I had three bottles of it left. An imperial ale that I've aged for over 6 months. Given the opportunity to have few drinks more than usual for the evening, I decide to partake. I start with one of these imperial ales. It was wonderful. The age had brought out the earth tones in the flavor. The hops had mellowed and the malts, which were strong to start with, had transformed into something that reminded me of Sierra Nevada's Bigfoot. It was fantastic.
I finish up the beer and decide to change if up and open up a 8 month old bottle of an American pale ale. Aging of beers had once again proved to be worth every week involved. When this beer was younger it had a slight bite up front. A symptom of adding too much bittering hops at the start of the boil. Chinook, I recall. A full 2oz of Chinook at the start of a 90 minute boil. After time has had its way with it, this beer is fantastic. The carbonation is a little stronger now, but not to the point of being too much, almost, but not quite there. I finish this beer and decide to have one more.
One more is a special thing for me. I rarely consume this much. It's rebellious to drink enough to "feel" it. But this is a special occasion for me. I decide to compliment this final beer with a fine smoke. I pull out my finest tobacco pipe and pull out my finest tobacco to compliment it. I carefully pack the bowl and light it up to get it going with all the care that pipe smokers give to their best tobaccos. I pour my 2nd to last bottle of Imperial Ale to finish the set of which I will partake.
The tobacco tastes great, the beer sucked. WTH? The tobacco flavor messed up my perception of the beer. Awe man, what a waist. This beer is superior, but it tastes like sweetened muck complimented with this damned tobacco.
Lesson learned. Just because the beer is great, and the tobacco is great, don't mean they will be great together. Fortunately, I have one more left of this beer. I won't be smoking tobacco when I drink it.
I finish up the beer and decide to change if up and open up a 8 month old bottle of an American pale ale. Aging of beers had once again proved to be worth every week involved. When this beer was younger it had a slight bite up front. A symptom of adding too much bittering hops at the start of the boil. Chinook, I recall. A full 2oz of Chinook at the start of a 90 minute boil. After time has had its way with it, this beer is fantastic. The carbonation is a little stronger now, but not to the point of being too much, almost, but not quite there. I finish this beer and decide to have one more.
One more is a special thing for me. I rarely consume this much. It's rebellious to drink enough to "feel" it. But this is a special occasion for me. I decide to compliment this final beer with a fine smoke. I pull out my finest tobacco pipe and pull out my finest tobacco to compliment it. I carefully pack the bowl and light it up to get it going with all the care that pipe smokers give to their best tobaccos. I pour my 2nd to last bottle of Imperial Ale to finish the set of which I will partake.
The tobacco tastes great, the beer sucked. WTH? The tobacco flavor messed up my perception of the beer. Awe man, what a waist. This beer is superior, but it tastes like sweetened muck complimented with this damned tobacco.
Lesson learned. Just because the beer is great, and the tobacco is great, don't mean they will be great together. Fortunately, I have one more left of this beer. I won't be smoking tobacco when I drink it.
