Short’s Brewing Company produces some of the most sought after beers in the spectrum of beer nerddom and it took me quite a while to get my hands on some. They don’t distribute outside of Michigan, they don’t bottle very much beer, and the beer they do bottle is pricey, hard to track down, and obscure, even for a lot of my relatively nerdy friends who live all over Michigan. It took a random trade involving some local IPA to get me a few precious bottles of Short’s, both of which are Bourbon Barrel Aged, not my particular favorite “process” for a beer to go through, as they tend to be boozy, soaked in vanilla, and very over the top.
I will now proceed to shame myself by saying that while the above three traits all apply to this “Triple IPA,” I still love it. The reason is that although it’s an enormous, yes even “completely massive” beer, it’s got balance. A huge, sharp hit of hop bitterness is accompanied by a very sweet nose and a nicely heavy body on the tongue. This anniversary beer is triple boiled, mashed, and hopped, and then aged in Bourbon barrels for 8 months. It pours a deep amber color and over the course of the hour or so I drank it, it warmed up and became even more inviting. A gigantic almost brandy or scotch-like experience, drinking a 12oz bottle of this beer was an exceptional treat. At 15% ABV it shouldn’t be something you have with lunch or start your night off with, unless of course you’re “going for it.” It’s pretty save to say with something this completely massive that you’re kind of always “going for it” when you face up to a Completely Massive brew. Score another one for Michigan.
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