This Is What I Drink : 28

Oskar Blues Gubna Imperial IPA + River Horse Hop Hazard

A couple more beer reviews left over from the weekend here for you today. First is a brand new one from the microbrew in a can forefathers, Oskar Blues from Colorado. While they've already tackled the impressive feat of having an imperial stout in a can, they've come out with 10% ABV IPA in a can as well. From what I've been told, canned beers actually keep the beer fresher because light is never allowed to tamper with the product. They also let you easily put them into beer cozies (or coozies??) inspired by Sir Charles Barkley. While this beer will set you back a bit ($15.99 for a 4-pack), it's really not that bad of a value for 48 oz. of a strong beer. You'd probably be paying a similar dollar to ounce value on a couple of bombers of imperial IPA, so once you get passed that, it's time to crack it open. The beer smells incredibly intense and hoppy, but once you taste it, it's surprisingly clean and almost sweet. The citrus hits really strong and it's not quite as hop heavy as you might expect. I think the most amazing aspect is how smooth this beer is for being 10% alcohol. If you were handed this beer you might think it was 6% or 7% which could be dangerous if you decided to have a few! The flavor is similar to that of Oskar Blue's Dale's Pale Ale, but just a tad different. Definitely impressed with this and the novelty of drinking great beer out of a can hasn't gotten old yet.

Next, it's onto another American Pale Ale effort with River Horse's (Lambertville, NJ) Hop Hazard. I've tried a couple of River Horse's varieties lately and I've been pleased with their brews. On the bottle it described itself as a "balanced" and not overly hoppy like a regular IPA would be. I think it still packs a pretty good punch of hops and at 6.5%, it isn't exactly a lightweight either. I do agree with their assertion that it's a fairly balanced beer though. The hops hit pretty hard in the beginning, but it's bit more crisp and bitter on the back end. It definitely falls into my broadening category of what an American Pale Ale seems to be. Not quite as intense as the Gubna, but I don't think it was trying to be. A pretty nice beer.