The big one

In the beer geek culture, no beer is bigger than Westvleteren 12. The Belgian-style quad affectionately known as Westy jockeys with Pliny the Younger for the top spot on Beer Advocate's best beer list. Usually, Westy gets the nod.



The bad thing is that Westy is really hard to get. It's brewed by Trappist monks in a small, rural Belgian town, and you can only buy the beer from them or a handful of licensed stores in the area. So many Americans are SOL.

But for my 31st birthday, my roommates Jake and JK ordered a bottle off eBay for around $30. Yep, 12 oz. for $30. Probably the best birthday gift I ever got. We cracked it on the last day of school. By the way, the long lag in the blog can be contributed to said school. I've been drinking -- just not writing about it.

The Westy comes in a brown bottle with no label. The only way you know what it is is by it's legendary bottle cap. It poured a rich brown with beautiful lacing. That lacing -- the frothy white stuff that sticks to the glass -- is what really sets Westy apart. The beer looks like none other. It also feels very thick, frothy, and effervescent in the mouth. It almost seems to come alive after you take a drink. I've never had a beer feel like that before.



In terms of taste, it's very delicate. It's roasty and sweet. It's rich and smacks of alcohol. I got hints of pear. That said, it was a lot more subtle than I thought. It was nice, just not as spectacular as I thought it would be. In fact, St. Bernardus Abt. 12 packs more flavor, but is otherwise quite similar in taste to Westy 12.

Westy, though, stands alone in lacing and mouthfeel. I know that sounds like super-snobby beer talk. Those categories seem like minutia until you have a beer that really excels in those areas. And Westy sure does.



The details:
Name: Westvleteren 12
Brewer: Brouwerij Westvleteren (Sint-Sixtusabdij van Westvleteren)
Beer Advocate rank: 1
Style: Belgian Quad
Alcohol: 10.2 percent
Cost: $30-ish for a 12-ounce bottle
My Grade: A
Skinny: No beer has a mouthfeel or lacing like Westy 12. The taste is very subtle, and I'm not sure I grasped it all. Is it as spectacular as its legend? Probably not, but it's still damn good. Wish I had easy access to the beer for repeated tries.

The best of the GABF

The Great American Beer Festival has long topped my list of must-dos. I finally went this weekend with my brewer buddy Mike Clark. Here's the best and worse of the day.

Top 12 beers I'd never tried before:
1. Black Tuesday, The Bruery.
No. 54 on the Beer Advocate list. Bourbon-barrel stouts were the bell of the ball, and this was the best. Huge, rich beer that is amazing. Folks were buzzing like crazy about it all day. Rightfully so.

2. Founders' Canadian Breakfast Stout.
No. 17 on the Beer Advocate list. Really rich. Really sweet. Pretty much incredible.

3. Hunahpu's Imperial Stout, Cigar City.
No. 45 on the BA list. The beer is aged over coffee beans and ancho chiles. It's big, bold and awesome.

4. Bourbon Country Brand Breakfast Stout, Goose Island.
No. 21 on the BA list. Another big stout that tasted more of alcohol but still really solid.

5. Founders' Breakfast Stout.
No. 7 on the BA list. It's great but doesn't pack quite the taste of the Canadian.

6. Firestone Walker's Parabola.
No. 97 on the BA list. It's a pretty intense imperial stout, but mellower and more mature than some of its competition. Really solid.

7. Older Viscosity, Port Brewing.
Really, rich intense stout from one of my favorite breweries. Worth seeking out for sure.

8. Maduro Oatmeal Brown Ale -- Oatmeal Raisin Cookie, Cigar City.
It tasted like a Oatmeal Raisin Cookie. Really different but in a good way.

9. Vlad the Imp Aler, Cascade.
Really great sour. I liked it better that the Bourbonic Plague I also had from them.

10. Racer X, Bear Republic.
The best IPA of the day from one of my favorite California breweries.

11. Bourbon Barrel Stout, Odell.
A damn nice example from a damn good Colorado brewery. Their line-up could have been one of the best at the whole event. Odell is so much better than New Belgium, it's laughable.

