My blog, like my life is never without beer. That being said, it has been 17 days since my last Sweet Hops post and I have heard the call of my thirsty followed and will heed it.

A little background for the new folks to visit my blog, I come from a long line of beer enjoyers and have recently become enthralled in the hoppy IPAs even though I don't have a beard, scarf or man-bun.

Let's go with a wedding theme here, Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Meh

Something Old

Sawdust City - Lone Pine IPA: https://www.sawdustcitybrewing.com/our-beer/lone-pine-west-coast-ipa/ This one has been featured in my blog before because it is a solid old favourite. It is supposed to be a West Coast IPA probably because of the combination of summit, simcoe, columbus, and chinook hops along with the California Ale yeast. It doesn't taste any more California than a few of my other old favourites and, branding aside, it is a full, strong, sweet and complex brew. I generally get this when I need a little change from Nickel Brook Headstock IPA, or am not in the mood to give ones I have had a second chance.

Something New

Orange Snail Brewers - Iron Pig Pale Ale: http://orangesnailbrewers.ca/#beer I had never seen or heard of this one before, nor could recall tasting a beer brewed in Milton (suburb of Toronto.) At first glance, the branding leaves something to be desired as the brewery name seems like an unfunny inside joke, and I would hesitate to wrap my lips around an Iron pig on the best of days. For a self-professed Session Ale, it did have a good amount of taste. Earthy biscuit is a strange way to describe a beer taste but it was a little heavy on the vanilla-like farmhouse saison flavour. If I had have stopped at the first couple tastes, I would probably have discounted that to a failed experiment and not bought it again. By the time I got to the end of it, it didn't taste like another but I was okay with it. I would probably give it a go again in the summer to see if it suits my pallet in Session Ale Season.

Something Borrowed

Great Lakes Brewery - Grimace's Tears Strawberry Milkshake IPA: https://untappd.com/b/great-lakes-brewery-grimace-s-tears-strawberry-milkshake-ipa/2810718 I am not one for fruity beers really and am generally hit and miss on Milkshake anything because they use Lactose sugar to be different. This one is not distractingly strawberry and is legitimately thick and tasty. It is a limited run which never lasts long for the clamoring hipsters so I borrowed a few from my brother who has the staff discount and was willing to part with it. I would rather load up on Lake Effect, Thrust or another one of their IPAs but am glad to have some in the fridge for a change.

Something Meh

Side Launch Brewing Company - Session Seven: https://www.sidelaunchbrewing.com/beer/ I couldn't think of anything blue and am not going anywhere near a Labbatt's product so this one is the substitute. I have never been too thrilled by anything Side Launch. Their sour isn't near sour enough, their other beers are a bit derivative, and they don't even have an IPA. I have a soft spot for them because they originated with another Toronto-based brewery which was one of the first micro-brews I had ever been to probably back in the 90s. Session Seven seemed a par for the course for them in my mind meaning, I don't hate this. I might put this in my fridge if people were coming over, weren't bit on my mouthful-of-pinecones IPAs, and wanted to branch out from boring old beer without diving in with both feet. Better than running out of beer and having to consider choking down an OV http://www.lcbo.com/lcbo/product/old-vienna-lager/460881#.W_4a_ehKhVo that someone left behind.

Thanks for having a couple drinks with me! Please consider following @detlev and entering your beer stories into his weekly beer contest for fun and prizes.......and to bring a little more beer to the blockchain!