beernesday

made it to cask night at the railway club on tuesday it was a dry-hopped with tomahawk pale ale by russell brewing i honestly have no idea how i feel about this cask definitely drinkable some haze, nice head, amazing nose tastes like a pale ale that has been dry-hopped you know, hoppy and malty but there's just something about it that i can't make up my mind about do i love it? do i hate it?  am i indifferent to it? i have no idea how's that for a review? that's what i'm here for folks - clarity and articulation yup, umm hmm but all was not lost i kept drinking i thought that was the best way to deal with my weird taste buds had a phillips hop circle at the railway then lagunitas ipa and acme ipa at malones followed by central city red racer at rogue (sounds a bit like the pub crawl for ipa day doesn't it? but nope, just any old tuesday night in vancouver...) my palate recalibrated itself and all was right in my world thank dog! 

last tuesday at the railway was russell's dry-hopped pale ale the label on the cask said it used tomahawk hops at first, i found it quite delightful an overly hopped pale ale, just like i like 'em but as i got further down my pint the sediment and bitterness got to me very glad i tried it but not on my top 10 list of "casks i have loved" thursday at the yaletown was a lavender stout i was told when i got there to have a taster before i ordered a pint and good advice that turned out to be the nose was all lavender think pot pourri and that's pretty much how it tasted too i thought i would give it a further chance and have some after the ipa you know, all beers taste different depending on what went before them across the palate... but after the ipa the stout got lost and it was all lavender undaunted, i tried mixing the cask with the ipa can't say i suggest this to anyone else brewers iain and cory iain was very good-humoured about ...

i managed to hit two cask nights this week and both of them were ipas!! first up, monday at st. augustine's russell brewing's ip'eh dry-hopped with tomahawk: not too surprisingly it was sedimenty as heck the nose was amazingly hoppy but it was pretty thin in the glass more the idea of hops than the actual bitterness secondly, thursday at yaletown brewpub iain hill's brick and beam ipa with centennial hops: again, dry-hopping gave it an amazing citrus hop nose but the glass contents were a little less robust than that nose very enjoyable, don't get me wrong but darnit, i want it to taste like it smells! however, if you float some of the stout on it, its a brilliant cascadian dark ale! thanks rod for coming up with that one! i had been looking forward to having a pint of the seasonal ufg pilsner (which i enjoyed so much on the vcbw pub crawl) but they had just run out at the game on wednesday night bummer for me, but a sign that vancouverites...

next up is moylan 's hopsickle imperial ale its triple hopped! so i'm very much looking forward to some incredible hoppy goodness! not an ipa, it is quite balanced between the intense hops and its malts quite the big head on a vigourous pour hoppy nose dark caramel colour 9.2% (yay!) the bottle and the website say: "This is a "Hop" tribute, worthy of a King's Imperial Court! Enjoy the blast of fresh Tomahawk, Cascade and Centennial Hops as they stimulate the taste buds in a truly imperial fashion. Pucker Up!" "“Prohibition in this country ended our brewing tradition,” Moylan explained. “Budweiser and a few others moved in fast and captured many of the larger markets. Now we’re entering into a new phase of beer brewing. I think you’ll see it continue to grow.” In fact the craft brewing market share grew by 7% in 2004."

here for your reading pleasure is my real time reviews of Swans Extra IPA and Moylan's Hopsickle Imperial Ale. didn't have a great day today, so its a two beer review this time folks!  and two heavy hitters!  the extra ipa is 6.8% and the moylan's is 9.2%.  forget what ails you! swans was incredibly carbonated and heady.  unfiltered, so kinda cloudy.  had kind of a belgian lager taste to it to me... you know, on the sour yeasty side...  definitely not my favourite flavour... so not my new favourite ipa.  would i drink it again if you bought it for me?  for sure.  would i drink it instead of coors light - doubly for sure.  will i buy another big bottle for myself?  doubtful. i find the hopsickle a little on the malty side... drinkable for sure, but one the malty side for me.  good head, some lace remaining... live yeast, so its a bit sedimenty and cloudy.  the alcohol is nicely tempered though, it just feels a little...