Magic beer on arrival

What are good friends for?
My awesome friends had a mixed case of Left hand deliciousness ready when i arrived in Boulder last weekend. My favorite may have been the 400 Pound Monkey, a very delicious IPA. The Black Sack Porter could hold its own, though. Later on we used the classic and always delicious Stout to make beer floats. Yumyumyum. If you haven't tried these, do it! Left hand knows how to make an amazing beer. I'd say overall they are a 5/5.

Buying for bottles: Good Juju and Sam Adams for the win!

lefthandbrewing.com

I have been a bad little beer consumer, and haven't been keeping great track of the individual beers I have been drinking. Shame, shame upon my head. I'll try to do better next time. I've been busy/lazy/drunk? Do any of those excuses fly?
Anyways, you are in for a treat. Its summer, and what beers go best for summer? Something lighter, less malty and refreshing of course! On my way to a boxing match viewing extravaganza, i stopped off for a 6 pack and picked the first thing that grabbed my attention. Good Juju has a very distinct label and packaging, and its by left hand brewing company, which is a pretty stable bet for me. So i bought it for about a reasonable 9 dollars for the 6 pack. Its no honey brown for price, but hey, i wanted fancy freaking beer.
At first taste, you get a mouth full of ginger with this stuff. Did i mention that? Its a ginger infused beer. Surprising at first taste to say the least. Not in a bad way, but in a wow, that is a powerful flavor sort of way. It reminded me of how all sushi tastes when i go eat it.... like
pickled ginger.
I don't want to give you the wrong idea. I drank all of them. And enjoyed them. Its more of a try it and see how you feel about it.

borrowed from: http://onceuponastein.com/taste-tested-samuel-adams-spring-thaw-variety-pack/

I also picked up a mixed pack of sam adams a while back. Holy shit there were a lot of varieties in this box. While they all blended together (i'm not sure if that's sacrilegious for someone from near boston to say) but they weren't too distinct. The ipa, white lantern,  and alpine spring were hoppier than the rest, although i'm not sure i could tell them apart while drinking. The maple pecan porter was wayyyyy overly malty, at least in my option. I'll keep my candy in my icecream and out of my beer next time i think. The lager and the irish red where just basic beers.  A solid mix, and all of them were drinkable, but nothing too distinct. I feel like i've let down my boston roots. Oh well :). There are plenty more colorado beers to try!

Cheers!

My Beer Valentine

The one gift i got for valentines day this year (Cheers to 6 months single!). It was a fancy looking 22 oz bottle of Left Hand Brewing Co.s Imperial Stout called Wake up Dead.
Since this was a gift, i decided to be all classy and pour it into a pint glass. Unfortunately  i completely ignored the recommended temp, and served mine refrigerated  I'm not sure how much of a difference this would make... i'll get to that in a second.
I was a little surprised by the pour, since i'm used to the milk stout that has a moderate, but super creamy head on top. This barely had a head, but what was there didn't dissipate on first pour. The second time i was lazier and there was much more of a noticeable head. At first taste the maltiness is really overwhelming. I'm not used to such a sweet beer overall. It is possible that when it warms up a bit, i'll get a better taste of the different notes in the beer.
The other big thing about this beer is its 10.2% alcohol. Oh wow, its going to be an interesting night.
I didn't buy this, and therefore don't know the cost. So i'll just go with, be adventurous, try it yourself!

not my pic

Thanks Pajo!