Week day Beer having

A tale of two nights and two bars in an otherwise slow and sleepy week

Tuesday night was cask night at CBC. This week, the new IPA, Red God, was on cask. It was presented "straight up" -and by that I mean it was not dry-hopped. I would have preferred some more of that awesome fresh hop aroma in this brew, but it was delicious none the less. A very malty, rich, ruby red double IPA, and the hopping is all about balance here. It weighs in at 8.5% abv (IBUage unknown as Will generally doesn't bother with the calculations). When I had this brew a few weeks ago (when it had first come out on tap) it had a more pronounced hop character; it seems to have mellowed a bit and dry hopping would have definitely racheted it up another notch or two, but damn this is a stellar brew. Also that night I had their Spring Training IPA, a great expression of the style, with a lighter body and color than its big brother; and finally their award winning amber, always a favorite of mine.

Then last night I ended up out again - rare for me these days indeed. The venue was the venerated old Bukowski's Tavern on Cambridge Street (above pic). This place gets a lot of flack these days from the beer geeks, and to be fair the place has changed a lot over the 3 years I've been going there. The prices are sky-high and the pours are generally in the 12 to 14 ounce range, even for the normal strength beer. The music selection has gone down a steep hill since Max & the Gang left to open Deep Ellum, but it still holds a place in my heart as this is one of the places I "cut my teeth" so to speak, when I really started to get into this whole beer thing. Plus, the people that hang out there are more chill, more tattooed, and not so much into the beer snobery as those that you can get at say, The Public House, for example. I had the Opa Opa IPA, which was so good I almost can't believe it was brewed in Massachusetts (that's not a slam, Bay Staters). Followed it up with the Southampton "Secret Ale;" its only secret being that it was a modest expression of a Dusseldorf Altbier, but very drinkable and a welcome session ale among the bigger boys on Buk's tap list.

Sorry for the dry nature of this morning's post...it's been a rough week and I think I need to sleep for a solid day or four. Let's hope RyToy comes through for us all in the meantime.

From dream-land (my cubicle, pre-9am),

'Wrence