Friday I was invited to a tasting of the new Breckenridge Brewery product, 471 IPA Reserve. They showed me to a hidden back room, (really!) where there's a quaint wood paneled bar, and they were pouring the stuff into plastic cups.
"What is it?" I asked the fellow behind the bar.
"It's sort of like our Trademark Ale," he answered, "except we doubled everything. Hops, everything."
"It's got an alcohol content of 9.2%. We just measured it this morning." he added.
I drank two. That would be my limit. It's definitely not for wimpy beer drinkers. So far it's available at Breckenridge Brewery locations. Drink at your own risk.
Hey, I wasn't invited! What kind of treachery is this??
:)
So, aside from being an alcohol-ass-kicker, how was it?
It was darker than what you'd think as a pale ale, and maybe the hoppiest beer I've tasted. It would be interesting to try to match a food to it.
One of the great joys of Britain, I found in my month there, is that the beers live up to their reputation. The variety, and also, the variety of alcohol content, typically listed on a blackboard in the pub. They put America, for all that we've developed many lovely microbrews in the last twenty-five years, to shame.