February 28, 2024 • 22 mins
On today's American Beer Review LIVE! review, Alec and Chad are holding things down still - Brian is scheduled to return next week. For this week's review we bust out the bottle opener and pour ourselves some old school beer - Boundary Bay Brewery's NW Original IPA.
Boundary Bay Brewery
NW (Northwest) Original IPA
- 22oz Bottle, Grocery Store
- 7.5% ABV
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Brian (00:07):
Welcome to another episode of the American Beer
Review Podcast.
Chad (00:10):
Good times for good friends requires good beer.
Lucky for us, we know ethnicall three.
Alec (00:15):
We're a group of friends who grew up in the Pacific
Northwest, giving us a jumpstart on our craft beer journey.
Brian (00:20):
Join us today.
While Brian that pride myselfon not getting to know other
people, so do not put that on me.
Alec (00:26):
Alec, the bananas up until like the 60s weren't entirely
different species of banana.
Chad (00:32):
And Chad Hit me like a bacon bar.
Brian (00:36):
Review some beer, talk about beer topics and whatever
else comes up.
We invite you to pour yourselfa drink and hang out with us.
Ear buds in.
Chad (00:51):
We're on mute and it's coming up.
Alec (00:57):
And we are live Perfect Back for another episode, Chad.
What are we drinking today?
Chad (01:02):
We are drinking from our friends at Boundary Bay Brewery.
Yes, the Northwest Original IPA, the Inside Passage Ale, but it
is an IPA In a Bomber Oldschool bomber baby.
We are back in as such.
Alec (01:26):
Uh, oh, uh, oh.
Oops, that wasn't my poor thistime.
Last episode did so well thatwe decided to fire Brian.
Yes, so he's not joining usagain this week either.
Plus, he knows nothing aboutBellingham or any of their
breweries, so he wouldn't bemuch of a help talking about
Boundary Bay Not at all.
So they're Northwest IPA Aboutas good as me.
(01:49):
Let me pull it up here.
So 7.5% ABV78 IBUs, theirclassic IPA, first introduced in
1996.
A big bald backbone and a heavydose of Amarillo hops lead the
(02:09):
way for this trueNorthwest-style IPA.
Chad (02:13):
So they're calling their shot on that one, yeah, and it's
Every time they talk about itit's North Northwest old school,
so that's why I grabbed it.
Alec (02:25):
Well, we've had so many conversations about a West Coast
IPA and we're getting WestCoast IPAs out of this.
We're the.
Chad (02:31):
SEC of beer.
We've like been really talkingourselves up here, up here in
the Northwest.
I'm just gonna get right intoit.
Go for it.
Rip Going ham today ObviouslyGot a nice little backup, nice
little backup beer here.
There you go.
Alec (02:51):
Just a little one, we're going old school.
Chad (02:55):
I'm going old school with the old school.
Champagne oil can starter yeah.
Alec (03:00):
It's either that or Fosters, but we're American beer
reviews, so I'm going withMiller Lite there you go and
that's probably what we weredrinking is backup beers as soon
as we finished our boundarybays back in the day.
Chad (03:09):
Yes, because these used to be like two bucks.
Yeah, back in my day I think wewere like two for three.
Fucking inflation Flations ofbitch.
You know what's not.
This is really good, this beer.
This beer is tasty.
Alec (03:26):
I mean if you've been making a beer since 1996.
Oh, that is, and I think nowthey classify it and it may not
have been in the category.
So now it's a double dry hoppedIPA.
I saw that, so I'm pretty surewhen they they made it.
Chad (03:42):
It was an.
Alec (03:43):
IPA.
That wasn't even a thing.
No, they didn't even have toname it at that.
I don't know when I checked itin or if I've ever checked it in
, or anything like that.
All I know is I love, give mesome Boundary Bay and an IPA at
a Boundary Bay.
Chad (03:58):
Yeah, because we've definitely talked up cabin fever
.
Yes, and then what Scotch ale?
Alec (04:06):
Scotch ale.
Scotch ale, obviously my numberone.
Mount Rushmore beer, yeah so,and cabin fever you just grabbed
again recently, right, Ithought you'd-.
Chad (04:16):
I got five in the fridge.
Save them.
Alec (04:19):
Save them for a later day you may have four in the fridge
by the time I leave.
That's fine, I think those twomight I pay you guys in here
anyway.
Those might both be on my MountRushmore beer.
Ooh, that's another beer game.
Like what's your top four, youcould add a five.
Pretend they carved anotherface on the mount.
I'm not asking you to thinkabout it right now.
Chad (04:42):
Oh, okay, I'm just gonna-.
Alec (04:43):
I'm gonna sprak off like four boundary babies, because
those are folks.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Chad (04:50):
Brian, if you're listening while you're recovering, still
think about it.
Alec (04:58):
It's definitely, definitely Northwest this.
They're not.
They're not lying when they sayNorthwest, this has plenty of
hops, good malt back right.