12. DeConstruction Ale, Odell.
A wonderful American strong ale.

Biggest disappointments
1. Dogfish Head.
Their line-up was woefully underwhelming. A lot of creative beers that seemed like they'd be awesome but lacked the taste I was looking for. The smokey and bitter stout Bitches Brew was the best but was merely OK. Theobroma, Chateau Jiahu and Grain to Glass were a waste of ling-waiting time and valuable drinking space in my gut. I left still puzzled about why DFH is so well liked. Their 60 Minute IPA is very solid. I think their 90 Minute is way too malty for the style. Much of their other creative stuff seems to miss the mark. I appreciate their pushing of the brewery boundaries, but I really dislike a lot of their stuff.

2. Sam Adams.
They kept teasing the pouring of their fabled Utopias -- the 27-percent alcohol beer that pours from a copper container. We checked back many a time to get a hold of it, but they opened it on the sly and it quickly disappeared. Would have loved to try it.

3. Brooklyn Brewery, AleSmith, Bell's and Stone
Four breweries I wanted to visit but didn't have time. Maybe next year.

Simply the Brett

Brettanomyces is an oddity of the beer world. It's essentially a yeast strand that has morphed and gives off a very odd flavor. In many beers, finding brett would be bad and give it a bad flavor. But some kinds of beers -- mostly those brewed in the Belgian style -- are centered on brett.

And few beers do it better than Boulevard Saison - Brett.

I love saisons. At the moment, they're my favorite style. And Saison - Brett is one of the best out there.

It pours golden with a frothy head that quikckly disappears. Smell is of hops and yeasty spiciness.

The taste is very crisp from dry hopping. Then you get that Brett funk. Some say it's a horse-blanket taste. Others say hay, straw, must, barnyard. Sounds gross, I know. But that funk works really well with the crisp hop bite and the crazy yeast spiciness. The Brett taste lingers. But there's also some peppery and even slightly sour notes going on.

It all combines for a very crisp, aggressive, robust saison. If anything, it may be too aggressive. Ommegang Hennepin, which I see as the Cadillac of the saison style, has a lot of the same flavor profile, but everything blends a little bit better.

Still, Saison-Brett can't be faulted. This beer is spectacular.


The details:
Name: Saison - Brett
Brewer: Boulevard Brewing Co.
Beer Advocate rank: 87
Style: Belgian Saison
Alcohol: 8.5 percent
Cost: $11.69 for a 750-ml bottle
My Grade: A
Skinny: This beer certainly isn't for everyone. It has a very distinct taste -- one that I love. It's highly creative, while still fitting firmly within the confines of the saison. In short, this is a beer you should experience -- whether you'll like it or not. I very much like it.

Ghostly good

Sunday night was an evening of high expectations. The series finale of "Lost" aired. To commemorate the death of my favorite show, I picked a beer I'd been highly anticipating drinking -- Fantome Saison. (Plus it seemed like a good fit with "Lost," a show that features a phantom-like smoke monster.)

Fantome Saison is the highest rated saison, according to Beer Advocate. Rate Beer also gives it a 99 out of 100. Since I love saisons, I really, really wanted to try this beer, which is brewed in Belgium and is hard to find in the US. I got lucky and snagged a bottle at New Beer Distributors in New York.

As I watched the two-hour recap that preceded the "Lost" finale, I cracked open the Fantome.

It had a slight sour and musty smell, but it's faint. It poured a cloudy gold that gets milkier further down the bottle from the unfiltered yeast sediment.

The taste was surprisingly delicate -- slightly sour with some barnyard funk. The sour hits the back of the mouth, causing a slight pucker and the roof of the mouth to salivate. The funk -- a light horse-blanket taste -- intensifies on the backend. The beer has a flat carbonation, which makes drinking it sort of a wine-like experience.

What the beer lacks in taste intensity, it makes up for in authenticity. This is a classic farmhouse ale -- raw, simple, natural, organic. It's an artful Belgian gold ale that is worth seeking out.

