Naja’s: Intrepid Beers in D major; an ongoing saga

Beer and Spirits
41

Drank some mighty tasty brews at Naja’s on football Sunday. Wetrock’s arrival midway through our evening was a pleasant surprise! This was a marathon Naja’s outing, clocking-in around 7 hours, 8+ beers, $150+ out the door, and one way-too-rare “on the house” pint.

Dogfish Head - “Burton Baton” (English Old Ale / Imperial IPA blend)
Tastes quite boozy (and it is, at 10% abv) – vodka-like booziness; deep copper/orange color; hoppy, for sure, but the Old Ale is too much sweetness for me; this comes across as a hoppy Barley wine to me. I don’t like it.

Black Diamond - “Rampage” DIPA
Lots of citrusy hops on the Nose. Rather clean mouthfeel; lots of hops; not too heavy; citrusy; medium bodied; very well-done.

Rodenbach - Grand Cru
Sour; complex; wine-like; just as it’s always been.

Russian River Brewing Company - “Consecration”
This was on “secret tap.” Very oaky on the palate – moderate+ oak; Sour; medium-light bodied; a bit of bretty spiciness. Very good, although I think I do prefer it from bottle.

Anderson Valley Brewing Company - “Bahl Hornin’” Black IPA
Tastes a bit smoky. Well-balanced; good roasted maltiness. I enjoyed this.

Jolly Pumpkin - “Calabaza Blanca” Belgian-style White Ale
From bottle. Tinge of sourness; typical Belgian witte flavors; very good drinkability; spiced with orange peel and coriander; really good for what it is, but I’m just not that into what it is, so I could take it or leave it. Batch 406.

Jolly Pumpkin - “Bierre de Bam” Farmhouse Ale
From bottle. Same as it’s always been: light; very drinkable; 4.2% alc.; noticeable sourness and bretty character on the palate. Love this beer. Batch 406/408.

Racer 5
This was an “on the house” pint that I suspect I “earned” by pushing our tab for the day to about $140. Same as its always been. At this point in the evening, I didn’t exactly need one more beer, but given my prior negotiating out of driving responsibilities, I went for it anyways.

42

8 beers in 7 hours? stick a pacifier on it if you’re gonna baby your beers. neener

43

those 8 were just the ones I wrote down and/or can remember and a couple were 750’s. And many of these beers aren’t exactly Bud Light, either.

You would’ve been sawing logs or running to Taco Bell 4 hours into this event. neener

44

Went to Naja’s to watch the Jets upset the Patriots on Sunday. All beers were on tap. Favorite beer of the day was probably the Port Brewing Co. - “Mongo” DIPA.

Oskar Blues - “Gubna” Imperial IPA
Hazy copper-orange color. Very big; tons of malt, spice, and hops. Tasty, but not easy to drink at 10% abv…

Port Brewing Co. - “Mongo” DIPA
Big; hoppy; balanced; pine; citrus. 8.5% abv is not noticeable. Incredibly tasty and scary-easy to drink for a DIPA. Probably my new favorite DIPA … that’s right Pliny, there’s a new Sheriff in town!

Upon arriving, I was excited to see “Aecht Schlenkerla” on the board of tap brews, but was quickly disappointed to see the words “Oak Smoke” trailing right behind. I wrote a TN on this beer a couple weeks back, and it wasn’t everything I was hoping it would be. So, to cut the off-putting sweetness of the Oak Smoke Bock Rauchbier, I added some Arrogant Bastard to the mix:
70% Stone - Arrogant Bastard, 30% Aecht Schlenkerla - “Oak Smoke” Bock Rauchbier
Spicy; malty; bacony smoke; decent hop bite (thank you, AB!); this blend was, imo, much better than either of these beers are separately.

Drake’s Brewing Co. - “Hop Salad” Imperial IPA
Wowza! Incredibly high-toned/shrill bitter hops; not much maltiness; 9% abv; medium bodied; good, but not great.

Next, I was strongly considering ordering another Port Brewing - Mongo DIPA, but instead decided to literally mix things up again, and went with a 50/50 blend with the Mongo included:
50% Port Brewing Co. - “Mongo” DIPA, 50%Green Flash Brewing Co. - “Hop Head Red”
This blend also worked well; the Hop Head Red gave the Mongo a little kick of spicy maltiness, and the Mongo gave the Hop Head Red a huge dose of juicy citrusy hops. The Mongo helped the Hop Head Red here, but I don’t think the Hop Head Red helped the Mongo. Successful blend, but nearly impossible to improve on the Mongo DIPA.

Finished off the afternoon with a familiar lighter brew that I have noted-on many times in the past:
Stone/Victory/(I forget) - “Saison du BUFF”
Delicious. Cool. Easy to drink. Same as it’s always been.

45

Ashley and I will be at Naja’s for today’s football games; join us if you’re not scared! [snort.gif]

46

Previously forgot to list the beers I had last time we were here: all were on tap, with the exception of the Jolly Pumpkin.

Great Divide - Yeti Espresso Stout ---- good lord, this beer is huge, and totally awesome.

Port Brewing Co. - “Mongo” IPA — I think this is my new favorite DIPA.

