hopscotch #3

the wonderful, the darned good, the pretty good and the also-rans of hopscotch, according to moi

firstly, the beers i've had before and love, so i had them again!
efes dark
efes pilsner
rogue yellow snow
red truck limited steam
moylans double ipa
steamwhistle pilsner

the wonderful:
odell brewing ipa - 7% with simcoe and amarillo hops, out of colorado - this one has won awards, and i can see why!
caldera ipa - 6.1% with cascade hops, out of oregon
great divide double ipa - 85 ibs out of denver, colorado
stone's ruination ipa - 7.7%, 120 ibus - the stuff of legends i tell ya, legends!
stone's self-righteous ale - 8.7% - malty hoppy and makes you believe you could session it... but at 8.7% i think you'd hate yourself later if you did!
smuttynose ipa - their single ipa - delightful and deliciously hoppy
smuttynose big a ipa - their double ipa - just as delightful and even more hoppy... i might actually like the single better though...
ballast amber ale - perfectly hoppy - this is a non-ipa that makes me just as happy as an ipa - which makes it a thing of utter beauty!
la parcela #1 pumpkin ale - okay, not a fan of the pumpkin ales, but this one is soured!  it was fabulous - i'm a huge fan!!
kronenbourg blanc - who knew that i'd like a white beer? normally i run from them, but steve convinced me to try it, and i'm so glad i did.  nicely fruity, quite cloudy, but not wheaty at all.  i was refreshed!

the darned good:
eel river acai berry wheat - berryish and not wheat annoying to me, this is a very fine thing!
central city winter ale - apparently there is vanilla in there, but the hops balance it out so well that i couldn't taste it - yay - for a winter ale, this stuff is marvelous - its my new fave winter ale
victory prima pilsner - out of pennsylvania - i do love me a pilsner, and this was a stellar example!
tree raspberry porter - not overly fruity, nicely malty - for a fruit beer, i like it, i like it a lot!
alaskan smoked porter - reminiscent of a chipotle beer with its smokiness, but without the bite half way down the throat!  to make this one, they take the malt and smoke it in the smokehouse where salmon get smoked, giving it the essence of bacon.  strangely enough, it pairs well with smoked salmon i'm told - i'm a fan, bridget loved it.. try it!
mill street tankhouse ale - cascade hops in this pale ale make me a happy camper

the pretty good:
lagunitas brown shugga' - "sweet release" is right - its very hoppy at first, then its got a total brown sugar hit back.  enjoyable, but not sessionable
shipyard xxxx ipa - 9.25% - very drinkable, and if it was the first ipa i'd had all night, i woulda been a very happy camper, but as it was half way through the mix, it just didn't stand up to the rest of the high performers
shipyard ipa - too much of an english style ipa for me to love it
yukon ice fog ipa - 6% - not uber hoppy and that relegates it to pretty good for me
saranac ipa - out of utica ny - its alright, but not amazing.  again, probably the company it was keeping

also ran:
r&b spirit chaser porter - maybe my palate was wrecked by the time i got to this one, but it was insipid and i just couldn't find the coffee that allegedly is there
i must try this again some time, just to make sure...

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