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Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Vote Best in Show at OBF
Inspired by a comment below, here's a poll for best-in-show at the OBF. I've made it multiple choice so that we can see the range of beers getting love (and not). I also added an "other" category, so fill that in if I missed your fave.
You always know which way the hopheads are going to go… no surprise the Pliny takes the lion's share, but much like any (double) IPA I found it unpalatable… maybe not as acrid as the Madman Jack's (which I had at the Hillsdale brewfest, and was astounded to hear it won), but definitely not agreeable to my tongue/throat/stomach.
Preferring Belgians myself, I was taken aback by the Hopcask Triple Tripel - not only for how hoppy (floral) it was, but also (despite that) how smooth and rather true to the flavor (somewhere, back there) of an Americanized Tripel (Cascade's Triple Tempter and Allagash's Curieux amongst my favorites… I hope their Tripel Reserve measures up).
I am a sucker for anything barrel-aged (the Love Fish Abbey Dubbel disappointed in that regard this year), but it seems to work miracles on hoppy beers, especially combined with cask-conditioning… they seem to strip the bitter from the floral. Cascade did something similar with their imperial IPA earlier this year, and Ninkasi with their Tricerahops at the Horse Brass earlier this month… all of a sudden I am a newfound (provisional) hophead, but I still didn't like the Pliny. However, given Russian River's penchant for barrels… I'd hope to see something similar in the near future.
I'm also a sucker for anything strong - barleywines, imperial porters/stouts, some imperial IPA's - and I would have loved to try New Holland's Dragon's Milk, but it was out both times I went (Thursday and Saturday, both late unforunately). That just adds to the disappointment…
You always know which way the hopheads are going to go… no surprise the Pliny takes the lion's share, but much like any (double) IPA I found it unpalatable… maybe not as acrid as the Madman Jack's (which I had at the Hillsdale brewfest, and was astounded to hear it won), but definitely not agreeable to my tongue/throat/stomach.
ReplyDeletePreferring Belgians myself, I was taken aback by the Hopcask Triple Tripel - not only for how hoppy (floral) it was, but also (despite that) how smooth and rather true to the flavor (somewhere, back there) of an Americanized Tripel (Cascade's Triple Tempter and Allagash's Curieux amongst my favorites… I hope their Tripel Reserve measures up).
I am a sucker for anything barrel-aged (the Love Fish Abbey Dubbel disappointed in that regard this year), but it seems to work miracles on hoppy beers, especially combined with cask-conditioning… they seem to strip the bitter from the floral. Cascade did something similar with their imperial IPA earlier this year, and Ninkasi with their Tricerahops at the Horse Brass earlier this month… all of a sudden I am a newfound (provisional) hophead, but I still didn't like the Pliny. However, given Russian River's penchant for barrels… I'd hope to see something similar in the near future.
I'm also a sucker for anything strong - barleywines, imperial porters/stouts, some imperial IPA's - and I would have loved to try New Holland's Dragon's Milk, but it was out both times I went (Thursday and Saturday, both late unforunately). That just adds to the disappointment…