That said -- like the "Lost" finale itself -- the Fantome didn't quite meet my lofty expectations. It's a good beer for sure. But I don't think it's great.


The details:
Name: Fantome Saison
Brewer: Brasserie Fantome
Beer Advocate rank: 68
Style: Belgian Saison
Alcohol: 8 percent
Cost: $12 for a 750-ml bottle
My Grade: A-
Skinny: Saisons just may be my favorite beer style at the moment. I highly anticipated this one because it's rated the best saison in the world by Beer Advocate. It's good, for sure -- delicate, funky, raw. But it's a bit more understated than I expected. I'd put it third on the world's best saison list -- a bit behind Ommegang Hennepin, which for me is still king of the saisons, and the wonderful Boulevard Saison - Brett.

'Berry unusual

New Glarus Brewing Co. is a sacred -- or is it spotted? -- cow of the American craft-brewing movement. Anyone who's had its brews will tell you they're world class. The trouble is getting the beer.

Situated in a small, central Wisconsin town of the same name, New Glarus only distributes within the Wisconsin boarders. They claim it's because they can only make so much beer.

Whatever. I'm sure they could reach further than they do. It's a shame because so many beer lovers would love to snag their products.

I've gotten lucky a few times. My former boss is from Wisconsin, and she brought me some Spotted Cow and Fat Squirrel. But I've always wanted to try New Glarus' Wisconsin Belgian Red and Raspberry Tart -- both of which are ranked highly by Beer Advocate. Thanks to my generous buddy Mike, I got to try the latter.

And, boy, was it a trip of a beer experience.

The color is beautiful. It's a jewel-like reddish amber. The first thing that hits you is the smell -- sweet, full raspberries. The taste runs a quick gambit -- initially sweet, thing an acidic sting, then a tart bite. That sweet-tart flavor lingers on the tongue for a while after the swallow.

I'm not big on fruit beers. They're just so strange, but I like Raspberry Tart a lot better than Lindemans Framboise because New Glarus' offering is much more authentic-tasting and well-rounded.

And if you're going to drink a fruit beer, this is the one to try. In the style, it's world class. If you're not a cheese head, though, good luck finding it.


The details:
Name: Raspberry Tart
Brewer: New Glarus Brewing Co.
Beer Advocate rank: 60
Style: Fruit Beer
Alcohol: 4 percent
Cost: $8.50 for a 750-ml bottle
My Grade: B
Skinny: This doesn't drink much like a beer -- more like a sparkling wine or cider. It's a startling experience -- sweet and tart. While it's not my favorite beer by any means, it provides a really interesting drinking experience. It's especially good for dessert -- or girlfriends.

Let's hear it for New York

My recent trip to New York City made me look at beer with an "Empire State of Mind." Like with food, art and theater, New York knows how to do beer right.

The best beer experiences from the trip:

5. Drinking Peroni at Lombardi's Pizza in Little Italy. The pizza, of course, was better than the beer. But if you're crunching an old-school Margherita, drinking anything but Peroni would be blasphemy.

4. Drinking Hoegaarden at the White Horse Tavern in the West Village. At this bar where Dylan Thomas drank himself to death, the beer selection isn't great. But Hoegaarden was a nice find. And our server happened to be a native Nebraskan.

3. Drinking Green Flash West Coast IPA at the Blind Tiger in the West Village. The bar had lots of good craft beers. They advertised having Dogfish Head on tap, but they didn't when I walked in. Lots of Rogue, which is cool. But the Green Flash was a nice hoppy treat on a sunny NYC day. The bar is cool with 30-some craft brews on tap daily.

2. Drinking Three Floyds Dreadnaught IPA at the Pony Bar, three blocks west of Times Square. The Pony Bar is awesome -- young, professional drinkers crammed into a small but classy bar. And beers are $5. That's a sweet value that close to Times Square. Plus Dreadnaught checks in at No. 30 on Beer Advocate's Top 100 list, so that was a nice find. The Pony is best bar I've ever been to in New York City.

