The weekend was full of fun and that malty, hoppy, yeasty good stuff. Our #couchellasd party on Saturday turned inadvertently into a bit of an IPA Fest. I thought I would take a moment and share the list of IPAs you could have found in our fridge that night…

• Lagunitas IPA
• Full Sail IPA
• Stone IPA
• Bear Republic Racer 5 IPA (bottled and in growlers)
• Sierra Nevada Torpedo Extra IPA
• Widmer Broken Halo IPA
• Ballast Point Big Eye IPA

And if IPAs weren’t your thing, there were a few choices lying around including some awesome sangria that the boy was immediately attracted to. No worries, the grown ups saw to it the sangria wasn’t wasted on the youth.

The next night was my dad’s birthday party. His wish? To have a beer tasting party. I wish I got photos. Bottles and the rinse vase on the lazy susan, and my sister’s crazy note taking system involving X’s, stars, arrows and circles. I hope she can read in this morning. We had two rounds of tasting with dinner in between and dessert after. We tasted 19 beers with 12 participants. The following list is in order of the beers that were tasted last night including some of my notes.

Round 1

• Asahi
• Kronenbourg 1664: bland tasting
• Raspberry Framboise Lambic: I expect to see this at more family gathering now
• Rogue Dead Guy Ale: carmel flavored
• Anchor Steam Ale
• Stone Arrogant Bastard Ale (7.2%)
• Dogfish Head Midas Touch Ale (9%): tastes of honey and saffron
• Dogfish Head Palo Santo Marron (12%): brown, woody malt

Round 2

• Duchesse de Bougogne (6%): sour beer, but less sour than on tap
• Ballast Point Big Eye IPA (6.8%)
• Alesmith IPA
• North Coast Pranqster (7.6%): Belgian-style ale
• La Chouffe Belgian (8%): light hefeweizen taste
• Duvel Belgian Strong Ale (8.5%): quote of the night “I hear it is the champagne of beer drinkers.” My sister passing on the knowledge one minute after hearing it.
• Alesmith Crand Cru (10%)
• Alesmith Wee Heavy (10%): heavy it is
• Allegash Curieux (11%): oak aged, dill aftertaste
• Rogue Chocolate Stout: thick with a burnt coffee taste
• Mississppi Mud Pilsner/Porter

I had the last two switched, but others convinced me to taste them in this order. I believe I should have stood by my original order. Either way, it worked out to be an awesome evening. I understand my family’s taste buds better and will be less wary about bringing over a new beer.

Photo courtesy of Tambako the Jaguar