Fish Tale Organic IPA

I made another trip to Monument Liquor yesterday and made a haul. One thing I've started to really like about the store is that you can just grab a bottle out of any six pack and purchase it solo. Although it is not the most economical means of buying beer, it allows you to try one beer first to see how you like it. Since I'm not going to Monument Liquor (By the way, we need to come up with a sweet nickname for that place) to buy in bulk I'm okay with spending $2 for a single 12oz when I go there.

One of the beers I picked up is called Fish Tale Organic India Pale Ale:

Fish Tale Organic India Pale Ale is a medium-bodied beer with a rich golden color. The organic pale and crystal malts lay down a firm malt body. This provides the backbone for an assertive hop profile featuring organic Pacific Gem. The moment the Mighty Fish Brewers sampled this pungent and resinous New Zealand hop, they knew it would be perfect for their Organic I.P.A. The result: A Cascadian treasure.

I don't have too many particular things to say, probably again due to my lack of an intelligent tasting vocabulary. I will say that it was a very nice, well-rounded IPA that would be in the upper tier of standard IPAs, with the likes of Black Diamond for example. There was nothing underwhelming or overwhelming about it...nice balance of malt and hop and has a great lingering aftertaste. Coming in at 6.7% ABV, it's a little lighter than the beer I have been drinking lately, which is a pleasant break...typically I like my beer between 7% and 9%. I'll leave it with my 33 Bottles of Beer page.



I forgot to mention it is brewed in Olympia, WA, home to my mom's side of the family and a city I spent a lot of time in when I was growing up on Mercer Island, WA. So at a minimum, it has that connection for me at least.

Beer Revolution

Last night I tried out a new place in Oakland called Beer Revolution. From what I was told, the place was started by a member of the East Bay Rats motorcycle club, which is a punk rock sort of motorcycle club and that is apparent when you go inside the place. We showed up around 7pm and the place was packed. The front of the bar has a pretty large patio with picnic tables, like a mini beer garden, and it can accommodate probably 30 people. The inside of the bar has a few tables and lots of barrels that are used for tables to sit around. One side of the wall has 3 large refrigerators full of uncommon beers, and basically one was for stouts, one for Belgians, and the other for IPAs.

The bar had about 15 beers on tap, and about ten of those were stouts, which is not my favorite style. If you're a big fan of stouts then this place is great, because of the stouts for imperials and various specials. The bartenders there are very knowledgeable and friendly. I had a beer called Full Boar, which is a scotch ale, and Barbed Wire, which was a pretty pleasant pale ale. None of the two very great, but definitely worth trying.

I'm not sure I would make plans to go back there, but I would gladly go along if somebody else wanted to. Overall the place just wasn't quite up my alley but I probably would love it if I were a bigger stout guy. Luckily The Trappist is four blocks away...

Midas Touch

I just had a go at the Dogfish Head Midas Touch. A quick description from Wikipedia:

Midas Touch Golden Elixir (first released in 1999). A strong ale based on residue found on drinking vessels from the tomb of King Midas, dating back to the 8th century BC. Defining ingredients include Muscat grapes, honey, and saffron.

First things first: It's great. It's also very unique for obvious reasons. Since I'm somewhat new to describing beer tastes and don't quite have the appropriate language to describe it and sound like a true connoisseur, I'll keep it simple. It pours with almost no head and at first taste it is obviously low in carbonation. There are almost no hops present. The texture of the beer is lighter than I expected but the beer has a noticeable amount of floating material in it. It's very sweet but not overwhelming at all, and high in alcohol although it does not taste too alcoholic. Overall, it's enjoyable but definitely too bold to have more than one in a night.

Dogfish Head says it's comparable to a mead, and considering that they're both ancient ales that would seem to be a fair comparison. A few years ago my dad brewed two different styles of mead, and this is a much more pleasant ale. I question how authentic the Midas Touch truly is, because from my understanding, ales used to be pretty rough and based on the mead my dad made, I'd have to agree. Mead is brutal: highly alcoholic (~12%) and noticeably so, highly carbonated, unfiltered, and the worst hangover 12oz of ale has EVER given me! Midas touch is like a mild and pleasant version of mead. If you've never had mead, it's definitely an experience.


Also, for those of you with the 33 Bottles of Beer companion, here is my entry:

Monument Liquor and Spirits Is Awesome

To reiterate April's previous post, Monument Liquor and Spirits is a great place to purchase beer. Today I picked up a few beers, three of which are new to me:

Dogfish Head Midas Touch
Dogfish Head Palo Santo Marron
Anderson Valley 20th Anniversary Imperial IPA

In addition, I picked up two great IPAs:

Valley Brew's Uberhoppy Imperial IPA
Dogfish Head 90-Minute IPA




About a month ago, I went to Pacific Coast Brewery (which is a great place to go drink beer, made even better because it's a block away from The Trappist) and ordered a pint of Uberhoppy, and it was one of the best IPAs I have ever tasted. It had a very complex hop flavor to it that lingered very well. This is why I had to buy it again. And the 90-Minute IPA is a beer that I tried but only after I was a little too buzzed to appreciate it, so I thought it give it another go.

I'm very excited to drink all of these. I expect it to be the best $30 I've spent on 5 bottles...I'll post again once I've tasted.

April's Beer of Choice

I love IPAs! I enjoy the complexity of them. I want the beer to hit me from all angles. I'm fine with spending $$ on beer if it's good beer. Which is the same for wine preferences (Zins and peppery Syrahs), but this blog is about beer.

Everyday IPA's are Lagunitas IPA and Black Diamond Jagged Edge. Very Frequently I'll have Racer 5 (or X), Drake's IPA, and Stone IPA (Arrogant Bastard too). When I have extra money, I'll go for Dogfish Head 90 minute IPA. Which is the first beer that I liked better in the bottle , then on tap (Hop Monk in Dec. 2009).

Within the last 6 months, I've really started to enjoy Double IPAs. Recent favorite: Drake's Quasar IPA

Every now and then you will catch me wanting something light to drink like Pyramid's apricot Ale or Blue Moon.

There is so much more to share about preferences and BEER, but we'll all learn more the more we drink.

Yum Beer!

Friday I went to my new favorite liquor store: Monument Liquor. This is the place a coworker told me about. Even though it says it's a liquor store, I go here for the wonderful beer selection. Not only do they have countless beers, you can also buy any beer individually, even if it's in a 6 pack. Maybe I'm being non-committal, but I prefer to try a beer before I spend $10+ on a 6 pack.... which I guess is weird because I'll buy a $6.50 22oz. that I've never heard of before.

I purchased:

Abita's Andygator (Doppelbock)- 22 oz $4.99-

Midnight Sun's Sockeye Red IPA - $6.50

Bison's Honey Basil $2.99

Dogfish Head Palo Santo Maron- $3.99

Flying Dog- Raging Bitch (Belgian-style IPA)- $1.70

Then I went to Costco and bought a 24 pack of Laganitas IPA... maybe I'm weird, but

Friday night I consumed Andygator for the 2nd time. I was actually... unimpressed. I really liked it the first time, but this time it seems fla

t and boring. I'll probably give it one more shot.

Saturday.... is another story...

Sunday I consumed a portion of Sockeye and the honey basil IPA with spicy Indian food. Sockeye was a great match, but a felt like I drank it too fast. Borderline perfumery, but still good. The cashier told me that the Imperial IPA was even better, but at $9.99, I decided to try Sockeye first.

Honey Basil was well... sort of sweet and definitely tasted like Basil. I LOVE Basil, but I'm going to leave basil to Italian food. Luckily it wasn't a 22 oz, otherwise I would have never made it through.