21st Amendment brewery is named after the repeal of prohibition, and being opinionated themselves they brew opinionated beer. This one is a black IPA, which as far as I can tell just means that it’s an IPA with a bit more toasty malt to round out the flavour. It’s got a big, friendly grapefruit opening, with a bit of a bitter finish.
Would I drink it again? Hell, yes; I am right now!
I was asked to retrieve a tasty treat for my lovely spouse, and I decided that I, too, deserved a treat. After much consideration I decided to try something a little out of the IPA bucket. Naturally, deciding to grab a random beer led to Vikings.
It poured very attractively, and for all that I’m not a huge fan of the belgian style beers by default, I think I like this one. I lack the foodie framework for coming up with flowery adjectives, but suffice to say it’s very tasty.
As noted, it’s quite pretty.
Vital Stats:
Dogfish Head describes this beer as “boiled for a full two hours while being continuously hopped with high-alpha American hops, then dry-hopped daily in the fermenter for a month and aged for another month on whole-leaf hops!”
Given that, what’s amazing is that it is almost completely lacking in bitterness. It’s smooth, immensely strong, and flavorful. The flavour is unlike any other beer. So hoppy it’s … sweet? Almost malty, even.
Yes.
A thousand times yes.
Or, at least, two more times for the two bottles I’ve laid down to age until 2013. Whereupon I’ll probably write about them, too.
Fremont Brewing’s Homefront IPA is a beer for a cause; a charity dedicated to US Military veterans. It’s “A full-bodied Northwest IPA brewed with oranges and aged on Louisville Slugger™ Bats”. This seems more gimmicky than tasty, but Fremont is a good local brewery, so here we go!
The beer is a delight to the nose, but it definitely does not live up to the initial promise. It’s a serviceable IPA, mind you; smooth and easy-drinking. It just falls short of the floral intensity of its aroma.
Would I drink it again? Yes, but Fremont has better beers, so it’ll be an occasional thing at best.