1. Buying a bunch of hard-to-find beers at New Beer Distributors in NoHo. The warehouse-like beer store near Little Italy and Chinatown was dark and dingy. But it was full of brews you can't score in the Midwest. My haul included the much-sought-after Fantome Saison, the awesome Brooklyn Brewy Black Chocolate Stout, said Green Flash IPA and a Young's Double Chocolate stout. The only drawback: My suitcase was really heavy on the way back. Had I had my car, I'd probably have bought the place out.

The worst experience? The $10 Miller Lite at Yankee Stadium.

It's the end of the world

When I was a late-teenager, I visited Canada with my family. Because the drinking age was quite young there, I was able to legally drink beer. My dad and I decided we'd move beyond the regular Coors Light and try to become more enlightened beer drinkers.

We tried local Canadian beers like Labatt, Molson, Sleeman and other regional brews. They were all essentially light lagers. While they certainly boasted better craftsmanship than Bud and Coors, they weren't exactly cutting-edge craft brews. On a boat tour of the Saint Lawrence River near Quebec City, we ordered a local favorite -- La Fin du Monde.

Our Nebraska taste buds weren't ready for the complex Belgian-style triple. As my dad said, "It tasted sharp." I thought it tasted spicy and almost spoiled.

It tasted, well, like the end of the world.

La Fin du Monde translates literally as, "The end of the world." I still think it tastes that way -- but with a twist. It's a beer you want to taste at the end because it's so complex and rich it puts others to shame.

The beer pours a light gold with a delicate head. It smells yeasty -- almost like elaborate spices. It tastes the same. The yeast strains are so intricate, your tastes buds are almost overloaded. Your head spins trying to figure our what's going on. Then, quickly, the experience is over. The taste ends crisply, leaving you refreshed. You go back for more. Then the 9 percent alcohol hits you. And that's always a good thing.

I eventually did become a more enlightened beer drinker. After getting into Americanized imperial stouts and IPAs, I moved on to Belgian-style beers. Belgians are a trip, and that journey took me back to La Fin du Monde.

I grabbed a bottle at the wonderful Omaha beer store Beertopia this week. I brought it home to my dad. He laughed when he saw it -- both out of the Quebec memory and out of nervousness that I'd make him drink it. I had since broken him in on Belgians a bit, so I thought he might like it. I coaxed him into it.

He took a drink and nodded. "It's good," he said. "Real good."

I guess that trip to Quebec years ago is still giving us some culture.


The details:
Name: La Fin du Monde
Brewer: Unibroue
Beer Advocate rank: 91
Style: Belgian-style triple
Alcohol: 9 percent
Cost: $8 for a 750 ml bottle
My Grade: A
Skinny: If the world were ending, this is one of the last beers I'd want to drink. It's golden in color, packs a spicy, yeasty finish and boasts a nice 9-percent alcohol punch. Perfect for sipping in the summer or early fall. In terms of triples, it ranks only behind Westmalle in my book.

All hail the king

Maharaja in Sanskrit means "great king." Take a sip of Avery Brewing's Maharaja Imperial India Pale Ale, and you'll see that the name is apt.

With all due respect to Budweiser -- which isn't much -- Maharaja is a true king of beers. Despite its "Imperial" name, Maharaja is a double IPA. It tastes similar to Ninkasi's Tricerahops but bigger and better in about every way.

The hoppy aroma is rich. It boasts a ridiculously bitter hoppy bite up front. There certainly is a lot of maltiness on the backend, but it blends nicely with the hops. The alcohol content is huge -- 10+ percent.

The only problem: The Maharaja has a short reign. It's a seasonal brew, available March through August.

So get it while you can. This beer just may be the best that Boulder-based Avery produces. It's certainly one of the best double IPAs this side of the West Coast.


The details:
Name: Maharaja Imperial India Pale Ale
Brewer: Avery Brewing
Beer Advocate rank: NR
Style: Double IPA
Alcohol: 10.27 percent
Cost: $8 for a 500 ml bottle
My Grade: A
Skinny: This beer reigns supreme in every way -- its name, its rich flavor, its high alcohol content. If you're a double IPA fan, it's a must drink. You won't abdicate this beer anytime soon.

