Firestone Walker Double Jack IPA

Beer: Firestone Walker Double Jack IPA
Is This A Cool Name: I guess it's okay since they are inferring that it is twice the beer of their already stellar Union Jack IPA. Seriously, if you've never had a Union Jack, go out of your way to try one.
Style: An Imperial IPA, probably the most overdone beer category in the last three (or so) years. Every brewer and their mother does some over-alcohol'd, over-hopped IPA just for the sake of keeping up with the Joneses.
Alkyhol: 9.5%. Yep, that's about right.
Why I Bought This Beer: Much like the Firestone Walker 14th Anniversary Ale, I sought this beer out. I went to the special release event just to try it, since it's likely that I'll never see it again and because I freaking love over-the-top IPAs. Also, Firestone Walker is as consistent a brewery as there is in this great country, so I like to support people that consistently put out phenomenal beers.
Is This Beer Any Good: It really is. It's the first beer I've had in a long time that caused me to take a big whiff and immediately put it down because I was intimidated by the nose. This beer smelled like an orange grove and a pine forest got down. In terms of IPAs or Double IPAs, that is a very good thing. When I finally did come around to taking a sip, I was pleasantly shocked. Based on the nose I expected a boozy, resinous son of a bitch but actually got an extremely floral, citrusy, and malt-balanced Imperial IPA that was infinitely more drinkable than I would have wagered on. In this space I've always slotted Bell's phenomenal Hopslam as the cream of the barley crop, but the Double Jack definitely takes a run at that slot. If Firestone somehow makes the Double Jack available for more than a day, I'd be hard pressed not to call it my favorite double/imperial IPA (That I actually have access to. Pliny the Elder is a force to be reckoned with, but alas, we can't have nice things in Arizona.)
What Does This Beer Taste Like: I already used up my good analogy, but picture yourself running through a dense, alcoholic pine forest with your mouth open. It may hurt, but it's kind of intriguing. Once you are good and winded, you sit down and have a nice refreshing orange slice (a la youth soccer game timeouts), but it doesn't sting your open wounds (from the needles, running with your mouth open). I'd say this beer is kind of like that.
This Beer Would Pair Well With: Maybe an extremely sharp cheese. I don't really like extremely sharp cheese, so I can't say for sure, but I feel like that's a pretty good guess based on what I've read. Also, maybe a first date. I just think that would be funny for some reason. "Hey, we just met, let's drink extremely bitter boozy beer and see what happens!" You definitely get a second date drinking this stuff.
Sudoku Difficulty Rating: **** Not as difficult as it could be, but hard enough. If you find yourself eating offal, then you like this beer. Just my gut instinct. Haha, gut instinct.

Straight From The Source: http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/2210/50697

The Best Food I Have Ever Eaten

Last weekend I ate the best food I have ever consumed. It wasn't that this food was super expensive or decadent or raped my senses- it was just that it delivered. It delivered on all fronts. Let me explain.

I recently spent a weekend in New York City, my first time visiting the City That Never Sleeps. One of the things that I vowed to do when I finally visited NYC was to eat at a Momofuku restaurant. Over the last couple of years, I have read a fair bit about restaurateur David Chang and have concluded that he is a true badass. I really like people who are passionate about what they do, don't compromise or cave to critics, and who swear a lot. I think that if you are successful and swear a lot, then you have achieved some sort of superior being status that the rest of us can only hope to attain. Anyway, I like Mr. Chang's attitude toward food, business, and the public at large, so I wanted to support his endeavors and sample his offerings.

I settled on Momofuku Noodle Bar, as it is the most approachable (read: cheapest) of the Momofuku restaurants. I actually ended up eating here twice over a weekend. Once, as a planned lunch, and again as a drunken stumble-upon at 1AM. I almost pissed myself with glee when we found a still-open Momofuku Noodle Bar serving food at 1AM. Over the course of two visits I ordered a bunch of food that I have never eaten before (but desperately wanted to try) and it was all perfect. And that is the fundamental reason of why I thought I ate the best food of my life at Momofuku Noodle Bar: I wanted to eat the best food of my life at Momofuku Noodle Bar. This was some pinnacle of dining that I had built up in my mind and so desperately wanted it to deliver. It was supposed to be cool because it was in New York. It was supposed to be significant because it was the restaurant of some "celebrity" chef who I deemed to be a badass. It was supposed to be foodie-phenomenal because it served a lot of pork and other things you can't buy at a grocery store. It was supposed to be significant because it was so simple. And it was all of those things. Granted I had no basis for comparison, but I firmly believe that taste buds and experience do not lie. I wanted Momofuku to be the best food of my life, and when it was actually mind-blowingly good and when I felt joy being in the restaurant, I had affirmation that it was the best food I had ever eaten. Confirmation of expectation and delivery on excitement is one of the best feelings a human can have.

Anyway, I ate a lot over the course of my two visits, but the coup d' grace were the pork buns (see photo above). I can't accurately describe these because I'm a nascent foodie, but the bun melted in my mouth like cotton candy does, and the pork belly melted in my mouth like heat applied to butter. I concluded that food which melts but is not normally supposed to is wonderful. I had read a lot about these pork buns. Every article on Momofuku mentions them. They are the proverbial shit. I should mention that I also believe when something is universally acclaimed and still delivers with full-forced awesomeness, then that thing is truly great. Normally I hate things that are universally acclaimed just out of principle, but I still try them. I was ecstatic to find that these pork buns were as good as described by the thousands of people before me. My experience had actually exceeded my severely inflated expectations.

The combination of my experience exceeding my expectation and the fact that the food was truly amazing makes Momofuku the best restaurant I have ever been to and my pork bun the best food I have ever consumed. If you are even remotely intrigued to eat a pork bun after this writing, then I have done my job. Perhaps your experience will surpass your expectations and excitement as well.