So it's not overly piney,overly hoppy, but if you're so,
smelling this, you're not like.
Chad (05:18):
It's not like.
It's not like an IPA now or ahazy IPA now where you have to
on the nose.
They need to tell you okay,this is a, you need grapefruit,
citrus, all that stuff.
This is a dust.
Yeah, there's a little.
There's a little bit of littlebit of hops in there, little,
very not piney.
But then when you taste it,that's when you're getting the
(05:38):
flavor.
Alec (05:39):
This is in the flavor, not the smell 100%.
That might change if we'repouring out of like a bigger
glass.
Get a little bit more surfacearea.
Chad (05:48):
This is nostalgia.
This is nostalgia in the glass,like I.
I'm trying to describe it, butthis is.
This is like what we in ourearly craft days as the beer
aisle expanded Yep, this is whatwe got into, like I oh Well,
(06:09):
this is why, when we have, IPAs.
This is why we're IPA heads,that's what I'm saying.
Alec (06:14):
This is why, when somebody says West Coast IPA, we go no,
no, no.
This is what an IPA should be.
Chad (06:20):
This is a Northwest IPA but then a you know, a West
Coast obviously branched off ofthat, because we're the SCC of
beer and I'm going to die onthat hill.
Alec (06:29):
But when you go to other places and they're like this is
our IPA, and you go this is,this is a like hoppier ale like
this is not an IPA like.
Chad (06:39):
This is a beer built to just just to carry the hops.
Yeah, this, an IPA, should behoppy and that's it a little bit
of, a little bit of malt inthere, if like the hop balance
or whatever, to make sure it'sall blended together.
Alec (06:57):
Yeah, and a nice little package, but this is just this
is a beer brewed to survive thepassage from England to India.
Chad (07:10):
Yeah, and still tastes good at the very end fun fact,
if you didn't know why it'scalled an IPA.
That's why it's called an IPAthis is fantastic.
Alec (07:20):
I'm glad you got a 22 of this.
Chad (07:21):
We don't have to share it through ways we might just sit
here for the rest of the episodeand just finish it.
Alec (07:28):
Honestly, we might be probably gonna get big glasses
for this one.
Chad (07:34):
I almost almost said, should we go pint glasses?
But no, let's do it, we'll doit.
Little sippies at a time thatgives this time to it's all our
only beer for the day yeah, myonly beer for the day so sit
relax.
Oh no, our replay as oursporting event is over.
Now we're watching collegebasketball, which I never watch
anyways.
Back to the beer and Bellingham.
(07:55):
So you got the.
You got the old man in the seaon the front and the inside
passage is like the reference toI'm so happy we can call this
now the Pacific Northwest fjordsystem is that they start
officially referring to it asthat on the Wikipedia page.
The inside passage so basicallykind of going the coast and
(08:16):
protects you from the PacificOcean so you can go from Seattle
all the way up to Alaska andwhatnot, and is the I think they
call it the Pacific Northwestfjords huh system.
I was like nice, that is cool.
It's one of my favorite words,that's.
Alec (08:30):
That's on my Mount Rushmore words fjord, yeah, yeah
, fjord, yeah yeah, don't ask mehow I know that.
Chad (08:37):
So it's a pretty metal yeah, from the land devices no,
mm-hmm no, this is awesome.
Alec (08:48):
This is one that I'll grab up in Bellingham.
We usually we haven't beenthere this year.
Your year is very early, veryearly.
We usually go mid to latespring and then we'll go towards
the end of the summer beforeschool starts back up.
Yeah, I spent some time upthere in boundary base always a
stop because I can bring thekids into the restaurant, we can
(09:09):
have food, I can have some oftheir delicious beers and then
order either some bottles or asix pack to go on the way out
when we enjoy the town.
And oh, that's, brian does alot more perusing he spreads his
love around yeah, and I, and Istayed with my first love.
Chad (09:25):
Yeah, so there's not both ways have their merits.
Alec (09:30):
It pays to be a regular, some places too yeah, I'm not
regular enough that they wouldknow me anymore when I show up.
Chad (09:36):
Well, they do.
They throw us plenty of love onthe gram.
Oh, they're there for this tripnow they're one of the first
ones, so we won't give it alittle back.
I'm sure we're gonna do a thatsome someday.
We're gonna get our all of ourasses up there, that is the full
setup legitimately.
Alec (09:52):
Probably the next one you need to put on the table is
getting up to Bellingham.
It's gonna be an easy sell forme and my wife and family.
It's gonna be an easy yourselfor Brian, and then you just got
to find someplace to havesomebody watch the dog.
Chad (10:06):
I can stash my dog away for a weekend, no problem, and
we could get up there.
I mean, he loves going tograndpa.
Alec (10:12):
Graham's house.
There you go, because comesback spoiled like five pounds
heavier every time.
Yeah.
Chad (10:22):
I, just, I am.
