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...