OK, so here's where we left off. We had whittled this down to 16 beers. 9 we were very confident in, and another 7 to get into the final 12. Part of those 7 was Jai Alai, which we felt we purchased a bunk sixer for the last round, so we bought freshy for the ancillary round. Hey, special treatment for breweries a couple blocks from my condo. Ya know what though? We were right. In the ancillary round Jai Alai kicked all the other beers asses. The cuts from that round were (final ranking):
16. Indica
15. Harpoon
14. Snake Dog
13. Avery
The other two that cleared the ancillary round were the Fish Tale, which was clearly the second best beer, and Souther Tier, which seemed better than the eliminated 4, but not by much.
For the next round, we split the 12 beers in half and did blind taste tests. Angi poured six secretly for me, and I did for her. The results from that, were incredible. The Hopsecution won it's group, beating out the Two Hearted, Dogfish and Lagunitas. The Colorado beers faltered. Dogfish faltered. The Southern Tier did remarkably well to no longer be the about to be cut 12th beer. We decided to cut one beer from that round and it was the Fish Tale, mostly because it was the blandest of the bunch, but still a great beer. So ...
12. Fish Tale
That leaves us with 11 beers, that we're drinking on this beautiful Memorial Day's eve, hoping for it to rain so it chases the children from the pool, and we can head out on the balcony for a beer or two. We're drinking them in the order of their ranking from the blind test.
First up ... remember the Titan.
A great beer. Even if it finishes in 11th (which it might), it had a great run. It was wonderful
Next up ... the Dogfish 60 ...
It's amazing, but it's smoky. It's kind of like a rich man's Butte Crack. How terrible is that joke? Yeah, I'm calling the Butte Creek, Butt Crack ... I'm clever. We've decided this is an incredible beer. The smokiness makes it more wintery, and today it happens to be in the 90s and muggy as hell. Basically August weather. It's still good. We're in air conditioning now.
Bon Jovi's "Born to be my baby" just came on, and these guys know how to write a hit song.
Now up ... Mr. Mojo Rising ...
This one, and maybe it's because it's after the Dogfish, seems like the worst of the day. Angi is saying better than the Titan, but I ... remember the Titan, and think it's better.
Mojo definitely better than the Titan.
Up next ... the John McCain beer ... the Loose Cannon
Angi is saying better than the Dogfish. I'm saying I'm not certain. This is a fruitier IPA. With the knowledge I have now, it seems they're either Fruity, Smokey, Floral, and Malty. Floral is probably the best, followed by Fruity, then Smokey and then malty malty.
and now ... never ever ever saw the Northern Lights, never heard of cluster flies
goddamn hippies really know their beer. This one has never disappointed. We both agree it's def. better than John McCain. This one is going to make a serious push for the Final 6.
Next Up: Southern Tier, which is the lowest tiered beer of the round. It did so well in the blind competition, it got respect. And ... here ... we ... go ...
It's funny, now that I know what it is again, I'm not down. I really feel this is not as good as the Loose Cannon.
Before the next beer, we've ranked the next group:
11. Remember the Titan
10. Mr. Mojo Risin'
9. Loose Cannon
8. Southern Tier
So now, Dogfish has rallied a bit, basically because after you get past it's smoky facade, it's quite good, but now that and more importantly, the Northern Lights are making the greatest run at the Hex of Beer.
So now, we have ... the Stone Ruination ...
This is most likely better than what we've drank tonight. This is the first time it's been under pressure from me because I thought it was overrated, but it's pretty darn good. Looks like it will make the final 6 ...
so now the Two Hearted beer (look into it's eyes) ...
Wow, holds up so well. The Ruination is phenomenal. The Two Hearted is different, but phenomenal as well. Hexin ain't easy.
The Lagunitas ... in a Lagunitas glass.
Clearly the best beer tonight. Lagiunitas wasn't that hyped coming into this competition, and aside from Starr Hill's Northern Lights, this just may be the biggest surprise of the tournament.
So here we go with the Jai Alai ...
Phenomenal. Kinda smoky. I really wanna have this up against the dogfish.
So ... the Hopsecutioner which enjoyed it's free pass this level deserved it, it's final 7.
And that's where we're done.
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