Beer..

 There has been quite a bit of talk about Dogfish Head recently, and the conversation I just had with one of the local package store owner's made me decide to post about it.  For those of you not in the know, Dogfish Head is a craft brewery based out of Delaware and have been renowned for there quality brews among the craft beer community for years.  Recently, Sam Calagione owner of Dogfish Head, took to the airwaves on a Discovery series called Brew Masters and as a result has gained a tremendous interest by the mainstream.    Sometime thereafter, they started distributing nationwide or at least in more states than they had been, and as a result they have not been able to keep up on supply.  Now many stores can't get any cases of any of Dogfish's beers, and when they do it often flies off the shelf.  Distributors simply don't have any in stock, and getting it is difficult because of this increase in demand.  Sam posted this on the website himself addressing the lack of Dogfish Head beer across the nation. I work in another local package store and people come in all the time asking for "dog-head fish?" and I have to tell them an abreviated version of what I just told you, and then I get to point them to the Lagunitas.

On the upside of all this, some breweries are treated to shelf space once reserved for Dogfish Head. As many of the craft beer drinkers out there know, there is a staggering number of quality beer out there coming out of all states and breweries of all shapes and sizes, and purchases are made on seasonality, freshness, and what you're in the mood for rather than whats on TV.  Like more than a couple of local stores that I've seen, the store that I work for has filled in the empty shelf space with a few beers from Lagunitas Brewing Company out of Petaluma, California.  They turn out some really quality beers and here on the east coast, you don't see their product too often, so I see this as a perfect opportunity to turn people on to another solid brewery.  I had pizza tonight and decided to bring their Pale Ale.

The Lagunitas (say Lah-Goo-Knee-Tas) Pale Ale is one of those pale ales that is pretty much an IPA, just the less volatile IPA being made by that brewery, in fact it is what sometimes called an American Pale Ale.  This often seems to be the case especially with California beers (think Sierra Nevada & Stone), but how could it be any way with so many fantastic American hop varieties being grown so locally.  The aroma and the taste are both big on the hops in this beer, but subtle enough to be very drinkable and go well with food.  It's very dry and the hop bitterness is backed by light, biscuity pale malt flavors.  A good drinking beer for hop-heads, and quite accessible to those new to beers on this end of the spectrum.  I recommend this one if you want to try something new.