Bear Republic Cafe Racer 15 at Kite & Key

A week ago Thursday, Kite & Key did a small tap takeover with a bunch of Bear Republic beers. With the exception of Tartare, all of them were still on tap when I made my weekly visit on Tuesday. At least I'm pretty sure that's true. I did manage to stop in last Friday to get Tartare, though, which is still as awesome as I remember. Some people on BeerAdvocate are arguing with me that it is too sour, but they are just wusses. I chose Cafe Racer 15 for my beer on Tuesday which is a double IPA.

Sugary sweet, melon like nose. Not malty sweet for the most part, more just sugar based. The body had a similar melon sweetness with some light earthy notes in the back. A bit thicker than most IPAs but somehow still a bit dry at least in the beginning. Hops and sweetness was nice through most of the glass, but there was a boozy quality to it that grew a little cloying as I drank more. By the end, the 9%+ ABV wasn't anywhere near as well hidden. Still, depending on what you are looking for in a double IPA, this was decent enough.

Avery 20th Anniversary

Just a short post today and it's honestly more of an excuse to post a fun picture than really talk about the beer. This is from a visit to Kite & Key Jo and I took quite a few weeks ago so I don't remember much about the Avery 20th Anniversary Double IPA other than that it was a fine beer. You won't be disappointed ordering it but it definitely didn't blow me away or anything. However, I like this picture and didn't want it to go to waste.

If you expand it, you can see Pax just chilling there on the right, all asleep and comfortable. So, yes, if you're wondering, this is just an excuse to post a picture of my child. Sue me! At least I'm not tweeting pictures of him, all day everyday like some people. Right?

Trophy Brewing in Raleigh, NC

After drinking quite a bit at a very good bar, The Busy Bee, for my friend's rehearsal dinner, I decided the mile walk to Trophy brewing would do me some good. Turned out I was right since the walk was easy and it let me sober up a bit before getting there. I wasn't sure what to expect but Trophy looks like a small store front with a bar in the front and probably a large back room for the brewing area.

When I got there, probably around 10:30pm on a Friday, there were a couple of seats at the bar so I sat myself down and ordered a 30 Fathoms, a Baltic Porter. I had been excited to try their Rosemary Gose but it unfortunately had kicked the day before. Oh well.

Recent Trip to Tired Hands

This post is overdue but that's okay. It had been like a month or two since I went to Tired Hands and I knew that had been too long. Plus, they just had their first bottle release and I needed to go to pick mine up anyway. So, win win. With the release just happening, there was a lot of talk about one of their new beers, The Light that Spills out of the Hole in your Head. And, yes, I randomly capitalized some parts of that name since I couldn't decide how to write it. You'll just have to live with my grammatical decisions. Sorry! The Light was a double IPA brewed with orange peel I believe. Maybe some other stuff, too, but I don't remember. I'm so helpful.

Tired Hands!

I haven't made a trip to Tired Hands in forever but finally made up for it last Thursday. I'm going later today too actually but that's unrelated to this post. I arrived a little before five and the downstairs bar was already filling up with a few people sitting at the tables. Seems like they are doing pretty well which is awesome. I'm certainly hoping so as it's just getting better and I can't wait to see how things continue to progress.

I started with one of the newer beers, Slava Oner, a Kvass, which is a style I've never had. I'm unsure how to actually pronounce that style but I just pronounce the K and V and move on with my life. I'm sure that's wrong somehow but whatever.

Victory Ranch R at Kite & Key

Stopped in at Kite & Key yesterday and was happy to find quite a few beers from Saturday's Craft Beer Express still available. I wasn't able to go this year so missed out on a few things but there was still tons of Victory left. I settled on the Ranch R, a double IPA, as I've heard good things about it.

Really enjoyable nose. Very clean and bright with tons of orange citrus. The beginning sips had some nice balance with a mix of some caramel sweetness and a little lemony bitterness. As I drank more, it became quite a bit more piney and earthy. Interesting change, that's for sure. Kept that way through the rest of the glass with the citrus basically fading out. Pretty good double IPA.

Alpine Exponential Hoppiness

Over the weekend, I drank a bottle of Alpine Exponential Hoppiness. This is from a real small brewery outside of San Diego and came by way of my friend Matt Rittenberg. He was nice enough to give me one of the bottles his friend sent to him. Exponential is a triple IPA coming in at 11%.

