I know, I know. I’m posting Tuesday about a Sunday session, but you’ll have to excuse me. See, that photo is of me drinking my first beer of the day at around noon, and I didn’t really stop drinking until midnight, so Monday was sort of a lost day for me. Anyhow, Spring finally seems to have some staying power after Sunday’s near-perfect afternoon. C and I decided that rather than waste our day running errands, we’d get wasted and forget all about them instead (it worked, obviously). We packed up a picnic lunch to take to the park, but the only brew I had on hand that wasn’t a DIPA hop-monster of some sort (C is not a hop-head like I am) was this barleywine. I had purchased it to help round out my recent sampling of all the Arcadia beers I could find after falling in love with their Hop Rocket. It’s far from the ideal spring brew, but definitely a good choice to kick off a day of drinking with some style.
This thing is a beast. It pours like motor oil, sticks like maple syrup, and stinks like grandpa’s soggy breakfast. It’s sweet and hot on the palate with a lot of the same caramel and fruit you get on the nose. The 10% abv really gets you, and it seems as though the viscosity makes it all stick around for a while. Really mellow on the hop front, which bummed me out but probably helped C enjoy it even more. It definitely threw us for a loop and got the day moving a little sideways. Thankfully I got my hop fix afterwards at 4th Ave Pub with a few Lagunitas IPAs and Dogfish Head 90s on tap, and there’s where things got a little blurry. I only remember gripping a pitcher of sangria in one hand and a “Big Buck Hunter” plastic shotgun in the other while staring at the guacamole stains on my pants. Ah, springtime!
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