One for the ages

Here's a three-horned approach you should take if you ever visit Eugene, Ore.:

1. Run Pre's Trail. (It's a flat but often rainy 4 miles.)

2. Visit the Pizza Research Institute. (The pie with baked spicy tofu, roasted garlic and black olives is wicked good.)

3. Drink lots of Tricerahops from Ninkasi Brewing Co., preferably at its very modern, very hip tasting room.

With a name like Tricerahops, the beer has to be big. And it is. The double IPA gores you right away with a ridiculous scent of hops. Then you get that piny bite with the first sip. It finished with considerable malt -- maybe just a bit too much for me.

But make no mistake, this beer should never go extinct. It's one of my favorite double IPAs out there.

Ninkasi is a super-cool brewery, as well. It's young -- founded in 2006. But it's one of the fastest up-and-comers in the brewing world. The brewery is named after the Sumerian Goddess of fermentation. The brewery's Web site tells the rest of the story.


The details:
Name: Tricerahops
Brewer: Ninkasi Brewing Co.
Beer Advocate rank: NR
Style: Double IPA
Alcohol: 8.8 percent
Cost: $5 for a 500 ml bottle
My Grade: A
Skinny: It's a dinosaur-big beer with a really piny bite followed by some really strong malt. The only reason it doesn't get an A+ is because the hop bite and malt finish don't match up as well as, say, Pliny the Elder.

Best of the breweries

A big portion of my trip through the West was to visit some of the best breweries not only in the country but the world. Here are the best:

10. Big Sky Brewing, Missoula, Mont.
A shed near an airport never produced stuff that tastes this good. Big Sky is known for its Moose Drool brown ale, but they have more adventurous stuff on tap. The brewery skews nice on the inside with lots of swag for sale.

9. Kettlehouse, Missoula
Big Sky gets all the Missoula props,, but Kettlehouse makes better beers. Cold Smoke Scotch ale is their top-seller, but their IPA is darn good. The brewery is a dump -- basically a loading bay. It's usually packed with University of Montana students. Cool atmosphere.

8. Stone, Escondido, Calif.
This is by far the nicest brewery I've ever visited. It's in a huge pristine building. It has a swank restaurant. It even has its own hiking trail that surrounds a beautiful outdoor beer garden.There's a free tour with free tastings. I like some of their beers -- Double Bastard is awesome -- but most don't do a whole lot for me, which is why Stone doesn't rank higher.

7. Avery, Boulder, Colo.
I've been there three times, and it never gets old. They make some awesomely over-the-top beers. Maharaja Imperial IPA is amazing. The Beast is darn good, too. It's all available at the taphouse for $1-4 for small tasters. They offer a free tour but no free booze. The guys there are cool, as are the fellow drinkers.

6. Oskar Blues, Lyons, Colo.
In between Boulder and Estes Park is Oskar Blues. Their known for two things: a great Imperial Stout called Ten FIDY and for being one of the first craft breweries to can their beer. But it's also a very fun place to drink. I had an unfiltered IPA called Gubna that was a really interesting beer. Plus, the ladies tending bar are really cute.

5. North Coast, Fort Bragg, Calif.
As if making the amazing Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout wasn't enough, the brewery sits right along the rugged Northern California Coast. The English-style bar features all the North Coast favorites and a few experimental beers. The brewery is being renovated and wasn't open for a tour, which is a bummer.

4. Ninkasi, Eugene, Ore.
This is one of the top up-and-coming breweries in America (probably behind only The Bruery in the LA area, which I unfortunately didn't get to visit.) Ninkasi makes some really good beers, highlighted by the double IPA Tricerahops. The tasting room has a modern, bright feel. Plus it's close to the Pizza Research Institute, which is a very good thing.

