Up until this season, Baxter wanted to vary his choices each week by beer style and brewery. For the first four seasons of Baxter’s beer of the game, he didn’t repeat a single brewery (he used to do beers for basketball games too before apathy set in).
I say this because today Baxter is not only repeating a style (hazy NE style pale ale) and a brewery (Holy Mountain). He says y’all will just have to deal with it.
Holy Mountain is being featured again because Holy Mountain has been absolutely crushing it at every turn since opening up in early 2015 in Interbay. The brewery’s primary focus is on farmhouse styles—traditional saisons, hoppy saisons, and brett-conditioned saisons, often aged in oak. When they have special releases for sours, they are awesome. When they have had special releases of stouts, they were awesome.
Hoppy beers are certainly not their specialty, but the first beer I had from Holy Mountain was a double IPA called Astral Projection, and it won me over immediately. They haven’t brewed it in a long time, but recently they’ve hit on a new hop-focused delight called Lush Land. It was brewed first a couple months ago, and most expected it be a one-off or rarity, as many of Holy Mountain’s IPAs and pale ales tend to be.
But then two weeks ago, it was back! So I picked up a little growler and Baxter said “hey, let’s use that.” (He didn’t say that, he’s a dog, silly—he only has typing skills).
Craig’s Review: Lush Land is tropical, with an instense aroma. It is light bodied, but juicy in texture. There’s a light bitterness to balance it on the end. Delicious.
Baxter’s Review: Craig loves Holy Mountain, but their taproom doesn’t allow dogs. That kinda bums me out. Beer is pretty good, though.
Schooner’s Review: (Schooner wouldn’t sit still for a picture, so no Schooner today).
That’s what Baxter and I will be having as the Cougs take on Cal. What you will be drinking?