Wow - they blend better than crabs and cheddar!

This Tuesday was a quick and dirty beer blending day. Yovo had a meeting and couldn't make it down to Doctor Phelanstein's Lab (aka Dain's Place) with me. In reality, I think he was afraid someone would make him drink more of that Triangle Belgian/Seeing Double concoction he created last week. ;-)

I settled on a "traditional" half and half, with a stout and an ale. Only I chose an imperial stout and an India Pale Ale. The stout came from Baltimore - Peg Leg Imperial Stout from Clipper City's always-impressive Heavy Seas line. This dark beauty weighs in at 8.0% ABV, and has a delicious dark chocolate/coffee flavor that lingers on the tongue. For the ale, I chose Wolaver's Imperial Pale Ale from Otter Creek in Vermont. Part of the Organic Ales lineup, this is a wonderfully drinkable IPA - tart, tangy and refreshingly crisp. And it's organic, for what that's worth. At least they don't market it as free range beer.

I couldn't get the blend to separate. Granted, I didn't try very hard. These two beers seem to have a close affinity for one another. And with good cause - the blend is delicious. All of the thick rich flavor of the Peg Leg is apparent from the moment the first drop hits the tongue, but with an added semi-bitter bite from the Wolaver's. Then in a minor miracle of beerblending chemistry, the Peg Leg aftertaste gives way almost completely to the crisp hoppiness of the IPA. Like scraping your tongue with bittersweet chocolate, and then licking a grapefruit rind. But good.

Nobody was around to verify my take on this blend but Dain, and he was on duty so he could only sample a minuscule straw-full, but he agreed it was tasty. And he's not even a hophead! I'm not sure how to rate this one, given the lack of a coherent rating system, so I'll say it gets a gold star sticker and a smiley face. If only the Wolaver's was a high-gravity beer, I'd add a plus sign. And maybe a check mark. Long story shorter - it's good.