Beer People

I stopped into a liquor store in a small town in Kansas passing through on a road trip to visit my daughter. I wanted to pick up something local. There was a guy there picking out some singles and I asked him if he had any recommendations. He pointed out a few, but showed me one he was buying that was one of his go-tos: Ethos Redux IPA from the Tallgrass Brewing Company line of the Wichita Brewing Company. As I finished picking out what I would buy, the guy stopped me and handed me one of the beers from the six pack he'd just bought, wanting me to try one of his favorites.

I was wearing my Treehouse shirt and mentioned that it was my local favorite. He'd heard of them, but never tried one. I happened to have one last Treehouse beer in my cooler in the car. I asked if he'd enjoy it as a thank you trade. His face lit up. I went out to the car and brought it back to him and he did happy little wiggle as he put it in his bag. The interaction was such a delight, so was the Ethos Redux IPA, with a nice bitterness and combination of caramel and bell peppers.

Fun Beer from an OG Brewery

Here on the East Coast we are used to a certain style of IPA; unimaginatively called the East Coast IPA. The whales come from Tree House and Trillium and of course, the original Heady Topper from Alchemist. There are so many newer breweries that are giving them a run for their money, but there is something special about the beers from these destination breweries.

On the West Coast, the OG of breweries is Russian River Brewing. They were the original destination brewery in California, known as the exemplar of the best the US IPA style could be until Alchemist came along with their East Coast version. They are best known for two of their everyday offerings: Blind Pig and more so Pliny the Elder. Even more, they are known for the long lines for their annual release of their triple IPA, Pliny the Younger.

They have a number of other great beers and tonight I enjoyed this Happy Hops IPA. Yummy. This is an unusual exemplar of the West Coast IPA style. (Yes, we have started to call these West Coast IPAs, although it seems like they have earned for IPA to mean West Coast style.)

Where East Coast tends to be cloudy and fruity, West Coast tends to be clear and piny (line pine cones; and probably where the Pliny name comes from) with a stronger bitter component. This is clear with a creamy head and the classic bitter components, albeit a little less that others I've had, but where I expect pine this has notes of caramel and even bell peppers, almost like a good German Marzen. Well worth a taste if you get to visit this destination brewery.