Category: Tips

I Had These Beers and Didn’t Get A Buzz, I’m Broken

Zapped On Zappa Alvarado Street XPA King Sue IPA Bare bottle
Why you guys give me no buzz!?

The other day I had the four beers you see above. That’s enough beer to do a little damage, right? One should feel some damn thing after those.

Yeah, well, I didn’t. Never caught a magical buzz all evening.

Have I become THAT tolerant of beer? Is my ATL (Alcohol Tolerance Level) at scary levels? Let’s break it down.

Beer One:

  • Alvarado Street’s “XPA” Pale Ale. 5%. 16oz. Drank around 5PM

Beer Two:

  • Original Pattern Brewing’s “Zapped On Zappa”. IPA. 7%. 16oz. Drank around 6PM.

Okay, so, here is where the buzz should be happening. But at that moment I stopped for dinner, took a jog-walk with the child, did the dishes.

Any chance of a nice buzz is interrupted by life.

Beer Three:

  • Bare Bottle Beer Co. “Dusty JR” Hazy Pale Ale. 5.6%. 16oz can. Drank around 8PM. 

Beer Four:

  • Toppling Goliath Brewing Co. “King Sue” DIPA. 7.8%. 16oz can. Drank around 9:30PM.

Here is where things are a little cloudy. I think there is some falling asleep in front of the TV happening at this time. If a buzz was there to be enjoyed, I napped through it.

So, maybe I am not broken, my system for getting a buzz is? 

I remember enjoying the beers, that’s the main thing. But if getting a buzz is also the intent, a little more focus is needed.

Thanks for coming to my Beer Talk.

What Should I Do With These Old Beers!?

For various reasons I have these old beers.

Mostly they were bought on accident, either from not checking the dates or unable to see the dates due to the packaging. One is a gifted old beer.

Should I throw them out?

Yeah but there’s nothing worse than an old IPA, especially a hazy.

I currently have the space for them. They may not taste good but they are still beer. And I don’t have an infinite beer budget and sometimes run out BUT still really want a beer.

And sometimes a dude will show up and just want beer and not care how old they are.

Well, I guess I’ll keep them around then. Since I have the space for them at the moment.

Glad I worked that “problem” out here.

If I only live bed in a place that snowed and I needed to save parking spots, my problem would be solved here:

What do you do with your old hoppy beers?

It’s All About Your Setup: Modern Times “Orderville” IPA

The importance of having a clean palate before a beer is hella underrated. We don’t think or talk about the setup to a beer, enough.

Case in point. Yesterday I had a “Coast Malone” Hazy IPA from Humble Sea Brewing. Great beer, great label.

I then went to a Modern Times “Orderville” Hazy Mosaic IPA. I love this beer, a solid go-to and…it did not taste good.

Was it old? Nope, canned four weeks prior. What the hell then?

Maybe I got a bad batch. Oh well. Not the first time.

The next day, my first beer of the day is another Orderville from the same four-pack; it was excellent. Just like I know it to be. (Isn’t the Mosaic hop magic?)

So what’s going on? It has to be the Coast Malone setup from yesterday. By the way, I like to refer to what you eat/drank/breathed before a beer as the “setup”.

I know this clean palate thing is not a revaluation. Cleansing your palate is something we know we should do. But we don’t do it that often and forget how it affects our beer judgments.

On the Perfect Pour, we have a constant stream of Krispy Crackers going. But many taprooms don’t have this option. So what do you do when you’re out and about?

One thing you can do is completely switch beer styles on your next selection. Then go back to your preferred.

Water. Having a water is something. Not great, but definitely better than nothing (and you should be hydrating anyway).

Many times I do the ‘lick your hand’ trick. It looks weird but I do it. I probably should insert a video here of me licking the side of my hang by I think WordPress has some sorta standards for hand licking porn.

Let me know if you have any palate resetting tips for me in the comments.

Cheers to a clean setup!

Anatomy Of A Hangover

25 West IPA

The drinking started on an empty stomach. That was my first mistake.

I ate a packed lunch of salami, cheese, Cheese-Its, cookies and water (in that order) at 11:30 in the morning. Drank a diet soda around 3:00. Don’t be jealous of me.

Once off work, at 5:30, we went to a new beer bar by my house, Out Of The Barrel. Here was my playlist:

Beer One: 25 West from Moonraker Brewing.

  • Clear IPA
  • 6.6% ABV
  • I rated it a 4.
  • Full pour

Beer Two: Some Grass from Moonraker Brewing.

  • Hazy IPA
  • 7% ABV
  • I rated it a 4
  • Full pour

Beer Three: Unknown: It was either Yeastbound & Down from Moonraker, or Tiger Uppercut from Fieldwork (I guess I wasn’t paying close attention).

  • Hazy IPA
  • 8% or 8.5% ABV
  • Rated…4.2?
  • 12oz pour

The Out Of The Barrel drinking stops. There is some relaxing. I buy a four-pack of Humble Sea’s Coast Malone.

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