by Ace! on Fri Oct 01, 2010 1:10 am
I'm in Santa Barbara right now, and we collected some IPAs.
There were some hits, some misses, but one in particular I was reminded of. First, I love the Hebrew brewery, not only because great puns are their bread and butter, but also because all of their beer is fantastic. Their Origin Ale from a few years back was made with pomegranate, and while I normally don't like the fruit, I loved it in this beer. I even quite liked the fig beer and the date beer they made, and I usually hate both fruits.
But the best thing they've probably ever done is the Lenny Bruce Bittersweet Double IPA. Not only does it memorialize the 40th anniversary of Bruce's death (he had, at this point in 2006, been dead as long as he was alive), but it honors the man with a beautiful litany on the label.
Lenny Bruce isn't all that funny these days, because we have had the benefit of the past fifty years. But we wouldn't have anything that we have today if it weren't for that man. He was angry. He was bitter. He was fucking funny. He said "fuck" in a theater and went to jail for it. He went to jail for swearing in public! He had every right to be bitter, and his heroin addiction took him from us. At the same time, I don't know if I'd want to see an 80 year old Lenny Bruce. He'd be showing up in a David Lynch movie as a gas station attendant, or in a drama about a man with a job that the actor never, ever had anything to do with.
Anyway, the beer is fantastic. 10%, incredibly dry and bitter on the tongue with the rounding sweetness of its high percentage at the back, I seriously can't recommend this beer enough if you're a man and like your beers strong and complex.