Matt and Hannah already had a BBQ planned for America Eve (July 3rd), so Matt and I did a quick, early bike tour to check out New Belgium and O'Dells breweries before the party. I didn't have time to sample as much as I might have liked, but it's at least worth writing about my impressions from New Belgium.
First of all, both New Belgium and O'Dells are huge, and both were busy even before noon on July 3rd. Fort Collins clearly takes its beer culture seriously. New Belgium has a room for a strange game that involves rolling roundish stones (bolls) down a long court that is depressed into the ground with sides that curve up, in a mix of curling and shuffleboard. When I was there, it was overrun with children chasing the stones around. From the few stone-child collisions I witnessed, the bolls must be much lighter than they look.
Skip the next two paragraphs if you don't care about beer.
I've tried most of New Belgium's stuff before, including my favorite sour, La Folie. The 2016 La Folie is great as always, maybe a little more tart than last year, and I don't think that's a bad thing since I could still happily finish a large glass (slowly, of course). I'm not as familiar with sours and I won't get into a thorough beer review here, but I can definitely recommend it to anyone who wants a quality sour that's still very pleasant to someone like me that hasn't spent time training themselves to like sours. I was most impressed, though, by the Whiskey Fat Back, aged as implied in whiskey barrels. I think of New Belgium as a producer of lighter, summertime, drinkable beers that I'd look for in 12-packs to supply a party with reasonable beer at reasonable cost. The Whiskey Fat Back, though, was something else entirely. It poured amber, but tasted darker. Very woody, with strong notes of vanilla and caramel, and noticeable but not overpowering boozy flavor. Basically, a craft beer that seems meant to compete in a whole other market -- something that I'd be willing to share and savor a bottle of, even let it age, rather than something to buy in bulk for a party that wasn't meant to revolve around beer. Unfortunately and despite my insistence, there aren't any plans to bottle Whiskey Fat Back.
O'Dell is great for IPAs, and I can definitely recognize and acknowledge that, but IPAs aren't usually my jam. I know, it's blasphemy to say that in the northwest, but it's true; so many IPAs are nothing but hop-bombs that, I imagine, were created so that beer connoisseurs could feel superior whenever a normie calls them too bitter. Anyway, the atmosphere at O'Dell was great and they had something like 40 taps available, but I went for the first stout I could find on a casual inspection. It was enjoyable, but most beer is, and I got the sense that it was there just to round out their offerings. I can say that they had a great food cart, though, selling some interesting sandwiches. We had to return to the BBQ before really getting into their beer.
Continue reading here if you skipped the preceding two paragraphs.
I met a bunch of real physics students at the BBQ, all pursuing PhDs and generally planning to stay in academia as long as possible. Turns out there isn't much call for subatomic particle physicists in industry, though I imagine the few opportunities that do exist are insanely cool. We failed to light some wet charcoal and then took over someone else's grill. I ate too much, as intended, and fell asleep on the grass. Later, I woke up, went inside, and fell asleep again. I woke up at 10 PM, moved slightly, and went to sleep a third time. Turns out I'm not very aware of when my body does and does not need sleep.
No comments:
Post a Comment