1/3 Aecht Schlenkerla - Oak Smoke Dopplebock Rauchbier, 2/3 Green Flash - West Coast IPA — this was a good mix, but I think the percentage of the Rauchbier needs to be decreased a bit, as this was mostly smoky, with some nice hoppy bitterness behind it all; I would have preferred the hops to be front and center, with the smoke in the background.

Big Sky Brewing Co. - “Moose Drool” Brown Ale — one of my favorite Brown Ales

Coronado - “Idiot” IPA — very orangey; moderately heavy mouthfeel; very good stuff.

Jolly Pumpkin - “Bam Bierre” Farmhouse Ale — delicious; same as it’s always been.

Rodenbach - Grand Cru — {see Bam Bierre comment}

47

tonight at Naja’s …

Drake’s 1500 Pale Ale — pretty much an IPA. Love it.

Mikkeller Centennial (single hop) IPA — wow. Just wow. Lots of malt, but even more hops. Beautiful anise type thing on the finish. Another on-tap winner from Mikkeller’s single hop series.

48

stopped by Naja’s for a single beer — really, stopped by to say high to a couple old friends more than anything else. I was kindly comped my pint, which was 3/4 Green Flash IPA, 1/4 Mad River Porter. It was tasty. [grin.gif]

49

first time back since my last post in this thread. was happy to see two of my favorite bartenders working.

had the following this afternoon:

Stone’s Matt’s Burning Rosids Cherrywood-Smoked Saison (very good)
Port Brewing - Mongo DIPA (very good)
Pretty Things - Jack D’Or Saison (excellent)

final round for both Ashley and I was comped, and we appreciated the favor as one should. Man, I love being back at Naja’s! [cheers.gif]

50

I am officially very jealous - everytime I see the name “Naja’s” my heart skips a beat - probably my all time beer bar -

51

Cheers, Tom! Give me some lead time if you’re ever going to be in the L.A. area — I’d enjoying grabbing a couple pints with you.

52

Ashley and I hit-up Naja’s yesterday as part of our Date Day.

I was happy to see one of my favorite bartenders taking care of the bar, as it had been a long time since I’ve seen him. For my first pint, I asked if they had any Pliny hiding on one of their blank taps. After a moderate pause, he told me he actually just tapped a keg each of PtE and Blind Pig, even though he wasn’t supposed to, and then said – for me – he’d pour a pint, but anyone else would get the No. I thought that was nice, if not a bit overstated. 5 minutes later, my suspicions of overstatement would prove to be false when a customer asked if they had any Pliny on tap and they were told “No.” It pays to be a good-tipping regular, I suppose! [grin.gif]

Next pint was Blind Pig. Historically, I have found this beer to be very okay. Today, however, I thought it was excellent, and actually preferred it to PtE. Maybe it’s time for me to start giving this beer another chance.

Final pint was Ommegang - Fleur du Houblon. I thought it was excellent.

Ashley had two pints: Green Flash IPA, and a Blind Pig.

Total bill was about 50% of what it should have been, so I tipped a bit more than 100% on that amount, and walked out a happy guy. Naja’s is great!!!

53

when fresh I think BP > PtE.

54

attended the ongoing IPA fest Sunday night. Hazy IPAs are making incredible in-roads into the West Coast scene.

Societe - “Dandy” IPA: lemon/orange citrus-dominated W. Coast IPA. My favorite out of the Societe stable.

Societe - “Apprentice” IPA: more traditional W. Coast IPA: piney and floral and bitter. Very good, but doesn’t really stand-out in a sea of great CA IPAs.

Pizza Port - “Driving Me Hazy” IPA: extremely cloudy; very good, but not the best of the style.

Modern Times - “Dinosaur World” DIPA: hazy style; excellent.

Mikkeller/Alpine/Arts District - a hazy rye IPA of some sort — it could have been a DIPA, but I don’t remember. This one was the best of all we tasted — everyone in our group had at least one pour of this one. I was worried the rye would make it too spicy and/or heavy, but such was not the case at all. Incredible beer, and I’m sorry I don’t have the name for it.

Brouwerji West - “Starfish” IPA: hazy IPA; very good. This beer has this brewery back on my radar, and their super-convenient location to my home means further looks will be taken.

55

Dinosaur world is really good. Super bummed it sold out so quickly in cans.

Brian, go to mikeller in DTLA, they are serving Alpine “unique” which is an even better version of the Mikkeller/alpine/arts district collab.

56

I had to lookup where that bar is, Charlie … holy damn! Didn’t realize just how close to my office it is! I figure I’m likely to take your advice sooner rather than later. Thanks!

57

Two kegs of Dinosaur World hit town on Saturday and were completely tapped out in 2 hours.

58

yep! real close.

59

Here in the Midwest they are calling them “East Coast IPAs” - and I’ve had two in the last couple of months that were as impressive as any IPA’s I’ve had in the last year. One of from a new Saint Paul brewery called BLACKSTACK BREWING.

I really like this style - and glad to see people leaning towards this style, rather than just trying to out-hop each other with Double IPAs -

60

I greatly enjoy the style, too, Thomas. I do, however, have a huge complaint: they pretty much all taste the same — doesn’t matter what hops are used.