Mystic Luminous Ruins

As it turns out, when i was in Washington last month, i also drank a lot of beer not from the Pacific Northwest.  My old friend up there is a fellow beer nerd, so naturally we imbibed brews from all over the country.  One of the more delightful and summery concoctions came from Massachusetts' Mystic Brewery, with their very limited Luminous Ruins, a dry hopped sour farmhouse ale.  The beer pours a hazy and bubbly gold with a thick white head and smells of citrus, orange, grass, yeast, and just a little bit of funk.  The flavor is fruity and tart with some subtle hop hints and finishes crisp and dry.  All in all, it's quite a refreshing little 4.3% ABV brew, that unfortunately was only brewed once.

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Bale Breaker Topcutter IPA

I can tell that summer is beginning to leave us behind.  Not because it's getting cooler or anything ridiculous like that.  Here in Central Texas, we've got 90s and 100s in the forecast for the next two or three months.  What i'm talking about is the arrival of Oktoberfests and pumpkin ales on the store racks.  It's generally the first clue.  But, with it being as hot as it is here, i'm still jonesing for the more summery brews, specifically from the Pacific Northwest, as i drank a lot of them up there last month.  Bale Breaker Brewing Company's Topcutter IPA is pretty much everything you need in a tasty IPA.  The beer pours a nice and hazy gold with a crisp, white head and smells of citrus, fruit, florals, and pine.  A whopping combination of four different hops gives the brew a fairly complex feel, the mix of citrus, fruit, and floral notes moving back and forth between subtly sweet and bitter.  Drink this 6.8% ABV delight in the sunshine.

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Silver City The Giant Made of Shadows Belgian Strong Ale

Still celebrating the beer i enjoyed in Washington a month ago, and still wishing i'd smuggled some of it back to Texas, my possible favorite from my time in the Pacific Northwest is another astounding brew from Silver City (quite possibly my new favorite brewer from the region).  Encouraged by their delicious creations brought to the Bremerton Brewfest, i snatched up a few samples of their wares to drink with my friends before vacation ended, highlighted by the fantastic and wonderfully named Belgian strong ale, The Giant Made of Shadows.  Pouring dark with a slight crimson hue, the beer smells of dark fruits and malt, with those same dark fruit flavors swirling nicely with notes of toffee, coffee, and molasses.  As a fan of dark Belgian ales, this one was right in my wheelhouse, and the 9.9% ABV kept me nicely sated.  Please start selling this in Austin.

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No-Li Wrecking Ball Imperial Stout

I am still very much missing the beer i was able to drink when i was in Washington state a few weeks back, not that my Texas brews aren't great (they are!), but there sure were some wonderful beers to imbibe during my visit.  The Wrecking Ball Imperial Stout from No-Li Brewhouse in Spokane was one such beer.  Pouring dark black with a tan head, the stout smells of chocolate and roasted malts.  Flavors of malt, chocolate, toffee, and dark fruit abound in this full bodied, 9.5% ABV brew, a wonderful way to wind down as the sun sets.

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