Besides Bears

Besides being bears, we are lovers and friends.  That's how the song goes right?  So, as such, we decided to act like complete strangers at a local dive, Calamity Jae's.

The onion ring aroma drew me in but the incredibly cute guy at the bar, cheesy jukebox music, and bad flirting that got me to stay.  I then enjoyed a Total Domination IPA by Ninkasi and flirted with an unappealing persona put on by an unusually attractive bear.  Unable to slight my interest, I continued to chat with said bear as I drank my delicious IPA.  Total Domination always surprises me in how clean and refreshing it is, but then satisfies with an intense bitter edge.  Its beautiful golden-amber color and light fizzy mouth-feel make this Indian Pale Ale one of my most acceptable and accessible beer choices generally available at the local watering hole.

male bear at bar: "all guys who like IPA's are sexy beasts"
female bear: "I heard that" ^_^

*****

this is not beer...

The first attempt, unable to be taken seriously by bears and bartenders alike, was a flop.  So we moved on to another bar in hopes of finding those heavenly smelling onion rings and our inner flirts.  Across the parking lot we found the 108 bar, and inside, something curious.  I am a big fan of Widmer's Hefeweizen on draft, but what I saw was something new by Widmer, the Pitch Black IPA.  I felt like a kid again, when I used to be obsessed Mountain Dew, but then they came out with Code Red!  Yeah, the nostalgia and excitement hit hard and I bought a pint.

Darker than my sexy outer coat, this IPA is the least IPA looking IPA I've ever encountered (PA, pale ale; this, not pale).  It was also one of the hoppiest.  Slightly less hoppy than one other beer I had had - a beer that I don't remember what or where but was pretty much hop tincture in a glass - it was still incredibly hoppy but also fantastic.  Creamy, hop-centric, and possessing the consistent IPA bitter edge.  It was like the milkshake cousin of other soda-pop IPA's.

The flirting again flopped...
for obvious reasons ^_^