Brutal Memory Loss...

Rogue Ales
Brutal IPA
6.5% ABV

So, it's a good thing that I actually remembered to take a picture of last week's Friday Night Pint.  As I was planning out my day (because my severe Type A personality disorder requires me to do so) and thinking about finally getting my blog updated, I could not for the life of me remember what beer I had tried.  Then I started wondering, no panicking really: "Is this an indication of, uhh, ya know, some old age thing, or was the beer really just not that memorable?".  For the sake of my mental health, I'm going with the latter...

While not a huge fan of the other Rogue beers I have tried, I am not against giving breweries multiple chances to win me over.  So this week's pint was Brutal IPA from Rogue Ales.  Based on the name of course, one would expect the hop bitterness to remove the enamel from your teeth, and/or that the alcohol content would be high enough to melt your glass. But not so much in this case.  It was actually a very tasty beer, but more on the malty, bready side than I would expect of an IPA.  Hop notes were there, but not as prominently as I expected.  So I started to wonder what others thought of the beer... 

Now, I VERY rarely, look at reviews of a new beer before I have tried it, but will often look later to see how my assessment of the beer compared those of others (of course ditching the extreme ends of the spectrum and all that other statistical B.S.).  I almost always use the site http://beeradvocate.com/ to look a beer up, and it was there I found that in its former life Brutal IPA was called Brutal Bitter, and was categorized as an ESB (beeradvocate tells us this, and if you use the phone app Beer Cloud, it is still listed as Brutal Bitter and remains listed as an ESB).  That certainly explained the malty, bready flavors, as those are often found in an ESB, and leads me to believe that the only thing truly "brutal" about this beer is its apparent identity crisis.  The beer seems to be stuck in between the IPA and ESB categories, which is fine with me.  I think the only time a brewer should be worried about into which category a beer fits is if he/she is seeking an industry award-how dull.  But that's a story for another day.

Overall, Brutal IPA (ESB, whatever) is good, not great.  Wouldn't refuse one offered, and would certainly drink one again.  Will it make the  list of "most frequently consumed beers in the Rudolf household"?  Doubtful.  But if you're looking for a good, flavorful beer to try that won't put you under the table too quickly, order yourself a pint and relish the confusion....IPA, or not? 

Ok, and speaking of the most frequently consumed beer list...rarely do I leave the Whole Foods beer aisle ("Mom, why do we ALWAYS have to come here?!") without at LEAST one six pack of the beers listed below...(and before you all go sending me AA literature, I only shop for beer once a week...on Fridays...about 8 am if you or any other Type A personality freaks would like to meet me there...unless you are a stalker...then please disregard the previous information)...

DFH 60 Minute or Indian Brown Ale
Bear Republic Racer 5
Bell's Two Hearted Ale (my current favorite)
Firestone Walker Union Jack
Founders Centennial IPA
Cisco IPA

The rest of the cart is filled with whatever else I think might fit my mood...stouts, porters, and scotch ales since the weather has cooled off (well, cooled off for Richmond anyhow).  Sometimes, I even put food in the cart, but only if there's room left over. 

Enjoy the rest of your week!
Cheers!
Becky