Don’t get me wrong, this is certainly a good beer… but not Black Lab Bar good.  Maybe the bitterness was just a bit surprising, having just finished the uber-sweet Clown Shoe’s Pecan Pie Porter.  There are certainly worse scenarios than being “stuck” with a keg of Gritty’s.

Update: this was the first keg we didn’t finish before returning, and we had it on tap for a record-setting 113 days.  It was a quarter barrel, but apparently we simply didn’t drink in any of Q1 (partly because I was experimenting with beer allergies).  This was, nonetheless, the only beer we wanted kicked bad enough to simply return.  Good beer in autumn but completely out of it’s element in April.

Tapped 1/16/11

Kicked 5/9/11 (manually)

Here’s what Gritty McDuff’s says about the beer:

Gritty’s 21 IPA is a unique blend of American hops with a British body utilizing English 2-Row Pale malts. This IPA starts with a hoppy aroma and taste; ending with a sweet finish. Plenty of Munich and caramalts are used to give the beer that golden hue. There are fifty-six pounds of Cascade Hops used in each 50 barrel batch that is brewed! Then we finish the beer with Willamette & Warrior Hops, (Warrior is a high-alpha acid variety of hops) All this leads to an IPA that is worthy to celebrate our 21st Anniversary!

Starting Gravity: 1069
Hops: (60 I.B.U.s) Cascade, Willamette, Warrior

Overall it was a pretty good beer – good, not great.  It was on during a notoriously slow time of the year (mid-to-late summer) but I probably wouldn’ t put it on tap again.  We kicked it while doing our 2010-2011 Fantasy Football Draft Night – it was the focus of nine guys for 3 hours until we killed it.  Had it not been for that, I suspect the “21″ could easily have lived until early winter.  Phew.  My next IPA will probably be Dogfish Head unless someone can riddle me some kickass New England IPA.

Keg #37
Tapped: 6/16/10
Kicked: 9/2/10

I love this beer.  We first served it in June 2008 and went through a 1/4 barrel pretty quickly.  So, we got another one.  Perfect for July and August weather.

Gritty says, “You can’t put summer in a bottle, but we may have come close! When the weather gets warm we roll out our summer seasonal, Vacationland Summer Ale. Vacationland is an Extra Special Golden Ale that’s light in color but full-bodied, with a snappy hop finish. A bit of extra time in the conditioning tank rounds out and mellows the ale. We use generous portions of pale malt with just a touch of wheat malt to give VSA unique flavor that’s richer than most summer brews. Cascade leaf hops add a delicate and forward hop character as well. It’s the perfect brew for all things summer.”

Starting Gravity: 1049
Finish: 1012, ABV: 4.9%
Hops: (22 I.B.U.s) Cascade Leaf, Cascade, Saaz
Availability: 6 and 12-packs, 22 oz bottles, mini-kegs and draft,
April-August

Will be paired with Wachusett Summer Ale.

Gritty says, “You can’t put summer in a bottle, but we may have come close! When the weather gets warm we roll out our summer seasonal, Vacationland Summer Ale. Vacationland is an Extra Special Golden Ale that’s light in color but full-bodied, with a snappy hop finish. A bit of extra time in the conditioning tank rounds out and mellows the ale. We use generous portions of pale malt with just a touch of wheat malt to give VSA unique flavor that’s richer than most summer brews. Cascade leaf hops add a delicate and forward hop character as well. It’s the perfect brew for all things summer.”

Starting Gravity: 1049
Finish: 1012, ABV: 4.9%
Hops: (22 I.B.U.s) Cascade Leaf, Cascade, Saaz
Availability: 6 and 12-packs, 22 oz bottles, mini-kegs and draft,
April-August

I had some “Vacationland” up in Maine this past weekend and I’m looking forwards to getting this in. This beer got a [very underrated] B- on BeerAdvocate.

Currently paired with Shipyard Export Ale.  Kicked after 51 days.