Look-A-Likes Aren’t Always What They Seem - Avery India Pale Ale

Human nature is fascinating. There are those that need routine - they find what they like or what works for them – and stick with it. While other folks like to deviate from the norm - they take chances and sometimes win big, but sometimes lose big as well.  I’m a little of both. I like to be adventurous and try new things, but I also really enjoy my “go-to” or favorite things.

Left Hand Brewing Company

Beer drinking shines a light on this for me.  I have a narrow lane I travel down as far as beer taste.  I am compelled to try different beers from time to time but usually stay on the course of a Hop Head.  When I occasionally veer off, it’s at the prompting of a friend.  Like when (not so) Big Jim just raved and raved about Left Hand’s Milk Stout.  This had my interest; because my buddy Ray brought me some Left Hand 400 pound Monkey awhile back (we both enjoyed them).  However, I had caution with the Milk Stout because stouts are traditionally dark beers, with a rich taste not in line with my own.  But then again, this is Jim, who many accuse of being my doppelganger. I HAD to give it a try. So Gemini (Jim and I) are hanging at the next party, crack open a few left handers and we’re both moved with big reactions – his of bliss, mine of horror.  Big Jim couldn’t be happier; I couldn’t be farther from happy. I contemplated how I was gonna choke this down so I didn’t lose my man card. I made it halfway down the pint glass before I acquiesced, declared I was less-than manly and merged back onto a familiar, hoppy, road.

Big Jim On The Left, Me On The Right

I most likely headed for something like a Swamp Head BigNose, Terrapin Hopsecutioner or Cigar City’s Jai Lai IPA. Brewed in Tampa, Florida, Cigar City’s Jai Lai offers a distinct blend of citrus and floral hopiness bite. Can’t really decide if it is a good looking can or not, but this was my go-to IPA. Delivering 7.5 ABV, it’s a good mid-to-high-level drinker. Kinda like Dale’s Pale Ale, but leaning much heavier to the citrusy side.

Cigar City IPA

But… one day, headed down to Alligator Point for a weekend this past summer, I just knew ABC was going to have my beloved Jai Lai. The North Side ABC has it, why wouldn’t the South Side? When looking for that distinctive can, I was slightly fooled by this “other” green can. The background graphics are similar, but it was missing the distinctive orange lettering. I looked around the aisles and in the coolers and found no Jai Lai. Having accepted that I wouldn’t find my go-to, I decided to venture out and try something new. I commenced with a build-a-six and selected two Dale’s, two Hoplantas and two of the other green cans – two Avery India Pale Ales.  This looked like Jai Lai, boasted similar stats and quite frankly, was what was available.

Avery IPA

I already had a six of Sweetwater Yellow Label (aka IPA), so I only needed that extra six, and could wait until it was cold. Later… at first crack, the offering from Avery was delicious.  Already skeptical and fearful of being out of my taste lane, this beer made easy work of calming me down.  Brewed in Colorado, from guys who drink what they make and make what they like to drink, Avery IPA is a really, really good beer. Somewhat of a doppelganger to Cigar City’s offering, I’ve actually come to prefer the Avery.  Side by side, most would say they’re the same… but it’s the little differences. While they share similar characteristics, the 6.5% ABV Avery’s taste blend leans heavier to the floral side.  All in all, I’d rank this beer second on my list of everyday beers (with Dale’s topping the list).  So… the moral of the story? If you see a guy that looks like me, dressed in a bikechain.com kit, it’s prolly just Jim after Thanksgiving; AND be sure to venture out of your comfort zone (ahem, Mark) when selecting your next beer; AND be sure to give Avery IPA a try, you’ll love it. Bikechain

Be Careful When You Mess With Crazy - aka Deviant Dale's IPA

So… mental health… a little bit taboo… every family deals with it in different ways. Ours use levity. It seems like every family has a crazy uncle – and mine is no different.  Oh the stories I could tell, but I only share two. Back in the good old days, before political correctness, I was in high school. During the 11^th grade I took Driver’s Education. Our Driver’s Ed teacher was the PE/baseball coach, based out of a portable. For class, three of us would get in this shitty Pontiac with Coach and take off. That was literally our class. He’d have a clipboard and a cup of coffee and we would just drive around. He’d run smack the whole time and we’d all laugh. One day we see this barrel chested dude, sitting bolt upright, riding a bike down Pensacola Street. He was wearing old-school sweatpants, shirtless and rocking a big-ass fro. Coach was like “look at this “f”ing guy. The whole car busted out laughing, me included. Then I was like “hey, that’s my uncle!” Again, everybody just fell out. When I finally convinced them it was my uncle, Coach seemed to be backpedaling off his comments. He finally cracked another joke when I told them it was alright, “he IS crazy.” That’s just the way it was back them. 