3. Lost Abbey/Port Brewing, San Marcos, Calif.
The atmosphere is awesome in this one brewery that houses two brands. The tasting room is in the loading bay of the brewery. The chairs are kegs topped with bags of sugar. (The resident cat Amarillo is pictured above sitting on one.) The beers are incredible. The Lost Abbey beers are some of the best Belgian styles made in America. The Port beers are hoppy San Diego classics. I was the only visitor there one afternoon and ended up drinking Duck Duck Gooze with head brewer Tomme Arthur at the bar.

2. Russian River, Santa Rosa, Calif.
Best beer. Period. Pliny the Elder. All the world-class sours. When it comes to beer it can't be beat. And the vegetarian sandwich with big hunks of mozzarella and roasted red peppers didn't hurt things either. But Russian River lacks atmosphere. It's just a brewpub with no public tour. That kind of stinks, and it doesn't match up with its reputation. That said, the beer stands on its own. It's worth the trip just for the sips.

1. Diamond Knot, Mukilteo, Wash.
Four words: This place kicks ass. The brewpub sits on the Puget Sound. Just feet away, ferries shuttle cars to and from Whidby Island. A blond little person is the featured waitress. I wanted to be the heavily bearded bartender. Patrons crunch peanuts and toss the shells on the floor. And -- not to be ignored -- the beer is amazing. The IPA is one of my favorites ever. I could hang out in this place all day everyday.

Best bars in the West

Every major town has at least one beer lover's bar. I hit up quite a few of them on my swing through the West. Here are the best six:

6. Father's Office, Los Angeles.
Huge selection in a very small space. Pricey, as is expected in LA, but you can get almost any style of beer you want.

5. Brouwer's, Seattle.
Sixty-four beers on tap. A faux-Belgian layout. This is probably the haven for Seattle-area brew lovers. The downside is it has a bit of pretension because of it.

4. Bottleworks, Seattle.
Technically, this is a beer store. But they have three to five beers on tap everyday. It's very low-key and often features hard-to-find beers.

3. Horse Brass, Portland.
An English-style pub, but this one is actually very authentic. The beer list is staggeringly long. This is the perfect place to drink after a long day snowshoeing on Mt. Hood. Getting so hammered you sleep in your car is completely optional. But likely.

2. Toronado, San Francisco.
Located in the famous Haight district, this bar is a must-visit in SF. Huge beer list, very cheap happy hour prices and an awesome sausage joint next door.

1. The Dray, Seattle.
A small, clean spot with just a few beers on tap. But, man, those beers are awesome. The owner has agreements with Belgian breweries. Often, The Dray will have the only keg of a Belgian beer sent abroad. The bartenders are awesome and friendly. Their music selections are killer.

Three Seattle honorable mentions: Uber, Naked City and Hopvine

Older is better

So I turned 30 today. It's really not that big of a deal to me. Birthdays never really are. The best part is that you get to do things you enjoy. So today, I ran three miles on a desolate Nebraska gravel road. I played football with my dad, son and niece. I held my adorable daughter a whole lot.

And, of course, I drank a beer I love.

Today, it was Pliny the Elder. And, man, do I love that beer. And since I'm officially an old man, it made sense.

It's a beer brewed by Russian River, which I've already written a ton about. It's super hoppy. Not as bitter as its son, Pliny the Younger, but still very piny and crisp. My friend Dustin said that bite gives it an almost apple-like flavor.

Elder also has some serious history. Russian River brewer Vinnie Cilurzo brewed the first double IPA at San Diego's Blind Pig brewery in 1994. The style has taken off since, and Pliny the Elder is very similar to that original.

I drank Elder on tap at a bunch of spots in the west -- Seattle, Portland and -- most importantly -- Russian River's brewery in Santa Rosa, Calif. Visiting that temple of beer was really cool -- plus I meet some cool people and ate some good food.

But back to the birthday. I bought five bottles of Elder at Seattle's Bottleworks. I knew I'd be drinking one on my birthday. Is Elder better than Younger? When it comes to beer, I'm not so sure. It's a close argument. But in life, yeah, I hope as I age things will only get better.


