I’ve been looking forward to this beer for a LONG time.  So I figured this night was a great night to try it, why?  My birthday of course!   Besides a limited release, this bottle was special to me.  It was unexpectedly sent to me by a person I have an immense amount of respect for and I’m glad I saved it for a special day.  Thus, I’m going to selfishly have this beer by myself!

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I was surprised to see this at my local Stew Leonard’s Liquor store.  We’ve had the main line (6-packs) of Ithaca beers for awhile in NJ, but this is the first time I’m seeing the Excelsior series.  Ever since I had the Old Habit, I’ve been looking to try more from this series.  The Ithaca White Gold is a “Rustic” Pale Wheat ale that was additionally fermented with Brettanomyces, now this makes me happy!  I love the funk and tartness that comes with this strain of yeast, but lets hope I’m not putting unobtainable expectations on this beer.

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Aside from sours and barrel aged beers, Saison’s are one of my favorite styles of beer.  I love the crisp ale, big head, and lots of spice.  So when I heard about Boulevard’s Saison Brett, I was on the hunt.  I eventually received one in a beer trade from a great trader in CO.  Tonight I will be trying bottle 548 of a production run of 13400, just over 1100 cases.  Not sure what to expect from this beer, I don’t know anything about the brewery except for an interview from Thank Heaven for Beer, and I haven’t searched out any reviews yet.  What I’m expecting is a crisp, peppery, funky, maybe a bit tart beer.

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Sours are my newest beer love.  I can’t drink enough of them and I really haven’t found any don’t like, but I sure have found some that I love.  My next sour is Russian River’s Consecration Batch 003, that I acquired in a recent beer trade.  While still a very small brewery in Santa Rosa California, they have developed in a premeir leader in Sour and Barrel aged beers in the United States.  So it is only fitting that I try some!

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