The Best Things We Drank: April 17 - 23

After last week's short two-beer list, this week we found a ton of delicious beers in our glass. We'd be remiss to cut it short so grab a beverage (a beer if you can) and settle in because there is a whole lotta stuff we're excited to tell you about.

Starting off with the best of the best, it turns out all of these were enjoyed at our favorite haunt. As usual we opened and shared bottles (the good and the bad because it's only fair) with our friends and relished the reciprocation. Big thanks to Chris for the tasty treats below that he brought to our attention.

Holy Mountain The Grey Tower (Blend #3) - Described as a blended Saison, the aroma is more Brett than Saison (a happy turn of events for us) with the flavor being comprised mostly of oak, a bit of Brett and imperceptible Saison. It's a winning combo in our book.

Almanac Blueberry Jack - This beer follows the trend of most of the Almanac beers we've had by being amazing. From the start with that gorgeous label this dry hopped and barrel aged fruit sour excited us. Upon opening cattiness was prevalent in the aroma but as it warmed both the aroma and flavor leaned more toward sour, much to our delight.

The Libertine Wild IPA - The first beer we've had from this brewery, it is a great wild/open fermented IPA. Apparently it is heavily dry-hopped but done so in such a way that the aroma of the hops used is showcased rather than their bittering qualities and it really is the wildness that more pronounced than the hops. Works for us!

Southern Tier Thick Mint - We've had plenty of Southern Tier's sticky sweet beers and while we enjoy them, they tend to be over the top. This one isn't as tooth achingly sweet and as expected it smells and tastes just like those iconic cookies. A great dessert beer for sure, if we had any of those cookies left we'd be interested to see what they taste like together. Would they clash? Would they be meh together? Would it blow our mind? Perhaps next year we'll find out.

Sunriver Cocoa Cow - This was not the first time we'd had this beer but this time around we had it in a bottle instead of on draft. Some beers are significantly different between formats so maybe that's the reason why we enjoyed it even more this time. Maybe not. Maybe we'll have the opportunity to do a side-by-side sometime. In the meantime we'd be happy to have more of this chocolate-milk-meets-beer sweet stout.

The second half of this week's round up rated only a teeny, tiny lower than the first half. They did however show more diversity both in style and in where we drank them, in case you think we don't get around ('cause we do).

Little Beast Brewing Fera - Little Beast is the new brewery from Charles Porter, most recently at Logsdon, and last week they officially hit the scene at OP Wurst. A 100% Brett Saison, it is light and easy drinking on its own but also pairs wonderfully with cheese (see the big hunk below), our favorite beer pairing food.

Matchless Voss IPA - This is one of those recently popular, hazy IPAs and as such, isn't much of a looker. Ignoring that one finds a delicious grapefruit flavor from the Simcoe and Mosaic hops and Norse farmhouse yeast, the region which it hails from and the basis for the name of the beer.

Samuel Smith's Organic Perry - There's plenty of Samuel Smith around currently due to a passport-style promotion meaning more than the usual availability. Similar to a cider, but using pears this has a bright, fruit aroma and a flavor that is of actual pears (as it should be) and not overly sweet.

Pyramid H7 Unfiltered Imperial IPA - Sent to us by the good folks at Pyramid, it is part of their Brewer's Reserve series and uses seven hops - Apollo, Chinook, CTZ, Simcoe, Amarillo, El Dorado and Calypso - thus the name. Presenting with a rich copper color and a distintly boozy nose (no surprise for 9.5%), the flavor starts a bit harsh but mellows midway through, finishing with a nice hop hit.

Block 15 Alpha Northwest-style IPA & Atmosphere Pale Ale - Both were enjoyed at The Hoppy Brewer during a Block 15 event and both are dry hopped. Perhaps less important in the IPA, it's that dry hopping that elevates the pale ale to what our hop-favoring taste buds desire.

Loowit Lager - Lagers are a hard style to impress us but we have to congratulate Loowit for creating a straightforward, clean lager that will be something particularly refreshing this summer.

Belching Beaver Peanut Butter Latte - This was a bit of a happy accident as we thought we were picking up a Belching Beaver beer Chris brought to our attention earlier. Turns out it was an IPA with a label similar in color that he was talking about but we were very pleased to find this to be super drinkable with a nice (not fake) peanut flavor that was mildly sweet. And clocking in at a mere 5%? Absolutely!

Crooked Stave Serenata Notturna Blueberry - Belgian golden ales aren't generally in our wheelhouse but here the base beer contributes a hay-like (note, not manure-like which we do also enjoy) characteristic that in combination with the use of blueberries and the aging in oak barrels has created a super easy dranking (yes, not drinking) 12%. Proceed at your own risk with more than one bottle.

Double Mountain Sweet Jane - It used to be that the biggest hits from Double Mountain were their fruit beers, which are amazing, but either the taste buds are a changing or perhaps they're dialing in their non-fruit recipes. This one, in addition to a beautiful, colorful label has a sweet aroma to begin and a somewhat sweet, but not cloying flavor. A very clean beer.

Kudos to you if you made it all the way through this post in one sitting and/or actually read the whole thing instead of just skimming. We'll work on drinking less amazing beer this week so next week's post won't be such a tome (kidding...we'll drink as much yum as we can).

The Best Things We Drank: January 2-9

An epic snow day seems like a good day to talk about beer, specifically the best beers we drank last week. If you have any of them at your place, dig in! Otherwise, hopefully you have something tasty sitting around or a bar within walking distance that it open because what else are you going to do when the city is shut down?

Deschutes The Abyss (2009) - Opened at a friend's annual Abyss vertical party, this was my favorite of the night which ranged from 2008-2015 bottles, including the 2015 cognac and rye variants. If you are familiar with the series this was a year where some of the bottles soured and although this bottle unfortunately didn't completely sour there was a hint of it in the flavor and it was deliciously drinkable at 11% ABV.

Loowit Snow's Ghost - We stopped at Loowit before the Abyss party and this golden stout floored me. The aroma and flavor of this beer was flat out fantastic and there was something...possibly the addition of coconut and marshmallow...that set this apart from and above other similar beers. Get some if you can!

pFriem Double IPA - Described as having a flavor profile of "ripe papaya, baked grapefruit and hoppy goodness" it drinks very smooth with the perfect amount of hops. Definitely one of my favorites from this brewery.

Block 15 Hoppy New Year! - I continue to be impressed by Block 15 and this imperial IPA continues the trend. Brewed with "citrusy and tropical hops" and generous "late-additions of Azacca, Citra, Amarillo and Mosaic hops" the result is a smooth and yummy 8.75% seasonal beer. Hopefully it portends a great year ahead.

Fremont Lush IPA - The beer inside the can is as delicious as the artwork is beautiful. Using "lush, tropical hops" this hit all the right notes for me and I hope to get my lips on more before its seasonal window (January 1 - March 31) closes.

"Big" (although not huge) was the theme of the best beers consumed during this first week of the new year with all but one clocking in at 8.75% or better and a sub-theme of "tropical." Perhaps it's the combination of recent crappy weather and my broken ankle-induced immobility causing cabin fever but I seem particularly susceptible to being transported to a better, tropical place at least for the duration of a pint.

Thanks to Chris for his pictures of The Abyss and Hoppy New Year! Sometimes we get so caught up in the beer that we need our friends to help with the picture taking.