Category: Beer

My Top Five Go-To IPAs

“Like Riding A Bike” from Urban Roots

It’s very difficult to choose and it changes often but mine, as I write this, in no particular order, and all from California – so I guess mine is pretty regional too:

  • Pliny The Elder – Russian River (Santa Rosa).
  • Mai Tai – Alvarado Street (Monterey)
  • Like Riding A Bike – Urban Roots (Sacramento).
  • DDH General Sherman – Tioga Sequoia (Fresno)
  • Citraholic – Beachwood Brewing (Long Beach).

I know it’s kinda obvious to put Pliny on there but that doesn’t change the fact that it’s true. It is always true.

Side note: This post was inspired by this thread and is worth checking out for the KC influenced responses:

Is This Heaven Or Is It Just A Beer Blogger’s Instagram?

Every beer person on Instagram is guilty of one or two or all of these.

@hophappyblog

Is this heaven…or a beer blogger’s Instagram ?##ontariocraftbeer ##craftbeer ##craftbeertiktok ##beerblogger ##craftbeerlife

♬ White Woman’s Instagram – Bo Burnham

My favorite is the “staring off into the corner” look so often used – WHAT IS OVER THERE AND WHY CAN’T WE SEE IT!?

*TikTok by @hophappyblog

Ambient Review: Heady Topper

Heady Topper in my driveway

If you have not seen an Ambient Review yet: It’s more about what I’m experiencing during the time it takes to drink the beer than what the actual beer tastes like.

Setup: I had boneless chicken wings (I can’t handle eating it off-the-bone) from Lazy Dog restaurant and a Diet Pepsi – yes I am a health nut.

Drinking Start Time: 10:00 PM

I open the beer and take a sip. On this occasion I am drinking from the can as The Alchemist basically demands. This is more about laziness and not wanting to get a glass than listening to the can’s demands.

First sip is strong. I feel like we forget Heady and Pliny are doubles. Maybe it’s just me that forgets.

I forgot to roll the can. I’m a believer in can rolling to mix a hazy up, I usually forget to do it though.

10:10ish: I am helping my daughter with getting one of our cats from her room to the outside. The cats are newish and our dog wants to eat them so we have to take measures to keep them separated.

Royal Cake Eater, Elaine, reacts

10:15ish: Take another sip of my Heady. Watching Seinfeld. It’s the one where Elaine eats Petterman’s $2,900 cake. I’d buy Elaine any cake she wants – #crush.

This is also the episode with George and the Frogger machine and Jerry dates the Sentence Finisher.

10:30ish: Some more sips of the Heady. Then things get fuzzy as I fall asleep on the floor – sometimes the floor and a pillow is more comfortable than a chair.

11:11: I wake up to another episode of Seinfeld but I am not sure which one. My beer is warm now. I power through some gulps and mostly finish it because I would feel too much shame if I completely wasted a Topper.

Thanks for coming to this Ambient Review, look for more on this blog soon!

What Beer Are These Two Bucks Fans Drinking?

Downing Beers In The Deer District

I dunno if you’ve been watching the NBA Finals with the Phoenix Suns and the Milwaukee Bucks but a story within the series is the “Deer District” outside the Buck’s arena.

It’s pretty much 20,000 + of mostly 20-somethings, partying and watching the games on big screens outside.

ABC loves to cut to the Deer District during the games and even pre-game, like with this clip:

Did you see the two dudes timing their beer drinking as the camera goes by? Cool except, as a beer nerd I want to know what they’re drinking.

Their hands unfortunately covered up the beer label. You can glimpse a little bit but not enough. It doesn’t look like a beer I recognize.

An Investigation Is In Order

So, are there any beer places by the Bucks arena?

Let’s take a look at the area around the arena and see if that gives us any clues:

Do you see it? Good City Brewing. That’s right there, man.

A quick check of their Instagram reveals:…

Ohhhh yeah that’s gotta be it; Home, a Lager from Good City.

Cool, glad to see Indie Beer on National TV. Keep having fun, Deer District, and Go Suns!