I've semi-officially made Wednesdays (because it's my Friday) an "uncapping of the growler day."
I basically send a message to some of my friends and tell them to come over when I plan on uncapping a growler or forever hold their peace. So tonight was Alpine Pure Hoppiness. My friend Spencer (one of my long time buddy's brother in law) got here first (before the 8pm scheduled time) to get at it. He also brought some sharp cheddar cheese... can't argue with that. So we popped the cap on our Pure Hoppiness. He brought over his brand new 20 oz or so Stone Ruination mug that I love. Gotta love when a newly converted craft beer drinker brings their own mug to your house right? We got to work on that Pure Hoppiness growler and drained it between the two of us. After a bit other friends started showing up, so I brought out some other growlers. The 
next to go was the Pizza Port Poor Man's IPA, which won a silver medal at the recent 2008 World Beer Cup, That of course was pretty darn good, but in my opinion is a few notches below one of my favorite beers of all time- the Pure Hoppinesss. Poor Man's IPA is pretty dank, almost smelling like pure hop leafs or pellets compared to the cleaner and more citrusy smelling Pure Hoppiness. Overall though, Pure Hoppiness has obtained a status in my mind that is beyond describing. It's so good I can't really describe what's going on in it... the only thing I know is I love it, and it costs an arm and a leg to drive down and get a few growlers of it. Tonight we had to drain 2 growlers of it.
Lastly, one of my friends that came over still says the Southern Tier Oat I brought him a few months ago was the best beer he's ever had. So I decided to pop the cap on a Southern Tier Choklat which is one of the best beers I've ever had. I think he really liked it. It really is the best beer you can find when wanting a chocolate fix. Well, that's all for our Wednesday Night Uncapping this week. After 4 pints of strong Double IPA's and a small glass of the 11% Choklat I'm buzzing right now. Stay tuned for next week Wednesday when we do it again.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Wednesday Uncappings
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3 comments:
Good to see another positive review of Southern Tier, they have yet to disappoint. You guys get some good beers over in California and seem to have plenty of good local craft brews. Guess that's another place I have to visit again sometime. Keep drinking good beer.
To me, the mouthfeel of Pure Hoppiness sets it apart from many other DIPAs. Not heavy or syrupy yet at the same time it is sorta silky or creamy? By the way, an awesome new batch of Duet is on at Alpine, grabbed five growlers yesterday--only $8.47 per growler--a steal. Love the blog.
JRhode- That's what I love so much about the better West Coast style IPA's, they are so much lighter in body and drier. It seems like all the non-West Coast breweries leave so many residual sugars in their IPA's (especially Double IPA's) I can't drink most of them. Here it's all about displaying the hops and a big malt sweetness doesn't interfere.
I wish I weren't 2 hours away from Alpine, but you are right, their growler prices are just amazing. Under $10 for a growler of Pure Hoppiness. Compare that to this Pizza Port Poor Man's IPA they charged me $20 just for a refill! If I had known it was going to be that price before he filled it I would have declined.
Beckel- So far Southern Tier has not disappointed. The Oat and Choklat are pretty good... and the IPA was very good as well. I saw they had a cherry saison out now I think, which sounded really good, but I hear it's been a huge disappointment.
Thanks for stopping by and contributing guys.
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