One look at "What's in my beer fridge", and you can tell that I am enjoying a fair amount of Weyerbacher. The obvious case I just purchased is Big Beers. I have to admit that it is the first case I have purchased in a long time. Most of the time I stock up on bombers or go to a good pick your own six pack place and go wild. Typically this gets a bit costly especially if all of my purchases are done in PA. What sparked me to grab an entire case was an opportunity to get several beer styles and save a little cash.
On Saturday I jumped in the car and asked my GPS to find beer distributors close to home. The Nuvi (my navigating brain on the dashboard) came up with four places less than three miles from my front door. However the place I decided to venture to was a little further out. I discovered the back roads to King of Prussia and made my way to Kunda Beverage. It had been years since I had stopped in and it was great to see that Kunda still offered a nice selection of craft and import beers. After walking around for a few minutes a sign in the back grabbed my eye. On the back wall a hand written banner proclaimed, BLOWOUTS!!!. This of course triggered my money sensible side. Strolling to the rear of the store I found a case of Weyerbacher Big Beers for around ten dollars less than what I would pay in the city. What was a little strange was that the beer came in a plain case that ended up being a Weyerbacher Double Simcoe case turned inside out. The original Big Beer graphics were then glued to the top of the blank case. My only fear was that since the beer wasn't in the original packaging it was dated and less than fresh. However since I hadn't had this case since the Double Simcoe was added and the price was more than comfortable I threw caution to the wind and put down the cash.
After giving a few bottles some time in the the fridge I pulled out a Double Simcoe, poured it into a Dogfish pint glass and was happy to discover the aroma of piney hops flooding my nose. The taste followed the lead of the aroma with pine and citrus (grapefruit) grabbing at the tongue. The alcohol sting upfront mellows with warmth and leads to a slightly biscuit sweet end. Double Simcoe is a solid DIPA, not at the level of Pliny the Elder or Bell's Hop Slam but more in line with Dogfish 90 Minute or Stoudt's DIPA. The rest of the case is equally as impressive The Old Heathen is a roasty near black, Imperial Stout with an abv of 8.0%. Merry Monks' Ale weighs in at 9.3% and is a sweet, yeasty, Belgian style triple with hints of clove and coriander. The final and biggest beer in the case is the 11.1% Blithering Idiot English style barleywine. The deep amber beer gives off a spicy sweet aroma and pours with a thin dissipating head. The taste is of dark fruit with a warm alcohol smack that blends well with the malty character. As much as my hop crazy self loves the Double Simcoe, knowing the outside temperature is hovering around 36 degrees and having patches of snow dot my new driveway dictates the Idiot is the beer to enjoy on the couch in front of the fire. I have enjoyed several bottles from the discount case and no disappointments yet. Overall Weyerbacher has put together one of the best variety cases on the market.
So far my life adventure outside the city is going well. I found a few new beer distributors and revisited one that provided a great case of beer at an even better price. Tie that in with my proximity to some of the best beer bars in the area and It looks like there are more than a few good reasons to live in the land of strip malls.
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