Beer Tasting, Volume IV

Beer: Founders Centennial IPA

Style: IPA, duh.

Bottle: Pint draft! That's right, sometimes I actually leave my apartment.

Why Did I Buy This Beer? This was a recommendation from a very enthusiastic waitress. I was feeling indecisive at a bar and asked for a suggestion. The waitress asked, "Do you like IPAs?" I replied, "Does the Pope shit in the woods?" She looked confused and brought me the IPA anyway. She claimed it was her favorite beer ever. I said that was a lofty claim and we got to talking about how Centennial is brewed in Michigan and tastes like camping and how it stacks up against my current favorite beer ever, Bell's Two Hearted Ale. We ultimately both concurred that Dick Bell is a, well, dick, and that we should like other beers more. Suffice to say that I'm not convinced, but Centennial was very decent nonetheless.

If This Beer Were a Female Celebrity, It Would Be: Jennifer Garner. You are hot. I have no problem with you. You are a very fine example of your kind. I would happily settle down with you for the rest of my life and not look back. You are good enough that I would not cheat on you with other female celebrities except for Marissa Miller (Bell's Two Hearted Ale).

Is This Beer Badass? Pretty much, yeah. It's not the Les Stroud of IPAs, but it's Bear Grylls. I'm okay with that. I would let this beer guide me through a swamp of hippos in Equatorial Africa.
This Beer Would Pair Well With: I'm craving brie cheese. I think this would really go well with brie. The best brie I've ever had was from Wisconsin. I love Wisconsin, mostly for their beer and their cheese.

Initial Taste Note: Skipping ahead...

Secondary Taste Note: Still skipping...
Tertiary Taste Note: Let's skip a little more...
Final Taste Note: I have been done with this beer for about an hour. And you know what? I can still taste the hops AND the malt in my mouth. This beer has literally burrowed into the little taste crevices in my mouth. Those little caves that are normally reserved for storing onion and cigar smoke are the site of a raging keg party attended solely by Cascade hops. The Cascades are poor party hosts though because they kicked the malt out of the party and onto my tongue. I really have a bizarre aftertaste sensation happening with this beer: lots of hop bitterness (lupulin!) lodged in my cheeks and some lingering malt flavor (bitter caramel?) stuck on my tongue. It's not bad, it's just very...interesting. I keep moving spit around in my mouth to reconcile the irregularity.

Fun Fact About This Beer That I Learned Via a Simple Google Search: This beer was named for a master-planned community 50 miles due north of Los Angeles.

The "Experts" Speak: http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/1199/5441 - I can't say that I disagree with anything that was said. Maybe I'm an expert?

More on Founders: http://www.foundersbrewing.com

Rating/Conclusion: I'd happily drink this again, even over some of my "go-to" IPAs (60/90 Minute, Stone, Lagunitas). I would make it a go-to IPA, except that it's a little difficult to find at bars. Basically it's a tier-two IPA for me, with Two Hearted occupying the only tier one spot. Someday I will profess my undying love for Two Hearted on here...if I can find the words to do it justice.