When people find out that I'm a beer geek, I get lots of questions about what I like, what's good, and what they should drink. I'm always a little hesitant to answer the last question because I don't know people's personal tastes. Not everyone likes a mouthful of hops like I do. I usually just end up talking about my favorites and things I liked recently. It occurred to me recently that it might be fun to write those thoughts instead of sharing them with Dave, who could really care less (teetotaler, that one).
To contextualize my picks here, you might like to know my likes and dislikes. As previously mentioned, hops are my thing. I love piney, tropical fruity, citrusy, whatever. If it's hoppy, I'll like it. If it's so bitter that it turns your mouth inside out, chances are that I'll love it. I also love deep, rich stouts and porters, bonus points if they're barrel aged. I drink coffee beers while watching the Premier League on Saturday and Sunday mornings. I struggle with wheat beers. I thought I hated lagers and pilsners until I started drinking ones that aren't macrocrap. I'll try anything craft at least once.
So, below, you'll find a few of the beers I've been drinking recently that I've loved and why I loved them.
Note: I live in Ohio and I try to drink beers from Ohio breweries as much as possible. This means that if you aren't in the Buckeye State, you may not be able to easily obtain some of these. That just means that you'll have to come visit me and let me introduce you to the wonders of the Ohio craft brewing scene.
Land-Grant Stiff-Arm IPA
6.4% ABV, 54 IBUs (according to their website)
Consumed: On draft in a plastic cup, on draft in a shaker pint, and poured from a can into an IPA glass
Land-Grant Brewing Company is based in Columbus, OH and has been open for about a year now. I had my first opportunity to try their beer at a Columbus Crew SC match back in March of this year. Crew SC has a local craft beer stand in the stadium, which is awesome and which makes good money off of me every time I'm there (they also have Hot Chicken Takeover at MAPFRE Stadium...in other words their concessions are unparalleled in all of the world). Since I hadn't tried anything from Land-Grant to that point, I chose their Stiff-Arm IPA. It was delicious -- citrusy and a little bitter and way too easy to drink. I eagerly went back for seconds and couldn't resist it again when I went to another match in May. I did wonder, though, if my opinion was being enhanced by the fact that I was drinking it in a particularly happy state of mind, watching my beloved Crew SC and eating HCT. Turns out, that was not the case. Since then, I've had it on draft in a restaurant and poured from a can into a glass. It is uniformly great. If I lived in Columbus, this would be my go-to IPA, always in my fridge. Alas, I don't live in Columbus and Land-Grant doesn't distribute to Northwest Ohio.
Rhinegeist Truth
7.2% ABV, 75 IBUs (according to their website)
Consumed: Fresh from the brewery in a shaker pint and poured from a can into an IPA glass
Over this past summer, my husband and I took our kids on a tour of Ohio. Cincinnati, home of Rhinegeist Brewery, was one of our stops. The brewery's website declares that they happily welcome supervised children into their taproom, except after 8 PM on Fridays and Saturdays, so we had to check it out. Their space is AMAZING and they were wonderful and welcoming to my kids. If you're ever in Cincy and you love beer, you owe it to yourself to check out the brewery. This particular beer, Truth, is their standard IPA. It's so good and so balanced. I especially love IPAs that lean more toward the citrus than the pine (though I do like piney ones, too) and this is just that. Rhinegeist is another brewery that doesn't distribute to this part of the state, so I brought two six-packs home. I'm trying to balance savoring them with not wanting them to lose their awesomeness (IPAs don't age well due to their hoppiness). Fortunately, Rhinegeist does distribute to Columbus, so I can eventually replenish my stash.
Brewery Vivant Love Shadow
10% ABV (according to my last can of it since it no longer appears on their website)
Consumed: Fresh from the brewery in a mini tulip as part of a flight and poured from a can into a tulip
OMG Love Shadow. Can a beer be sexy? If so, this is the sexiest beer ever. I tried this one on a recent trip to Brewery Vivant in Grand Rapids, MI. Love Shadow is a bourbon barrel-aged imperial stout. It tastes like chocolate, vanilla, and bourbon (duh). It's boozy but velvety at the same time. I like it best after it's had a few minutes to warm up in the glass -- fridge cold dulls the richness and hides some of the complexity of the flavor. That 10% ABV is TRUTH, though. You'll have the warm fuzzies after just a few sips. This is a beer for sipping by a fireplace on a chilly evening. I feel epically stupid, though, because the $26.50 price point for four cans ($26.50!!! FOR FOUR CANS!!!) freaked me out and I only bought one of the two packs I was allowed to buy (it's a brewery exclusive and they had a 2 pack limit per customer). Like I said: stupid. This is one of the best beers I've ever had, period. I think I even like it better than that other unicorn of a Michigan-brewed bourbon barrel stout, Founders KBS (that is saying something, trust me). I only have one can left and that makes me sad.
So, those are three of my favorite recent beers. I realize that about 99% of the people who will read this will not have access to any of these beers. All three of these breweries are worth visiting though, even if it means traveling! More information:
Land-Grant Brewing
424 W. Town St.
Columbus, OH 43215
Rhinegeist
1910 Elm St.
Cincinnati, OH 45202
Brewery Vivant
925 Cherry St.
Grand Rapids, MI 49506
