Legendary Beer: Could Pliny The Younger actually be as perfect as it's purported to be?

Friday night after a tour of the Speakeasy Brewery, I joined Jay and company for dinner at La Trappe. I walked into the belgian bar and restaurant to discover that the beer fairy had been their recently and left a keg of a brew I never thunk would have the possibility to taste. Well I thunk wrong. Of all the beer bars in the world, I walked into the right one. Pliny The Younger was on tap for only $8.

Why is this such a big deal? While the highly rated Pliny The Elder is relatively available in well regarded beer bars across the West Coast, Russian River only makes the Younger once a year and in small amounts. It's available at a select few beer bars for a limited time (for only 2 weeks at the brewery), and it isn't bottled. If the Westvleteren 12 is the Cup of Christ for Belgian Beers, the Younger is the Holy Grail of IPA's. Why? Because it's rated...

Which explains my reaction:

The happiest of faces on the happiest of men.

Hallelujah! Hallllllelujuah! Ohhh Gloooria. I can't believe I had found it! There was a happy dance involved too, but sadly there's no footage available. Naturally like any good friend, the first thing I did was text David and Karl and unnecessarily gloat at my blind luck. Then I got down to brass tacks and tasted my second bucket list beer in as many months (Bruery's Black Tuesday in December being the other).

My first sip yielded goodness but not greatness, which surprised me. But then the wheels started to turn. Beer nerds speak of Pliny The Younger as if they are Ponce de Leon seeking the Fountain of Youth. The proportion of people speaking about it in hushed tones vs. those who have actually had it are very lopsided, which leads to exorbitantly high expectations. Regarding my first sip of the Younger, I had heard so much about its greatness that in my head, I was expecting to be either cured of cancer, live forever, or if I was really lucky, magically transform into Sam Malone. But what I've learned from tasting beers like the Westie and Black Tuesday is that you have to reign in your assumptions, break down the different elements of the beer (malt, hops, aroma, body, etc) and take the beer as a beer, not Unobtainium.

Cheers owner Sam Malone's Fountain of Youth

The Younger has a beautiful hop infused aroma that is both fruity and piney. The malt is smooth and almost creamy, and as the beer warms the hops flavors really shine. It does not cure cancer but it is basically a perfectly balanced beer and at 11%, this is an incredible feat. There is little or no trace of alcohol even as the beer nears room temperature. So do I agree this beer deserves a perfect 100 point rating? Yes. A hundred times yes. The Younger is a Triple IPA (which is unheard of, style wise) and so this beer must have an incredibly high IBU. In the hands of lesser brewers, the intense bitterness would most likely overwhelm the malt body and compete with the alcohol. Instead, all the ingredients are as perfectly balanced as I could perceive and result in a sublime symphony of flavor. BAD BOYS rating.

And yes, I had two glasses. When will I ever have a chance to drink the nectar of the gods again? It was glorious. Thank you La Trappe for being awesome.

La Trappe Quadrupel combines the best of the trappes

David and I are only days away from wrapping up the year and we're about to do our last 12:01 next day beer of the year, but first, the final chapter from La Trappe, the 10% Quadrupel. God I love me some quadruples! COMPLEXITYYYYYY

Sweet, sweet caramel mixes it up with all sorts of characters in this fellow including breads, figs raisins and a very unique Belgian yeast flavor. It's as if the monks combined the characteristics of their dubbel and tripel into their opus. The various flavors smoothly mix together under some fantastic carbonation. This is a beer of kings, something to buy and sip on after a job well done. Pat yourself on the back, kick off your shoes and have a La Trappe Quadruple. THE ROCK rating.

La Trappe Tripel fails to curb my enthusiasm for blondes

So maybe you're unfortunately not a subscriber HBO, or maybe you receive HBO and are simply not an avid viewer of the 7th season of the acclaimed CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM, which in case you're just plain silly. If you are the latter, do yourself a favor and watch this season through On Demand. It's probably the best season yet and I've laughed hard enough during the last two episodes to make my sides split like a tauntaun in Empire Strikes Back. Here's a clip from the funniest show I've seen in a long time, that garnered the highest ratings in the show's history. It may seem graphic, but settle down and curb that incredible feeling of awkwardness that rises up inside you and allow that laugh you don't feel coming to happen. And it will:

While catching up on the latest and greatest Larry, David and I pour out the 2nd La Trappe, an 8% tripel.

The beer pours a patchy Belgian lace, which is a bit surprising. The tripel still has a smooth taste and a medium body with mild bread and phenolic notes (pepper and herbal). There's a bit of grapefruit the flavor as well. The tripel is smooth as sailing. Nothing that stands out, but it's delicious to set back and relax with. THE ROCK rating. This tripel isn't the best, but provides a solid performance. It' one blonde that I wouldn't mind asking out on a date again.

La Trappe Dubbel is the delicious bookend to a Deer Valley weekend

I recently purchased a mountain bike but have never actually gone mountain biking, so I sign up for a group Sunday morning, lead by Mike from South Africa. No one else shows up so it turns into a private lesson and Mike takes me out to the parking lot to learn the basics but I pick it up pretty quickly and soon we're up in the mountains, bombing down trails. 

Beautiful right? Mountain biking was a blast and I only took a spill once. It was minor, but I now understand how dangerous this sport is. These trails and the mountain are completely unforgiving. You can't take your mind off what is coming up for a second. There is no scenery gazing in mountain biking. Except of course when you're completely stopped and on your own after the tour like below:

I definitely want to find some trials in LA, but I also feel the need to get some additional padding. Afterward, I meet up with the rents to devour a BBQ Bison Bacon Burger with parmesian fries. I'm including this detail and picture not only because it's a beautiful day and I couldn't resist, but look at that presentation! Kudos Deer Valley cooks.

After demolishing 2/3 lb of a bison, we rested up and watched Travis Pastrano drive his rally car into the finals despite having broken his ankle and foot Friday doing motorcycle stunts. After doing something really stupid, he pulled it together and almost did something really awesome, but unfortunately crashed on the last lap of the finals.

We went to dinner in Park City at this amazing Mexican fusion restaurant called Chimayo, which I didn't take pictures of (Duck Enchiladas, hmmmm) and won't bore you with, but I was surprised to find something else in the alley next to the restaurant:

A Banksy in Park City? This is way out of his normal territory. Park City is certainly not metropolitan, but it does host the Sundance Film Festival every winter. Banksy is subversive as hell and I love the idea here. His art can be both subtle like the above and overt like this:

 Or:

The above is actually the Prime Minister's house. Banksy essentially created a giant penis on a house that is guarded around the clock by CCTV, police and has a 24 hours armed response team. Wow. At the bottom of the page I'll post a Simpsons Intro Banksy did and one of his Star Wars street art - because why shouldn't I?


Back home in LA, I'm exhausted and looking forward to something smooth and easy. Good thing today is the first day of the trappist brewery La Trappe. La Trappe is the only one of seven trappist breweries not in Belgium and is found in the Netherlands. This will be the second trappist dubbel drunk on a recent Sunday evening and I hope it's as delicious as the first.

The trappist dubbels are so easy to drink. The hops are subdued and there's a smooth caramel and chocolate flavor with a hint of tartness and yeasty spice. The 7% alcohol is negligible and overall, very well balanced. TRANSFORMERS rating.



Here is the Banksy Simpsons intro. It's especially subversive.

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