Beer Friends #1

I don’t drink beer during the week. Well at least I try not to. 10-hour work days, 3 hour night classes, or the combination of both generally drive me to break this rule. Throw in the occasional Tuesday happy hour...well ok I probably drink a beer almost every day. What I’m trying to say, is that the arrival of the weekend presents me with a 3 day excuse to indulge in America’s favorite past-time; drinking. In other words, I quickly make up for the “lack” of beer drinking having taken place throughout the work-week.


I have several standard go-to beers, also known as my beer-friends. Beers that I know and love, beers that will never let me down, beers that have the ability to both improve my mood and embarrass the shit out of me when we hang out too much. I always enjoy meeting new beer-friends, so maybe I’ll challenge myself to make a new one every weekend/Sunday afternoon.



Good idea?
Check.
Setting realistic/attainable goals for myself?
Check.
Accomplish said goals over this past weekend?
Double check.


Allow me to share. As mentioned in a earlier post, most of my beer-friends are hoppy. In the future I’ll try not to be so prejudiced, but I wasn’t thinking about that this weekend. So here we go.

Another annual release from Sierra Nevada, part of their Northern Hemisphere Harvest, the 2010 Wet Hop Ale and I were meant to be friends. The term “wet hop” refers to the fact that these hops are never dried out. They’re picked and shipped to their brewery the same day, allowing more of the hop’s natural oils and resins to remain intact as the brewing process begins.


Translation: You need to drink this.


We hit it off immediately. There’s a floral aroma, a slightly sweet citrus flavor up front, quickly replaced by the bitter, deep hop flavor, that has a unique richness and earthiness to it, probably as a result of the wet hop process. We have lots of hanging out to do, meaning, I’m going to drink several more of these before they go away. You get a 24oz bottle for 6 bucks. Do it.


Next.

Greenflash Brewing company is based out of Vista, California, producing some of my favorite beers around. Their West Coast IPA blows my mind. I would drink it all the time, but it’s fucking expensive. And most recently, they stopped selling their beers in 6-packs, re-releasing everything in the form of a $10.00 4-pack. Assholes. I mean I’m really going to have trouble shelling out that kind of money for 4 beers. That’s just annoying. Anyways, I’ve had their Imperial IPA on tap before and loved it, so I decided to throw down 10 bucks for this 22 ouncer.


Worth it? Yes. We are now friends. He threw me around a bit though at 9.4% abv. You can definitely taste the high alcohol, but it’s still surprisingly balanced. It’s basically their West Coast IPA on steroids. It smells like marijuana, tastes like a hop factory (with a little grapefruit), feels prickly and dry, and will knock you on your ass if you play around with it.


I drank it with my other good friend blockofcheese and went to sleep.


If I had to choose between the two, I’d go with the Wet Hop Ale. More bang for your buck.

Until next weekend.


Cheers Fatties.


- Fat Kid