So many things are happening across the world, it can become just too much to handle at some times. "Switching off" becomes a necessity and one one of doing this is by enjoying an ice cold beer. One of my favorite breweries continually releases new beers, and sometimes I am not even always aware of them! On a recent road trip, the girlfriend and I visited a local farm stall where we always buy pies. In one of the fridges, where they store the wine, we found some hazy IPAs from my favorite brewery, Devil's Peak.
I always though beer prices would have dropped with the world heading towards a kind of equilibrium, or so were my thoughts when I was still a young teenager. Now, after ten plus years, I know this is incredibly naive and short sighted. BUT, with that said, these beers were not too expensive. All things considered, they are relatively cheap. I think they come to $2 (USD) or just under 2 GBP. It is expensive, but the economy is not doing well, so it is actually not too bad then.
Pouring these beers, I first smelled the classic fruity-citrissy-pine hops. I loved it from the first smell. There are few things as nice as an IPA when you know what to expect. I just love it. There was also something sweet to it. A kind of malty smell underneath the onslaught of the hops.
As it states on the cans, it is a hazy IPA. It was hazy indeed. But I love it, unfiltered I presume, plus when you use a lot of hops, from my recollection of brewing beer myself, the more hops you use the hazier the beer can get.
And the taste was just as big a surprise. It was hoppy, after all, but there was something caramel in the background. Or toasted. They must have used a toasty-caramel malt base which added some sweetness but loads of complexity.
The girlfriend and I drank these beers with some pies as our dinner after arriving at out little home for the weekend. The road trip was a much needed one, one in which we can spend some quality time away from family, studies, and work. For this weekend, we started with these hazy IPAs, pies, and just the smell of the beach in our noses.
Sometimes you just need to switch off, as I said in the start of this post. And what better way than with a beer in your hand?
Every year on my birthday, I pour myself a liter of King's Blockhouse IPA from Devil's Peak. This Juicy Lucy though is a good beer that might dethrown my all time favorite beer! I love the complexity of it. And I love the new memory that I am creating surrounding it, with the love of my life, road trips, and good food.
We enjoyed the beers, while taking bites from our pies. I had venison, she had steak and kidney. We breathed the sticky ocean air and we listened to the waves crashing just around the corner.
We were making new memories.
For now, happy drinking and keep well!
All of the writings in this post are my own, albeit based on some new memories and good beers. The photographs are also my own, taken with my Nikon D300 and iPhone.