Balls and Chain 10k (Leg Two)

Many years ago, I hitched my wagon to the Big D train and knew that we'd always have the Stanley Cup playoffs and "single-dom" .Well, as it happens the second of my groomsmen locked it down to a good lookin' seat cover (that's trucker talk for a pretty lady) on 7/30/16. So as I said in the previous post, I'd see if I could lengthen the run for the amount of time I've know the Wolf Pack-ish member and this 6.75 miles almost did me in. Thank goodness there was some Idyll Hounds Man O' Wheat waiting for me.

It's only 88F with 64% humidity, but this 4.8% bevvy is just what the running coach ordered. A coastal snag, now locally available, I'll have to say is one of my favorite wheats! Fantastic color and white head pour forth with a nose of fresh bread. It says unfiltered but seems to have cleared out just fine. Smacks of a nice American wheat that you could have with low country crab boil all day. Man, I'm hungry. Can't distinguish the hops, Saaz? Website leaves a little to be desired but since they used to be located in Seaside proper, kind of, they're probably busy brewing beer for the masses at their new facility. Keep it up guys and let me know when you are sponsoring SeaSide Half;) and I'm glad that according to your label you're on my planet.

Our Tastes-- Flex Arcana

As part of the Alfalfa & Babs conglomerate, Eduardo infiltrated our favorite growler station to provide us with this libation. Upon entering he knew he was "in" when they said "Hey brother" and no Bothans died getting us this growler. Flex-Arcana is a brew I've been dying to try and it did not disappoint. A Belgian Imperial Stout I've never had until today. Pouring an expected opacity with a tannish head with hint of pink? Nose is fantastically deep and complex. The chocolate is there with some dryness but the tastes is where it's at. A forward full mouth feel of dark slightly bitter roasted chocolate. As it passes through the palate, low and behold a minuscule cherry taste, but more as an after thought. A 10%, "top o' the morning" badge awarding lovely. My only regret is the limited nature and the half growler I got instead of the biggin'.

Our Tastes-- Sho' Nuff

Sho'Nuff is a "low down golden ale" from ATG that I had to try as soon as I saw the label. Pouring a sickly almost dark mustard yellow with an over abundant head form the pint can, all I can say is......... I love it! This is a fantastic gateway Belgian table beer to convert your BMC friends over with. The taste is of straight biscuit with a little pepper. It's a perfect 4.9%abv and says to "shotgun the shogun" from the can. For those of you that don't know who Sho'Nuff is, you need to go watch The Last Dragon in it's entirety to be with me on this post. I watched it all the time growing. LEROY!!! When I say who's the master, you say....

Brew Batch #73 The Twins' DIPA

Kegged today so that I can use the Blichmann gun to bottle the bombers next week. I think that will help with carbonation. FG 1.014+0.002 @77F to give us a perfect 9.98%abv.Color came in at a nice medium brown, The nose at 77F is more EtOH than hops. I'm hoping chilling brings that back. Swill gives a nice toasty biscuit with smooth Cascade and just a hint of cedar/apricot from the Glacier. This keeps going and you can look for me to create a venue on Untapped;) I'll pic update the bottling.

Out Tastes-- TropiCannon Citrus IPA

I've drank Heavy Seas beers for a long time and it seems as though they are opening the brewing schedule for some different styles yet again. TropiCannon is one of the many IPAs I've dedicated my palate to this summer and it's a good'en. Pours the color of orange blossom honey with a nose of heavy mango and a touch of lemon that intertwines perfectly with the grapefruit. So far this is my most favorite IPA of the summer. A relative of Loose Cannon with some hop swaps and secondary additions and the same abv at 7.25%. If this is the Simcoe hop coming forward, I really dig it. BTW, Happy IPA Day!

Hoppy Breasts?

An article from the newly wed Junk reveals another positive to having a "hop mouth" lady in your life. Guess we know where his mind is? I'm just curious as to which hops are highest in 6-prenylnaringenin. 

Our Tastes-- SweetWater Goin' Coastal IPA

I've inducted another into the TnDC flock and shortly we'll have Alfalfa of the Samford chapter. In her escapades to B'ham, she and side kick Babs picked up a couple of growlers and one was filled with Goin' Coastal IPA. Now that SW has suffered a theft of roughly 3300 cases of it's summer tacklebox in which there were 3 of these each (roughly 10,000 bottles) this growler has gone up in value. So as it pours a darker than expected orange with thick white froth, I whiff. The pineapple is truly epic! I thought at first it was their IPA with pineapple flavor and yet it is not. The original is a bit more dry. Tapping into some wheat on the grain bill, the citrus must be the key to wafting the pineapple since they don't use real fruit pulp. But the Big Cs shine through and pair with the pineapple like magic. Dry hopped with Cascade, Simcoe, Goldings and Centennial makes the nose the best part. At 6.1% I'd luau all day with this one.