Golden Road 2020 IPA

So my friend Saul is letting us stay in his house in Santa Monica. This is not unusual for Saul. His neighbor, who we met tonight best described him as "a wonderful man," 13 times. I'm not exaggerating. he just kept saying it as if he couldn't finish a sentence without saying that like, "If you want a great breakfast burrito, go to the place on the corner of 20th and Pico. Saul sometimes goes there, he's a wonderful man."
Now when I say Saul is letting us stay in his house, you should know he's letting my entire family stay which includes a 6 year old girl and 3 year old boy and is aware that we have a lot of extended family which means his pool might have multiple children all quite capable of urinating in his pool at the same time. But Saul (who doesn't have any children of his own) doesn't care. He is indeed a wonderful man. So wonderful I don't even know why I had any pause asking if I could stay in his house this week because I knew his answer would be yes. Saul is the type of wonderful where it doesn't even occur to him to even think about something like that. He doesn't even consider the thoughts of whether the 3 year old would shit on his couch (a distinct possibility since the 3 year old is at the stage where peeing in the toilet is a no brainer, but pooping is akin to being waterboarded).

Saul's house is an adult house with art, and nice coffee tables and things made of glass. Any parent knows what this means. We don't know what is going to break, we just know something is going to break. Saul doesn't care. He's the type of person that really couldn't give a shit if the vase he brought back from Istabul gets destroyed. And that's why Saul is a wonderful person. And it's why he won't care that I drank his beer.

I just saw it in the fridge, took it out and didn't think twice about guzzling it down. Well, I guess I did because I'm writing about it but not because I have any regret. Saul wrote on his 3 page instructions of how to utilize every facet of his home that he wanted us to take anything we needed, including booze. So I've been staring down the Tres Generaciones Tequila and Woodford Reserve wondering if drinking either of those without him is actually a step over the line? Taking his beer felt on some level assumed.

As far as I know Saul doesn't read this blog. And it wouldn't make a difference anyway, he'd think it was great because he's a wonderful man. He's so wonderful, a neighbor who Saul admits he doesn't know well told us he's wonderful.

Many people agree with Saul's neighbors sentiments. If asked if Saul is A) A wonderful man B) a good dude C) eh or D) Who is Saul?, overwhelmingly they'd pick A. In my 20's I loved and hated Saul for this. Because I know if my best friends were given that same multiple choice test about me, the majority would not pick A. My closest friends are stuck between good dude and eh but strangers swear by Saul like he's the Dalai Lama. Now in my 40's, I've come to appreciate the fact that one of my best friends is a wonderful man in the eyes of so many. So I drink HIS beer in HIS honor!

One of the reasons I took out the Golden Road 2020 IPA from HIS refridegerator was that it is made in LA and since I live on the east coast, the chances of me running into this again is slim. And also because I'm the kind of dick who not only asks to stay in your house with children who defecate publicly, but I open their fridge and drink their beer with giving it two thoughts.

It's an amber ale, almost red-ish. The head is the light coating with a million mini bubbles. It's also refreshing. No mistake the hops are present but like many of the east coast IPA's I've happened upon in recent months, the aftertaste vanishes rather quickly. I wouldn't say it has a ton of discernible flavor. That's not to suggest it is bad by any stretch. It's really drinkable, but there isn't anything that makes you go, "Ooh that's -----." There is also very little aroma. In the end though, I enjoyed this beer because it was a beer in the traditional sense. It didn't smell like a mango or taste like a pineapple but that doesn't make it any less enjoyable.
So it gets a thumbs up, although admittedly part of the positive vibes are because I'm drinking it while thinking about Saul. How could any beer Saul drinks not be wonderful right?
So if I were the Golden Road brewing company, I'd send Saul stuff. Looks what happens when you associate yourself with Saul, wonderful things happen.

Detour Double IPA

I just love the can. It's got an RV on it. They point out that this beer was brewed with renewable power, wind and solar. It comes from Salt Lake City, which despite it's religious backdrop, seems like the type of place where they'd only drink good beer. Like, I assume when Mitt Romney parties, it includes a really good carved prime rib station.
I drank Detour Douple IPA with a grilled Chimichurri chicken I found on Epicurious (who as an aside should really hire me to do a web series about the average Dad who has become quite the chef). It was not the perfect compliment. So on that front, it wasn't exactly fair to judge Detour based on the pairing.
I don't picture Mitt Romney eating chimichurri, in fact I bet if I asked him what chimichurri is, he'd say a small yippy dog.

So I had to drink a second one when I wasn't thinking about Mitt Romney or grilled chicken or small dogs for that matter.

Detour Double IPA is really good. It's not heavy, but it's not light. It's got that amber Bass Ale look to it, almost red. Basically there was no head on it. The hops crash onto the back of your throat with that signature bitter splash but it doesn't last and the aftertaste is pleasantly soothing.
The aroma was a little indecipherable. I asked my wife what she thought and she said "Beer" and made an "ick" face. She's not on the IPA train. In all honesty I am only along for this ride because the brewmasters seem to have decided to make this and only this style for the time being. I'm not complaining but when German witbeers become the rage, I'm gonna party like it's 1999.
As for my nostrils, I sensed a little black licorice, not as noticeable as jagermeister but it was there.

