Me a Beer Geek? Blame it on the Ops.

Philly Beer Week can bring the true inner geek out in any craft beer lover. It happened to me last night. After spending the early part of the evening at The Grey Lodge enjoying some fantastic beer from Voodoo Brewing and Dark Horse (I need more Double Crooked Tree) I met up with friends at Tria Cafe at 18th & Sansom. My friend Ed asked me to trust his beer choosing abilities, which I did, and soon I was sharing a bottle of Brooklyn Black Ops. Bourbon aged beers are my weakness and this on did not disappoint.

The Black Ops is a Russian Imperial Stout aged for 4 month in bourbon barrels and fermented with champagne yeast. The pour was jet black with a two finger deep tan head. Hints of bourbon worked through the upfront aroma of chocolate and roasted coffee. Although on the boozy side the bourbon stayed subtle and never took over. Oak, some dark fruit and vanilla all started to appear as the beer warmed. Since I wasn't at home, kicked back in my leather chair by a fire I was glad to be sharing this bottle. I highly recommended you get to Tria before it's gone.

My geek moment of the night happened after my last sip of Ops. The power of the bourbon aged treat moved me to convince Kelleigh to drive over to the London Grill so I could shake hands with Garrett Oliver, Brewmaster for Brooklyn Brewing. My guess is the 11% was part of the motivation. Of course I wasn't the only one waiting to bend Garrett's ear with questions about food and beer pairings. However I may of been the only one to take an empty bottle of Black Ops from Tria, bring it to London Grill and have him sign it. This beer geek has no shame?