Even earlier on Uncle C, that’s what we’ll call him, had the same crazy “look” in his eyes. My dad tells a story where Uncle C was down in front of a juke joint, or whatever the called it, and some young bucks were giving him some static. He politely ignored it, waived it off until enough was enough. When he finally had to tell them to knock it off, that he was in his good clothes, it just made it worse. He warned them a few times that he’d go home and change and be back, which, of course, made it worse. They whooped and hollered as he departed. Having had enough, Uncle C got home, changed out of his good clothes, went back and toted an ass-whopping for all three of them dudes – fighting them all at the same time. 

Thus Uncle C was the inspiration for this latest review. The crazy uncle of Dale’s Pale Ale is Deviant Dale’s IPA. 

We’ll call him Uncle D. Uncle D don’t play.  I first met Uncle D up at Zone 5 in late 2011. I begged the Oskar Blues Beer Distributor for two cases, on his weekly visit, for months. Just before the first shipment came in… Weaver boot-legged some samples out of Albany. Got it in the fridge and waited. First of all, I took note of the heft of the can. Killer graphics and it’s only available as a tallboy. So it looks crazy, but is it crazy? Bout chill time I call Ronnie to give him the play-by-play.  First crack, sniff and gulp. Hmmmm, I’m a little wobbly. Can’t ID if I like it or not. It’s strong. Much stronger than the claimed 8.0 ABV.  Kind of a dichotomy of taste. Harsh and sweet at the same time.  Definite hints of citrus and a pronounced afterglow of that bitter sweet hop. So the excitement of the new beer has me getting after it. Only now I’m not mentally wobbly, I’m really wobbly.  This beer packs a punch. Halfway thru and I’m feeling it. The back and forth taste roller coaster has me. Like Frank the Tank - so good when it hits your lips. 

Thus was born the mood setter. A mood setter is that perfect drink where you preload with one and just have a few lower ABV beers the rest of the night to maintain. A mood setter will get you right. But be careful. Two years later both Ronnie and I have failed to hit two back to back. The usual outcome to drinking a second one of these is 2 am SportsCenter blaring, passed out in the recliner with a half open can of Deviant. With the average single can price of $3.50, that’s no bueno.  On your next outing give Uncle D a try but be forewarned, be careful when you mess with crazy. - bikechain

No Sleep Till Brooklyn

In doing research for my “assessing information” class, I came upon an academic article entitled “No Accounting for Taste”. It is a short but well written article from 2010 that looked at motivations behind the explosion of the craft beer market. The article gave some physical reasons that consumers are seeking out “extreme beers”, but also pointed to a social sophistication aspect of drinking “expensive beer”. The article argues these beer drinkers might simply be following trends and trying to look cool. While I can appreciate some of these arguments, I maintain “fancy beer” really IS about the taste. Think of it in parallel to the hot sauce market. There is always going to be some attention starved portion of consumers who want to show how they can stomach really hot stuff – while some will just want a little spice. We “extreme beer” drinkers are looking for that “hot sauce” somewhere in between – enough kick to get you going but not so hot that you can’t enjoy it. 

It is with this article in mind that I present to you a selection out of Brooklyn – Six Point’s Resin. Before Brooklyn got as trendy as Boston… say ten years back… all I knew about it was the 1986 Beastie Boys hit – No Sleep Till Brooklyn.

This is important because I don’t usually pick my beers by location of their brewery. I use a bend of gut, friend-referrals and marketing appeal.  The introduction to this brew came from my work mate Philip.  We usually like the same beers and he has another criterion that is total awesomeness. He likes beers that are canned for their fishabilty (cans r better than bottles on a boat). So one day Philip throws me a slim-line 12 ounce can.