Incredibly clean citrus orange nose with a hint of caramel. Jo thought it was super strong smelling but I didn't see it. Well, smell it. She does tend to be way more sensitive than me though. Huge orange juice body with a blast of citrus up front, more orange hanging around with just a bit of bitterness coming through at times. The aftertaste is mostly bitterness, not sweet even with the fact that the body isn't that dry. No alcohol that I could find for the most part though it felt a bit like alcoholic orange juice. Very impressive mix of sweet and dryness that never became cloying. Just delicious and excellent use of hops. I imagine it's amazing when it's even fresher. Thanks Matt!

Wrecking Bar Brewpub in Atlanta

I recently had to go to Atlanta for work and what does that mean? It means I find somewhere sweet to eat dinner the first night! After a little research on BeerAdvocate, I settled on the Wrecking Bar brewpub because I love brewpubs and it had quite a few positive reviews. Turns out it was also two blocks from my friend's apartment so that worked out real well.

After a long cab ride from the airport followed by a short walk, I arrived in the Little Five Points area of the city and the Wrecking Bar. Nice looking place, smallish bar with about fifteen seats. A decent number of tables too. Not a ton of people were there when I walked in around 6 but it was a Tuesday and it did fill up during the few hours I was there though. The first thing I did was order a flight which came with six of their nine or so beers.

Wing & Beer at Capone's

It's been a long time since Jo and I visited Capone's and with 25 cent wings and an early Eagles football game, we knew Sunday would be a good time. After a bunch of terrible traffic on 76 (surprise suprise), we arrived and grabbed seats at the bar. A few people were already there, but there was still plenty of space even just a few minutes before the game. After looking through the draft list, I decided to just get some full glasses instead of my usual flight. I went with the new Neshaminy Creek Leon S'Mores Imperial Stout to start things off.

Stone 16th Anniversary

Stopped by Kite & Key yesterday and went with the Stone 16th Anniversary, a Double IPA made with lemon verbena, some rye, and a mix of different hops. If you want more info, just go here to Stone's website and read all about it.

Citrus nose, pretty bright and fresh. Some caramel, pine, citrus, and an herbal spice character that must be the lemon verbena. It was sweeter than I usually expect from a Stone IPA but the finish was still full of a lingering bitterness. Decent enough and worth ordering to check it out once. The herbal quality was certainly interesting.

Troegs Perpetual IPA

This is the last of the three IPAs that I recently bought. Technically, Troegs likes to call it an Imperial Pale Ale instead of Double IPA, but it's really the same thing. It's hoppy and mildly strong so yeah.

Pineapple fruity nose that hints at some bitterness. Body is what you'd expect. Started with some of the same fruitiness then some bitterness appeared. In the finish, though, at least at first, is an interesting, almost bread-like quality. It's not the same pure bitter finish I get from other IPAs but is a nice change. Maybe that's why Troegs likes to try to pretend it's a slightly different style. As I drank more that actually mostly went away as the pineapple fruit flavor and bitterness grew.

As a side note, Perpetual IPA originally came out in 22oz bottles same as Hoptimum and then when it went year round, Troegs moved to 12oz bottles.

Sierra Nevada Hoptimum

I want to say this is the third year of Hoptimum, but maybe it's the second, I'm not real sure. I do know it's the first year of it being in 12oz bottles instead of 22oz and as always I applaud the small bottle decision. Smaller bottles are just so much easier to drink by yourself especially when the beer is a 10% Double IPA.

Lemony citrus nose, nice smelling. A bit sharp up front then a mix of citrus, bitter, and a touch of burning alcohol. Those flavors all stick around through each sip. The finish had a light burning sweetness and some lingering alcohol. As I drank more, the 10% edge came and went but so did some orange citrus. At this point, I think my bottles may be almost 3 months old so maybe fresher the alcohol is a bit more hidden. Still, I liked it well enough to drink three bottles in a week so even slightly old I still thought it was good.

Yards Cape of Good Hope

This year's Cape of Good Hope has been out for a little over a month now and boy is it delicious. Last year, I stopped by the brewery for a growler and finished it all in one day, but this year I instead went the bottle route. Glad I did as I quite liked this Double IPA.

Pleasant tropical fruit nose, very clean and no bitterness to be found. Decent body, not too thick but not thin either. Things started off with more sweet tropical fruit, followed by some caramel in the middle, and then finished up slightly bitter. Never got too bitter because of the sweetness and the tropical fruit lasted throughout the whole glass. Just really tasty and I'm already looking forward to next year's version! Also, after reading last year's write-up, guess I liked this year's more. Could be my palate, could be a different recipe. Who knows.

