The Booze and Waffle Thread, Long Live The Wild Wild West (Read 401 times)

If I count beer as a food group can I please have an IPA and a barrel aged stout?

I have many of both at my store.

 

You're going to the sports stadium to watch a game and you get to pick one drink and one food. What are they?

Italian sausage with peppers, onions, sauerkraut & mustard. I know you said one, but that’s pregame; it’s followed up by 3rd inning soft pretzel & 6th whatever kind of ice cream they have. Possibly in a small helmet. Beer to drink of course, and if I can pick from any style it’s probably an imperial oatmeal stout. I’d be more than happy with something barrel-aged too. But I’m always going for some kind of stout or porter, even in the summer, which some people think is weird. Out here in the PNW as SRL can tell you it seems to be all IPA, all the time. If you go to a bar, back when we did that kind of thing, it’s not exaggerating to say out of every 10 taps there are 9 IPAs. I was not an IPA fan before I moved out here; they’ve definitely grown on me, but still not my first choice.

 

The thing that gets me with beer now is the plethora of ridiculous names.

I was a late-comer to the IPA thing.  The worst of the fad seems to be past us, by my reckoning.  Or maybe my taste buds have acclimated.  Seems in 2010 bitter was the only taste that was being sought (looking at you 90min Dogfish Head).  I really only find the doubles enjoyable.  Much prefer a more balanced APA . . . or a Sour.

However, the ridiculous names is half my enjoyment of craft beer.  There are even a few beers that I order from my local because I find the name so delightful, even though the beer itself isn't my thing.  Some of my favorite[names]:

"Space Station Middle Finger" -- Three Floyds  (I don't even like this beer, but keep buying it with a giggle)

"I'MFUCKEDUPANDITSYOURFAULT" -- War Pigs (a Three Floyds joint)

"Johnny Quest Thinks You're a Sellout" -- Begyle (local)

"Uncool Niece" -- DryHop (my down the street local)

"Earth Gose Hard" -- DryHop

 [sagely stuff]

One of the things that surprises me about the grand variety of beers on offer is how either they cannot reproduce the exact experience year after year, or my tastebuds just migrate.  "Hopslam" was the first IPA I liked.  We chased it in town.  This place says they have 2 six-packs in the back, if we come by after work; ask for Frank.  But last year it was horrid.  For a annual beer, maybe that should be expected.  But then "Zombie Dust" was another where I "had a guy", and could get a 6er saved in the back on the regular.  Now it's available everywhere, and I've lost the taste for it completely.  I don't think it has to do with rarity influencing me.  Maybe it's an error when they scaled up.  Or maybe it's just "fashion".

My IPA loving friend tried to get me to sip a sour or two in the past.  Sounded like a dreadful idea.  A couple years ago DryHop had one on offer based on plum.   I sampled.  Nah.  Nice, but I couldn't drink a whole pint of that stuff.  Yet, as I was nursing my APA, the sour haunted me.  I left with a growler.  Over the next few weeks I think I had two growlers each.  The bartender said I might have been the only reason that keg finished.  Been trying every sour I see since then.  It's kinda like "adult cool-aid": low ABV, not-sweet.  It's a refreshing break from my high-grav days.  But I think Sours have the problem of being a taste lost to the modern american palate.  Also, they're really hit or miss.  Either awesome or dreadful.  There doesn't seem to be much between.  Your comments about production isolation finally explain to me why a 4pack of sours is often $10 or more.

From an inventory (mental or business) perspective, I can absolutely see why the massive variety of names I an unwelcome burden.  DryHop compounds that by constantly playing with their recipes to where other than two beers, there is almost never anything recognizable on their tap from month to month.   At first adventurous, but something exhausting.

Today I lowered my Boss Tweed price to 17.99 so ignore what I said above. Ha.

Beers do change from batch to batch, but for most things (hopefully) in such small amounts that only brewery staff notices. That is the magic of big beer... they are so damn consistent with their stuff. Consistently bleh, but pretty much the same thing time after time. But IN GENERAL, most stuff should be consistent.

Hopslam is indeed different every year, for a few reasons including their secret ingredient - honey. They change the recipe slightly every year and the honey changes.

Zombie Dust is interesting because I get a TON of people that say the same thing - current zombie dust is a bad imitation of the old days. I never really was a ZD fan, so I didn't personally notice.

 

I wonder what they'll serve at Kraken games. Sushi?

Well you can already get that at Mariners games. They have a Thai place there too, their Pad Thai is not bad.

what do you folks think of fresh hops IPAs?

But lest i forget, let me say that I have very much appreciated the thoroughly informative discussion of the fine craft of producing and serving of these fine beers we have come to know as IPAs.

As we close in on August, the fresh hops. or wet hops, seasons is thankfully drawing near.

Do you guys get them in the other parts of the country? I know the hops are predominantly grown here in WA state, and i have it by word of mouth that some of the microbreweries actually will send someone down each day in a truck to Yakima, WA or thereabouts to pick up the requisite freshly harvested hops for the fresh/wet hops that are required for this time-sensitive beer. Not to mention that it spoils quickly....

Anyway, i have to say that my experience with fresh hops has been mixed - they are not uniformly good, but when they are, they were really really good.

And just to throw you a bone, a couple of names i look out for here that have proven to be particularly noteworthy in my opinion - i especially like the full body, rich flavor of Black Raven;s "Trickster" when i can find it on tap. A couple of breweries i tend to also like are Rogue and Georgetown Breweries.

Cheers.