This entry could well be called “reviews” rather than the singular, but I chose to focus on one beer out of many (like certain American mottoes. Awwww yeah) to really review. Why it’s:

So Brigadier Bock and I gathered around the table with the following braus:

Pliny the Elder Double IPA (which has been available in the bottle for all of maybe 3 months) which is just an excellent beer. Hailed by many a beer lover as the pinnacle of its style.

Arrogant Bastard’s Double Bastard which, always delicious, was made extra special by the fact that the bottle we got was just about a year old (selected by the resident Beer Guru over at Red Carpet). The hops had mellowed and the flavor ripened. Greatness in beer.

A Flemish sour ale… damn which one was it? Not Rodenbach… uh… whatever it was good—much more mellow than other sharp, very sour offerings I’ve tried.

Um… there were more… I don’t quite recall… ANYWAY! This beer.

Lagunitas generally makes damn good beer. Their IPA and Copper Ale are both amazing. This beer is damn good. I’m a bit confused by it and not sure how to classify it but it was good. I’ll say that. As you might have gleaned from the bottle shot above, it scores a (very specific) 40.63 IBUs. That’s decently bitter, but not getting into anything extreme. The A.B.V. is a hearty 7.6% which is up there, but again, when you’re drinking a lot of beer madness, that’s not the upper echelon.

The thing that confused me about this beer was the cream aspect. When I poured the beer into a fine, crystal beer glass, I was confused by its clarity. It had the orange-amber look of standard ale and was rather translucent. “BWAAAAA!?!?” I exclaimed, my bowler knocked loose by my flailing arms. I was expecting a thick, opaque beer. Hmm….

But then, when I took a sip, there in the mouthfeel was indeed a creamy quality! So they’re not goddamn liars. At least in this instance. I’m not sure if it’s by some addition of lactose or the specific grains used (oh, I’ll look into it. Some other time) but here was a beer that, for all intents and purposes tasted like a standard, good ale—a good bready malt flavor braced by solid, slightly citrus hops. But the mouthfeel was a rich, almost oily surprise. Neither a negative nor, frankly, a positive thing in the bigger picture—this cream quality—but it was interesting to try. Mmhmm. Mhm.