WSU vs. Oregon State football: Baxter's beer of the game

Baxter the dog is loungin' around the house today as it is a wet and rainy afternoon in Burlington, VT. He's enjoyed a few Milk Bones, some water, and is still licking his chops after getting into the garbage last night. Yesterday, he sent me to the store to pick up this week's beer, and we went with another Vermont creation.

Rock Art Brewery is about a half an hour past the ski resort town of Stowe in Morrisville, on the way out towards the Northeast Kingdom region of Vermont (yes, that is an area and the name is awesome). They make a wide variety of ales, with their flagship being the RIdge Runner barleywine. Personally, I'm not a huge fan of barleywines, so I went with one of Rock Art's "Extreme" series.

Magnumus ete Tomohawkus is an ESB. Or an "ESB squared" as Rock Art says. For those who don't know, ESB stands for "Extra Special Bitter" and is an English style beer. Generally in ESBs, the sweetness from the malt is tamer and the hops almost stand alone. It's not exactly like an IPA, as IPA's generally have more of a malt character. Regular ESB's have far less IBUs than IPAs.

But not this ESB. It is packed with 80 IBUs, and that is what drew me to purchase it in the first place.

Craig's review: IPA's usually start sweet, then end bitter. But this IPA-ish ESB starts bitter, ends bitter, and lingers in your mouth. That is a good thing. It has a dry sort of feel, and there is no encroaching malt sweetness at any point, which is quite the achievement at an 8% ABV. This is hops, then hops, then more hops. I thoroughly enjoy it, as I do most of Rock Art's offerings.

Baxter's review: Craig tricked me into taking a taste out of his hand, and it was gross. I had to go eat some food pellets and drink some water to get the taste out of my mouth. I got into the garbage to get back at him.

So that is what Baxter and I are enjoying today. What are partaking in on this Cougar Football Saturday?