Lost Abbey and Russian River Sour Tasting

Last Saturday my friend Steve decided to host a little gathering at his house. This would of course include beer but being the amazing chef that he is it also included ribeye steaks, tortellini, an assortment of good cheeses and much more. I got up there a bit early with my friend Pete to do a little warmup drinking of some Double IPA's I had laying around before the sour beers that night.

We started with a growler of Alpine Pure Hoppiness (one of my favorite beers for all of you who just joined in) and moved onto a new beer to me, Hair of the Dog Blue Dot Double IPA. This was the first Hair of the Dog beer I've finally bought, and I wasn't disappointed. This was an excellent beer showcasing some earthy and mildly citrus hops on a light body. They brew this with rye which is exciting to me, but I couldn't detect it at all (more of a knock against my weak palate than Hair of the Dog). However, at $8 a bomber I probably won't be buying it again any time soon. We kept the Double IPA's rolling and moved onto Legacy Brewing's Hoptimus Prime from Reading, PA. This was an Ok beer, with a tad thicker body and a more resiny hop flavor/feel. It did have that sweet backbone I don't care for but it wasn't as off-putting as others I've had. The final beer in the DIPA warmup was ReaperAle Sleighor Double IPA. The best description I can give on this beer is that it reminded me a lot of Stone's 10th Anniversary DIPA. While I'm guessing 99% of anyone who reads that prior sentence has already left the room to go try and find as much Sleighor as possible I won't be any time soon. As opposed to the thousands who loved Stone's 10th I was not a fan. I'm not so much into the sweet hop syrup IPA's and this is what it was similar to.

That was the before dinner lineup. The after dinner lineup was not as exciting to me, since I had already had many of the beers before but there were a couple new additions.

We went through the Temptation-Supplication-Beatification series and then Cuvee de Tomme and Red Poppy. I remember finishing with a Lost Abbey Bourbon Barrel Aged Angel's Share. I've had it before but not since my sample at the release. This is a truly fantastic beer. In between all of that I remember the Boon Mariage Parfait Geuze, 2003. That was a pretty good Geuze, quite sour with very noticeable funky/wild smell to it.

It was a fun night and the beer was just slightly better than the food that was prepared, if you can imagine that.