Happy hour

It would be an understatement to say we have a lot of beer in our condo. There's beer in the regular fridge, beer in the beer fridge, beer in the closet, beer in the living room... you get the idea.

Since Ben is extremely generous, he had the idea that we should have happy hour with a group of his friends/coworkers and do a little beer tasting. Luckily, one of them offered to host it (our place is under construction) if Ben provided the beer. We thought it would be fun to introduce them to good beers!

This is also exciting to me because I can see the top shelf of our fridge again, since the beer was cleaned out.

We started off the tasting with Abita Strawberry Harvest. I think this is a great summer beer. It definitely has a strawberry flavor, but it isn't cloying or fake tasting.

Second beer of the night was Kona Wailua Wheat. This is a really interesting beer- it tastes of passion fruit. Also a great summer beer.

Third was the 21st Amendment Watermelon Wheat. I abhor this beer... Ben loves it. I don't get it. I skipped it that night :)

Fourth was Founders Cerise (I promise, we drank more than just fruity beers- we got to the higher gravity stuff later on). I am glad we get Founders in the DC area now. They have some great offerings- one of which is this beer.

Fifth was Dogfish Head Aprihop. I'm also a fan of the Aprihop- it definitely marks the start of spring for me. Another good, solid beer.

Sixth was Laguintas Little Sumpin Sumpin. I already talked about this beer the other day, and it was great again. It smells of peaches and is a great hoppy wheat beer. One of my favorite Lagunitas beers.

Seventh was Founders Centennial Ale. This is one of Founders' IPAs, which is a great drinkable IPA.

Beer number eight was the Duck Rabbit Porter. I think you might know by now that I love Duck Rabbit. It is probably my favorite brewery! I love seeing it on the shelves around here! No more driving to NC to get it.

Nine was Southern Tier's Iniquity. Iniquity is a really interesting beer since it is a black IPA. There aren't a lot of those around! The only other one that comes to mind is Stone's Sublimely Self Righteous. I'm a big fan.

Ten was Duke Rabbit Milk Stout. I made sure to announce to the room that this was "MY FAVORITE BEER." It is true. Whenever I just want a beer and don't want to think about it, this is my go-to. I need to get me a Duck-Rabbit shirt!

Eleven was Avery Brabant. I think Brabant is a good introduction to the world of sour beers, if you aren't ready for them. We didn't do a good job of selling this beer to the newbies in the room- telling them to look for a funky smell of horse blanket or feet. Apparently wine drinkers are a lot more likely to enjoy sour beers than non-wine drinkers. If you're trying to get your non-beer-liking friends to enjoy beer, try a sour one!

Twelve was Arcadia Cereal Killer. I think for me, this was the least favorite beer we had that night (remember, I didn't actually drink that foul watermelon beer). I was sort of disappointed because I think the name is great. It wasn't bad, but I also have nothing to say about it because it wasn't that interesting.

Thirteen was Founders Double Trouble. I actually like Double Trouble more than the Centennial IPA- I would choose this if I had to.

Fourteen was Moylan's Hopsickle. Ben made sure to tell everyone that this was the hoppiest beer he'd ever had- and those who were brave enough to try it definitely agreed. It is extremely hoppy. However, it is pleasant enough (provided you like hops to begin with).

Fifteen was Duck Rabbit Rabid Duck. Rabid Duck is one of their seasonal offerings, a Russial Imperial Stout. As with the other Duck Rabbits, it is awesome. By the way, Duck Rabbit is not lying when they say they're "the dark beer specialist."

Sixteen was Stone's Double Bastard. I love Double Bastard. We're lucky we have a bunch of it left over from November, as we can continue to drink it throughout the year (and beyond, perhaps). I think I took actual tasting notes during the Stone beer dinner, so check out that post if you're interested in the details.

Seventeen (and last) was the Goose Island Bourbon County Stout. This is one of the best Bourbon infused stouts that I've had. It is absolutely fantastic, and it was a great way to end the beers for the evening.

Also of note at this great happy hour... we were lucky to try an armangnac from 1962. I can't even describe how amazing it was. Suffice to say, it was absolutely ridiculously good.

We're hoping to have more of these "educational" happy hours in the future- hopefully our friends will turn into beer geeks too!