The Session #46- Unexpected Discovery

This month's The Session is hosted by Burgers and Brews.  It deals with something that I love- Unexpected Discoveries.  You know, when you walk into a bar and find it is a great beer bar; or you forget about a beer that is in the back of the fridge; or when you just randomly buy a beer, and it turns out to be your favorite beer of the night.  As they say:

"...it’s the unintended beer discovery that gives me the most thrill. It might be a run down dive, a yuppie bar, a backcountry gas station, or a sketchy bodega, but when I find good craft beer in places like this, completely unlooked for, it’s more rewarding than all those planned brewery visits."

I can think of more than a few times that this has happened.  Finding a new friend to lead me to Jay's Getaway in Morgantown, West Virginia.  Randomly picking Magic Hat's American Sour, and loving it.  Two of my favorite memories.  But the one that I will talk about, is what I consider one of the best deals that I have found.

My worst kept secret is that I love Max's Taphouse.  It was my go to beer bar (as it is with many other people), and it formed the beer geekery that I now employ.  They have some great specials, usually posted on a chalkboard across from the main bar (if you never have read it, you must when you walk in).  Special 12 ounce bottles are usually on special for $3.50 and "Big Bottles" are usually priced at $5.  And I just happened to run into Stone's Vertical Epic 09-09-09 on the Big Bottle list.

Five Bucks for VE 09-09-09?!?  Seriously!  When this beer was released, on Max's draft list it was listed as a Dark Belgian Ale.  This is one style that I like to try.  You never know what you are going to get- maybe a big spice bomb, maybe a dubbel, who knows.  On the nose, I got a lot of roasted malt, lots of chocolate.  Didn't know what I would think about it, but I brought it to my mouth.  (There are a lot of beers with roasted malt that I hadn't been into.  I couldn't get myself into the porters and stouts that I wanted to try.  I was in the middle of my hophead revolution.)  Once it hit my mouth, the taste took over me.  To me it was a porter with Belgian yeast, which made the beer an instant favorite.

So, when I saw this beer hit the $5 list, I instantly bought 4 bottles to take home (I had spent $9+ on the bottles when it came out).  This to me was a huge Unexpected Discovery, something I am always on the look out for.

Cheers!