Saturday, March 7, 2009

The IPA Wars Heat Up

Gritty strayed from that mainstream brown-red-pale good but not great beer production with the 21 IPA, not Dogfish Head 90 minute but a more assertive IPA offering than we had locally. Sebago trumped Gritty with the marvelous (although significantly more expensive) Full Throttle. The IPA war is on!

Portland Psstand Portland Food Map both reported a Twitter feed (whatever the hell twitter is) that indicated the Farmer's Table had opened in the former Mim's location, on Commercial Street. But the missed the big news on the Twitter yammer: Peak Organic has entered the IPA war! Their brew is supposed to be available at GLB and $3 Deweys. I'll explore and report back. I suffer so you can enjoy!

Sunday, March 1, 2009

Quick Update

So, RSVP has corrected their pricing error. The bomber bottles of Full Throttle are now $4.59. Everything else in my prior post remains true, and even at the corrected price this beer is a bargain.

The Best Beer Bargain in Maine

And maybe the best beer, period: bomber bottles of Sebago's magnificent Full Throttle double IPA are $3.49 at RSVP.

I've always thought of Sebago as middle of the pack amongst the local brewers. The browns, reds and pales run together. Their light option panders to the lowest common denominator of pseudo beer drinkers, and the mall location (since moved) screamed of Chuckie Cheese and Linens 'n Things. But I was wrong (yes, that happened once before--in the seventies): this is an absolutely terrific beer. It more than holds its own with others (more expensive) in the same class. I prefer it to Rogue's Yellow Snow and Stone's Ruination. It is a much better beer than Victory's Hop Devil.

Cheers, Sebago! You've hit a home run.