New Beer Sunday (week 536)

Tumbleweed IPA from Lewis and Clark. Big thanks to @JayWhitson for letting me try this one.
-aroma is grapefruit, floral, pine, hop resin, caramel, bread
-taste is grapefruit, some citrus, great malt backbone, some nice hop bitterness with a pretty clean finish
Really great stuff which I will be asking Jay for more of because it is up there with Furious for me which says a lot.

 

Man, I haven't had that restful a days sleep in a while. Not sure if it was the madhouse that was last night at work, or the lack of good sleep the last couple of days (I LOVE my brother, but he's not the greatest houseguest) or what. Totally worth missing pickup in the park for.
Contrary to my above point, my second NB this S is a testament to his considerable awesomeness. I let him stay at my spot while I was in New England the other weekend. Came home and found my fridge stocked with a box of Acoustic offerings he brought back from SD (along with some cupcakes from the awesome Jones Cupcakes in PDX, courtesy of a friend of ours who works there). I guess one of Mica's homies from college works for Acoustic in some fashion. Not sure of the position. But he helped my brother to procure said box of goodies, and to Mica and this dude who's name I don't know, I am extremely grateful. This is my third selection from the box, and falls in the middle between the other two. I preferred their single IPA, personally.

Run for the Hills (TO the hills! Run TO the Hills!) brings a similar interesting note I noticed with their Willow Wolves: a thick honey like sweetness that coats the bitter hops. I enjoy it, but it's not one you see all that often. As for those hops... the description lists orange marmalade and pineapple. I got neither. I got much more blunt pine dankness and maybe a sideswipe of like... papaya or mango or something similar. Subtle though. This all shines through on the aroma better than the flavour. The taste is more just indiscriminate bitter pine, somewhat woody and almost meaty. There's a substantialness to it that I also caught in Willow Wolves that I can't quite put my finger on, and that I can't decide whether I dig it or not.
Super glad to have the opportunity to try them and will certainly swing by the brewery if/when I find myself in the SD!

(apologies for the vertical pic) (also, I just noticed, the label on the box is the label for the beer I just drank. Good stuff!)

Interesting* anecdote: catching up on Game of Thrones and as I were typing Tyrion offers the following gem:
"I am a person who drinks. People who drink need to keep drinking."


This is a track I really mixed feelings about. Sonically, I love it. But historically, the era and policies to which it alludes are one of the most shameful and darkest aspects of a past that is far shadier than most care to admit or accept. From my own personal connection with this continent's indigenous peoples, this is a topic that hits fairly close to home. Not to put a somber note into a great day.

Carry on!
Keep drinking my friends, keep drinking....

 

Surly: Coffee Bender


A big thanks to @5EKF for making this NBS possible.
4.03/5 rDev -3.1%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4

Pours a slightly opiac brown with a thin head and a moderate amount of carbonation.
Smells of coffee and roasty malts. Up front the taste is of coffee with some chocolate backing there is a tad touch of vanilla and what i would say is almost a cream taste. THe Mouthfeel is creamy and slick. It is fuller than one would expect from a 5.1 abv which is something I am noticing Surly archives often with their beer.
Overall I like it it is a nice take on a coffee brown. The added cream qualities are something i have not experienced before in the style but was a welcome surprise.

 

2nd new beer and it is.......Prairie Bomb!!!!!!!
-aroma is a wonderful melted creamy chocolate with peppers and coffee. Also get a bit of vanilla and a brown sugar
-taste is a lot of chocolate with coffee and the ancho pepper flavor is there without the heat and vanilla is mixed in there with a little sugary sweetness and some alcohol. It is a 13% after all.

 

I had a friend bring me a sixer of that from Montana. I liked it, but it seemed like it had been sitting a little too long and was a little tired. Really wish L&C would date their cans, but my friend probably wouldn't have checked anyway, so it might not have helped if they did. At some point I'll get to Helena and have a fresh one.

 

A canning date would be nice but Jay was at the store when the beer delivery guy was unloading it from the truck so I think mine was pretty fresh. I absolutely recommend getting it again. I really enjoyed it tonight.

 

It is 10:30 going on 11:00pm here at the Bridge RV Park in Bingen, WA, just across from Hood River, OR. Started the day with breakfast at McMenamin's Resort/Winery/Brewery in Troutdale, OR. After beer and wine tastings, we spent the day exploring/hiking 3 of the waterfalls along the Columbia Gorge, including Maltnomah Falls, the second highest in the U.S.

Following dinner at the brewery in White Salmon, WA, we happened upon a block party complete with bluegrass band atop an old Ford flatbed haul truck. What fun!

New beer tonight is "Quilter's Irish Death" an American Strong Ale from Iron Horse Brewery, Ellensberg, WA.



Black pour from 22oz bomber into SAPP. Ruby red see though, with lite tan foam and tight bubbles. Thick lace initially that reduced quickly. 4.0

Sweet candied yam aroma. 3.75

Semi sweet malt backbone (not as sweet as the nose). Some floral hop flavor is also present, but candy prevails. Cocoa powder in the finish. 3.75

Smooth lite mouthfeel. Creamy sweet tongue coating. 3.50

Overall, a little too sweet both in the nose and flavor. Reminiscent of old Pepsi. Still, a good dark ale (and I do have a sweet tooth). 3.75

Tomorrow week six of the cross country adventure in the RV continues. Cheers!

 

Bourbon. That sounds good. What else is going on in that beautiful sunkissed amber imbibe? Your pic is stunning. Tell us a little more about the flavor. The nose.

 

Well, I haven't been through PDX in a few years now. (Favorite airport evah!) But this cupcake place must be new.

As for your opining about our noble country's innoble history with the plethora of diverse indigenous peoples, I couldn't agree more. I get tired of contented ignoramusi (plural- haha) declaring how "The tribes have casinos now, so it's all good, right!" Yes, somebody said those exact words to me once. And others have said as much in paraphasing. You live in a culturally rich area of the US with regards to Native people so I'm assuming you've had the benefit of knowing some of these people and their rich culture. Sadly, I assume by your comments, you've also dealt with some of the darker, more tragic side that many Native people are witness. I have as well. Sadly, within my family, some of us with Native blood in our veins are the same people who make those insensitive (hateful would be more accurate) comments. Sorry to add to you somber note.

 

Not sure how long they've been around, and my description may have been a little misleading anyway. They're not set up in the airport itself, I just find myself referring to the lovely Land of Ports in general by those three simple letters. Plus it's Cupcake Jones, not Jones Cupcakes. I'm leading y'all astray!


It's a conversation I sadly find myself avoiding more often than not because of exactly that sense of combined willful ignorance, entitlement and denial. I've not heard that exact quote, but many like it. 'They've got casinos now. They're the only ones who can, so it's really not fair to us reg'lar white folk. They get to make their own rules on the rez so it's not even really fair they get to skirt the laws. There's so much rampant alcoholism and drug use that clearly it's for their own better that they've been marginalized (that one almost got someone punched in the nose), or the completely straightfaced; They weren't utilizing the land, so it was just going to waste, so they didn't deserve it.' Shit like that.

Though I don't claim any known blood ancestry, it's a culture I grew up around. I've spent more nights sitting up in a tipi praying with water drums and peyote than I think I've even set foot in stain-glass churches. Not to mention sweat lodges and other assorted practices etc. It's just who I grew up around. I've also seen an unfortunate amount of the darker side alluded to working in the medical field.