Everyone's looking at me on theYouTube like what are you doing
?
Like a deer in the headlights,but I am just trying to find
words to describe this, but allI'm just getting in my head is
this nostalgia, nostalgia,nostalgia yeah, we haven't gone
back this hard on a beer like wehave we switch to tasters we
(10:45):
haven't had.
I don't think we've had thisflavor because we've been
branching out.
We've been on to war and we'vebeen branching out and looking
at all these wonderfulinterpretations like where the
SCC a beer?
I'm gonna say it again, I'mgonna die on that hill.
But like, people Come here,taste these flavors, go back
(11:11):
East Coast, middle of thecountry, all these places and
they try to replicate it.
I don't know if they're tryingSome of them, some of them try
to replicate it, but some folksgo.
You know what?
We?
This flavor isn't gonna flyhere because we grew up with
this Yep, like it were, palates,fuck, we're entering our 40s,
(11:34):
yeah, so the breweries up herehave a built-in customer base,
customer base that you don'tnecessarily have.
Who cut their teeth on thisflavor when they were in, you
know, college, college andwhatnot.
You were around boundary Bay.
All year all through college.
(11:55):
I Skedaddle that'll endsburgbefore iron horse really came up
.
Brian (12:00):
But the captain he was there too.
Chad (12:05):
But that was almost and I know it's tough to think about,
but but but it is the truth.
And now that this is a flavorwe're searching for out of all,
like, if you go to the beer casenow, it's tough to find this
flavor.
I'm glad the bomber startedshowing back up.
Alec (12:23):
I was gonna say my cold case.
Where did you find this?
Because you didn't.
This isn't a to vor drop andthis isn't a this.
Chad (12:29):
This was in the grocery store.
Alec (12:30):
This is grocery stores.
Not even a bottle shop.
Chad (12:32):
No, this is in the grocery store because my grocery store
whoever's Stock in the beerthere has started cutting out a
little boundary Bay niche.
Hey, that's the cabin fever,got cabin fever, got nice little
section, the Scotch ale, andthen they Managed to cut out a
little area for some morebombers.
It's.
It's tough, because this formfactor disappeared to the 22 is
(12:55):
one away.
Yeah, because the 22 is.
And Going back to the OGAmerican beer over, just a blog
and everything was in a bomber.
Yep, it was great because youjust 22 ounces, pour your 16,
yeah, and then you finish halfyour pint and go, oh, I gotta
(13:16):
top it off, uh-huh, and then youdo your blog post and all that
stuff.
It was.
That is a fantastic form factor, but I don't know if a lot of
beers now are built For thatthere.
Just built to.
You get your 16 ounces or your19 to and just finish it because
they're all it.
Yeah, what, as I say that thisis at 7 5, so this is 22 ounces
(13:40):
at 7 5, which is kind of aroundthat ballpark of the new, the
new brown paper bag section, oh,by the 19 twos.
Alec (13:51):
What?
When we were on the blog, wewere reviewing solo so 22 was
the 22 was on you.
Yes to either Whatever taste orwaste Versus.
This is easy.
I mean, with three of us here,this would have been gone
already.
Oh.
Chad (14:08):
Well, we get.
Alec (14:09):
I mean it will the spoils go to us, it will still be gone,
all right, while we Well, let'srate, and then while we savor
the rest of this.
Okay yeah, we're Crankin along,good yeah, while we rates, or
let's rate it, and then savorthe rest of this.
While you have a Topic beertopic for the yeah, well, we'll
(14:31):
fill something out.
Chad (14:32):
The rest of the episode We'll figure it out.
Alec (14:35):
I am 100 buying boundary Bay.
If I found it in my grocerystore, I am.
I know we don't.
I mean so boundary Bay.
There's something in my beerfridge pretty consistently right
now it is just the Scotch aleat home.
This one I did.
My son did catch me lying andsaying yeah, yeah, you didn't
put all this stuff in your beerfridge.
(14:56):
Boundary Bay is one that isalways in my beer fridge and if
it's not, I'm Trying to anglefor a way to get more of it in
my beer fridge.
Scotch ale is usually my go-tocozy sweater, not cozy square.
Winter warmer Yep, their winterwarmer is Also a strong one.
This one I have not had in awhile.
This one needs to make anappearance, especially over the
summer.
Chad (15:18):
Yes, this is a great summer IPA.
Now that you say that, yeah,I'm gonna echo that.
And now what I'm gonna do isI'm gonna keep a.
I've got a actual Unusableshelf in my fridge that doesn't
fit a lot of things, but youknow what it fits?
22, a single bomber.
(15:39):
So I am probably going to havea single bomber of this Because
it is an IPA.
It's very hop forward but it'snot overly hoppy like I could.
I could crush this whole 22 andnot feel overload, but I could.
That that hop, that kind of hopLimit that I need for the day
(16:01):
is fully fulfilled.
Definitely not doing two ofthese.
