Sunday, February 14, 2016

Fourth meal (Bruery and Maine collab)

I have experienced more stress and have come to so many of life's important cross roads recently that I can barely deal with it. I am up for a promotion at work, we have sold our house, we have no house to move to, there is another baby on the way, and sweet sawyer is entering the terrible twos. We are attempting to put an offer on a house that is way bigger than what we need, but we are looking to shoot the moon here. We have roughly a week to find an acceptable house that we can close on in thirty days, or we will have to move into an apartment or in with my parents. It's Valentines day and of course I shit the bed on that too. 
This week saw nugget nectar, hopslam, hawaiian speedway stout, black tuesday, and fourthmeal hit the market. I rarely spring for the Bruery beers because of sticker shock but I trusted the reviews I have heard about this beer. I believe I only actually paid $11.59 for this beer. I'm not nearly the fan boy of maine beers but I know what to expect from them, clean beer. 

Belgian pale ales are a style widely hated by my collective beer friends. It has become a style that is too estery or lacks hop flavor. It seems like the love child of a marketing forward brewery attempting to take a little of the new and the old to create the greatest hybrid style ever. I feel that most of the ones I have had over the years are poorly balanced. I get the flavor from the Belgian yeast strain and it sucks. This beer does an excellent job of being a collaboration between Belgian and hops. It is well made but not hitting you over the head with flavor. This is truly a collaboration that will be missed once it is gone. I'm sure if it gets reprised next year it won't be as good.