sunday beer haul

I picked up another couple of beers sunday night, as well as tried a new one on tap. After work, I rode my bike over to Belmont Station again. This time I stopped over at the bier cafe side, and got a pint of the New Belgium/Elysian collaboration, the Trip III.

I wanted to like this beer really bad. I love sours, and I love New Belgium sours like la folie and la terrior. Unfortunately, I'm at odds with the two reviewers that rated this beer on beeradvocate. For me, this one fell flat. On the mouthfeel, it came in a bit too thin and watery. The flavor was too bland for the style; it was sour, but it lacked bite, acidity, and boldness. A friend of mine described it as tasting like a cross between la folie and this year's bridgeport stumptown tart, a cherry wheat. For me, it was too much stumptown tart, not enough la folie. After reading the other reviews, I wouldn't mind re-visiting this one and giving it another chance, but on Sunday, I wanted more than this delivered.

After finishing my Trip III, I hit the bottle side and picked up another widmer cherry oak dopplebock to cellar.

I also picked up a silver moon brewery 2009 fresh hop beer they dubbed Hop popatamus, on the recommendation of the clerk. I had asked what was new and good that I might be missing, and he said that the Hop popatamus was one of his favorite fresh hop beers of the year. I cracked into this one last night, and I have to agree that is was very well done. Fresh cut grass on a summer day, very floral, with just a hit of citrus. Bitter, but not overly so, and just sweet enough to give this great balance. The mouthfeel was luxurious. Perfect viscousity, with a smooth creamy velvety carbonation. Delicious, and from a brewery I wouldn't have previously expected something like this from.

The final bottle I picked up on a whim; Mikkeller It's Alright! I've been very pleased with the previous mikkeller offerings I've tried, and this was labeled as a Wild Ale, so I had high hopes. I haven't cracked it open yet, but I've read the reviews on beeradvocate, and they aren't good. In fact, they're pretty bad. I'm torn on what to do with this one. Will it imrpove at all with a little age on, or ust get worse? I think I'm going to hold on to it for a little while. At this point, I've been assured by the reviews, it wont be very good. In the future, it could be sub par, but it might also develop a bit, giving me my best shot at deriving some sort of pleasure out of this bottle. We'll see.