Alec (16:05):
No, probably not, and this will be interesting and too bad
.
Yeah, b isn't here as he'savoiding IPA's to see what this
would feel like tomorrow morning.
And you've had somesusceptibility towards, yes,
those, because this, the day isyoung, because if IPA, you can
back it up with some water.
But, yeah, ipa's are getting toyou.
(16:26):
This, this will get to you.
Chad (16:27):
Oh well, I this is one of those sneaky ones like I think
you could, if you're up, go up.
You go up to Bellingham, I'msitting in the tap room, you
have one pint of it, do someother things, but then I could
see you order in a second one,working on it over dinner, and
then, you know what, I'll have athird and I think that'll one
(16:50):
over the edge.
Alec (16:52):
But the what it would get you into trouble up there
especially if we stayed walkableor uberable is you'd have One,
maybe two, a third on the wayout, and then you know we would
get a growler.
Chad (17:06):
Oh, you're leaving there with beer and yes back at the
Airbnb.
You would then open saidgrowler, and that's where we
would get into trouble and ifthey Happen to have cabin fever
that you could put into growlers, then yeah, you have to have an
extra day built in, right?
Alec (17:24):
That's when we don't take the kids.
Chad (17:26):
No, you just pop in in front, you will bring the Xbox
and the PlayStation will justhey.
You know what here's?
Here's a bag of Doritos andsoda.
Do all the things that we tellyou you can't do.
This Daddy needs 24 hours andright, sleep this off.
Right, I'm gonna give thisdelicious beer.
(17:49):
We give it 4.5 out of fiveWestern Washington universities.
Alec (18:02):
There you go.
This is a five-star NorthwestIPA for me.
When we've talked about what aNorthwest IPA should be, it's in
this class.
Chad (18:11):
Yep, look at that Mm-hmm part slightly hazy, beautiful.
This everything you want to behere and yours is full, so I'm
gonna take the last a little bitof that Because I'm wearing
sure I've got the rest of myshell and talk to you here.
Alec (18:30):
I was gonna say it's because I'm wearing my.
Well, yeah, you're, you'refully standing boundary today.
Chad (18:36):
I.
Alec (18:37):
Was would say that had to find it, knowing we were gonna
review this today, but it's inpretty constant rotation at the
top of my closet, so Clothes aremeant to be worn, use them.
Beer news.
Let's see something quick.
Chad (18:57):
The craft beer boom is over, so bars and breweries are
cutting back.
Alec (19:02):
Yeah yeah, we'll follow up more on this, I think next time
with when with our man on thestreet yeah, who's in?
A lot more of them We've hintedat it is.
We kind of felt it was crestingfor a little bit.
Obviously COVID had aIndifficiently negative impact,
but it's interesting to see thatit's still I think.
Chad (19:26):
I'll do a little more research on it, but COVID kind
of accelerated beer sales enough.
There was a false spike.
But I think some people bit on.
Oh, okay, cause, like in our,looking at our business
personally, if you looked at thetrend line pre and post COVID,
that trend line stayed the samebut you had a bump in COVID.
(19:50):
Like, if you look at overallsales, I feel like maybe a lot
of folks went oh, everyone'sgoing to stay at home.
Whatnot, send them home?
They're going to have beer forlunch.
You can be drinking more beer.
So I think a lot of folks whohad some extra scratch lying
around and not much to do, oryeah, but if you're not able to
(20:12):
go out to dinner, you're notable to at bars yeah.
And started a brewery, which isgreat.
I think people you know, if youfeel like you should start a
brewery, start a brewery.
But I think a lot of them gotstarted during a period of time
when beer sales wereartificially inflated because
there were a lot of folks yeah,fill in the void, yeah, just
drinking my like.
I can tell you the recyclingdays in my neighborhood, oh, a
(20:34):
lot more rattling, oh yeah, ohyeah.
So I think it's normalizing,but folks like boundary Bay, who
have been at it since 1996.
Alec (20:44):
I think they've been around for longer.
This one, yeah, even longer.
Chad (20:48):
But they've been.
If you've been making a tastybeer since 1996, before I could
even buy a beer legally- Beforeyou could drive legally.
Alec (20:58):
Oh fuck Right.
Chad (21:04):
Oh, I'm okay.
Okay, I'm good, I'm good, I'mgonna have a sip of this beer.
Alec (21:12):
All right.
Well, brian, follow up nextweek on what he thinks about the
declining beer industry andwhat that means in the longer
term.
Whether this is just kind of aor shadowing Course correction
or what that looks like, glassesaren't empty because we are
finishing this 22 today.
Chad (21:26):
Yeah, we're gonna keep sipping while you losers log off
.
Alec (21:30):
Yeah, and hopefully, if you have some boundary Bay, your
glasses are getting topped offas well, and we will catch you
next time.
Brian (21:48):
If you've enjoyed what you just heard, make sure you
subscribe to get new episodeswhen they drop, and don't forget
to leave us a review.
