314. Brasserie D’Achouffe – Houblon Chouffe Dobbelen IPA Tripel Draft
After having the Lazy Magnolia Southern Pecan Nut Brown, I was feeling like something hoppy to finish off the night. The bartender again let me try several samples to see if there was anything I might like (although I didn’t mentioned that I’d tried about half of the ones he was giving me before). I’d remembered have a couple Belgian IPAs, and really enjoyed Flying Dog’s Raging Bitch, so the bartender...
275. Destihl Restaurant & Brew Works – Hoperation Overload Double IPA
I had a late afternoon doctor’s appointment and had to run some errands. While running errands, I had remembered my friend Fred, the assistant brewmaster at Destihl, saying how much he liked this beer. So, I decided to stop by. Unexpectedly, I ran into Fred and his wife Heather, along with 4-5 other members of our homebrew club, the ABNormal Brewers. Fred was there to unclog the lines which had filled with hop sediment, and...
270. Smuttynose – Big A IPA Draft
My friend, BettyWriter is in town, so we went out for a couple drinks to catch up and put together a game plan for our trip to SXSW next month. We caught up at Medici in “Uptown” Normal, because they usually have a pretty good beer selection. I have heard a lot about Smuttynose, and it seems like they’ve been everywhere lately, so I thought I’d give them a chance. The Big A IPA appears to be a big American...
Full Sail Brewing – Spotless IPA Cask
After taking the Widmer tour in the morning and having lunch at their Gasthaus pub, it was time to head south to Full Sail Riverplace for their smoker. It was a nice event for brewers and a few others to get away from the craziness of the festival and enjoy some beers and cigars with the folks from Full Sail. It was also a good excuse to have a small party for brewmaster John Harris’s birthday. I wish I would have taken some...
108. Ninkasi Brewing – Dry Hopped Imperial IPA Draft
Jamie Floyd, Ninkasi Brewmaster, and me at the Brewmasters’ Dinner One of the nice thing about attending the Brewmasters’ Dinner at the Oregon Brewers Festiva – aside from meeting the owners and brewmasters of some of the coolest breweries – was the beers there to try. Many of the brewers brought out their biggest/best stuff to show off to the other brewmasters in attendance. A lot of the beers were Imperial...
102. Full Sail Brewing – Spotless IPA
I enjoyed a few very good beers there in the tasting room and pub at Full Sail. Before heading out to grab a bite of dinner, I wanted to try a sample of the Spotless, a double IPA brewed by Full Sail. Jamie had mentioned it during our tasting the previous day, but there wasn’t room enough on the tray to include it (and it’s a pretty big beer to try along with so many other samples). Jamie had warned me though, it has an...
95. Avery Brewing – The Maharaja Imperial India Pale Ale
Things are becoming a bit overwhelming at home and at work, and, more than ever, I’m looking forward to my trip to Beervana next week. Usually after a day like I’ve had today, I reach for a nice stiff glass of bourbon, but instead, I decided it was time to crack open one of my bottles of Avery’s Maharaja Imperial IPA. The bottle says, “Maharaja is derived from the Sanskrit mahat, “great” and rajan...
46. Breckenridge Brewery – 471 Small Batch Double IPA
After the experience I had yesterday with the Dogfish Head 90 Minute Imperial IPA, I got nervous, so tonight, I decided to have the Breckenridge Brewery 471 Small Batch Double IPA that I had in the beer fridge. This bottle had a born on date of February 2009 so it was even older than the one I had yesterday. This bottle says, “It all comes down to this. We love making beer. And while our mainline beers keep us very busy, there...
1. Bell’s – Hop Slam
The journey of a thousand beers begins with a single step and a double IPA. Bell’s Hop Slam says it’s “a biting bitter tongue bruiser of an ale. With a name like Hop Slam what did you expect?” It’s got 10% alcohol by volume and says it’s brewed with honey. It’s a pretty pale yellow color with a very slight hint of orange color. It’s got a fairly thin head and the smell of hops is...
