St. Bridget and Double Dog

Last night I had one of the two beers from Great Divide that I have yet to try, St. Bridget’s Porter.  It’s one of those that I thought was only available at the brewery or in Colorado.  However, after stopping at Julio’s, and seeing they had some, I picked up a bottle.  It pours a thick (for a porter) dark mahogany color with a small tan head.  It smells of nice roasted malts with a slight hint of coffee.  From the first sip, I knew this would be a good one.  It’s more of those roasted malts with a nice coffee bitterness and a hint of chocolate in the back.  It’s a bit heavy for a porter, but that doesn’t ruin it.  It’s an awesome porter, one that I told Mike at Nikki’s that he needs to carry.

Tonight, I had a bottle of Flying Dog Double Dog Pale Ale.  It’s a high intensity version of their Doggie Style Pale Ale, though it’s actually a double IPA.  It pours a dark amber (and unfortunately, I got some chunks).  It smells of malty sweetness, some fruitiness and a hint of hops.  This DIPA is all about the malts, but it does a good job with it.  It’s a bit fuller bodied than most in its class and it’s got just enough hops to balance the malts.  It has a nice sweet fruity flavor with grapefruity hops.  It’s nice and oily in the mouth and absolutely wonderful.  This is a great DIPA.