Tag Archives: IPAs

The Flavors of Texas

11 Friday May 2012

Posted by in Bottles and Cans, On Tap

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In the month since I surfaced from my beer-soaked weekend, I diligently hit each bar on the DCBW list, brewed another batch of beer, and, of course, drank. Added into the mix was a five-day trip home to celebrate my parents’ 30th anniversary.

As I’ve mentioned before, my parents’ love of beer—especially my dad’s increasing interest in hoppy brews—was passed on to me like a good piece of furniture. Time at home always includes scouring the beer aisles of their local grocery store (which has a surprisingly great selection) for bottles we’ve never seen before. And there were plenty.

I’ve realized that I’m a sucker for the big bottles and interesting labels. (How else are you supposed to choose?) My parents and I got several to share—though I would have bought all the 22-ouncers I could find if I could some how afford them—and a few six packs, too.

My favorite was the first one my dad and I tried. (My mom had a sip, but she tends to stay clear of the ultra-bitter beers.)

The Hop Henge Experimental IPA from Deschutes Brewery out of Bend, Oregon, was a punch in the mouth. The boldness of the hops was strapped to a jet pack, shooting across every taste bud, showing no mercy. At 95 IBUs and 8.5% ABV, this beer is not for the faint of heart (or tolerance). Created as part of their “annual exercise in IBU escalation,” Deschutes clearly knows their shit when it comes to hopping up a beer. It poured a transparent gold with a tumultuous head, deceptively light-looking, and went down more smoothly than the intense flavor would have you believe it might. “It’s all hops, no apologies.” I wouldn’t want it any other way.

One of my favorite things to do with my parents when I’m home is hit up the two brewpubs in San Antonio. For a city that’s pretty behind in its acceptance of craft beer culture, San Antonio does have two delicious brewpubs that are markedly different in their approaches.

First, there’s Blue Star Brewing Company:

It’s in my favorite part of the city, right along the river, surrounded by art galleries and studios and industrially-designed condos. It’s a family restaurant with a beautiful patio for the short slivers of time when it’s nice to sit outside. I try to go every time I’m home.

The second place, Freetail Brewing Co., is newer and has a very different atmosphere:

The beerhall-style restaurant is raucous and crowded and a fun place to grab some pizza and beer. All of their tap handles are handmade, blown-glass blobules. (I’m sure at one point we asked who made them, but I don’t remember.)

I always enjoy myself when I’m home, which make it hard to leave. Each time I’m there, I go back and forth with myself about whether or not I could live in Texas again. There are certainly a lot of pros (that don’t all have to do with beer) to my home state, but, of course, plenty of cons, as well. For now, I’ll look forward to time with my parents and mining the Texas beer scene when I’m there, but also take advantage of the perks of where I am at this point in my life.

Bell’s’ Multi-Hearted Brew

28 Saturday Jan 2012

Posted by in On Tap

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My move to DC at the end of last summer serendipitously coincided with the city’s Beer Week. I hadn’t officially moved yet, but I was in town “looking at apartments” and “interviewing for jobs.” (When one learns of a beer week, one cannot simply let geographic challenges get in the way.) The most effort I expended in those few days consisted of poring over the endless selection of beer deals. How are you supposed to choose?? We ended up at a fine place serving every brew in Victory‘s arsenal. It was cheap. It was fun. We left with free glasses and warm, afternoon buzzes.

It was during this overwhelming perusal of Beer Week’s immense bounty that I discovered Bier Baron—or, at least, the name.  Its promise of rare drafts and endless bottles rolled around in my head for months until I finally managed to get myself there last week. A supposed institution, it’s one of the diviest bars I’ve found in DC. Just what I like.

After a quick glance at the chalkboard of happy hour specials, I settled on a beer I had never seen or heard of until I moved to Washington—Bell’s Two Hearted Ale. Though not particularly local (Bell’s has been pumping out brews from Kalamazoo, Michigan since 1985), this town seems to love them, so I decided to take a chance on a beer described at Bier Baron as “malty, hoppy—truly delicious.”

This beautiful, golden amber-filled glass was set in front of me, and though I try not to judge a beer by its color, I knew I would like it before the delightfully carbonated head reached my tongue. Its bright hoppiness hits immediately, mellowing as it goes down. That flavors can still develop in your mouth after swallowing boggles my mind. Taste buds have to be the most underrated features of our bodies.

My knowledge of beer-tasting descriptors is still fairly limited, so suffice it to say this Two Hearted Ale lived up to its succinct characterization. Also…

an empty glass always speaks for itself.

 

 

I Love Beer: An Introduction

08 Sunday Jan 2012

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Last summer I spent a considerable portion of my humble hosting paychecks on alcohol at this fine establishment in Cambridge, MA. It helped that the bar was closer to my apartment than the bus stop, mailbox, and laundromat. And what better way to spend a humid Tuesday night in a city that has “nice summers”? It was there that I was, for the first time, truly transformed by a draft list. The beers on their menu took what I already knew about drinking—that it makes the soul richer—and added an element of romance. Or, at least, a nice atmosphere for drinking.

I relished perusing their constantly rotating list and landing on a brew from a company I’d never heard of in a city where I’d never been. Their plentiful taps made it easy and fun to find something new (good luck finding it anywhere else, though), and they were all American craft brews. (And they say the American industrial spirit is dead.) I learned two important lessons from my months of frequent patronage at Lord Hobo:

#1:  IPAs are the reason we were given taste buds.

#2:  If a beer arrives at your table in a tulip glass (see below), it’s going to mess you up.

a

I also realized that I can never know everything there is to know about beer, which is part of why I like it so much. But because I like to make life more challenging than it already is, I decided I need to test myself in a different way—a more geographically-oriented project rather than purely a collection of knowledge.

I want to drink to a beer (or two) from every state in America.

I couldn’t begin to sift through the hazy recollections of all the beers I’ve consumed in my life, let alone their originating state, so I’m going to start fresh. Beginning now, I will be tracking what and from where I drink, making an effort to try as many new (for me) and unheard of beers as I can. It’s a tough job, but someone has to do it.

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