Beer of the Week for January 2011

I drink a lot of beer. Not excessively, just regularly. OK, sometimes excessively but I don't drive or have a spouse to abuse so it's kinda responsible drinking. Sometimes, in this sea of booze, a beer makes me feel like time has stopped, the world has stopped spinning and this beer and I are in a space/time glitch where there is nothing but the magical sensations making party in my mouth and mind. This one did it.

Instantly, the powerful aromas of pine, orange blossom, pineapple, honey, agave, almond, vanilla and cinnamon smashed through my temporal lobe like the karate kid chopping through blocks of ice. The first sip introduced the epic bitterness typical of an Imperial India Pale Ale, like biting into a wasabi and grapefruit sandwich, and before I could register any nuances the tidal wave of super-sweet, super-juicy malts washed in and coated my palate with syrupy, chewy waves of brandy, bourbon, jelly babies, agave nectar and fruit cake. Phwoah!

The second sip was when we really started to get to know eachother, this beer and I. The complexities within the hops began to open up into fresh pineapple, grapefruit flesh, skunk weed and lemon leaves. The malts too began to settle as I got used to the sweetness and the American oak spices began to show, colouring the fruity, lolly-like malts with cinnamon, anise, dried fruits with a variety of phenols dancing between the other complexities.

I tried to savour the beer as much as I could, like when you don't want to finish a book because the story is so enjoyable. It's good to remember that taste is 80% smell so big whiffs of a beer like this will still stimulate sections of the temporal lobe (http://www.tastescience.com/abouttaste2.html) and help to stretch out the enjoyment time of the beer. Many big whiffs were had, with each effort revealing new and exciting elements of this brewing feat.

And that's why Southern Tier's Oak Aged Un*Earthly (http://www.southerntierbrewing.com/index1.html) is my Beer of the Week. It's on the list at Josie Bones (http://josiebones.wordpress.com/) for about $40, but not for long...

PS: It's worth a mention that Earthless (http://www.myspace.com/earthless) played at the Arthouse on Sunday night and their music was the sonic equivalent of this beer.