I'd drink Detour Double IPA again and next time I'd do it with something that is from the American's chef speciality cookbook. On the beer scale of 5, I give it 4 Romneys.

Yona Yona Ale

I went to Koi, a Japanese restaurant near Grand Central terminal last night. The scene is very New York, like Stephen Hawking took an Andy Warhol painting and threw it into a rectangular room with steps. It also doubled as what the Redskins new stadium might look like, an amoeba.
So Koi is known for sushi and with sushi I drink beer. You might think, considering I blog about every beer I get my hands on that I must be drinking beer with everything I eat. Not true. I don't drink beer with breakfast, although I've considered it.  80 percent of the time I'm not drinking beer at lunch either. I did work in professional environments where that was frowned upon. It's not even a certainty that I'll drink beer with dinner for that matter.
At this point, I assume you are probably A) bored with this topic. It's obviously going nowhere and has nothing to do with the beer I will review or the sushi restaurant I ate at, B) Are sitting there like, I hate you, C) Are really curious why I'm admitting that, D) None of the above or E) All of the above. Anyone who picks E is an imbecile.
Anyway, the point is, that being the case it may come as a surprise to you that as long as it's not a sushi lunch with a workplace being the next stop after, I am almost exclusively drinking beer with sushi. Japanese beers, in particular the German style lagers like Sapporo or Kirin seem to perfectly match with a great cut of Salmon or Yellowtail. I almost can't drink anything else when I am eating good sushi.
So here we are at Koi and I'm going to get a beer and the Sapporo people will be happy to know that my go to is typically the 22 ounce can. I like to share that or if the other party isn't drinking, keep it for myself. But that's when *Bonnie, our waitress explains she has Japanese craft beers on her menu, one described as, "just like Blue Moon," and another that well, wasn't.
So I went for number 2: Japanese craft beer with unknown description. I immediately regretted this. You see, Donald Trump has it all wrong. I still think America is great, so great that I assume a "Japanese Craft Beer" would taste like ass because no one does craft beer like we do craft beer. Am I right bitches????? U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!
But considering that Sapporo is as good as any lager we have and their Japanese whiskeys are scary close to a good Scotch, I should have known better.

Anyway, what I received was Yona Yona Ale. It came in a yellow can and looked like it belonged in the aisle at the off brand grocery store where they keep "Mountain Lion" soda. I know I'm being mean, I'm just an American asshole. And proud of it biiitttttccchhheeesss. U-S-A U-S-A U-S-A!
Clearly I'm biased. I want this beer to suck. I want to crow that finally we have something better then them. Keep your TV's, we don't watch them anymore! Wow that Toyota is great. Have you seen the Tesla? Steve Jobs was the creator of my computer AND phone fool? Step off.
But, turns out the beer was pretty good when I stopped having these odd hallucinations about a fake competition I believe the United States is in with Japan.

It was gold in color, but Leopard shirt thinks the lighting of the place had something to do with that. You know New York restaurants think everything needs an Instagram filter. Yes, the person I ate dinner with  wore a leopard shirt on a Monday. It was very Gronk.

The beer was quite light which for "craft" beers was unusual but for Japanese beers, at least the ones I've had previously fell in line with the norm. It wasn't very deep either which, in our craft world where sometimes I feel like I'm baselining hops, felt unusual for the word " craft" to be associated. And it was not overly flavorful. Turn off three. Done right? Wrong.
Maybe it was the sushi talking but it complimented the fish well. One of the Koi dishes we got was a "crispy rice" appetizer with either yellowtail or a spicy tuna on top. It was a deep fried small rectangle of rice deep fried so it was particularly crispy on the outside with a glob of the fish on top. And Yona Yona turned out to be a nice finishing touch.
It has almost no aftertaste,  only a mild burst of hops which lately was welcome. The burst reminded me of the poppers at Pinkberry. I realize only people with six year olds who take those six year olds to Pinkberry  probably know what I'm talking about. It's when you eat something that has a gel in the middle and it gives you that little burst of flavor.
Leopard shirt said it had the aroma of honey and she was right on.
In all, I liked it. Maybe more for the story but I liked it.Iit's not like I'll be demanding to know where I can get a six pack of it. But next time I'm at Koi and someone fries up some rice and throws some fish on top of it, I'm not going Sapporo. I'm taking Yona Yona for the ride.


*How did I know my server's name was Bonnie? Well I didn't when she told me the beer options which is among the first interactions you have with wait staff. I just want you to know I'm not one of those people who immediately ask for the servers name if that person doesn't immediately offer it. I'm not saying that's wrong or weird. Actually I am. It's weird. It's why I don't do it and why I think I had to tell you that I don't do that. The reason I know her name is because it was printed on the check. You don't see many Bonnies anymore so I turned to my dinner companion and said "Guess her name. It's realllllllllyyyy exciting." The names the other person will throw out will tell you a lot about them. If someone is like, "Is it Jennifer?" You now know this person is probably a " Kendra on Top"  fan, i.e. someone you should never devote watching TV with for the rest of your life. Why would someone assume I want to play this game if the name of the server is a name you hear 15 times a day? Now if your guest says "is it Iman?" and the server is a 5 foot 2 inch white brunette with a few extra rolls in the midsection, well you have found yourself eating sushi with a keeper.