The details:
Name: Pliny the Elder
Brewer: Russian River Brewing Co.
Beer Advocate rank: 6
Style: Double IPA
Alcohol: 8 percent
Cost: $5 for a 500 ml bottle; or $8 for a pint in an LA bar
My Grade: A+
Skinny: It may not be as sexy as Pliny the Younger, but it's still a damn good beer with a lot of important history. And it's a great beer to drink on your birthday. It's a big gift to yourself.

Never say die

One of my staple beers has long been North Coast Brewing Co.'s Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout. I'm not much of stout lover, but Old Rasputin is easily my favorite (aside from maybe Deschutes' Abyss.) Long story short: The recipe increases the amount of hops and alcohol, which a long time ago helped keep the beer from spoiling when the English shipped it over to Russia.

The beer is named for Rasputin, a Russian mystic who held influence over the ruling family in the early 1900s. Many attempts to kill him off failed. Hence Old Rasputin's "Never say die" catchphrase.

That history just adds to the fact that the beer tastes really good.

When I was planning my West Coast excursion, I knew from the start I wanted to visit a bunch of breweries. North Coast was at the top of the list and persuaded me to take a swing through Fort Bragg -- which isn't a fort at all, but instead a really small town on the Northern California coast.

Walking along Fort Bragg's Main Street, you can smell the malt heating in the brewry tanks. It's a mouth-watering aroma. So I sauntered over the taproom and tried the brewery's range of beers, including -- of course -- Old Rasputin.

The beer is way different depending on how you drink it. Out of a bottle, it has a reddish tint, and the hops are very intense. Out of a tap, it's much frothier and creamier and the malts dominate. (An aside, the beer is a tough one for bartenders. Like Guinness, it froths a lot. Most bartenders waste a lot of beer pouring it off to get a thin head.)

Either way, the beer is very complex for a stout. It has a lot going on, and makes for a very interesting drink. One that will continue to be one of my staples for a long, long time.


The details:
Name: Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout
Brewer: North Coast Brewing Co.
Beer Advocate rank: 96
Style: Imperial stout
Alcohol: 9 percent
Cost: $4 for a 10-ounce pour
My Grade: A+
Skinny: One of my all-time favorites. It combines an aggressive hoppiness upfront with a strong, stout maltiness on the back end. Add the interesting history of the style of beer -- and the nefarious character for which its named -- and you've got yourself a winner.

Some like it sour

A general rule: If anyone offers you a beer brewed by Russian River, you drink it.

That said, Supplication is a shocker if you don't know what's coming. I recently had it at a wonderful Seattle bar, The Dray. My friend and I each ordered Supplication. The bartender insisted we sample it first, just so we knew what we were getting into.

The simple explanation: It's sour as hell. It's brewed with sour cherries, and you can sure taste it. It's a surprising and -- let's face it -- off-putting taste at first. For most beer drinkers -- even those enlightened enough to enjoy intense imperial stouts and uber-bitter IPAs -- lip-puckering sour flavors seem foreign in beers.

And I get it. I want to like sours. The most refined beer-drinkers do. But it's hard for me. It took me about an hour to sip through the Supplication. Don't get me wrong, I liked it. It's a beautiful golden-brown ale, almost like a Saison, with a sharp sour bite. I appreciate it, but at this point I can't say I love it. A few more sours, and maybe I'll enjoy the Supplications of the world a bit more.


The details:
Name: Supplication
Brewer: Russian River Brewing Co.
Beer Advocate rank: 14
Style: American wild ale (sour)
Alcohol: 7 percent
Cost: $8.50 for a 12-ounce pour
My Grade: C+ (for my taste, though in the style it's definitely an A)
Skinny: A sour golden ale that smacks of the oak barrels it's aged in. As far as sours go, it's a great one. But my problem is, I don't really like sours. I'm trying. Honestly.

A beer and a boy

My son's name is Rye. People always ask where we came up with the name.

JD Salinger's "A Catcher in the Rye" is the usual first guess. Don McLean's "American Pie" is another quick reference. (You know, "The good ol' boys were drinking whiskey and rye.")

