Beer. It’s Overwhelming.
Megan and I both enjoy a good beer but the variety and crazy names can be overwhelming. My go-to is having Chris order/buy for me because he knows what I like. I usually have to text him pictures of beer cans when I’m at the grocery store to see if it is a good one or not. So, I decided it was about time I figure it out for myself – with Chris’s beer help of course. I sent him on probably his favorite errand ever, to buy beer, and now our fridge looks like this…
It’s also a little tricky because everyone has different tastes. For instance, I love Hazy Pale Ales, Megan loves Pilsners, Chris loves Sours and IPAs, and my Dad loves the strongest IPAs he can find.
So I asked Chris to help pick out a few different beers that work for a bunch of different flavor profiles and hopefully one matches yours!
If you are like me, and like less-bitter (less than 60 IBUs), unfiltered/hazy beers on the fruitier side with notes of apple, mango, tangerine, or grapefruit (getting really specific here), these are some beers to look for at the store:
- Johnny Utah Pale Ale by Georgetown Brewing Company
- Field 41 Pale Ale by Bale Breaker
- Sky Kraken Hazy Pale Ale by Fremont Brewery
- Little Sumpin Sumpin Pale Ale by Lagunitas
If you are a lightweight and don’t like bitter beers, like Megan, you may want to consider Pilsners. Here are a few of her favorites:
Chris’s taste in beer is similar to mine but he looks for more emphasis on the flavor of hops; in his words “the juicier the better” which draws him to Pale Ales or IPAs that use his favorite kind of hops (Mosaic, Aurora, El Dorado, Simcoe, Chinook, Citra… the list was too long). Here are a few of his favorites that you can find at the grocery store:
- Bodhizafa by Georgetown Brewing (although he is Bodhi-ed out)
- Crux IPA by Crux Fermentation Project
- Vaporizer Dry-Hopped Pale Ale by Double Mountain Brewery
- Mosaic Crush By Reuben’s Brews
- Batch 15 IPA Aslan Brewing Co.
And then there is my Dad, the man, the myth and the legend who claims to never have been hungover in his life and only drinks the heaviest IPAs around because otherwise it tastes like “water”. If you are like him, I applaud you and here are the beers on the top of his list from the past year:
- Meowsa Double IPA by Georgetown
- 3 Sisters Double IPA by Fremont
- Wisdom Seeker Double IPA by Black Raven
- Bottom Cutter Double IPA by Bale Breaker
- Hop Venom Double IPA by Boneyard
- Melvin IPA by Melvin
Random beers we love that don’t necessarily fit perfectly into one of our categories but deserve to be mentioned:
- Holy Mountain White Lodge Witbier – a great Summer beer
- Sweet As Pacific Ale by Good Life Brewing – we discovered this beer our last trip to Sun Valley – nothing tasted better after skiing
- Booch Craft – not a beer but Chris’s new discovery – “California’s first high alcohol Kombucha” – he loves it and claims it doesn’t make him hungover (I just had my first and loved it; I’ll do more research and report back:))
- Brrrr by Widmer – a great beer for Christmas time
- Pineapple Mana Wheat from Maui Brew Co – for the next time you are in Hawaii or just want to feel like you’re in Hawaii 🙂
We also want to give a shout out to some of our favorite kid-friendly breweries who could really use our support right now! Chris went into Burke-Gilman Brewery the weekend before last to get a crowler to go, and they said how hard this is hitting them given this is when their busy season is usually starting. Check and see if any of these great spots are open for to go crowlers or growlers, or be sure to visit once this madness is behind us:
- Burke Gilman Brewing Company – we love their Cirrus Hazy IPA!
- Ravenna Brewing – they have online ordering available now! Chris loves their Daylight Tropics Sour and Jalapeno Kolsch!
- Reuben’s Brews
- Magnuson Cafe and Brewery
- Lagunitas – we just recently went to the Lagunitas Brewery in Ballard for the first time and it was GREAT – it’s a huge kid friendly space with great food trucks – we can’t wait to go back
Cheers! Any favorites we should try?
