Four New Beers

Four new beers? Guess it's about time for an update. The local food jobber has graciously expanded its variety to include two new breweries: Flying Dog and Spanish Peaks.

The only offering from Flying Dog is their Pale Ale, which has become my new staple, not only because I want to encourage the spread of good beer in Florida, but also because it's pretty damn good. It's a well balanced, hoppy APA. Not too spectacular in any one area, but a good session beer and beats most of the staples. Just between us...I like it better than Sierra's Pale.
They've got a good website and a good label artist, Ralph Steadman of Hunter S. Thompson fame. I'm gonna see what I can do to get more of their beer down this way.

Spanish Peaks has two new beers available here, Summer White and Black Dog Ale. The Summer White is a Belgian white; light and crisp, great for the summer. It has prominent citrusy tones, but leads with a strong diacetyl flavor. It is unfiltered, with a lot of yeast in the bottle. The diacetyl flavor is overwhelming; it tastes like you're chasing a mouthful of butter. This characteristic quickly fades though, and the remainder is quite palatable and a nice summer drink.
Black Dog Ale is a malty English style ale. Dark amber in color and chewy, it kind of reminds me of a black and tan. It's good, malty with a nice English style hop balance; nutty and heavy. It tastes almost like it could have been aged in a bourbon barrel.
Just a note on their website; it's another damn flash based site so there's no way to link to their individual beers. You'll have to start from the beginning.

The fourth beer is not really new, just renamed would be my best guess: Red Hook's Longhammer IPA. I haven't had Red Hook in a while, not since their marketing agreement with Anheuser-Busch; which I assume attributes to the name change. It's pretty much the same as it's always been, hoppy but not too bitter. It's not by any means an IPA to write home about; I'd prefer to classify it as an APA. Red Hook describes it as "having a wonderful hop aroma without an overpowering hop taste". What kind of fucking IPA is that? It's a good session beer and one of the best (only) IPA's available at the grocery store, and it's kept cold which facilitates immediate imbibing following a hard day at work...or a day at work.
Red Hook's website is also flash based and, after a few beers, is really starting to annoy me. On second thought, don't buy Red Hook. They're in bed with the king of beers and they don't think and IPA should have hop flavor. I'm disgusted. I'm going to take the rest of the six pack and pour it directly down the toilet...or rather my throat, but I won't enjoy it.

Diacetyl: so I was wondering if I remembered my organic chemistry, and if I was using this term correctly; and by god, sure enough, I was!