Mind Your Elders

Our friend Chad the Elder has been hard at work, regaling us with tales of his recent beer consumption. Upon reading his latest post, I realized that I'd have a lot more posts myself if I quickly tossed up something about every brand of beer I tried. So here goes:

While traveling to Central Wisconsin this week (wait a minute, The Elder also gets a lot of posting mileage detailing his travels to exotic places; next week I should do a travel log of Wisconsin Dells) I had the task of picking up a six pack at a local gas station.

I chose Sand Creek Brewery's Wild Ride IPA. It's been my experience that few breweries screw up IPAs and I'm happy to say that Sand Creek's product was a solid effort. Wild Ride has a strong, hoppy flavor and the high alcohol content that one would expect from a good IPA. I'd give this beer my Nihilist In Golf Pants rating of birdie (a 500 yard par 5 version). That means above average in a category where above average isn't totally unexpected.

The best part about my purchase was my conversation with the sales clerk:

Clerk: Is that beer any good?

NIGP: I don't know. I've never had it but it's local and I can't get it where I live (to my knowledge), so I thought I'd give it a try.

Clerk: Local? It says it's made in India.

NIGP: (rolls eyes) It's an India style Pale Ale. It's brewed in Black River Falls.

Clerk: Oh.

Wisconsin is truly the land of the intelligentsia.