stephen55
Literotica Guru
- Joined
- Jan 6, 2010
- Posts
- 2,564
It's only Thursday but tomorrow's a holiday so I went out to my local grog shop to get a wee bit o' weekend tipple. I picked up a bottle of single malt, always appropriate for a religious holiday and two bottles of J. Lohr Cab-Sav, my wife's favorite red and a California red at that. "Yummy" as she calls it and a best seller around here. I'm almost at the checkout and I see something new. A beer I'd never seen before, Three Beavers....Imperial Red Ale and how can a guy like me not stop and have a look.
It's from Howe Sound Brewing Company in Squamish, BC, which is just down the road from Whistler, home of those winter Olympics. It's in a one liter bottle (call it a quart) with one of those old fashioned re-usable stoppers called a "pot-stopper". No preservatives, microbrewed from only the finest hops, barley, yeast and clean, fresh Canadian water, 7.5% alcohol (Why, in Canada, do we say that American beer is like making love in a canoe...because it's fucking close to water.) and it tastes as advertised, A strong, malty red ale with an aromatic Cascade hop nose.
I brought it home and chiller it slightly. (The way I figure it, most American beer is served ice cold because it's an easy way to kill the taste.) Then I poured about half into a proper beer mug (only Philistines drink beer from the bottle or can), admired the creamy pale brown head (when was the last time an American lite beer that was poured, kept a head?), took a generous quaff and once again, thanked the stars that I live in Canada.
Before anyone declares jihad against such an apostate as me, I take a beer vacation to the states every few years. The last one was to Colorado. By religiously avoiding anything made by Coors, me and the buds had a great time. Colorado has more quality small and microbreweries than any other place I've ever visited. Some of the pub breweries are so good they are sinful. The Boulder Beer Company was awesome. (Start with Potato Skins, have a Buff Burger, forget the fries, have the seasoned black beans and wash it down with their Sundance Amber Ale.)
But before I die I'm going back to the New Belgium Brewing Company in Fort Collins. Their mission statement...It starts with the Belgian brewing tradition of ignoring tradition. Their Liquid Center is not a pub in the traditional sense but they do put the "liquid" back in "liquid lunch".
Yes, Colorado and many other states have fine traditions of brewing suds. But when it comes to the best, the creme de la creme, the beer that makes Milwaukee envious (just about any thing), the numero uno, the beer that makes you cry whenever something else is made from barley...you have to travel to a small place in British Columbia, a little to the west of Salmon Arm, to a place with the improbable name of Tappen. Walk into the Barley Station Brewpub, have a seat at the bar, say your prayers and ask for a pint of The Hand of God.
It's from Howe Sound Brewing Company in Squamish, BC, which is just down the road from Whistler, home of those winter Olympics. It's in a one liter bottle (call it a quart) with one of those old fashioned re-usable stoppers called a "pot-stopper". No preservatives, microbrewed from only the finest hops, barley, yeast and clean, fresh Canadian water, 7.5% alcohol (Why, in Canada, do we say that American beer is like making love in a canoe...because it's fucking close to water.) and it tastes as advertised, A strong, malty red ale with an aromatic Cascade hop nose.
I brought it home and chiller it slightly. (The way I figure it, most American beer is served ice cold because it's an easy way to kill the taste.) Then I poured about half into a proper beer mug (only Philistines drink beer from the bottle or can), admired the creamy pale brown head (when was the last time an American lite beer that was poured, kept a head?), took a generous quaff and once again, thanked the stars that I live in Canada.
Before anyone declares jihad against such an apostate as me, I take a beer vacation to the states every few years. The last one was to Colorado. By religiously avoiding anything made by Coors, me and the buds had a great time. Colorado has more quality small and microbreweries than any other place I've ever visited. Some of the pub breweries are so good they are sinful. The Boulder Beer Company was awesome. (Start with Potato Skins, have a Buff Burger, forget the fries, have the seasoned black beans and wash it down with their Sundance Amber Ale.)
But before I die I'm going back to the New Belgium Brewing Company in Fort Collins. Their mission statement...It starts with the Belgian brewing tradition of ignoring tradition. Their Liquid Center is not a pub in the traditional sense but they do put the "liquid" back in "liquid lunch".
Yes, Colorado and many other states have fine traditions of brewing suds. But when it comes to the best, the creme de la creme, the beer that makes Milwaukee envious (just about any thing), the numero uno, the beer that makes you cry whenever something else is made from barley...you have to travel to a small place in British Columbia, a little to the west of Salmon Arm, to a place with the improbable name of Tappen. Walk into the Barley Station Brewpub, have a seat at the bar, say your prayers and ask for a pint of The Hand of God.
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