Today's Two Beers

Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA
I'm the kind of guy who has always had favorites. Jim Rice is my favorite baseball player. The Wire is my favorite TV show. Diet Mountain Dew Code Red (R.I.P.) is my favorite soft drink. Guided By Voices is my favorite band. And Dogfish Head is my favorite brewery. Sure there's some root-for-the-home-team sentiment to my feeling this way about Dogfish Head; they are based in nearby Milton, Del. But mostly they are my favorite because I love all of their beers, they push the envelope in terms of brewing, they have their own unique style, and they seem to do what they want solely because they want to do it. You have to respect that. Naturally, I have a favorite Dogfish Head beer: their 120 Minute IPA. This is not a beer you drink on a regular basis (that's what their 90 Minute IPA is for). This is one you keep for special occasions, which the Red Sox winning the World Series certainly qualifies as for me. At 20% alcohol, this is one that can knock you on your ass. It is also unlike anything I have ever tasted: thick and fruity and sweet and hoppy, but surprisingly easy to drink. God, I LOVE this beer.

New England Elm City Lager
This brewery is based in Woodbridge, Ct., which I think is pretty close to where Reservation Road (reviewed below) takes place. (I also bet that the Sox winning the Series was a special occasion for a lot of the guys working at the New England Brewing Co.) This pilsener comes in a can, which might offend a lot of beer guys, but I'm fine with it. Besides, cans have come a long way in the past handful of years and don't seem to really affect the taste of a beer like they used to. Elm City Lager is crisp, refreshing beer that would easily appeal to the Budweiser crowd, but there's enough going on here that I have to say I enjoyed it.