Trip V

My friend Andy is a brewer at New Belgium Brewing here in Fort Collins. The brewery has this little competition where anyone working at the brewery who is interested can submit a concept for a dream beer they would like to brew. Well, Andy is a very cool guy and he came up with a very cool concept for an extremely tasty beer. To get your beer selected I believe you must provide a narrative and a list of ingredients that would be used to make your concoction. This is fun, but this is also serious business. There are some serious creative types at NBB and they take making great beer pretty seriously. I do not know all of the selection criteria but I do know that you have to impress the Brewmaster of Brewmasters to get selected. All this means, you can't be a slouch and your beer better be able to ante up.

This beer is also pretty special because it is brewed at Elysian Brewing Company in Seattle, which isn't that special if you live in Seattle, but what it means for us in Fort Collins is that we do not get any shipped here. Luckily, Andy was provided with 4 22oz bottles for his preview and I got a tasting from one of those bottles. Boy Howdy, was it good! In the nose one picks up hints of chocolate and cherry, with a very pleasing golden brown color in the glass. The flavor starts of a bit subtle then finishes with a nice vanilla flavor once swallowed. Author's note: I don't know all of the technical beer terms for tasting, but I taste alot of beers. Bottom line, Andy brewed up a really great beer even if I can't describe it properly.

If you can beg, borrow or pay appropriately for some of this stuff, do it! You will be happy.