Old Schoolhouse Epiphany Pale

Well, today is my Sunday. The beauty of working in the home delivery field. I don’t have a huge amount of plans today. I’ve been watching the World Baseball Classic lately. I can’t believe how well Italy has done. I’d like to see them go a little bit further. Anyways, here’s a review from last week…

ABV: 5.5%

Style: American Pale Ale

Trivia: According to the brewery website, “A medium-bodied pale with moderate bitterness, slight caramel malt flavor, and citrusy hop aroma. This is a good beer to start with when building up the courage for the stronger beers.”

Random: My cat sleeps about 18 hours. I wish I had his life.

This one poured with a half a finger of cream-colored head that dissipated quickly. It left a limited amount of lacing on the glass. The body was a very hazy bright orange with limited carbonation visible throughout. The nose was huge. It was filled with stinky, earthy hops and old grapefruit. I literally smelled it as I opened the bottle. Bready malt came through on the nose after a few minutes. The taste started with the same stinky hops that were apparent in the nose. Then, I got grass and grapefruit pith. For a pale ale, this was incredibly bitter. After a few sips, I got some bread and a touch of almond. This beer was definitely not balanced. At the end of the sip, this medicinal taste overwhelms the palate. The body was thick with medium carbonation. The finish was long with grapefruit pith and that medicinal taste I mentioned. This brew was straight out rough and unpolished. It was flat out awful. A definite drainpour. Avoid. I guess I know why this one was on sale at Spirits.

Untappd Rating: 1.0/5.0

Old Schoolhouse Brewers Reserve Imperial IPA

Katie and I went to the gym tonight. She suggested that we do legs tonight, which is probably my least favorite weight day. But, being the good girlfriend that I am, I decided that I would gladly oblige. I think about halfway through the workout, she regretted that decision. She’s definitely going to be sore tomorrow. We went out for pizza afterwards (I had this really good whole wheat bruschetta slice) and now it’s beer time. I saw this brew at Joe Canal’s in Hamilton and I’d never even heard of this brewery before, so a bomber came home.

ABV: 9%

Style: American Double/Imperial IPA

Trivia: According to the brewery website, “Our Imperial IPA is bigger and more balanced than its little brother, Ruud Awakening IPA, with a stronger malt presence and increased hopping rate. Mild caramel malt character and plenty of Pacific Northwest hops. The Imperial IPA is part of our Brewer’s Reserve Series.”

Random: I don’t understand how women are obsessed with shoes. It makes no sense to me. I rarely ever look at what shoes a person is wearing. I have about 10 pairs now (my sister forced me to purchase some), but I’d be happy with my work boots and my sambas and workout sneaks. I’m pretty simple.

I poured this brew into my Flying Fish tulip glass and was shocked at the three finger, cream-colored head that was left. It took awhile to dissipated and left lots of lacing on the glass. The body was a clear chestnut color with medium carbonation. The nose was initially filled with grapefruit and then some malt came up right after. The taste was definitely different for the style, and not in a good way. I got the usual notes of pine and resin and a bit of burnt wood. There was some caramel malt and alcohol burn on the end. This was not really all that pleasant…the burnt wood threw everything off for me. My next complaint? The body of the brew was way too thin for the style. The carbonation was alright, but the only way that you knew that this was a DIPA was through the alcohol burn, which lasted through to the lengthy unpleasant finish. This brew was a disappointment. I would avoid this one.

Untappd Rating: 2.0/5.0