After perusing the local BevMo and Hi-Times as many times as I have, I found myself starting to wonder about the final weeks of this project. And I found myself drawing a blank on a beer to get for the week. On top of that, I hadn’t even thought about going to either BevMo or Hi-Times, or anywhere else for that matter, to secure this weeks beer. I guess I had just planned on showing up somewhere and grabbing whichever beer grabbed my attention.
Thankfully for me, I have awesome friends who encourage my drinking look out for my blog. So, while friend Claudia was visiting family in Portland she picked up a bottle of beer for me from the local brewery up there. Which brings us to beer number 48, Cap’n Sig’s Northwestern Ale from Rogue Ales. Ok, sure, it’s not like I can’t get Rogue here but this was one of their regional beers. Which is awesome. Like Claudia.
Speaking of awesome things, this beer was pretty awesome. I was hesitant at first since the beer is based off the Hansen brothers (as Rogue describes them, the Rogues of the sea) from The Deadliest Catch. Don’t get me wrong, I love that show. But being badass dudes who catch crabs in Alaska doesn’t necessarily mean their qualified to craft a beer. Or so I thought.
Apparently being a badass dude who catches crabs in Alaska does mean you’re qualified to craft a beer. Or, at the very least, inspire one. What is even cooler is that proceeds from this tasty beer go to the Fisherman’s Fund. I’m always in support of something that goes to a good cause. More things should go to a good cause. Just saying.
But this isn’t about me on my stump. Let’s talk about this tasty beer that Rogue classifies as an India red ale (first for me). The best way for me to describe this beer is that it was quite hoppy in an aggressive, Arrogant Bastard sort of way. But the thing that made this beer stand out from a Bastard was a strong taste of citrus. At first I wasn’t sure that’s what I was tasting, but it got more prevalent through the life of the beer. The other major taste that came through this beer was that of a malty overtone.
All in all, this was a serious score for me and I quickly had to thank Claudia for bringing it down the coast to me. I easily gave this beer a “Thumb’s Up” and will be sure to keep an eye out for it. If, for some reason, it starts to be distributed down here to sunny Southern California I will definitely grab another bottle. I mean, considering what Cap’n Sig goes through, drinking another one of these beers is the least I could do.
