Sweet Liberty, Cradle Of

So the delay in getting this blog up and running was a giant 3-day fun-fest standing in the way of your correspondents and their beer: namely, the bar exam. For 4 weeks, I didn't have a drop to drink. No wine, no beer, no cocktails: nothing. I studied my ass off for that thing, and heaven help the person who reports to me that I have to do any part of it over.

In celebration of having completed the exam (or, in my case, two exams), I went out for a drink with some classmates. First stop was at Tia's on the Waterfront in downtown Boston, where I saddled up with a delicious local brew: Sam Adams Summer Ale.

OK fine. Sam Adams might as well be a national macrobrew at this point, given their coast-to-coast availability and ridiculous marketing apparatus (laser-etched nucleation points, anyone?). Still, the summer beer is a favorite.

Sam Summer is a great, refreshing summer beer. There's a ton of citrus, some light wheat flavor, and lovely spice. Also, at 5.2% ABV, it holds up well over a long period of time without becoming heavy, cloying, or totally messing with one's head.

Unfortunately, Tia's on the Waterfront does not have the same staying power. We left. Quickly. I mean really - $7 for a plastic cup pint? Please.

We found ourselves at Cambridge Common, in Cambridge, MA. It's right next to Harvard Law School, but since most of the law students were closer to the bar exam (or better yet, in other states), the jackhole factor was delightfully low.

I went with a Kennebec "Magic Hole" IPA, which has a terrible name. I ordered it off of the menu as the "Kennebec IPA," as Cambridge Common has the sense not to put such a dumbass name on its menu. Out of Maine, this had a lot of bitterness and a very sharp aftertaste, with really delightful astringency for a hot day. Once I cooled down a bit and tasted it again, it felt very shallow: not fantastic, but precisely what I needed that day. At about this time, my hand could again be used for holding my beer glass: stupid handwritten bar exam…

I was looking for a nice strong beer and found one in the Nebraska Hop God, a velvety smooth 9% ABV beer that should have come in a 10 oz. glass. Thankfully, the Common was out of 10 oz. glasses, so my server poured me a pint. There was to be a 4th beer this evening - those plans went out the window. There was some great pinecone in this, a good amount of citrus hop flavor without a lot of kick, and a malt sweetness that one comes to expect from the stronger ales. But a pint of this stuff did me in for sure. Oddly, this one goes really well with ketchup: the vinegar burned off most of the spicier flavors, leaving malt and alcohol on the tongue. Very peculiar, but not unpleasant.

I should mention the Rogue Hazelnut Brown that my girlfriend was drinking. At first, there was a great coffee & mocha base, but then the hazelnut started to seep in. I hate hazelnut. This felt like drinking a beer while sitting at Starbucks and having to breathe in all of that noxious filbert aroma. Gross.