Bear Republic XP Pale Ale hoppily ends the work week

I bought this during my July trip to Lake Tahoe and since I love all things Bear Republic, quite excited to see how they take on a non-IPA style of beer. Me thinks it will taste similar to a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, but let's check it out.

It's made with Centennial and Cascade hops, which are typical American style hops especially for the West Coast producers. It's full bodied and hoptastic, exactly what you might expect from the producer of Racer 5. The body has some nice light caramel and fruitiness to it. Overall, a very balanced hoppy pale ale that's easy to enjoy. TRANSFORMERS rating.

Anderson Valley Poleeko Pale Ale doesn't bring the Cheers out

This will be beer number 368 for those of you notching your bedposts at home, three past the beer every day finale. David and I have split ways at the end of the year. He wants to take a month off and I want to keep going till I hit a nice round number. Saturday and Sunday, I had partners in crime to share my beers with, but today I'm drinking alone. This doesn't present a moral problem, but after coordinating every beer drunk each day for the past year, it's really weird drinking completely solo. Part of this year's glorious experience was bonding with someone over beer, but now I've gone rogue.  I'm without a side kick from here on out and the unfamiliar reality is sinking in.

Doubling the weirdness is a mug from the CHEERS bar which David brought home, and it's sitting on the counter all alone. It's an fitting symbol of the change that happened after beer 365. Wah waaa. So it goes, the drinking most go on!

I've stockpiled single beers from six packs over the last month, readying for this drinking-alone-time. This and the other upcoming Anderson Valley ales were pilfered during a recent bachelor party trip to Tahoe. The Poleeko Pale Ale tastes like a pale ale from the NW might taste like, very malty with citrus elements from the hops. This is a quintessential West Coast Pale Ale, but as it warms, a weird off taste develops which I'm not digging. ARMAGEDDON rating.

Goose Island Green Line Pale Ale ends a lakeshore Chicago Saturday

It's perfect weather today and we head to a pool party at the top of a 44 story apartment building, which I can't believe they have here. LA has nothing that size and it has amazing panoramas. I kill a Green Flash Le Freak Belgian IPA and help Sarah get rid of some Honey Wild Turkey, which is dangerously delicious.

Drinking out of cups, being a bitch

After a couple hours we go down to the beachy lakeshore (the peninsula pictured below) and layout beside the famous Castaways bar to meet up with friends, including Andrea who is bringing Floridians who are arriving fresh off the train.

After a late lunch in Old Town relax for a little bit and then head to the Crocodile Bar, which was an entertaining experience. The five of us owned the back bar and danced away the night while soft core porn bizarrely played on a TV behind us. Andrea's Florida friends were so prim and proper at lunch today, looking like they just left a country club, but apparently any knowledge of charm school goes out the window after a couple vodka sodas because those ladies are dancing like maniacs. Very entertaining. It was just one of those nights. To accompany my bourbon and ginger ale, I found another Chicago based Goose Island to try, the Green Line Pale Ale.

Like Eddie Murphay sings, "party all the time, party all the tiiiime"

Apparently I'm learning all the train lines that run through Chicago from Goose Island, because the only train I know in Chicago is the Blue Line that runs from O'Hare. I wonder if they have a Blue Line style yet. The Pale Ale pours with heavy carbonation and has a malty golden body with a hint of hops that provide for a pleasant bite. The beer's body is a little on the light side, and reminds me of a really great Budweiser, if that's possible. It's a fun, easy going drinkable beer that I'm happy to down. ARMAGEDDON rating.

Bootleggers Palomino Pale Ale

After work, I headed to Surly Goat with my coworker Tiffany for some beer drinking and Foosball whooping. I had one of their kolsch happy hour beers, then made it a Russian River night by following up with a Pliny the Elder and then a Blind Pig IPA. Afterwords, I splurged on fast food and came home to find David excited to see me. Or maybe he was just scaring me with his smile. You be the judge.

The Palomino is an interesting pale ale, sweet and hoppy that has a piney flavor without any citrus and fruity notes. But it's crisp and different and I like it. I bought this at our Bootleggers Brewery trip before Christmas but you can now purchase four different Bootleggers beer at Whole Foods, or tag along on our next brewery trip! TRANSFORMERS rating.

Drake's 1500 Pale Ale closes out the work year at Library Alehouse

Tore out of work early Friday hoping to catch my first happy hour at Library, alas, it ended half an hour earlier than David and I had believed. Next time Library, next time. Your Chipotle Shrimp Quesadilla was still bomb.

Surprisingly they were out of my first two choices, various Christmas ales, but Drake's 1500 proved a worthy substitute. Medium bodied pale ale with a mouthfull bursting with hoppy bitterness. Pale ale with with a bite, an excellent beer to fuel a hopefully trouble-filled night celebrating the holiday break. TRANSFORMERS rating.

Ballast Point Yellowtail Pale Ale and Quagmire

So I was going to poke fun (tee-hee) at their fish-themed beers but then I read their website. Turns out, these guys aren't as silly as I had believed. Damn you truthiness, you're ruining my fun. Check out this nugget from the their website:

"Naming the beers was easy—Yuseff loves fishing, and he and Jack both love beer. So they brought the two together and started naming their beers after fish. After all, regular guys doing what they love—that’s what this was all about.  Today, the beer labels still have fish on them as an homage to the brewery’s origins and as a reminder to always do what you love."

Dammit, how can I make fun of that? Good people doing good things making God's nectar (i.e. beer in case you're an idiot). If it wasn't for those meddling kids, you would've heard a bad joke by now. Introducing Yellowtail Pail from Ballast Point:

Giggity

Pale, super malty and wild. I'm going to steal David's shtick for moment and name Yellowtail Charlie Sheen, because he was Wild Thing in MAJOR LEAGUE and this fellow is all over the place. Serendipitously , Charlie and Quagmire there (featured glass) actually share similar tastes...in HOOKERS. Zing.

Not my cup of tea but within the style it's not a poor tasting beer; I award you an ARMAGEDDON rating.