporting their beers to India beginning in the late 18th century. American craft breweries typically make their IPA's with higher alcohol content (7.0+) and IBU's (International Bitterness Unit) above 40 where Bud Light has an IBU of just 6.2.

When one drinks an India Pale Ale the first thing you would notice is the hops. With Founders Centennial IPA, the hops are well balanced for a good introductory IPA. Not that IPA's are an introductory beer at all, this is a good gateway beer to the ways of the hops. After all, several of our fellow beer connoisseur friends still fear the hops. With only 46 IBU's it seems weak to us hopheads (last night at the Willoughby Brewing Co., we drank two pitchers and brought home a growler of their Daisycutter IPA with a remarkable 115 IBU's.)

The unfiltered brew might scare away those not used to seeing yeast in their brew, but a 7.2% ABV might calm their nerves. Its flavor is above most IPAs in balance, where the finish does not cover up the aftertaste. This is a beer for everyday, any occasion and a six pack would not be that difficult to incinerate through.

Oz Scale: 7.1
Mike Scale: 7.3