Great Lakes Lake Erie Monster at Kite & Key

Stopped in at the Kite & Key on Monday like usual. This time, though, I had some trouble deciding on what to drink. It was either Maine Brewing Co. Peeper or the Great Lakes Lake Erie Monster. After trying a sample of each, I decided to go with the Great Lakes though it was also partially because I didn't feel like drinking a whole pint. I also got to see the end of the women's Olympic soccer match between the US and Canada. Man, what a finish.

Pretty sweet nose with a hint of citrusy hops. Thick body, even for a double IPA. Probably a result of the larger than average sweetness. Tasted like orange juice mixed with some sugary malt sweetness and finished with some really light bitterness. Definitely sweet for a double IPA though so if you're looking for a hop bomb, look elsewhere. Otherwise, it was pretty tasty.

Avery Maharaja

Stopped at the Kite & Key yesterday with Jo and ordered an Avery Maharaja, a double IPA.

Nice clean grapefruit and pineapple nose. The fruit starts, followed by a light bitterness, and finishing with some caramel sweetness. There was a a lingering dry bitterness to it, keeping the caramel from overpowering the hops and the whole thing from being too sweet. Considering it's over 10%, this was quite impressive in not being too alcoholic or tasting particularly strong. Definitely a good double IPA for me.

Three Floyds Dreadnaught

Three Floyds isn't available in Philly as it doesn't get distributed here, but last weekend I was able to get a glass of their Dreadnaught, a double IPA, at a local establishment. Now, they were doing their best to keep it on the down low so I won't name the place but, well, it's not hard to figure it out if you really want to. I'll admit the draft was definitely a bit expensive but it's not available around here so I was willing to pay for one glass.

Great grapefruit nose with some light bitterness. The first sip followed with sweet grapefruit up front then some bitterness. I was happily surprised that the finish was quite dry despite the sweetness. I can see why people go out of their way for this one in its normal markets. Quite a good double IPA.

Port Anniversary Ale at Kite & Key

With the end of Philly Beer Week comes my return to Tuesdays at Kite & Key. This week I ordered a glass of Port Anniversary Ale, a double IPA.

Juicy grapefruit nose. Not super bright but it's very clean and inviting. Started bitter followed by some grapefruit and a caramel sweetness. A bit bitter and dry in the finish though not too bad. An enjoyable double IPA, at least for one glass. The sweetness may grow a bit much after more than one but who drinks something twice in a row? Crazy people, that's who, so it's not really a big deal.

Philly Beer Week Day 6: Tired Hands

After our busy fifth day of beer week, Jo and I were originally going to take Wednesday off. Well, mostly off as I was still going to get one drink, but then the Friday before, it was announced that the Tired Hands cafe was finally opening! Immediately I said so much for our day off, time to go to Ardmore!

When I arrived the first floor bar was about three quarters full but still plenty of room for me. I took a seat and ordered my first beer, EWBANH (apparently Everything was Beautiful and Nothing Hurt), their India Black Coffee Saison.

Dark Horse Double Crooked Tree

I've had regular Crooked Tree before, which is a 6% or so regular IPA, and Super Juice, which is a 16% monster, but I haven't had a chance to try Double Crooked Tree yet. So, it was nice to finally pick up a few bottles and be able to try it in the comfort of my own home.

Sweet fruity nose with a decent amount of pine bitterness in it. Whiff of alcohol but not too strong and not unexpected. Shockingly enough, no sweetness at all in the first sip. Instead, it was quite bitter with some hoppy resin flavor. Finished pretty dry with more bitterness. No real hint of the 13% ABV. Kind of an amazing beer especially if you like that resiny hops. I'm amazed they fit all that bitterness into it without much sweetness being apparent especially as Super Juice, it's bigger brother, was pretty sweet when I had it last year. Really well done though I shouldn't be surprised as Dark Horse is quite good at these high ABV beers.

Green Flash Palate Wrecker

There were actually a few things on draft yesterday at the Kite & Key that I could have chosen, but I decided to go with the Green Flash Palate Wrecker. Considering I haven't liked most of the hoppy Green Flash stuff before, I'm not sure why I chose it but the sample I had seemed decent so I went with it.

Very bright pineapple nose. Not too hoppy smelling though there is some bitterness there. Medium bodied, not thick but not thin either. Started with pineapple mixed with some grapefruit and finished with a decent amount of bitterness. Luckily, fresh at least, the fruit notes from the hops overpowered the bitterness because there was no sweetness at all in this one. The bitterness isn't too astringent like some of their others which helps too. Definitely wrecks your palate so it's aptly named at least.

I also should mention that there is going to be another Savage Sixtel Sunday at the Kite & Key this coming Sunday (April 22nd). Possible appearance of the Dogfish Head Randall plus other fun stuff!