July 5, 2012

Drew’s Brews: The End is Near . . .

Editor’s Note: Beer-o-matic man Drew is back with another edition of Drew’s Brews, where he sings the beer fantastic.

It is no secret that a phenomenon of disastrous proportions looms over a certain grouping of true believers out there, who seem to believe that the Mayan calendar points to the end of the world or that some grandiose cataclysmic event will unfold when we reach December 21st of 2012—thus reaching the end date of the 5,125 year cycle Mesoamerican calendar system. Whether you are devoted to the numerological and astronomical events that must align for this impending apocalypse or a person who enjoys the camp value of bad Armageddon blockbuster films and marketing to your specific fears, I have a beer for you. The good people at the Elysian Brewing Company are just as excited and/or apprehensive and celebrate and/or reject with you. Perhaps they are exploiting fears and capitalizing on what many refer to as pseudoscience, but it gives them just the excuse they need to countdown with 12 session beers of the apocalypse. Every month as we approach 12/12, Elysian Brewery releases a new beer in the series paired with some inspired artwork. So, here’s what I’m drinking currently as I prepared for the end: “The Rapture” a 7.65% beer with high country heather tips in the mash that are then added again at the end of the boil. It was the second release of the series. The Rapture pours a deep golden color and has a smooth nose and taste with floral honey and piney herbal scents. There is a nice balanced flavor combining sweet fruit and honey with bitter flavors and hops. A nice session series but getting harder to find, as it is a limited release. And although I enjoyed my trip to the Elysian Brewery on Capitol Hill in researching the apocalypse and the beers around it, I much prefer the wild game day atmosphere of the Elysian fields public house or Tangletown’s cozy neighborhood vibe to the actual brewery.

While we play on the darker side I wanted to share a sad note (well, at least sad in the beer-scheme-of-thing). My good friend and local home brewer saved the last bottle of his last session pale ale just to give me for my birthday. He held on to it for nearly 4 months waiting to see me. He gave it to me last weekend and I was delighted. Unfortunately it punched through a damp paper grocery bag on the trip home and shattered at my feet. I stared at it for several minutes as the flip top rolled in a circle among the corpse of broken glass—what a foamy shame. In memory of this fine beer I never had, please, everyone reading this, enjoy your favorite Pale Ale and share a comment of what you had. It’ll be a virtual toast to Luke D. and those lost beers that slip through the cracks.

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