The real reason: My then-pregnant, then-wife and I were driving from Nebraska to Colorado, trying to think of a boy's name. We were listening to Modest Mouse's "Black Cadillacs," which includes the lyric, "And it's true we named our children after towns that we've never been to."

That made me think that we should consider towns for our coming son's name. We thought about London, Bristol and a few others we'd visited while studying abroad. Eventually, we opened the Colorado map. We noticed a town in south-central Colorado called Rye. It stuck. And it's true we've never been there.

That's a long intro into a beer review. But Hop Rod Rye from Bear Republic Brewing Co. had me the second I noticed its name on Beer Advocate's top 100 list. It's not easy to find. I scored a four-pack at Seattle's Bottleworks, which is an incredible beer store.

Hop Rod Rye is a hoppy India Pale Ale, but it gets its last name because it's brewed with 18 percent rye malt. The rye makes it an interesting drink. There's another taste layer going on. While the IPA is pretty hoppy, it boasts considerable maltiness on the back-end. I assume the rye has something to do with it.

And it's safe to assume that my son had something to do with me enjoying the beer so much.


Postscript: Here's a picture of the boy wearing a shirt that I picked up at Bear Republic on my roadie.














The details:
Name: Hop Rod Rye
Brewer: Bear Republic Brewing Co.
Beer Advocate rank: 63
Style: American IPA
Alcohol: 8 percent
Cost: $7.99 for a four-pack
My Grade: B+
Skinny: A complex beer with big hops upfront with an interesting malt finish, thanks at least in part to the rye.

Chasing No. 1

So I'm on a road trip of the West. There are many reasons for it: Seeing friends, hiking, experiencing new places, mending from my failed marriage.

But another quest has developed out of the trip: Trying to drink as many of the top 100 beers in the world, according to Beer Advocate.

I bagged a big one last night: Pliny the Younger by Russian River Brewing Co. For the past week, Pliny the Younger has been in a battle for the top spot on Beer Advocate's list with an obscure Belgian beer. So, naturally, I had to taste it.

When I got to Seattle about a month ago, I began calling area distributors to see when they'd get it. Turns out the greater Seattle area only got 13 small kegs for all their customers. I tracked down a bar -- Naked City Brewery -- that was tapping Pliny the Younger on Fat Tuesday. I got up there an hour early and fought for a seat at the bar. They tapped the keg at 5 p.m. sharp and ran out of the beer at 5:06. Luckily, I got glass.

So how'd it taste? Like sucking on a hop cone. For someone who likes hoppy beers a whole lot, that was pretty sweet. Pliny the Younger is a triple India Pale Ale and it's a descendant of the double IPA Pliny the Elder. The Elder has a nice hop bite, but is highly drinkable. The Younger is a whole different animal -- every taste is heightened, exaggerated. It's very piny up front and very sweet on the back end -- almost like a very hoppy barley wine.

It was good, for sure. Having a successful hunt for it made it all the better.

Post script: A day later I went to another Seattle bar I heard was cool, Uber. I was the only person in there around 4 p.m. on a Wednesday, and I was talking with the bartender. I asked about Pliny the Younger. He said they'd be tapping theirs later, on the downlow. I ordered a Colorado beer I like -- Avery's The Beast, a very big beer -- and drank it. When I finished it, the bartender grabbed the glass and filled it up. He slid it to me and winked.

As I brought the glass to my mouth, a sharp pine aroma hit my nose. I smiled at the bartender. He'd tapped Pliny the Younger on the downlow for sure. He'd tapped it right in front of me and silently poured me one. It was even better the second time.

So I had the No. 1 beer in the world on back-to-back days. Not too shabby.


The details:
Name: Pliny the Younger
Brewer: Russian River Brewing Co.
Beer Advocate rank: 1
Style: Triple IPA
Alcohol: 11 percent
Cost: $5.50 for a 12-ounce glass
My Grade: A+
Skinny: It's considered the best for a reason. The piny aroma and the incredible hoppy bite makes the biggest first impression I can remember from a beer. The back end is incredibly rich, making this one ridiculously indulgent beer.