HOLY MOLY. Does this thing live up to its title. I don’t think I’ve ever made such a gasping noise after tasting a beer before. This thing is for true hop heads. I looked it up, and this baby is coming in at a measured 149 IBUs!!!!!!!!! The color is a nice cloudy amber with a few rose tones. The head is pretty much non-existent with no lacing and little carbonation. For such a powerful beer, it is very smooth and wet…probably the hoppiest beer I’ve had to date. The body finishes with a citrus orange and has piney, earthy undertones. Damn this beer is delicious – enjoy my fellow hop heads!

ABV: 9.5%; IBU: 149 

Alright, I know it’s only September, but I held off long enough and I’ve just go to start indulging in the fall beers that are hitting all the coolers.

So, want the perfect Octoberfest you’ve always been dreaming of? That crisp strong malt with just the slightest sweetness? Buy yourself a beautiful Free State Oktoberfest then.

The color of this beer is a light amber with some light rose hues when held up to the light. There is a good amount of carbonation flowing throughout the body that helps give a balanced crispness to each sip. The head is medium, frothy and smooth with small lines of lacing left along the

glass. It has the perfect breadiness mixed with maltiness and an underlying caramel accent…kind of like a perfect sweet bread that’s not overly sweet! YUM.

ABV: 5.4%

*PS – I’ve somehow messed up the counts of beers or something and am behind a few on here compared to the list I’ve been keeping to bring to liquor stores with me (it gets hard remembering which beers you’ve blogged about!)…so if anyone notices where I got off, please let me know!

Odell had a tap takeover at one of the local bars in town, and boy was I excited! They had a list of 8 beers that they tapped, but the two that I tried and had never had before were Odell Celastrina Saison and Odell Loose Leaf. To begin, we’ll start with the Celastrina.

This beer was excellent and oh so delicious! Served in a tulip glass, the body is a

beautiful golden. There is a significant amount of lacing. It tastes sweet with a great amount of floral aromatics. It’s a smooth beer that finishes wet. You also taste a sweetness of banana through out and a little bit of spice from some nutmeg or clove. Great beer.

ABV: 7.5%

The second beer is Loose Leaf. First off, I’m a huge fan of the graphic design! But onto the beer. This is supposed to be an American Pale Ale. It pours a very crisp, clear yellow. Think pilsner. In fact, I think it kind of tastes like a skunky pilsner. I’m honestly not a fan of it. Not enough flavor or hops in it. It’s got an earthy taste to it and proves to be drinkable, but I like my beer with some more flavor. However, if you are out in the heat for a long time and wanting to drink a keg of beer, this would probably be a good choice.

ABV: 4.5%

Beer #113 is Hop Riot Red, another from Lawrence, KS’ local brewery, Free State. Kind of a cool little back story to the name of the beer which you can read in the picture. The color of this beer is a medium brown but with deep, deep red hues. You can especially see the red when there is light shining through the body. There is very little lacing and head. It’s a medium-bodied beer that has a strong presence of malts and a consistent sweetness, kind of like honeydew. It finishes wet and proves to be very drinkable. Not a bad beer but nothing crazy special either.

Beer #112 is Love Child #3 from Boulevard Brewery. This is going to be a short one b/c all I have to really say is SOUR. If you are a fan of sour beers, here you go. I don’t have a palate for this type of beer, so I was not a fan of it…and it cost a whopping $20. I can handle some sour, but this is just like a war head with a lot of citrus. SOOOO tart with a lot of brett. I’ve heard those that like sour beers find this one to be excellent, but again, I’m not a good judge of this type of brew.

picture by boulevard brewery

ABV: 9.5%; IBU: 13

Want to see something delicious in its raw form?

Want to see it in its even more delicious form?

Boulevard paired up with Farmland to make these delicious beer brats using their famous wheat beer and pale ale. I have to say, I thought the pale ale was the winner. You honestly couldn’t taste too much of the wheat beer, but you got a nice darker taste with the pale ale. However, both were DELICIOUS either way, and my friends and I thoroughly enjoyed them!

Boulevard Brewery just released a new sampler 12-pk that has two of its year-rounds,its Wheat and its Hoppy Wheat, or 80-acre (both of which I have blogged about previously and both of which are two of my favorite go-to beers). However, Boulevard decided they also wanted to bottle up some of their test brews they offer to tour guests and share the wealth with others to try. I am so excited to try these as I have actually not had them before, & I think it’s great Boulevard asks for feedback about these testers to see if they are worthy enough to be year-round offers. Boulevard will supposedly be doing this sampler-12 again but with different testers and perhaps year-rounds as well.

The two testers they had are “Mid-Coast IPA” and “Westside Rye Ale.” Today, I am going to blog about the Mid-Coast IPA as this is my favorite type of brew & Boulevard’s HOPPIEST beer!

The color of this brew is a lightly hazy golden.

The first thing I noticed about its body is the reverse waterfall of bubbles everywhere. Lots of carbonation. It leaves a medium-thick head but one that is VERY frothy and light. It smells and tastes strong of pine, bitter (of-course!), orange/tangerine-flavors, and a sweet grapefruit that is very accentuated at the end as it combines with the bitter hops. This IPA is a HUGE amount of flavor and bitter, but yet, it feels like a very light beer. Bottle doesn’t have ABV, and IBU states it’s “over 100.”

This IPA reminds me of Odell’s IPA but with a little more bitter bite. Finishes smooth and delicious. EXCELLENT beer for hop heads.

Beer #109 is White Rascal by Avery Brewing Company. The color of the beer is a foggy hay. There is very little head and it is high in carbonation. The taste is true to a Belgian white with orange, yeast & wheat flavors; however, it tastes a little watered down to me, but it’s a decent beer for a hot summer’s day. Very drinkable.

IBV: 5.6%, IBU: 10