Well, it's been a week since the Kansas Jayhawks shit the bed against the Northern Iowa Butt Pirates, and I think I'm finally ready to talk about what I used to try and kill myself after watching KU fall apart and ruin my life.
Some people don't like IPAs because of the bitter, hoppy flavor, but I just love them. The hoppiness gives the beer a little floral hint and sometimes just a touch of fruit. This particular IPA, the Racer 5 from the Bear Republic Brewery in Healdsburg, CA, has a bold flavor with traces of grapefruit. I find hoppy beers like this one to be very refreshing after you've yelled yourself hoarse because your team can't make free-throws in the final two minutes.
Also making this beer a winner is its high alcohol content but with little alcoholic flavor like you get with some other beers that are around 7%. This helps for continued enjoyment while you drink away the memory of the bullshit that transpired earlier. It also means you don't need to drink as many, though what does it really matter when your team is the overall favorite and still can't get to the Sweet 16?
Racer 5 is available in many grocery stores, but if you have the opportunity I highly recommend visiting the actualy brewery in Northern California. Healdsburg is a delightful little town and the brewery serves delicious burgers to go along with their giant pitchers of beer. They even have TVs, so you can watch University of Northern Iowa basketball games. Oh, they're never televised? I guess they aren't really that good a team. But Healdsburg is gorgeous during the spring and summer and it's in the heart of the Sonoma County wine country, giving one the option to continue drinking if several pints of Racer 5 isn't enough to erase the image of the 7-foot tall Jordan Eglseder proudly tugging on his UNI jersey while Jayhawk players lay on the court crying. But we can talk about wine when baseball season starts.
