NInkasi Believer Double Red Ale

Things are going well in the Bay Area. Especially because there are hella breweries I've never heard of and I can consistently walk into a pub or bottle shop and find something I've never tried before. Also lots of Lagunitas, but that's a given. What I don't see everywhere is the abundance of Oregon beer that I'm used to via geographical situation. And that's fine. It's tough, but it's fine.

Nonetheless, after a few months of stoically overcast never hot never cold never raining and never cold but always chilly weather, I went off for a pint. And drank some California beer. Good stuff. No complaints. But after I split, biking off into the night, I passed by Eddie's Liquor on College Ave. and figured I'd maybe grab one for home. I was tired, worn out from a six-day work week wine bender and I wanted nothing less than a finely brewed beverage. Eddie provided. The cooler stocked mad 22's. Out of dozens, four were Ninkasi bottles. I chose my favorite: two bottles of Believer Double Red Ale.

Now, we all know that as the years pass my guarantee on Ninkasi loses favor. As the industry goes wild, everybody making different wild shit, barrel aging, quintupple hopping, obscure Bavarian recipe making, brew secret keeping, natural yeast cultivating, those Revofuckinglutinists in Eugene have tried and tried and tried and I've kept on wanting to try them, to make something obscure. And it hasn't really worked out except for Sleigh'r Dark Ale, in my opinion. The others are somehow always too hoppy, too light, too something, lacking something. I still like them. I'll drink the shit out of some Ninkasi any hour of the day, but when it boils down to it, the originals are where the quality lies. Oatis, Total Domination, Quantum, Tricerahops and Believer.

Especially Believer.

This has been one of my top five favorite beers since I started paying attention, which was right around the same time it dropped. Which makes us old friends. We've been homies for six years. Believer and me. Double Reds. The two of us.

Thanks for the nostalgia, buddy.

P