Hoppy National Beer Day! Plus the Ultimate IPA Showdown.

You know you're considered a beer lover when your mother, who decidedly isn't much of a hop fiend, sends you an email titled "It's National Beer Day!"

So Happy National Beer Day, the day when beer could be legally sold again in 1933 after 13-odd years of Prohibition. Now if that's not worth celebrating, I don't know what is.

To honor the folks who couldn't openly enjoy their favorite brewskis for longer than I've been drinking (yes, do that math), I'm going to share the results from The Ultimate IPA Showdown.

The ultimate? Yes, we went there - and well, I think it's pretty apt.

Pliny v. Heady v. Brother. I've been dreaming of this hoptastic showdown for the last few years. But it's tough to come by, especially when you're faced with some serious acquisition challenges: Fremont's the Brother is only produced seasonally; Russian River's Pliny the Elder is increasingly challenging to get as its distribution continues to shrink; and well, living anywhere outside of Vermont makes retrieving a can of The Alchemist's famed Heady Topper an odyssey in its on right. But somehow the beer deities helped the hop cosmos to align, and by the end of February, I had at least one can or bottle of each.

The Ultimate IPA Showdown was hosted at J's house, where we received tasters labeled 1, 2, and 3 so we could blindly sample each of these epic IPAs (J's sister, R, kindly offered to be mad scientist unblinded to our shenanigans). R poured and set the tasters in front of us, eager beer lovers brimming with the kind of simultaneous excitement and anxiety a child might have upon trying Pop Rocks for the first time.

We tasted, we swilled, we tasted again. Each of us had our biases - for instance, J and I are huge Brother fans - and despite the beer-blinding, we were convinced that our palates, honed over dozens and dozens of trips to Fremont Brewing's UBG (Urban Beer Garden, for those of you not in the know), could suss out our perceived favorite.

But alas, science, as it often does, prevailed. Heady Topper emerged as the top hop, even though my can of the IPA gold was nearing three months old. Pliny snagged second, followed by our beloved Brother.

J and I sat crestfallen, as if our 30-something joys in life had just - poof - disappeared. O Brother, where art thou, with your citrus-y punch and "about a billion IBUs"? No offense to the other victors, but we just couldn't believe it.

Luckily, I had brought two cans of the Brother over to J's, and being my researcher-self, I popped open the second and compared that one with the Brother used in the showdown. They were totally different - the showdown Brother was skunked! Alas, we actually hadn't wrecked our palates over too many IPAs - the Brother was back! Yahoo!

But wait. We didn't have any more Heady. And the whole blind tasting thing couldn't be resurrected, or at least not that night. Another showdown would be necessary, to truly answer the age-old question of which IPA was the fairest of them all...

...and the saga will continue. And until that happens, enjoy your favorite IPA (coughBrothercough) and Hoppy National Beer Day!

Cheers!
N

Return of the Hops

(From last weekend)
A: Remember when you had that beer blog?
N: Yeah, I remember that. That was fun.
A: Why did you stop?
N: Well, there was no reason really. I guess I should do it again.

And here we go.

So what's happened beer-wise in the last 10 months (or since I last penned a beer blog post in April 2014)? Well, to start: I celebrated my 30th birthday in Bend, OR, which was arguably the best place I could possibly celebrate anything given its status of a beer-plus-outdoors mecca.

Favorites from that adventure included Crux Fermentation Project's Outcast IPA, GoodLife Brewing's Descender IPA, and Boneyard's Notorious Triple IPA. Bravehorse Tavern recently had Notorious on tap, making it the most recent Bend beer I've had in awhile. At a 12% ABV and an estimated 90 IBUs, the Notorious lives up to its name in stats - but not necessarily in crazed intensity. Boneyard's 3x brewski joins the ranks of a precious few triple IPAs (and their brewers) that can blend high hops, ABV, and drinkability without dropping into the brandywine abysss of doom (or at least according to my one-trick-wonder-IPA palate). This is a distinction reserved for only the hoptastic crème de la crème, such as Reuben's Brews (Blimey that's Bitter [10.5% ABV; ~80 IBUs]), Georgetown (Kick Ass Blaster [11.4% ABV; unknown IBUs), and this year's Hop Mob hero (and total darkhorse, according to some of Seattle's beer scene insiders), Snipes Mountain Brewing with Hayduke the Wrencher (9.3% ABV; 97 IBUs).

