Beer Pressure

(and the last of the Octopus)

beer pres·sure

noun

1. influence from members of one's peer group to drink really awesome beer

I'm feeling some pretty strong beer pressure these days. I blame the brewers.

I'm sure the changing of the season has something to do with it, as brewers rush to get the last of the summer IPAs off the line before the dark beers of winter get their undivided attention I'm equally sure I am also to blame, as loose change previously spent on beer is now being funneled into other projects, like rent and stuff.

But I still blame the brewers.

And bartenders too, as it all started when Samantha at Buster Rhino's told me to finish up the keg of Swamp Juice from Great Lakes (GLB) because they had one small keg of Octopus Wants to Fight in the back: perhaps the last keg of this Beer-of-the-Year front runner left in the free world.

So, just to recap, the brewers and the bartenders are to blame.

While I'm doing my duty by drinking the Swamp Juice, I'm hearing that GLB is re-releasing Karma Citra and even though it will eventually trickle into the LCBO system (so they say), I have no choice but make a pilgrimage to Toronto's south-west corner and get some. Immediately, if not sooner.

I'm also responding to a message from Trevor, the World's Sexiest Cellarman, who told me Liquid Swords, Manantler Brewing's excellent IPA, is back at the brewery, along with "the best batch" of Dark Prince Black IPA they've ever produced.

Dude. You had me at 'Liquid.'

The lovely and talented Octopus
Wants to Fight IPA

There was more social media beer pressure. I'm on Facebook and Beer Bro Don and I are raving over a beer just released by Brock Street Brewing: Fox's Two Thumbs West Coast Unfiltered Triple Dry-Hopped IPA.

Yeah, that's a big step up from their usual Blondes, Browns and Reds.

I also had tentative plans to make a Toronto beer run, with the Junction neighbourhood on my radar. Rainhard Brewing, Indie Ale House and promising newcomer Halo Brewing make this the best four kilometre stretch of breweries (seven if you keep driving south-east to Bellwoods) in Ontario.

I don't know if I can handle all this pressure. I don't know if there's enough loose change in my couch either.

My priority, as it should be, was the Octopus and I returned, ever hopeful to see it on tap, to Buster Rhino's on the following Monday, only to find Big Rig Brewery's Alpha Bomb IPA where my Octopus was supposed to be.

Alpha Bomb is an excellent IPA; but it's no Octopus. Still, I had a made a sworn oath to do whatever I had to do to get Octopus back on tap, so I had to get back to work.

"A pint of Alpha Bomb, please."

I was back mid-week and and found the tap taken over by another interloper, this time No. 1 Pilsner from brand new Scarborough brewery Common Good.

I looked at Sam like, what the hell? and she threw her hands up in the air. "I had a plan," she said, looking skyward. "I really had a plan."

She assured me that the bar really, really, did have a keg of Octopus and it will be tapped really, really soon. Which was good to hear, because I was starting to seriously have some doubts. So I drank the No. 1 Pilsner and pronounced it a really, really good Pilsner. But it was no Octopus either.

The next day I received a message from Jessica, "I hear there's an Octopus who wants to fight you tomorrow," she said.

Finally.

With all this Beer Pressure, there had to be some sacrifices made. The Junction beer run, for example was postponed to a later date and that Two Thumbs (triple dry-hopped) IPA from Brock Street didn't last one day after its release.

(Don and I were still talking about it on social media, in fact, when Paul Thebeerguy jumped on the thread to tell us it was already sold out.)

I did make it to Manantler, but too late to find any Liquid Swords in the fridge. I did, however, enjoy it on tap and it was a glorious as always. The Dark Prince, which I got into that evening at home, was exactly as advertised ("the best batch ever"), with its fantastic aroma of chocolate pie, licorice nibs and ripe citrus.

Me: Is the Octopus on yet? Sam: No. But
let me distract you with this Pokemon Jynx

The GLB Karma Citra run was an unqualified success and I nursed those 12 beers most of the following week. I also ran into Troy, GLB's community, sales and social media star, at the brewery and he told me I was doing a great job with the blogs (aw...shucks!) and he assured me that despite everything I'd written about him, Brewmaster Mike Lackie still loved me.

"I'm pretty sure, anyway," Troy said.

But it was the last keg of Octopus that was my focus so I was at Buster Rhino's the next day after work and every day thereafter for a pint or sometimes two. I wouldn't even have to say a word when I walked in. Samantha or Jessica or whoever was behind the bar would just set me up with an Octopus Wants to Fight IPA.  And I would happily drink it.

It was actually a new bartender who served me first, though Jess and Sam were both there at the time when Kimmer - the history-making first-ever male front-of-the-house hire at Buster's - asked me what I wanted to drink.

"He'll have the Octopus," Jess told him, and Kimmer quickly figured out who I was. "You're the guy who keeps talking about this."

Yup. That's me.

The wait was worth it for the aroma alone. Just an incredible bouquet with this beer, with big helpings of  mango, pineapple and pine tickling the nostrils making it, to quote myself, "the best smelling beer ever."

And when I stopped in Saturday for lunch and the Octopus keg was empty I was only momentarily disappointed. It had its run (several, actually) and I had my share. I was satisfied.

Besides, there was a pretty good replacement on tap.

"Karma Citra, please."

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