Last night...

Had another great night at the Porterhouse last night. Started with The Wise ESB from Elysian Brewing in Seattle (actually, to be completely accurate, I started with a sample of Elysian's Pilsner, which was surprisingly hoppy for a pils, but still didn't hit the spot for me) which I heartily enjoyed. The Wise is an ale the keeps moving up and down on my scale. Some days I love it and rank it as one of the most enjoyable ESBs to be had; other days I find it severely lacking, it's over-malty, under-hopped, and doesn't seem well balanced. Last night was one of the former. The Wise was refreshing, balanced, clean, and wonderfully cool.

After that, I moved on to a pint of Lagunitas IPA. Lately, I've been feeling that Lagunitas can do no wrong. It started with my first sniff of Kill Ugly Radio, which holds the title of "Best Smelling Beer in the World." Like walking through a giant field of fresh hops on a clear day hours after a strong rainfall. A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of discovering the Maximus Imperial IPA, which is also a wonderful smelling beer, and a great flavor to boot. So last night, I could not pass up the clean, filtered IPA. A session IPA of great quality, it was a delightful second beer.

Because it was a crazy day, and because I knew I didn't have to drive home, I then moved on to a half pint of Boundary Bay's Oatmeal Stout. I don't normally like dark ales in the middle of July, but Boundary can do no wrong. It was joyfully hearty and reminded me that I want to drink that beer for breakfast some day.

Next, a half-pint of Flyer's IPA. The more I drink it, the less I like it. Unbalanced hop, leaving lots of bitterness, high IBU's to be sure, but no FLAVOR!!! I'm not done giving it a chance, but I'm done recommending it.

The highlight of the night came with the truest beer of all, the closer of closers, the beer that Jesus himself would brew: Boundary Bay IPA. Here's to you, Boundary Bay! May your hops grow bold and floral, and may your grapefruits be ever bitter and fresh!

-Joe