If you wanna see what we'redrinking, we're not on the pod.
You can follow us on socialmedia at A Beer Review.
Feel free to send us any beersuggestions that we can make.
Chad go buy off at DeVore.
I will.
Welcome to another episode of the American Beer
Review Podcast.
Chad (00:10):
Good times for good friends requires good beer.
Lucky for us, we know ethnicall three.
Alec (00:15):
We're a group of friends who grew up in the Pacific
Northwest, giving us a jumpstart on our craft beer journey.
Brian (00:20):
Join us today.
While Brian that pride myselfon not getting to know other
people, so do not put that on me.
Alec (00:26):
Alec, the bananas up until like the 60s weren't entirely
different species of banana.
Chad (00:32):
And Chad Hit me like a bacon bar.
Brian (00:36):
Review some beer, talk about beer topics and whatever
else comes up.
We invite you to pour yourselfa drink and hang out with us.
Ear buds in.
Chad (00:51):
We're on mute and it's coming up.
Alec (00:57):
And we are live Perfect Back for another episode, Chad.
What are we drinking today?
Chad (01:02):
We are drinking from our friends at Boundary Bay Brewery.
Yes, the Northwest Original IPA, the Inside Passage Ale, but it
is an IPA In a Bomber Oldschool bomber baby.
We are back in as such.
Alec (01:26):
Uh, oh, uh, oh.
Oops, that wasn't my poor thistime.
Last episode did so well thatwe decided to fire Brian.
Yes, so he's not joining usagain this week either.
Plus, he knows nothing aboutBellingham or any of their
breweries, so he wouldn't bemuch of a help talking about
Boundary Bay Not at all.
So they're Northwest IPA Aboutas good as me.
(01:49):
Let me pull it up here.
So 7.5% ABV78 IBUs, theirclassic IPA, first introduced in
1996.
A big bald backbone and a heavydose of Amarillo hops lead the
(02:09):
way for this trueNorthwest-style IPA.
Chad (02:13):
So they're calling their shot on that one, yeah, and it's
Every time they talk about itit's North Northwest old school,
so that's why I grabbed it.
Alec (02:25):
Well, we've had so many conversations about a West Coast
IPA and we're getting WestCoast IPAs out of this.
We're the.
Chad (02:31):
SEC of beer.
We've like been really talkingourselves up here, up here in
the Northwest.
I'm just gonna get right intoit.
Go for it.
Rip Going ham today ObviouslyGot a nice little backup, nice
little backup beer here.
There you go.
Alec (02:51):
Just a little one, we're going old school.
Chad (02:55):
I'm going old school with the old school.
Champagne oil can starter yeah.
Alec (03:00):
It's either that or Fosters, but we're American beer
reviews, so I'm going withMiller Lite there you go and
that's probably what we weredrinking is backup beers as soon
as we finished our boundarybays back in the day.
Chad (03:09):
Yes, because these used to be like two bucks.
Yeah, back in my day I think wewere like two for three.
Fucking inflation Flations ofbitch.
You know what's not.
This is really good, this beer.
This beer is tasty.
Alec (03:26):
I mean if you've been making a beer since 1996.
Oh, that is, and I think nowthey classify it and it may not
have been in the category.
So now it's a double dry hoppedIPA.
I saw that, so I'm pretty surewhen they they made it.
Chad (03:42):
It was an.
Alec (03:43):
IPA.
That wasn't even a thing.
No, they didn't even have toname it at that.
I don't know when I checked itin or if I've ever checked it in
, or anything like that.
All I know is I love, give mesome Boundary Bay and an IPA at
a Boundary Bay.
Chad (03:58):
Yeah, because we've definitely talked up cabin fever
.
Yes, and then what Scotch ale?
Alec (04:06):
Scotch ale.
Scotch ale, obviously my numberone.
Mount Rushmore beer, yeah so,and cabin fever you just grabbed
again recently, right, Ithought you'd-.
Chad (04:16):
I got five in the fridge.
Save them.
Alec (04:19):
Save them for a later day you may have four in the fridge
by the time I leave.
That's fine, I think those twomight I pay you guys in here
anyway.
Those might both be on my MountRushmore beer.
Ooh, that's another beer game.
Like what's your top four, youcould add a five.
Pretend they carved anotherface on the mount.
I'm not asking you to thinkabout it right now.
Chad (04:42):
Oh, okay, I'm just gonna-.
Alec (04:43):
I'm gonna sprak off like four boundary babies, because
those are folks.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Chad (04:50):
Brian, if you're listening while you're recovering, still
think about it.
Alec (04:58):
It's definitely, definitely Northwest this.
They're not.
They're not lying when they sayNorthwest, this has plenty of
hops, good malt back right.
So it's not overly piney,overly hoppy, but if you're so,
smelling this, you're not like.
Chad (05:18):
It's not like.
It's not like an IPA now or ahazy IPA now where you have to
on the nose.
