It's been over a month since we've been to Slows BarBQ, our favourite food & beer hangout, and after checking out the current draft list over the weekend, we put all other plans aside and headed over last night.
The tap list is fantastic right now, and I started with Atwater Block's pale ale (a draft product only), dry-hopped and aromatic, lightly malty with a good hoppy finish. Mr Cicerone went straight for Original Gravity's "440 Pepper Smoker", an amber/brownish ale with smoked malt (including a hint of chocolate), infused with jalapenos. A great beer for the Slows food menu. After this- sharing of Arcadia's Cannonball Gold wet-hopped IPA, and He'brew Bittersweet Lenny's R.I.P.A., Cannonball is just great, and the R.I.P.A was as you'd expect from Shmaltz Brewing- strong, hoppy, excellently balanced & delicious, as well as really heavy-bodied from the rye. A great match with Mr Cicerone's "The Reason" sandwich. Next- the piece-de-resistance- Bell's Expedition Stout on cask! Oh, wondrous libation! It was served at a perfect temperature (about 55deg F) and was rich, fruity (prunes/grapes), with notes of coffee as it opened up, and hops, hops, hops. And, it was perfectly conditioned. Mr Cicerone snuck in a pint of Arcadia Starboard Stout before he had his dessert (beer), and then we shared one more.
Wish we could have tried a few more (Great Divide Yeti, Southern Tier Choklat, Dark Horse Too Stout, Founders Double Trouble....), but our livers cried "enough!"
Great lineup of beers. Wish i would have been able to get some of that Expedition stout from the cask. Also glad to see that Slows has a list of it's draft beers now.
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