Drinking It All: #11 Sweetwater IPA
Drinking It All is a document of my attempt to try every beer in circulation. It’s a Herculean and tragic attempt at best. But it’s the means, not the end that counts here.
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sweet water + mystery hops=yes, yes, yes
The last of the papers have been graded–it’s officially time for beer.
So, I’m going through and finishing the hanger-ons from some sixpacks I bought specifically to post about. Today I’m on the last Sweetwater IPA from a sixpack a friend brought back with him the last time he was in town. Sweetwater’s the premeire, I guess, brewery in Atlanta, GA. Or at least it’s the only one I know of. I think they’re most famous for their 420 Pale Ale, but that’s for another day.
I realize the last post was about an IPA, as is is this one (I’ve also got one more IPA in the dugout), so I’ll try to switch it up a bit the next couple out. The Sweetwater IPA is described (on the label) as being a mammoth IPA with generous quantities of premium hops. Very specific, I know. Although vague, this description seems pretty apt to me. The hops are definitely a big part of the beer–it’s spicy and bitter, more so than the Anniversary Ale of the last post. This is one of the few IPAs I’ve had that tastes pretty close to what hops actually smell like. And this is a fantastic thing. (You, dear reader, should smell hops, either pellets or whole leaf. To put it subtly–Sheeit. (In a good way))
I can’t be specific about what type of hops were used, nor can I give any kind of educated guess, but whatever they are seems to work well. This is a solid IPA. It’s a bit tougher than a standard Pale Ale, such as Sierra Nevada’s or Anchor’s Liberty Ale, but not so much so to turn people off–I don’t think.
I’ve heard that you can volunteer to work in the Sweetwater brewery for a day and receive some beer as a gift/reward. I’d strongly recommend volunteering when/if you’re in the Atlanta area (haven’t done it myself, but I haven’t really been to Atlanta since I was probably 12). Free beer’s always a good incentive to do some manual labor, and if this beer’s free–sign me up.
Thumbs up or thumbs down? I’m going with up. Obviously I’m stupid for IPAs, and this one’s a keeper.
P.S. Lest you think I’m focusing too much on beers I’m fond of (a fair statement (afterall, I’m the one doing the drinking here)), I’m always up for suggestions. Also, I know there are plenty of bad beers I can get my hands on, so look forward to the next couple of entries being particularly amusing (read: bad, cheap, shitty).
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Comments
2 Comments on Drinking It All: #11 Sweetwater IPA
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Elizabeth on
Sun, 28th Mar 2010 11:21 am
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Ed on
Mon, 29th Mar 2010 8:46 am
there’s also red brick brewery and a few small brew pubs in ATL… we like them, but if given i choice i pick 420 almost always. also want to suggest Bell’s Two Hearted (IPA, i think but either was really good) and the Pale Ale Mighty Arrow from new belgium if you haven’t already tried it.
I haven’t tried any of those except the 420. We are not as fortunate in our beer selection over here. But I’d like to try any and all of those. Hopefully, we’ll make it to Atlanta soon and we can visit some of the brewpubs maybe.
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