Drinking to Extremes

No, I did not get blind drunk. You don't recover from that like you did when you were 25. This has to do with drinking beer at the extremes of taste. For the first time I tasted the 90 minute Indian Pale Ale from Dogfish Head, a regional brewery in Delaware with a very progressive philosophy. The "90 minute" in the name refers to the fact that the beer is continuously hopped during brewing (I believe) for 90 minutes. This makes for an unbelievably strong hop aroma and taste in the beer. This strong hop bitterness is balanced by a sweet and heavy malt flavor. This is no doubt a high gravity beer, and as such is probably a meal in a bottle, calorwise. The large amount of hops and grains used makes this an expensive beer as well; about $14 for four-pack in our area. The 90 minute IPA is a very complex beer with many aromas and flavors to take in, and overall I liked it very much (sorry Ken). It's one of those beers though that I can only drink one at a time, so it is more of a sipping beer than a drinking one.

Here comes the extreme part. The next day I attended a bonfire at a friend's home. Don't get me wrong, I like these people very much, but they don't really care what they are drinking. All that was available was Coors Light. The only thing I can say is that it tasted like slightly sweetened water in comparison to the 90 minute IPA. My tastebuds almost jumped off my tongue and left. Sorry if I sound like a snob...

Update on my wines: I am racking both the merlot and the sauvignon blanc this weekend. A couple more months left until bottling. I will be receiving some cabernet sauvignon juice from Chile at the end of April. My plan is to reserve some of this wine and the merlot and do some blending.