Quarantined at home. But at least there’s beer.
To keep myself entertained in the quarantine (and to do my best to support local breweries and businesses that are hurting right now) I’ll do what I know best – and that’s drink craft beer.
So here’s hoping life returns to normal soon. And hey, if there’s any benefit to all this free time, at least I can experiment and get weird with my poetry. Case in point, I wrote my first ever villanelle poem!
Hubbleton Brewing Company – Cattail Pale Ale – 5.5% APA
“4.6% ABV ale brewed with Cascade and Centennial hops as a “porch beer” intended for easy drinking or introductory palates.”
Easy drinking is right. There’s little, very, very little carbonation even, and for a pale ale, you only get a hint of pine and floral hops. The flavor that really comes through in the spotlight here is the crackery, caramel malts, a incredibly cookie/graham cracker like flavor that makes you think you’re downing some sort of vanilla cookie crumble smoothie.
Odd Side Ales – Paranoia – 9.0% – Imperial IPA
“Complex Imperial IPA with citrus and tropical aromas leading to a juicy, hoppy, bitter finish.”
I’m not gonna lie, I got it for the name. What strange times we live in, but thankfully we still have beer like this. A powerful burst of citrus and grapefruit hops poured over the backdrop of subtle caramelly malts, and a strong boozy finish. Paranoia does what it set out to do, offering classic citrus IPA notes, doubled up.
Hinterland – Splitty – 5.2% – Amber Ale
“Classic amber with a modern twist. Cascade hops lend a pine and citrus aroma balancing the sweet malt and slight roast character.”
This is the beer I need most right now. If you could capture everything – the whole essence of camping – and bottle it up, then this would be the result. I can’t wait for quarantine season to end and camping to open up.
Splitty tastes like a starry night, like a campfire, like the freedom and promise of adventure when you hit that great old open road. And by that, I mean this amber ale has rich charred smoky malts, with a combo of grassy, floral hops and piney resin bitterness to finish it off.
Lakefront Brewery – My Turn Edition: DeSantis – 8.05 % – Fruit Beer
“Moderately sweet, yet pleasantly dry, My Turn: DeSantis brings beer-like flavors of clover honey and fresh biscuits together with wine-like notes of white grapes and nectarine.”
Honey + Grapes + over biscuits. They nailed it in the description. It tastes like sweet biscuits covered in honey, with a white grape juiciness for a sticky sweetness throughout each sip. And unlike the current trend of fruit beers that lean toward tartness, this ale ends with a drier, more sophisticated wine-like note.
Bent Paddle Brewing – Extra Baked Pastry Stout – 8.3% – Stout
“Our Extra Baked Pastry Stout is loaded with decadent flavor. It’s first “Baked” with Stout Malt, Oats, Chocolate Rye and assorted Crystal Malts. It’s “Extra Baked” by aging it in Bourbon Barrels for three months with pastry staples of Chocolate, Coconut and Vanilla. This beer is a celebration of some of the best dessert flavors we could stir up! Cheers!”
So many delicious dessert flavors crammed into this stout. It starts with flavor of coconut, smooth chocolate, vanilla, and finishes with an espresso bitterness to balance out that sweetness. There’s also a rich oak barrel woodiness hidden between all that flavor.
Pipeworks Brewing Co. – Pit of Cherries – 4.5% – Wild Ale
“So so so many cherries… We added pureed sweet cherries to this tart, kettle-soured ale and the result is something akin to a cherry kool-aid in the best way. This is the most fruit we’ve ever added to a beer, and, wow, you can really taste it. We love the bold and electric flavor, and we love that this beer is still beer.”
Ughhhhhhhh I’m in love. Have you ever had sweet cherry wine? This is that. At least that’s what it tastes like. A beautiful cherry juiced beverage with the perfect balance of tartness and sweetness. Electric is right. It’s a real cheek stinger, too.
Where Will We Be in Year
Darkness comes quicker than it appears
good hearts, stout, even they begin to quiver
where will we be in year?
Doors shutter, holy rooms disappear
fever dreams run rampant now
Darkness comes quicker than it appears
Even the best hearts, turn to fear
listen as silence becomes our song
where will we be in year?
The smell of rain, or taste of beer
simple comforts we begin to miss
Darkness comes quicker than it appears
Don’t dig their graves, stand strong pioneers
Steadfast, support, give their homes a
fighting chance
or where will we be in year?
What little we have, we’ll make our stand
hope or hell, matters not
Darkness goes as quick as it appears
where will you be in year?