The night of the long (American) unknives:

By unknives, I mean 'beers'.

I went to my local beerwonderland small hometown Japanese beer store and picked up 12 lovely brews and one nice old time glass.
Most of the beers I bought were North American. West coast.
Good stuff.
I'm looking at a head-to-head tasting session, here.Sweet.

First up is one of my favourite beers.
Every time I go home, I pass through Heathrow or at least another London ariport.
I stop off at London for a day or two and stay with friends (Kev,James, Heulwen, etc- hey!). I almost always try to grab a bottle of this in the off liscence (beer shop). Great stuff.
From a world renowned brewery. Fullers.
One of London's finest, indeed the world. Fuller's London Pride:

A truly great London ale.

Malty. (7/10 on a 1to10 scale of maltiness)
Fruity. (6/10 on a similar scale for fruitiness - ladies, I measure a 10 - hang on, that doesn't soudn right. I mean I'm fruity in a good way and not in a "Im moreinterested in other men than ladies" sort of way. damn, screwed it up again)
Sweet but not too sweet (6/10). Slight tinge of nuts (but don't got there).
Great inviting aroma (8/10). Very warm comfy, homely smell.
Gentle taste and enveloping like the embrace of a welcoming family.

7/10.

A good beer.

Okay, taste buds wettened - what's next?

Gentlemen, start your engines...

Now, mention American microbrews, or quality beer producers, and you willl probably hear 'Oregon' at least once. This state has probably the most beer companies (and good ones at that) than any place on earth (besides Beeropolis, the imaginary beer city in my mind - where every hour is happy hour and livers and kidneys never die).
I've managed to find a few West Coast US microbrew, super, awesome, sweet uber beers to taste test tonight.
First up is... (drum roll)...

Inversion's IPA:

More a maple, nutty, soft caramel color than the usual hazelnut brown. The bottle says it tastes citrusy, with a generous portion of Northwest hops.
The second stage hopping is totally evident. Very, very bitter taste (8/10 for bitterness level). Perhaps citrus, but the bitterness ties in with that and dominates. Also a floral bouquet/taste. but highly hopped (7-8/10).
Not a bad beer. contender for a real British IPA, rather than a weak fruity 'American IPA' pretender(?). Wow.
Deserves respect.
Not everyone will like or appreciate this beer.

6.5/10.

Not exactly my cup of tea. If you like hoppy, bitter brews, give this a try.



Next is a lovely brew.

Stone Brewing's Pale Ale.

A gorgeous brew from North County, san Diego.
Absolutley lovely. My other experiences of Stone beers have eben happy ones. Although all the beers have eben generously hopped, this one is different.
A great balance of hops (6), malts(7), bitterness (6.5) and smoothness (7) (in that nothing especially dominates). A veritabel session beer. something to be quaffed but not neccessarily in haste. No, this is to be savored, not quenched.
It will not qeunch your thirst, only leave you gagging for more of the same. Best beer for me so far, tonight. Good balance.
Good stuff.

8/10.
Stone Brewing's usual far that I've tried are very highly hopped and totally flavorsome, dude!
But this one has a delicate balance which is refreshing, yet maintains a ghost of hoppiness n the aftertaste. Good stuff.

Here's the glass I picked up yesterday evening
(it's now Sat afternoon -I fell asleep)

Great glass.

Since waking up, I've had 2 nice dark beers. This leads me to the next blog entry...

Did you know that I'm quite a stout hearted guy?