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Every brewery, back in the day, would celebrate not only anniversaries but also when they reached batch number milestones. You don’t see it as much anymore but MadeWest has their Batch 1000 out now, “a triple dry hopped triple hazy IPA featuring Citra, Nelson and Idaho 7 hops.” With “aromas of tangerine, pink cotton candy and ripe mango.”
I was lucky enough to steward at the Bruery competition for the Batch 1,000. I didn’t taste the eventual winner from Brian Pramov & Bryan Keas of Denver who won best in show. But I did taste a few contenders that tasted more Bruery-esque than what I find with this Cascadian Dark Rye Ale.
Not to intimate that this is a bad beer. It is a solid example of the dark IPA category. It just is not what I expect from the Placentia brewery. It is hoppy first with rye and chocolate behind it. Has a bright sparkle to it. It just doesn’t have the “house” taste to it. Maybe that is what drew the final judges to this beer. It drew me in for sure.
So I finished the Owen King book, Double Feature which I give a mild recommendation to and I am now up at night reading NOS4A2 by his sibling Joe Hill. The book jacket promises alternate universes which I am a sucker for. Oh and the whole good vs. evil thing is a draw as well.