Oops, be kind and rewind to August 7: IPA Day! I had the distinct pleasure of celebrating this glorious event at Reuben's Brews, which offered a fairly fantastic IPA sampler in honor of this high holy day of hops. I took advantage of Reuben's IPA sampler, through which I got to experience the wonderment of crisp, delightful Crikey IPA (6.8% ABV; 53 IBUs). I completely agree with this untappd review: "Tastes way bigger than the ABV and IBUs suggest - grassy and piney with a background of tropical fruity flavours." Pine plus citrus plus refreshment = a major score in my hoppy book.

In October, I fully embraced Seattle's fresh hop season, ranging from the Pinebox's big fresh hop bash to the Noble Fir's daytime hoppy hour(s). For me, a decidedly amateur beer appreciator, fresh hops season offers the awesome opportunity to really delve into what types of hoppy flavors you - or in this case, I - prefer at a more in-your-face, hops-in-your-mouth level. So what did I learn? It turns out that I love Amarillo hops, which are largely responsible for the intensely citrus-y, grapefruit-imbibed IPAs I happen to adore. It also turns out that Reuben's Amarillo Fresh Hop Ale, one of the most amazing citrus-fresh-hop-bombs out there, makes me want to sing Ben Folds' "I Am the Luckiest" at the top of my lungs upon swilling this stellar brew.

Right before December, I made a beer advent calendar. Yes, that really happened. And Fremont Brewing's social media maven said "Oh my Holy Christmas Beer DIY Goddess...you win everything!" And then my life was made. 

Actually come December: oh boy, Hoppy Holidays to...me. Over. And over again.

(1) Maine beer fun with G & M, and my beloved dog niece R (yes, G "made" me drink my Baxter Stowaway IPA out of a straw. If I lived in Maine, I'd probably designate this IPA as a can go-to for every adventure.)

(2) An epic beer exchange with TM, East Coast v. West Coast IPAs (including Maine Beer Company's Lunch IPA [7% ABV; 88 IBUs] - an incredibly delectable, balanced, and crisp IPA. Me want more. Please.)

(3) An even more epic IPA showdown in upstate NY (spoiler: Fremont's Brother IPA won - a beer that's increasingly becoming my all-time favorite IPA)

(4) My dad managed to procure a 4-pack of The Alchemist's Heady Topper (!!!!!) for me through his work's gift grab-bag/White Elephant/Yankee Swap (which of course prompts all kinds of questions, like WHO GIVES AWAY HEADY TOPPER?????). This turned into a Christmas gift that truly kept on giving, as then I had the opportunity provide some of my favorite beer nuts out here in Seattle with their first HT experience.

So that's the rest of my 2014. Sort of. Not really. But did you really want more? That's what I thought.

Coming attractions: the amazing beer I had when the Seahawks tragically lost the Superbowl (the smallest of small, small, small silver linings); SF Beer Week, otherwise known as PlinyQuest 2015; and Tahoe's finest IPA (preview: it's from Stateline Brewery).

Cheers!
N

Heading home to Heady Topper

Heady Topper.

This increasingly sought-after - and widely heralded - brew has caused all kind of brouhaha (or shall I say...brewhaha? HA HA!) for its small hometown of Waterbury, Vermont. After BeerAdvocate rated Heady Topper as the world's best beer (supplanting long-time favorites Pliny the Younger and Elder from Russian River), its popularity has absolutely exploded. The Alchemist Brewery recently closed its retail operations in order to appease its residential neighbors, who have apparently disliked the "rowdy beer lovers" stampeding Waterbury in pursuit of the fairly rare Heady Topper. People have been busted for trying to sell the beer on Craigslist, a move that sounds fairly ridiculous (sure) but perhaps more accurately reflects the pure demand and the lengths people will go for the illustrious Heady Topper.

Guess whose dad somehow got a four-pack of the good stuff from his ski patrol friends - and who kept that four-pack until his daughter came home for the holidays.

In sum, it was pretty spectacular. It was certainly hoppy (it's a double IPA after all), but not in an overly aggressive manner. You can tell that The Alchemist was thoughtful in producing the Heady Topper, deliberately considering how to balance out heavy hops without sacrificing the beer's delightful bitter undertones with too much sugar or additives. It's a bit citrus-y, but not like you're sucking on a lemon - it's just an additional component of the beer that makes tasting it even more fun. 

I think I still prefer Pliny the Elder - it's been too long - and some of the other PNW brewskis that aren't as highly lauded (Stone's Enjoy By series are stellar, and they're "only" ranked 53rd by BeerAdvocate), but it's quite exciting to see an East Coast brewery go head-to-head with reigning West Coast hop champions. Well done The Alchemist, and most importantly, well done Dad.

Cheers!

N