6.8% abv
I've had Red Rocket before, but never blogged about it. And I don't recall it being so interesting. Overall impression is this is a fantastic combination of a red ale, brown ale, and a hoppy pale ale. It has a very thick, unfiltered body with lots of floaties. A tremendous amount of floaties actually:
At first, I was surprised by the hoppy notes. But that appears to be a distinctive feature of this "bastardized Scottish style red ale." It really does have a great combination of brown nuttiness, typical amber bitterness, and some wonderful hoppy flavors. Very good, and very unique!
C'
The Mexican surprised me with an early anniversary gift, a new little Netbook. Specifically a Dell Inspiron Mini 10. They have had them on discount recently, and apparently me mentioning that was a great hint. An added bonus is this seems to be one of the only computers made that still uses Windows XP. Vista sucked so bad on our last computer (which we cleaned off pretty quickly) and I wasn't looking forward to Windows 7.
The keyboard isn't much smaller, and I love the fact it is 2.8 pounds.
C'
12oz.
4.6% abv.
This is a very interesting wheat beer. It starts off pretty normal, pours normal, good head etc. But then it gets interesting. It has a very mild sweet body that continues to grow slightly sweeter through the end. I don't mind it, but it is rather unusual for a wheat. At least in my rather small world of wheat tasting over the years.
C'
12oz.
no alc. given
A very refreshing and crisp Pale Ale from Lagunitas. Great color and head after pouring, with a nice mellow carbonation. For a Pale Ale, this is very well balanced. That of course means lots of great hop nose, hop body, and a very hoppy finish. But...the hoppy finish doesn't turn particularly bitter it just tapers off with minimal bite. Even the Mexican noted its relative lack of bitterness.
Overall, a very good Pale Ale. Nice job Lagunitas!
C'
12oz
8.0 abv
And yes, the cold weather driveability has been fixed thanks to a new
fuel filter.
I've had the Broken Halo before, but never blogiphicated about it.
This a very crisp IPA with great hoppy taste and flavors throughout.
Even the aftertaste keeps some strong hop notes without ever getting
bitter. Just a nice clean IPA that I would drink anytime.
I am loving this IPA! Tons of wonderful hop aroma lead to a hearty
body of hops and hops and hops. I figured this would generate a
typically bitter aftertaste, but instead the bitterness tails off
quickly into a very smooth and sweet almost honey-like flavor. There
is no mention of honey or sweetness on the label description, so maybe
this is an annomly. If so I'm happy for it, because this is rather
tastey!
A bottle fermented and USDA organic wheat, this wiesen was an
interesting mix of a typical euro green bottle beer and a light
wheat. Meaning very light, a touch sour, and pretty average overall.
I finished it off just fine, but it was pretty forgetful.
I've had Hoppy Face at the Chico Brewfest, and enjoyed it. Being an
amber and hoppy means this offering packs some punch. Lots of hops
throughout with a fair amount of bitterness in the body and aftertaste.
Susan nearly gagged, so that means the hops did their job!
Another great offering from Lagunitas, this strong and dark ale is
proving a nice partner for my taquitous. Very mild nose, but a good
maltyness on the front end. Nothing jumps out at you, except how well
balanced and smooth it is. Also, it has a strong sense about it,
without having that hot alcohol flavor. Btw, wonderful color and
clingyness.
Thanks Lagunitas!
Not really. Big Hank is in for some repairs and maintenance, so I got a brand new Ranger on loan. No offense to Ranger owners, but what a POS. You'd think Ford could update the Ranger sometime in the last two decades. But hey, at least they have the el cheapo small truck market cornered, right?
UPDATE: I spent some more time in the Ranger during lunch, running on the hwy and in Chico. It rides quite rough, and makes a lot of road and engine noise. However, Im surprised how peppy it is. They apparently stuffed the Focus motor into the Ranger sometime in the past couple years, very recently put in a 5spd auto. It has very nice close gearing for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. Like the kind of close gearing most sporty cars would love to have. It also has a great overdrive and lockup feature on the torque converter. So it acts like it has 6 gears out on the road. This would be a fine little commuter truck, and would probably tow the FV just fine on flat ground. But Im looking forward to getting Big Hank back.
BTW, Big Hank apparently suffered a broken RF leaf spring and a bad shocks. Along with bad axle seals. Glad Im not paying that repair bill.
Lagunitas Brown Shugga' Sweet Release
12oz.
9.84% abv