It’s an attractive can and I like everything about it – except for their logo. They get a pass because of their story (google "brewer’s six point star"). I threw the lonely can in the beer fridge. It took me a while to get around to it but I finally cracked it open and was VERY pleased. It’s a mid-level drinker. Classified by Six Point as an Ale, Resin drinks and tastes more like an IPA. You’re probably not going to chug these nor are you required to sip it. From a flavor perspective, it leans more to the floral side of hoppy that jumps on you with a pretty bitter after-taste that has kind of tangy, sweet after-burn. Perfect beer for a hop head - horrible if you prefer light beer, ales or stouts. 

This flavor of “hot sauce” suits me well enough that I’ve added it to my rotation. I LIKE this beer. However, At $10 a four-pack, it’s not the “ideal” fishing beer. Some would consider it a little pricey but it's not too expensive considering the 9.1% ABV. That puts it pretty much in the mood setter category. Drink one of these and you’ll be pretty well situated for the night. You'll only need to "maintain” with complementary IPAs. Visit Six Point Craft Ales to learn more and be sure to give Resin a try.- bikechain

Loaded for Bear with Dale's Pale Ale

Not sure how it happened, when exactly it happened and who was responsible, but someone introduced me to Dale’s Pale Ale. This has become a mainstay in the garage fridge for years, but it wasn’t always this way. Before fate got us together, I spent many years drinking CBLs and tequila shots. Between my honeymoon and my kids getting to be a little older, I didn’t drink all that much. Of course there was over indulgence at crazy parties, celebrations, holidays, etc... but that was pretty much limited to Jose’, CBLs and even Clos du Bois. Only on “special” occasions did I drink “fancy” offerings such as Patron, Michelob Ultra and Yuengling. No offense to America’s oldest brewery but I didn’t know what the “f” I was talking about. I had no clue. Previously, beer had been a rite of passage for me. From grabbing chugs of my dad’s Budweiser and Milwaukee’s Best, as a kid, when we would fish for mullet at Wakulla Beach to keg stands and stanky red solo cups in college, I WOULD drink me some beer.  But I’ll have to admit I never quite liked it. It was kind of a nut-up type of a thing. You know… we going out... bottoms up. 

Freshly poured Dale's Pale Ale in a Dirt Rag Magazine Pint Glass

So there I was occasionally drinking, not knowing it was crappy beer, and making fun of DBs and their fancy beers. All of sudden I’m introduced to this cool beer company. They’re from ColoRADo . Their cans are cool. They like bikes. They are Oscar Blues Brewery and different than most – they CAN their fancy beer. Then…I taste this Huge Voluminously Hopped Mutha of a Pale Ale and realize I’M the Delta Bravo. This beer has TASTE! It bites you up front but the afterhop has you thirsting for more. It’s not over-the-top hopped. Just enough bite (tangy bitterness) to keep you coming back for more. This is NOT a starter craft beer for most folks. You’ll want to work up to it. Maybe have one or two of your usuals as a mood setter (more on this in my next post) then try one of these on for size. While I’m working on refining my palate to become an expert, I can assure you the sissy-boy beer you drink has no taste compared to this one. 

Dale’s has become my everyday (night) beer. I can’t drink regular beer now because of Dale’s. This is the lowest on taste I will go. This is the beer that makes it OK to spend $10 or more on a six pack. That’s OK when you consider the beermath - with an ABV of 6.5, you’re drinking at more than time and a half (e.g. two Dale’s > 3 MickLites). Now that the Brevard, North Carolina plant is up and running, we southerners can bow-up about this beer with an All-American look and a taste that’s loaded for bear. If you get this far, comment on the Hops and Grinds blog, the beer or if you’re now motivated to get some Dale’s

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Black and Tan = Soft Opening

Black and Tan - actually Black and White is how we're choosing to kick off this blog. We have some ideas of what it will be and what it will look like, but choose to "design" the mechanics in black and white. This is something folks, like web designers, do to make sure all the pieces parts work before they dress it up. If you worry about it looking pretty (form), you lose sight of function.

So, this combination of blog, social media and (soon to be) website strives to celebrate brewed concoctions - beer and coffee, with a little extreme sports and pop culture blended in.  We'll tweak the recipe but envision a place to celebrate the flavors we like, without hating too much on things we don't. Expect product reviews, taste tastes, industry news, DIY projects and more.

I've had this idea "brewing" in my head for more than a few years, but my own personal renaissance and urging from (not so) Big Jim provided just enough gumption to crack this thing open. We plan to have fun with this blog and you're invited to join us.

CKW