IPA Doesn't Make Me Sick
I love beer. Along with central air conditioning, it's one of the reasons I work. It brings people together, and gives us something to do while we try to force conversation. If not for beer, I would have 42-67% fewer friends. The flavor is complex, and it's not easy to appreciate it at first. It took me years to actually start enjoying the flavor of beer.

I don't pretend to be some kind of expert on the matter, but I know what I like, and I know I like to find out as much as I can. This past Friday I held an impromptu gathering of the minds and mouths at my shabby little apartment to consume the remaining circa-2008 Pale Ale from our keg. The mission was accomplished in a very convenient period of time, and the assembled group of perhaps ten people moved on to eat and drink for money at the Stables on Walnut.

But we drained the keg to make room for the keg we'll be getting for the post-party at Splutschnik next week. So, with this in mind, many of the attendees had a mind to influence me as to what the contents of the next keg should be. Anna was enthusiastic about getting a keg of something white and wheaty, which made me knee-jerk a horrible face that I wasn't fully able to hide. My first choice for a keg is Single-Wide, with fond places in my heart for Two Hearted and 5-day IPA. I think these are outstanding summer beers, but Anna begged to differ.

She asserted that beers that lend themselves to infusions of citrus fruit are more along the lines of the summertime, and more adherent to its temperatures and pressures. I absolutely disagree. Besides the fact that whites and wheats give me a horrible headache, their flavor is actually pretty distasteful to me. I assume they must be for most people, as the normal way to serve them is with a piece of citrus fruit floating in it, completely masking whatever flavor it had before.

A dry, bitter, clean, crisp pale ale is absolutely perfect for summer, in my opinion. It's smooth, refreshing, delicious, and it gets out of the way. Wheats, whites, and other cloudy glutinous beers linger on your palate, and with rare exceptions, are absolutely disgusting when not served as cold as cold.

So, in the writing of this post, my mind is made up. The next keg will be Boulevard Single-Wide. I'll get on the horn with Gomer's tomorrow.

Cole said:
Boo. It's not too late to listen to Anna. I'm a big nancy that likes Blue Moon with a slice of orange. IPA's are for guys with hair on their chest.

10:52 AM, Jul 13, 2009

Kathleen responded:
I tried Rock Bottom's American Dream IPA over the weekend- which I thought was a pretty decent summer beer. It had a pleasant citrus kick to it but was balanced out by a good foundation of hops. As far as a personal summer beer, I'd pick out a black lager-- a big punch of flavor with a pretty smooth and light mouthfeel.

12:19 PM, Jul 13, 2009

Gulia took the time to say:
As you probably know John, I agree with Anna on this one. Not a ale fan...too much hops. I feel as though the ales are a heavier beer and this not a summertime drink, but rather the light easy drinkability of a wheat is the way to go for summertime. Though, I agree with Kathleen as well, I like a lager as well for it's smoothness.

Hey, all of us have our opinions!

9:09 AM, Jul 23, 2009

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