Deschutes Abyss vertical

My good friend Chris was cool enough to offer up his bottles of 2006 & 2007 Abyss, along with a 2008, for a vertical tasting at Rose & Crown this past Sunday. Just a standard Sunday of drinking some high end beers with friends.

In all we tasted:

2006 vintage Abyss - stand out of the day for me. Obviously. Awesome chocolate aroma. Subdued flavors of roasted malts, chocolate, dark fruit, charred flavors, and vanilla. This one has come together nicely. As Bill Brand would say "a stunner".

2007 vintage Abyss

2008 vintage Abyss

Westvleteren 12

Westvleteren 8

Anchor Our Barrel Ale - Aged in Anchor Rye whiskey barrels. Caramel, vanilla, rye, wood flavors. A gem from Anchor. Hopefully I have the patience to sit on my bottle for awhile. I imagine it will be even better in 8-12 months.

Bell's Hopslam

Troeg's Nugget Nectar

Bear Republic APEX - on tap

And probably some other stuff I've forgotten.

Good times. Thanks to everyone that brought out the beer, chocolate, and cheese.

Get well soon Bill

http://www.ibabuzz.com/bottomsup/

21st Amendment Strong Ale Month drop in

Stopped into 21st Amendment on Sunday. Strong Ale Month is in full swing. This is the 7th Annual, coinciding with SF Beer Week. A joint venture between http://www.21st-amendment.com/ & http://www.magnoliapub.com/.




Didn't make it to Magnolia, but 21 A had 6 Strong Ales on tap. I sampled:


Hop Crisis Tripel IPA whopping 11.8% ABV & 100 IBUs - Nicely balanced hop monster


Lost Sailor Imperial Pilsner 8.6% ABV & 65 IBU - crisp, clean, user friendly


Monks Blood 11.2% ABV & 35 IBUs - Fruity, sweet, roasted/toasted, delicious.






Had a "breakfast pizza" which consisted of ham, mushrooms, spinach, and an egg.

Looking forward to coming back and seeing what else is on during the month.

Bistro 9th annual Double IPA Festival

Hit up the Bistro in Hayward's 9th Annual Double IPA festival on Saturday with some friends. What a great time this event is. There were close to 50 Double IPA's from around the U.S. to be had. This event is the annual kick off to SF Beer Week.



Didn't make it close to trying them all of course. But some personal highlights for me were:

Pizza Port Solana Beach Lou P. Lin

Triple Rock Imaxx

Stone Sublimely Self Righteous Ale

Marin White Knuckle

Deschutes Hop Henge Experimental




The judging went like this:

1st place: Pizza Port Carlsbad Poorman's IPA

2nd place: Triple Rock Imaxx

3rd place: Bear Republic: Apex

People's choice: Pliny The Younger




The weather was quite nice for the majority of the day. Making an already great day more enjoyable.






Beer Advocates out in full force.



Thanks to the Bistro staff for putting on a great event.