Between Sierra Nevada Hoptimum Imperial IPA and Texas Pecan Pie, who needs a Valentine?

It's Valentine's Day blah blah blah shards. Real Men (*citation needed) spend a Bromantic Night drinking beer, eating pie, bottling delicious home brew and enjoying the company of a couch surfing friend Evan - who has spent the last two months on the Mexican Coast living in a beach tent and is currently regaling us with stories which make me want to call him names like "jerk face," "asshole," "god damn you," and "sure you don't need a party buddy?" (real friends don't let other friends party with beautiful strangers, duh).

And my first valentine Momma Davis sent her favorite fat kid a Pecan Pie. That's Texas love. 

So good once it touches the lips

David purchased this after tasting it at the Whole Foods Beer Festival and it is phenomenal.  This is up in the pantheon of Double IPA's alongside Stone Ruination. Classic Sierra Nevada body with an incredibly smooth but incredibly hoppy flavor. There's an interesting bite in the middle of my sip, like a hop spike, that's fleeting and adds an interesting characteristic to the taste.

This is DANK. It is Original Gangster Dank. It's 10.4% alcohol (which I don't taste at all) and it's over 100 IBU's. I mean, wow. Shenanigans. I'm pulling my hair out in delight. BAD BOYS rating. Seriously, pick it up.


If I can get off that boner coaster, David and I bottled our second home brew together, the Belgian IPA. We knew from tasting it during the primary to secondary fermentation transfer, that the brew is still a working recipe and we need to step up the malt/fermentables for the next batch.

With our tasting today, we forecast the brew to be 'pretty decent.' It's not there yet because the hops to malt ratio isn't where we want it, so it'll be pretty hoppy but hopefully not overwhelmingly so. I'm also crossing my fingers that the bottle conditioning / carbonation will bring out the hop aroma, because it's not very strong right now. The greatest surprise is the beer's clarity. It's fantastic and I couldn't ask for anything clearer. It's pretty close to a Houblon Chouffe:

 

This result is from either the wort cooler I picked up before the last batch or the Fascist-isque temperature control in my room, or both. Regardless, I'm proudly pleased with the final product. Two Mondays from now we'll taste and see what's in store. Best Valentine's Day in a long, long time.