Mike Loves Beer

In celebration of the 1st ever IPA Day Coffee District will be taking the hops to their taps with a number of great IPAs (and pale ales) on tap.  So without further delay here is the listing.

• Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA
• Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA
• Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA (rare keg!)
• Stone Ruination IPA (on Randall)
• Avery Maharaja
• Cigar City Jai Alai IPA
• Lost Coast Double Trouble IPA
• Bell’s Two Hearted Ale
• Great Divide Rumble
• Oskar Blues Dale’s Pale Ale

The party starts at 7 pm and of course is pay as you go.  I will certainly be there to have my first ever glass of 120 on tap.  So I hope to see a number of you out there.

Coffee District
325 NE 2nd Avenue #104
Delray Beach, FL 33444

Name – Oak Aged Yeti
Country – United States
Type – Russian Imperial Stout

Do you ever have something that you like so much and then you see the creator mess with it in the attempts to make it better?  Sometimes this can lead to success while other times it can be utter crap (Star Wars Special Edition).  Well right here we have something that I very much love, Yeti from Great Divide.  And with this beer it is an oak aged version.  So let’s see if Great Divide are on to something here or if they are just another Lucas.

The beer pours into my Cigar City snifter motor oil black.  What started out looking like there was going to be no head actually turned into a thin light brown one at the top.  But it didn’t last long and quickly dissipated into the brew.

The smell has a very strong cocoa scent to it that reminded me of the cocoa used to make chocolate milk.  Nice vanilla notes are present most likely from the oak but I don’t really get any oak smells in here.  And there is also an ever so slight alcohol smell but it is inviting as if there is nothing to fear.

Well on the first sip I definitely tasted the oak and it stays there through out the entire taste.  More vanilla with a chocolate swirl to it are the main backing flavors.  But what is this?  Hops?  Yes there is quite a hop presence for this RIS.  The bottle says 75 IBUs and I would say that is pretty high.  And then I get some ever so slight hints of cherry and smoke in there as well.  A very complex taste.

So did Great Divide decide to make Greedo shoot first on this beer.  I don’t think so but I don’t think it is quite as nice as the original Yeti to me.  The oak was a bit to pungent as it left this dry, earthy after taste in my mouth.  The hops were also very big in this but that can be fixed by sitting on the bottle for a little while.

Don’t get me wrong, this is a very good beer.  I just think it would benefit from some age to make it even better.  So I will probably head to the store and pick up another bottle to do just that.  I recommend you do the same but why don’t you get a bottle to give a try now and see if you like it.  You may like it now.

Grade - B+

So after a very fun filled first day in Colorado we awoke bright and early at 5 am.  Our bodies were not adjusted to the time difference and it found us awake way earlier than we probably would have like.  I tried to fall back asleep the best I could but the sound of Ed typing away on his laptop pretty much put a damper on that idea.  I conceded defeat and showered up.

Our first stop of the day was a beer store at the lovely hour of 8 am.  Yes they were open.  Yes we did look like drunkards.  I have to say I have honestly never bought beer this early in the morning.  But after making our purchases we had still a bit of time to kill before our next scheduled event.

We found ourselves hungry and driving through Longmont.  We followed the signs to the downtown and historic district of Longmont and drove down Main Street.  As we drove one sign in particular caught our eye.  It said Winchell’s Donut House.

It was really cool to see a small, independently owned donut shop like this one over one of the bigger corporate stores.  It shows mom and pop shops can still survive.  The selection was impressive and they all looked delicious.  So we got some goodies and scarfed down before heading to the first brewery of the day. [...]