A BRIEF CATCH-UP AND SOME SKA BREWING IPA

okay. so i've been lax in my beer reviewing. which is a damn shame because i've been tasting some great beers and also having some fantastic drinking experiences. allow me to mention the names of a few beers i've failed to review, along with a quick numeric rating out of top level 10 to quantify each ale. please feel free to ask for more detailed notes on any of these ales. i'm always up for writing or retasting beers.

- Great Divide Chocolate Imperial Stout (10/10)

- Stone 13th Anniversary Ale (7/10)

- Stone Russian Imperial Stout (9/10)

- Otter Creek Imperial Stout (5/10 - needs at least a year cellaring)

- Otter Creek Stovepipe Porter (7/10)

- Allagash White Ale (10/10)

- Delirium Tremens (10/10) 

- Avery The Reverend (8/10)

- Avery Salvation (8/10)

- Avery Maharaja (10/10)

- Leffe Blonde (8/10)

- Shiner Smokehaus Series (6/10 - unique, but barely drinkable)

- Bristol Brewing Company Laughing Lab Scottish Ale (9/10 - best scottish ale i've had yet)

- Flying Dog Imperial Porter (10/10)

- Flying Dog Double Dog Double Pale Ale (8/10)

- Flying Dog Horn Dog Barleywine Style Ale (8/10)

- Flying Dog Kerberos Tripel (9/10)

- Dogfish Head 120 Minute (4/10 - not drinkable, i don't care how "delicate" or "rare" it is)

- UFO Hefeweizen (3/10)

- UFO White (4/10)

- LeftHand Polestar Pilsener (2/10)

- Full Sail Session Lager (8/10 - this is a very good lager and totally worth the money)

- not to mention, ben and i had a side-by-side tasting of Boulder's Mojo IPA and O'Dell's IPA. amazing. the tasting deserves a full review. we nearly lost ourselves on the front porch.

but i'm not drinking those beers tonight. tonight i'm sipping some Modus Hoperandi India Pale Ale (from a bottle) by Ska Brewing Company (Durango, CO). i feel like i should be listening to the Supertones, but i do not own any. instead, i have access to this. 

Modus Hoperandi IPA weighs in a 6.8% ABV and 65 IBUs. tons of pine grove. a nice wash of grapefruit. i taste more citrus than anything. overall, Ska Brewing's Modus Hoperandi is big. i've had three, and i'm losing words. the hops are larger than life - great for a tasting, not so much for longevity drinking. after the several here, i'm relying on the "delete" key to revise nearly every sentence. 

also, i drank these Modus Hoperandi while writing a review of A PERFECT GETAWAY. 

find some Modus Hoperandi. buy it. consume it with zero regard. 

and bless your brass section.

Modus Hoperandi is surprisingly good. very citrusy. big, big, big grapefruit hop flavors over a light biscuit lay. i finished the third bottle with an intense desire for Dos XX Amber or Miller Lite. somethings, like japanese instrumental rock, are too big for words.

Something New

I was recently delivered a sampler pack from a brewery called New Glarus out of Wisconsin. I know next to nothing about them. I have 4 different beers to test; two wheats and two ales.

I will be posting soon my thoughts on all four.

Also, give it up for The Church Key turning 45 yesterday.

Baker

Crocodile Dundee 1 and 2

I actually have nothing to say about the Crocodile Dundee movies. I DO have something to say about Dundee Pale Ale.
One afternoon on my way home from work, the wife calls and asks if I can go pay for a dollhouse that she just bought from a lady on Craigslist. "Asks" is not the right word, more like "...I need you to..."
Anywho, the dollhouse is $18 and I have to pay in exact change. The wife suggests going to a gas station to buy a pack of gum and get cash back, then break the 20. On my way to a gas station I see a Dirt Cheap Liquor store. This sounds better to me than a gas station. I look around the store, most of the brew I've had before or know of a guy who had tried it before, or I could guess by the name and packaging exactly what it would taste like. I saw Dundee Pale Ale, never tried that. Nervously I picked it up. Unfortunately the store didn't do the ole cash back game but I still bought the beer.
Later that night when things had calmed down I read some reviews on BeerAdvocate about this Pale Ale. The highest rating was B-. Ouch. Most reviews pointed out that though the package says "Be Hoppy", the hops were quite minimal.
I took a deep breath and cracked one open. It's a Pale Ale. What more can I say. It wasn't horrible. I've had worse but it wasn't THE BEST BEER EVER! But what is?
$5.73 (w/tax) for a 6er of Pale Ale, I like it. When I'm feeling like drinking more than a PBR or Bud but don't want to pay $10 for O'Dells, Dundee will be an option.

I did eventually get the $18 to buy the dollhouse, in case you were wondering.