An eclectic collection of beers to celebrate getting old.
Happy birthday to me. To celebrate, I picked 6 beers I’ve been wanting to try and wrote drunken poetry about them. Cheers to 28.
Dogfish Head (and the Grateful Dead) Present American Beauty – 6.5% – APA
“American Beauty, a pale ale inspired by the Grateful Dead, captures the spirit of the band’s 30 years of touring and recording. Dogfish Head and the Dead both built their followings by connecting directly with beer lovers and music lovers, so when we first started this collaboration (back in 2013), we asked those loyal fans to help drive the recipe. After receiving more than 1,500 ingredient suggestions, granola was tops. It was the main course in millions of parking lot meals and is a sweet and toasty complement to the barley, succulent wildflower honey and all-American hops.”
American Beauty is a delicious, caramel rich APA. The bready pale malts and sweet granola are balanced by a floral/grassy hop bitterness. It reminds me of my other favorite APA, the original Hopalicious. Just a perfectly balanced beer.
‘Beer is beauty and to drink beer is to consume beauty,
to say to the world
I love you and
all the beauty within you
the clouds and seas and colors all the things
To drink a beer is to celebrate,
to be.’
Ale Asylum – Hopalicious Continuum: Denali – 5.7% – APA
The Denali is part of Ale Asylum’s continuum hop project, a bold experiment that takes the original cascade-hopped hopalicious and shows off the magic and importance of flavorful hops.
The Denali really stands out. Unlike the piney earthiness from the original, the Denali hops gives the beer a strong tropical fruit flavor, almost candy-like. When blended with the sweet caramel malts, it reminds me a lot like a bowl of fruity pebbles or fruit loops. Like a burst of both fruit and sweet biscuit flavor.
‘Saturday morning cartoons and pajamas sipping A bowl of sugary milk and downing an oatmeal stout
Not a care in the world and I really wish we could stop time and stay in that Saturday morning vibe forever.’
Octopi Brewing Pink Prism – 5.5% – Blonde Ale
Pink Prism is a limited run beer by Octopi, brewed to support the Pink Boots Society – an awesome initiative that supports women working in the brewing profession. The only bad thing I have to say about the beer is simply that’s it a limited run beer. Because it is soooo good. It’s a lighter blonde with some lemony tartness, citrus hops, and what tastes like hints of raspberry fruit flavor? It reminds me of pink lemonade and I love it.
‘Electric skies and lemonade, holding hands
with you by the big fire
we used to cook the hamburgers
Cicadas performing
their concert duet with bullfrogs as the wind comes slowly along
the smell of grilled meat and taffy apple salad, may day picnics are my favorite
but they to move too fast.
So we sip on beers and hold hands just happy to be here.’
New Belgium – Honey Orange Trippel – 10% – Belgian Trippel
“For this recipe, our brewers drew inspiration from Belgian Golden Strong Ale, a style we love. We sought out the very best ingredients, sourcing wild honey from the African Bronze Honey Company, a member of the Fair Trade Federation and a certified B-Corp. The Seville orange peel is freshly ground 24 hours prior to the day we brew by the Old Town Spice Shop, less than one mile from our Fort Collins, Colorado, brewery. In the end, we created a big, sweet and citrusy Belgian-style Tripel with thoughtfully sourced ingredients.”
Whelp. This one got me wrecked. But it was delicious in the process. The trippel was a nice blend of honey sweetness, zesty orange rind, and an abundance of spicy clove and coriander. It also has a sugar cookie like sweetness, which plays off the spices so perfectly. A great dessert style beer. But definitely a one and done kind of beer.
‘When I grow up I want to be
A firefighter or a bartender
Or a cook in a restaurant of my own
Writing copy for menus or beer labels
When I grow up I want to be
Living in the west or in the warmth
Somewhere far away from winter except maybe for Christmas
When I grow up I just want to be.’
Stone Brewing – White Ghost – 4.7%– Berliner Weiss
“Our citrusy and refreshing Berliner Weisse is a modern take on a true Berlin classic. Brewed using the same traditional lactic acid cultures as the Berlin brewers of the 1920’s, our Berliner Weisse is a bright and sparkling thirst-quencher. The beer embodies the liveliness of summer with the fruity tang of lemon and melon and the tartness of rhubarb and gooseberries. To ensure a properly Stone (and therefore iconoclastic) Berliner Weisse, we upped the ABV to a healthy 4.7% and hopped the beer with new German varieties, Huell Melon and Callista.”
This might have been my personal favorite. I’m always a fan of a Berliner Weiss, and this one has all my favorite flavors. It has a dominant Welch’s white grape juice flavor, and reminds me of a florally-hopped sweet Riesling.
‘When you can’t decide between beer or wine,
it’s best to go with a berliner weiss
white grapes and gold taste
perfect for picnics or sitting on the patio at dusk
Listening to the songs inside your head
Actually, why not just go with champagne?
What better way to celebrate life than champagne nights.’
Karben 4 – America AF – 3.3% – Kolsch
“Nothing says “Let’s celebrate America” like taking German stuff and making it better, so we smashed together Berliner Weiss and Kolsch. Add some watermelon and now we have a real beach party. Start the fireworks!”
An effervescent watermelon soda. It’s so light that you’d forget it’s beer. The watermelon and hints of lime stand out to me, along with a seltzer water type deal going on. Very light. Very drinkable. And refreshing after that 10% trippel I had two beers back.
‘My head is like a pounding shore,
Whose waves beat without remorse
My hear is tired but happy like a willow
Who never weeps, whose boughs hang gentle
My stomach groans like Jacob Marley’s ghost
A hangover for sure but I’ll cope.
No other way to celebrate
Turning old and 28.’