Mike Loves Beer

I tend to come across as a liberal to a lot people.  I’m very opinionated and haven’t been satisfied with the way this country is run or the decisions a lot of people of power make for quite some time.  But there is one thing about me that not many may know and that is my pride in our armed forces.  No I do not support the “wars” we have been involved in but I support the men and women that are over in Iraq, Afghanistan and other countries fighting despite what they may or may not think of all this.

I come from a family that has military people in it.  My grandfather served proudly in the Marines in World War II after a childhood that he knew he wanted to be in the military.  This including running away at a very young age to try to join the Navy.  Yup it was in his blood.  My cousin serves currently in the Army and is currently finishing up his second tour of Iraq.  To say I am proud of what these two have done would be a huge understatement.

So when last week I was emailed by by a gentleman from BeersNotBombs.com with the offer of a free bottle opener that is made from a decommissioned nuclear weapon I thought that it was an extremely cool idea.  I graciously accepted and yesterday in the mail my Aviator version of the bottle opener arrived.  I will definitely be using this and enjoying it.

So if are interested in a really cool bottle opener head over to BeersNotBombs.com and pick one up (they have shirts too).

Some of you in the South Florida beer community may have heard of or even interacted with Mike who was aspiring to open up Blind Tiki Brewing in Delray Beach.  Well due to a number of issues with the city that location fell through.  But last week a location was found and the name of the operation was changed.

Due South Brewing Company is the new official title for this outfit and Boynton Beach will be there home.  I am very excited about this as Mike is a great guy that will be making great craft beers for the area.  Even more exciting is that the brewery and tasting room are probably just a mile from my house.  Almost literally down the road from me.

So as more details come in I will report them here.  You should also follow them on their Facebook and Twitter as they are posting updates as well.

Name – Samuel Adams Latitude 48 Deconstructed Hallertau Simcoe
Country – United States
Type – American IPA

It’s about time.  I’m finally done with the Sam Adams Latitude 48 Deconstructed pack.  It will be nice to finally move on to reviewing a beer that isn’t an IPA from Boston Beer for a little while.  It’s been fun.  Like I said in the beginning this is a good way to get to know the characteristics of each individual hope style.  But a little tiresome over a week period to put on the blog.

Well let’s jump right in with the final one.  This is the Simcoe variety.  This is a hop that I typically like.  It’s used pretty widely in bigger craft breweries already.

I pour one last time into my nonic pint and, surprise, it’s a clear orange color with a frothy off white head.  The head sticks around for a bit but doesn’t really stick to the glass all that much.

The nose is pretty resiny.  Fresh hop smell with hints of citrus.  You get a decent amount of malt backing in the aroma as well.

The taste is really a lot of the same.  Super fresh hop taste that is both resiny and citrusy.  It balances out with some caramel notes and has a crisp bitter finish.  But not one that lingers around for awhile.

In the end I’m going to say that this is my favorite of the 5 single hop varieties in the pack.  It’s the most well rounded one.  And the one that tastes the best alone compared to the other varieties.

And of course some of these hops are used more for say the aroma over the taste in the normal Latitude 48 so they may not transfer well to being by themselves.  And that’s completely understandable.

Again I enjoyed doing this pack but am glad it’s over.  On to something new, probably something darker too.

Grade - B+