This Almanac Beer Co “Love Hazy IPA” is just 68 days old. It tastes way older than that.
It’s normally a good beer (I have had it before), a great brewer, it was stored cold (in the grocery store at least), so, even being a hazy, it should still taste fine.
It doesn’t. It tastes like it’s 6 to 7 months old. I think I am to blame.
I usually don’t have a hazy (or any pale or IPA really, past 30 days). This has ruined me for grocery shelf beer.
Under three months should totally be fine for any beer, but it isn’t for me. I am broke. It’s either start drinking older beers to re-calibrate my palate so I can enjoy beer that isn’t SUPER fresh. Or choose violence and exclusively drink super fresh beers.
I choose violence.
A PLEDGE!: If a hazy is past 31 days, I no longer will buy it.
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:
It’s #NationalIPADay ! What are your top 5 IPAS? Mine are: 1. Sierra Nevada Celebration 2. BKS Counterculture series 3. Boulevard Grainstorm (miss u) 4. Alma Mader Smooth Cone 5. Bell’s Two Hearted Ale
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!