They need to tell you okay,this is a, you need grapefruit,
citrus, all that stuff.
This is a dust.
Yeah, there's a little.
There's a little bit of littlebit of hops in there, little,
very not piney.
But then when you taste it,that's when you're getting the
(05:38):
flavor.
Alec (05:39):
This is in the flavor, not the smell 100%.
That might change if we'repouring out of like a bigger
glass.
Get a little bit more surfacearea.
Chad (05:48):
This is nostalgia.
This is nostalgia in the glass,like I.
I'm trying to describe it, butthis is.
This is like what we in ourearly craft days as the beer
aisle expanded Yep, this is whatwe got into, like I oh Well,
(06:09):
this is why, when we have, IPAs.
This is why we're IPA heads,that's what I'm saying.
Alec (06:14):
This is why, when somebody says West Coast IPA, we go no,
no, no.
This is what an IPA should be.
Chad (06:20):
This is a Northwest IPA but then a you know, a West
Coast obviously branched off ofthat, because we're the SCC of
beer and I'm going to die onthat hill.
Alec (06:29):
But when you go to other places and they're like this is
our IPA, and you go this is,this is a like hoppier ale like
this is not an IPA like.
Chad (06:39):
This is a beer built to just just to carry the hops.
Yeah, this, an IPA, should behoppy and that's it a little bit
of, a little bit of malt inthere, if like the hop balance
or whatever, to make sure it'sall blended together.
Alec (06:57):
Yeah, and a nice little package, but this is just this
is a beer brewed to survive thepassage from England to India.
Chad (07:10):
Yeah, and still tastes good at the very end fun fact,
if you didn't know why it'scalled an IPA.
That's why it's called an IPAthis is fantastic.
Alec (07:20):
I'm glad you got a 22 of this.
Chad (07:21):
We don't have to share it through ways we might just sit
here for the rest of the episodeand just finish it.
Alec (07:28):
Honestly, we might be probably gonna get big glasses
for this one.
Chad (07:34):
I almost almost said, should we go pint glasses?
But no, let's do it, we'll doit.
Little sippies at a time thatgives this time to it's all our
only beer for the day yeah, myonly beer for the day so sit
relax.
Oh no, our replay as oursporting event is over.
Now we're watching collegebasketball, which I never watch
anyways.
Back to the beer and Bellingham.
(07:55):
So you got the.
You got the old man in the seaon the front and the inside
passage is like the reference toI'm so happy we can call this
now the Pacific Northwest fjordsystem is that they start
officially referring to it asthat on the Wikipedia page.
The inside passage so basicallykind of going the coast and
(08:16):
protects you from the PacificOcean so you can go from Seattle
all the way up to Alaska andwhatnot, and is the I think they
call it the Pacific Northwestfjords huh system.
I was like nice, that is cool.
It's one of my favorite words,that's.
Alec (08:30):
That's on my Mount Rushmore words fjord, yeah, yeah
, fjord, yeah yeah, don't ask mehow I know that.
Chad (08:37):
So it's a pretty metal yeah, from the land devices no,
mm-hmm no, this is awesome.
Alec (08:48):
This is one that I'll grab up in Bellingham.
We usually we haven't beenthere this year.
Your year is very early, veryearly.
We usually go mid to latespring and then we'll go towards
the end of the summer beforeschool starts back up.
Yeah, I spent some time upthere in boundary base always a
stop because I can bring thekids into the restaurant, we can
(09:09):
have food, I can have some oftheir delicious beers and then
order either some bottles or asix pack to go on the way out
when we enjoy the town.
And oh, that's, brian does alot more perusing he spreads his
love around yeah, and I, and Istayed with my first love.
Chad (09:25):
Yeah, so there's not both ways have their merits.
Alec (09:30):
It pays to be a regular, some places too yeah, I'm not
regular enough that they wouldknow me anymore when I show up.
Chad (09:36):
Well, they do.
They throw us plenty of love onthe gram.
Oh, they're there for this tripnow they're one of the first
ones, so we won't give it alittle back.
I'm sure we're gonna do a thatsome someday.
We're gonna get our all of ourasses up there, that is the full
setup legitimately.
Alec (09:52):
Probably the next one you need to put on the table is
getting up to Bellingham.
It's gonna be an easy sell forme and my wife and family.
It's gonna be an easy yourselfor Brian, and then you just got
to find someplace to havesomebody watch the dog.
Chad (10:06):
I can stash my dog away for a weekend, no problem, and
we could get up there.
I mean, he loves going tograndpa.
Alec (10:12):
Graham's house.
There you go, because comesback spoiled like five pounds
heavier every time.
Yeah.
Chad (10:22):
I, just, I am.
Everyone's looking at me on theYouTube like what are you doing
?
Like a deer in the headlights,but I am just trying to find
words to describe this, but allI'm just getting in my head is
this nostalgia, nostalgia,nostalgia yeah, we haven't gone
back this hard on a beer like wehave we switch to tasters we
(10:45):
haven't had.
