The Bracket, updated

The quest to find my beer for 2009, is down to the final 16. Playing along with the NCAA Basketball tournament, some early favorites have been beaten.

In the Domestic East, Victory's Hop Wallop lost early to Yuengling, proving even the old boys can still play. Selin's Grove Brewing (of The Brew Pub to me) also advanced over Snake Dog from Flying Dog, formerly of Colorado, now Frederick, Maryland. Also of note, the stouts faired well against the grain. Most would think the heavier beer would have sunk to the bottom, while 5 of the 9 advanced to the second round, and 2 are in the Sweet 16.

As for me, when the tournament starts back up on Wednesday, I think I will have a Racer 5, since its running mate (UCONN) has been as dominant as ever.

Wednesday No-Pint night

Yesterday, after work I met Eric at Max's to grab a beer. It was their pint night, so we usually come home with some new glassware, but the beer du jour was Blue Moon Honey Moon. Which in my honest opinion, it is bad. To be completely honest, I don't like anything Blue Moon makes. (That could be due to Blue Moon being a Molson Coors beer.)

So the bartender looked at me and said one word: "Nugget?" He meant Troeg's Nugget Nectar, which I believe is the most delicious beer made. As my pint was poured, Eric came in, and didn't order the NN. He chose to go with the Sierra Nevada Harvest (wet hop). His reasoning made sense. Go up in hoppiness. Both beers when down well (he had the NN second, I had the Harvest.)

After those two hoppy beers we knew what we were getting into. The Victory Hop Wallop was up next. Many people consider this to be the most bitter beer they have had... so have I. And that is not to mention the 8.5% that goes with it. Victory does not list and IBU for the Hop Wallop, but I would bet it is above 120 ibus. (For comparison the Sierra Nevada is at 60-65, the NN comes in at 90ish). It is quite a mouthful.

I love beer that is as hoppy as it gets. The NN is different though. Whether it is the hops used or how they brew it, I have always felt the bitterness was there, but it was more of a sweet hoppiness, so sweet you can almost taste it through the nose. I have found it very attractive. I have heard that some people get bad brews out of the bottle from this beer, I never have.

Anyone else like extremely hoppy beers? Which beers do you like that are hoppy?