It’s good to be back

I am back dear followers.  As the trusty calendar told me a few days ago, March 1st has arrived.  That arrival meant that I could begin again my journey on the road of inebriation.  I took a small break, as was mentioned in the last post, from the nectar for 2 months.  Now, that hiatus is over and my sojourn into the amazing world of beer of all types may continue.  A few days before the day of days, I thought about what potent potable would I make my glorious return with. It was a hard decision to make and I decided that I would make it a trifecta.  I was going to get something light and easy, something with a hoppy bite and lastly something I have never had in the past.  These 3 categories left A LOT of possible decisions.  I decided that I wasn’t going to adventure to Friar Tuck’s all the way across town.  I ended up at the local liquor store in my neck of the woods, which has a very impressive ever-growing catalog of beer.  I did a once over of my possible choices and I made my selections.  For the light and easy, I chose the Mothership Wit.  My hoppy selection was the Torpedo and the altogether new selection was the Black Hemp.  Now this wouldn’t be a blog without me going to a little description about these 3 and what they mean to me and my taste buds; and how they made this the BEST welcome back party a boy could ever want.

I started out with the new, so that is what I will start out here with (as I am currently drinking another one of these).  The Black Hemp is a new offering from the O’Fallon Brewery.  This is my hometown brewery.  They have a wonderful selection of brews and when I saw this one in the cooler it jumped out instantly.  This is a variation of another beer they put out earlier, the Hemp Hop Rye.   The Hemp Hop Rye is brewed with hemp seeds and has an intense nutty flavor.  It is very smooth and is a very well done malty amber beer.  The Black Hemp is a black ale along the same lines as the Hemp Hop Rye.  The first thing I noticed as I poured it into the pint was that it is definitely a black ale.  It is very dark and syrupy in consistency.  Remembering how the Hemp Hop tasted, I expected this to be a little along the same lines.  I focused on this first drink too, just to point out.  The first drink of my anti-sobriety.  It was very pleasurable. It had the same malty taste but it was more full-bodied.  The barley and malts tasted more toasted and the flavors were more pronounced than in the Hemp Hop.  There was a more oat and coffee flavor in this than a nutty one. There is a slight hint of the hops on the back-end, which gives is a mild citrus kick, and it was overall a very  pleasant experience.  This one sits at 5.8% abv, which isn’t too bad for the first one of many.  I was successful and satisfied with the first of my three categories.  On to category number 2.

Btw, the O’Fallon website hasn’t been updated in a while but here it is to check out.  Also here is a fun website the explains the beer a little bit…kinda neat.

The next beer I drank was from the hoppy category.  This is the category I think I missed the most.  So for my welcome back I decided to choose one of my all time favorites, the Torpedo.  Torpedo is brought to us graciously from the Sierra Nevada Brewery. The label notes that this is no ordinary IPA, it is an EXTRA IPA.  This is one helluva extreme IPA.  It is like drinking a hop field and a coniferous forest all in one.  The smell is that of hops and pine.  It would be the best car freshener ever, if not for the whole open container laws…damn the man.  To drink this beaut was just a blast from the past.  My tongue was washed with a hop takeover.  It is literally like eating a handful of hops and downing it with a glass of water.  Hell to some, but to me, pure bliss.  The color is a glorious dark copper with a head that is a creamy white and just looks as good as it tastes.  This one brings it to the table sitting at 7.2% abv.  There will be more posts just on this beer I am sure.  So I will cut this one short, you can only enjoy a beer so much before it gets weird, and before the girlfriend gets a little jealous.  That means I am 2 for 2.  All that leaves is the last one.

Beer number 3, the light and easy category, is the Mothership Wit.  A year round offering from the New Belgium brewery.  This is an organic wheat beer “brewed with spices” according to the bottle.  This beer is amazing.  It is one of those beers that have instructions on the label on how to pour and enjoy it.  One of those beers that your pour about three-quarters out of the bottle, stop and swirl to mix the yeast and then pour the remainder of the bottle out.  This causes a really nice looking head and it activates all those flavors.  This is  refreshing beer.  I am one of those that is iffy of that “organic” word, but I swear there is something to it here.  It has a taste that is unique.  I have had plenty of wheat beers and even witbiers (white beers) and this is unique from them all.  It has that bold wheat flavor and the aftertaste is that of just refreshing…I know that is vague and doesn’t really explain anything, but it is the only way to explain it.  You have to go out and try one.  Coming in at 4.8% abv it is the definition of light and easy.  This is, as aforementioned, a year round beer, but it is one that is perfect for a summer’s eve.  This beer is pure refreshment, somehow compressed into a liquid, fermented and bottled.  Here is the link to the New Belgium page. Look at it you won’t regret it

This means, as a whole, I went 3 for 3 for my welcome back experience.  All 3 of these beers reminded me why I love beer, and all of them for a different reason.  I guess it is true you don’t know what you have until it’s gone.  For me, the great taste and variety of beer is something I didn’t know I had.  On the other hand, the hangovers…they were not missed at all.

Cheers!!

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