I don't think we've had thisflavor because we've been
branching out.
We've been on to war and we'vebeen branching out and looking
at all these wonderfulinterpretations like where the
SCC a beer?
I'm gonna say it again, I'mgonna die on that hill.
But like, people Come here,taste these flavors, go back
(11:11):
East Coast, middle of thecountry, all these places and
they try to replicate it.
I don't know if they're tryingSome of them, some of them try
to replicate it, but some folksgo.
You know what?
We?
This flavor isn't gonna flyhere because we grew up with
this Yep, like it were, palates,fuck, we're entering our 40s,
(11:34):
yeah, so the breweries up herehave a built-in customer base,
customer base that you don'tnecessarily have.
Who cut their teeth on thisflavor when they were in, you
know, college, college andwhatnot.
You were around boundary Bay.
All year all through college.
(11:55):
I Skedaddle that'll endsburgbefore iron horse really came up
.
Brian (12:00):
But the captain he was there too.
Chad (12:05):
But that was almost and I know it's tough to think about,
but but but it is the truth.
And now that this is a flavorwe're searching for out of all,
like, if you go to the beer casenow, it's tough to find this
flavor.
I'm glad the bomber startedshowing back up.
Alec (12:23):
I was gonna say my cold case.
Where did you find this?
Because you didn't.
This isn't a to vor drop andthis isn't a this.
Chad (12:29):
This was in the grocery store.
Alec (12:30):
This is grocery stores.
Not even a bottle shop.
Chad (12:32):
No, this is in the grocery store because my grocery store
whoever's Stock in the beerthere has started cutting out a
little boundary Bay niche.
Hey, that's the cabin fever,got cabin fever, got nice little
section, the Scotch ale, andthen they Managed to cut out a
little area for some morebombers.
It's.
It's tough, because this formfactor disappeared to the 22 is
(12:55):
one away.
Yeah, because the 22 is.
And Going back to the OGAmerican beer over, just a blog
and everything was in a bomber.
Yep, it was great because youjust 22 ounces, pour your 16,
yeah, and then you finish halfyour pint and go, oh, I gotta
(13:16):
top it off, uh-huh, and then youdo your blog post and all that
stuff.
It was.
That is a fantastic form factor, but I don't know if a lot of
beers now are built For thatthere.
Just built to.
You get your 16 ounces or your19 to and just finish it because
they're all it.
Yeah, what, as I say that thisis at 7 5, so this is 22 ounces
(13:40):
at 7 5, which is kind of aroundthat ballpark of the new, the
new brown paper bag section, oh,by the 19 twos.
Alec (13:51):
What?
When we were on the blog, wewere reviewing solo so 22 was
the 22 was on you.
Yes to either Whatever taste orwaste Versus.
This is easy.
I mean, with three of us here,this would have been gone
already.
Oh.
Chad (14:08):
Well, we get.
Alec (14:09):
I mean it will the spoils go to us, it will still be gone,
all right, while we Well, let'srate, and then while we savor
the rest of this.
Okay yeah, we're Crankin along,good yeah, while we rates, or
let's rate it, and then savorthe rest of this.
While you have a Topic beertopic for the yeah, well, we'll
(14:31):
fill something out.
Chad (14:32):
The rest of the episode We'll figure it out.
Alec (14:35):
I am 100 buying boundary Bay.
If I found it in my grocerystore, I am.
I know we don't.
I mean so boundary Bay.
There's something in my beerfridge pretty consistently right
now it is just the Scotch aleat home.
This one I did.
My son did catch me lying andsaying yeah, yeah, you didn't
put all this stuff in your beerfridge.
(14:56):
Boundary Bay is one that isalways in my beer fridge and if
it's not, I'm Trying to anglefor a way to get more of it in
my beer fridge.
Scotch ale is usually my go-tocozy sweater, not cozy square.
Winter warmer Yep, their winterwarmer is Also a strong one.
This one I have not had in awhile.
This one needs to make anappearance, especially over the
summer.
Chad (15:18):
Yes, this is a great summer IPA.
Now that you say that, yeah,I'm gonna echo that.
And now what I'm gonna do isI'm gonna keep a.
I've got a actual Unusableshelf in my fridge that doesn't
fit a lot of things, but youknow what it fits?
22, a single bomber.
(15:39):
So I am probably going to havea single bomber of this Because
it is an IPA.
It's very hop forward but it'snot overly hoppy like I could.
I could crush this whole 22 andnot feel overload, but I could.
That that hop, that kind of hopLimit that I need for the day
(16:01):
is fully fulfilled.
Definitely not doing two ofthese.
Alec (16:05):
No, probably not, and this will be interesting and too bad
.
Yeah, b isn't here as he'savoiding IPA's to see what this
would feel like tomorrow morning.
And you've had somesusceptibility towards, yes,
those, because this, the day isyoung, because if IPA, you can
back it up with some water.
