By OWEN MORRIS
On Sunday I joined Bull E. Vard and Wes Port (noms de plume if you couldn't guess), founders of the KC Beer Blog, for a bar-tour and bike ride down 87th Street in Johnson County. While the definitive story of the experience has already been posted on the KC Beer Blog I thought I'd share my two cents.
As expected, Bull E. Vard and Wes Port were much more knowledgeable about beer than I was but they weren't beer-snobs. Instead, they were two really well-rounded normal guys whose eyes lit up the most when we found Pabst Blue Ribbon on tap at The Bar in Lenexa. We talked about beer but we talked about a lot of other stuff too.
That said, I really did want to learn as much as I drunkenly could and both were obliging. The biggest discovery for me was at Callahan's Bar and Grill, which had the Colorado Brewery Great Divide's Titan IPA on tap. It is a 6.8 percent behemoth of a pale ale that Bull E. Vard picked out for himself after Wes Port and I just ordered water. One sip and I decided we were sharing, because it was the most flavorful pale ale I have come across with an added layer of caramel-like flavor that stays on the pallet after swallowing. After I took my first sip I looked up to see Bull E. Vard grinning. He knew he'd hooked me.
I also tried American Ale, Budweiser's newest release. As I sat down at the table and told my companions what I'd ordered, they grimaced a little. "On the blog I came across as liking it more than I did," Bull E. Vard admitted. The first sip wasn't bad but by the third or fourth gulp, there was an alkaline chemical feel on my tongue, as if there were a battery in the bottom of the beer. After half of it, I put it down and didn't pick it back up again. Even after two other beers I could still taste it.
Other than that, I couldn't have had a better time. I got to meet another blogger I really like (Chimpotle), it was great weather and I forgot how much fun it is riding a bike tipsy. (Warning here: We rode on trails and sidewalks, since the legality of drinking and biking is a gray area of law.)
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