#Beersaturday and New Years Day align in 2022 to usher in…
…“The year of the hoppening”.
The magnitude of this event can’t be expressed strongly enough and we must pay homage to the beer gods for beginning our year on what I have wittily named “New Beers Day” (I write these jokes myself you know…)
All hail the ale! 🍺 All cheer the beer! Horah! Horah!!
WAIT! There’s just one tiny problem…
…I feel soooooo hungover from the New Years Eve drinkathon Sophisticated celebration that I really don’t think I can stomach a beer just yet.
Honestly, if I had to choose between being Boris Johnson’s wanking hand, and drinking another beer right at this very moment. I think I’d choose bashing Boris’ wrinkly, old bishop. That’s how hung over I am, or was. (I’m actually writing this a few days after the event but I’ll carry on talking in the present tense for the purpose of the story).
Why, oh why do you mock me! The greatest coming together of two special days and I’m greener than a frog on an e-bike.
The one day when everybody should feel compelled to drink, and I feel rougher than a badgers butt crack. Forgive me. After all, the reason I can not celebrate today with a beer is the consequence of celebrating the day before, with a beer (several actually), and surely that must count for something.
For my sins on this holiest of days, I shall read from the scriptures and help spread the word from the great book of beer.
The good book says;
(Going forward, all my #beersaturday posts will now have a reading from the good book, where we can all learn more about this divine beverage)
And so, inevitably, and thankfully, my hangover has passed and on the 2nd day of the year I belatedly raise a glass to celebrate “The year of the hoppening”.
For this special occasion I shall only be drinking from sacred glasses, and shall only be drinking the finest of beers.
The beers I have chosen are from the Tartarus brewery and as always these beers come with a brilliant tale to tell…
Piasa, the dragon in the breakfast stout
Piasa is a Native American dragon. It’s depicted in an old painting on Bluffs cliff-side above the Mississippi River.
It was said that an old Indian chief was directed in a dream to gather twenty men, hide poison arrows and wait for the Piasa in the open to lure it to attack. The chief offered himself as bait. Sure enough the Piasa attacked and the warriors felled it with the poison arrows.
As a dragon, Piasa didn’t do too well. However, as a beer, Piasa lights your ass up! An 8.2% stout with a strong coffee aroma. Normally a strong coffee taste isn’t a flavour I enjoy in my dark beers. I find coffee based stout too bitter and overpowering. So, when I first took a whiff of this beer and recoiled at the sharp coffee smell, I felt slightly disappointed. If the taste was as bold as the scent, I was in for alcoholic espresso.
Instead, once this dark nectar smothered my tongue, I realised this was more like a beautifully sweet and creamy cappuccino, rather than a sharp espresso shot.
The balance of flavours within this beer are as good as I’ve tasted in any other. Initially the coffee flavours explode but just before they get too carried away and take over the party, vanilla and lactose enter the room like John Travolta and Samuel L Jackson. Smooth as fuck.
This combination of flavours rounds itself off nicely, closing the show with a brown sugar sweetness. Now that’s one tasty breakfast stout!
And now, we move on to the blueberry pancake IPA
kasogonaga
A sky deity of South America. Described as an anteater with long rainbow coloured fur. It lives in the sky and is responsible for storms and other weather phenomenon. But sometimes they fall to earth and need a little help getting home. When they fall to earth they will seek the help of a human. The human must build a bonfire and place them on it and set it alight. The Kasogonaga then rises back into the sky on the smoke.
For this beer, the story is the highlight. I’m never the biggest fan of fruity beers but as you can see I’m always willing to try them out. Sure enough this beer hits the flavour notes it’s reaching for and balances them all quite well. The blueberries come through with distinction at first and then you’re left with a sweet creamy finish. Kind of reminds me of a classic ice cream with all the sauce on top.
While I didn’t enjoy this beer as much as the Piasa, I still found it pleasant enough to finish and at 6.5% it retains that irresistible kick I think all beers need.
10 out of 10 for the artwork on both these bottles and I’m happy to see they’re easy peel labels. These will add quite nicely to my sticker-bombed toolbox at work.
Ok. Well, I shall leave you all for another week and return with more beer tales and even more beer facts from the good book.
For next week I’d also like to invite @talesfrmthecrypt to write a post about beer with no less than 3 photos. I know you may be busy writing sports posts but beer goes hand in glove with sports so it seems there may be a chance you’ll entertain the idea…
May 2022 serve you well! See you all next week.