But, yeah, ipa's are getting toyou.
(16:26):
This, this will get to you.
Chad (16:27):
Oh well, I this is one of those sneaky ones like I think
you could, if you're up, go up.
You go up to Bellingham, I'msitting in the tap room, you
have one pint of it, do someother things, but then I could
see you order in a second one,working on it over dinner, and
then, you know what, I'll have athird and I think that'll one
(16:50):
over the edge.
Alec (16:52):
But the what it would get you into trouble up there
especially if we stayed walkableor uberable is you'd have One,
maybe two, a third on the wayout, and then you know we would
get a growler.
Chad (17:06):
Oh, you're leaving there with beer and yes back at the
Airbnb.
You would then open saidgrowler, and that's where we
would get into trouble and ifthey Happen to have cabin fever
that you could put into growlers, then yeah, you have to have an
extra day built in, right?
Alec (17:24):
That's when we don't take the kids.
Chad (17:26):
No, you just pop in in front, you will bring the Xbox
and the PlayStation will justhey.
You know what here's?
Here's a bag of Doritos andsoda.
Do all the things that we tellyou you can't do.
This Daddy needs 24 hours andright, sleep this off.
Right, I'm gonna give thisdelicious beer.
(17:49):
We give it 4.5 out of fiveWestern Washington universities.
Alec (18:02):
There you go.
This is a five-star NorthwestIPA for me.
When we've talked about what aNorthwest IPA should be, it's in
this class.
Chad (18:11):
Yep, look at that Mm-hmm part slightly hazy, beautiful.
This everything you want to behere and yours is full, so I'm
gonna take the last a little bitof that Because I'm wearing
sure I've got the rest of myshell and talk to you here.
Alec (18:30):
I was gonna say it's because I'm wearing my.
Well, yeah, you're, you'refully standing boundary today.
Chad (18:36):
I.
Alec (18:37):
Was would say that had to find it, knowing we were gonna
review this today, but it's inpretty constant rotation at the
top of my closet, so Clothes aremeant to be worn, use them.
Beer news.
Let's see something quick.
Chad (18:57):
The craft beer boom is over, so bars and breweries are
cutting back.
Alec (19:02):
Yeah yeah, we'll follow up more on this, I think next time
with when with our man on thestreet yeah, who's in?
A lot more of them We've hintedat it is.
We kind of felt it was crestingfor a little bit.
Obviously COVID had aIndifficiently negative impact,
but it's interesting to see thatit's still I think.
Chad (19:26):
I'll do a little more research on it, but COVID kind
of accelerated beer sales enough.
There was a false spike.
But I think some people bit on.
Oh, okay, cause, like in our,looking at our business
personally, if you looked at thetrend line pre and post COVID,
that trend line stayed the samebut you had a bump in COVID.
(19:50):
Like, if you look at overallsales, I feel like maybe a lot
of folks went oh, everyone'sgoing to stay at home.
Whatnot, send them home?
They're going to have beer forlunch.
You can be drinking more beer.
So I think a lot of folks whohad some extra scratch lying
around and not much to do, oryeah, but if you're not able to
(20:12):
go out to dinner, you're notable to at bars yeah.
And started a brewery, which isgreat.
I think people you know, if youfeel like you should start a
brewery, start a brewery.
But I think a lot of them gotstarted during a period of time
when beer sales wereartificially inflated because
there were a lot of folks yeah,fill in the void, yeah, just
drinking my like.
I can tell you the recyclingdays in my neighborhood, oh, a
(20:34):
lot more rattling, oh yeah, ohyeah.
So I think it's normalizing,but folks like boundary Bay, who
have been at it since 1996.
Alec (20:44):
I think they've been around for longer.
This one, yeah, even longer.
Chad (20:48):
But they've been.
If you've been making a tastybeer since 1996, before I could
even buy a beer legally- Beforeyou could drive legally.
Alec (20:58):
Oh fuck Right.
Chad (21:04):
Oh, I'm okay.
Okay, I'm good, I'm good, I'mgonna have a sip of this beer.
Alec (21:12):
All right.
Well, brian, follow up nextweek on what he thinks about the
declining beer industry andwhat that means in the longer
term.
Whether this is just kind of aor shadowing Course correction
or what that looks like, glassesaren't empty because we are
finishing this 22 today.
Chad (21:26):
Yeah, we're gonna keep sipping while you losers log off
.
Alec (21:30):
Yeah, and hopefully, if you have some boundary Bay, your
glasses are getting topped offas well, and we will catch you
next time.
Brian (21:48):
If you've enjoyed what you just heard, make sure you
subscribe to get new episodeswhen they drop, and don't forget
to leave us a review.
If you wanna see what we'redrinking, we're not on the pod.
You can follow us on socialmedia at A Beer Review.
Feel free to send us any beersuggestions that we can make.
Chad go buy off at DeVore.
I will.
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