We posited some months ago that it would require an early round for the Triangle Brewing Company tour in Durham to qualify as a 19th hole. Well, here at Aces & Ales we are willing to sacrifice to bring the ultimate in brewery information to our dedicated readers. Not only did your intrepid A&A editor make (barely) the TBC tour before last call after an early morning round at Quail Ridge, he joined fellow travelers for a double-header - a late-afternoon trek across the Bull City to visit the recently opened tasting room at Fullsteam Brewery.
The lovely wife and I invited friends to our Saturday afternoon brewfest, and they were suitably impressed with three things - the just-delivered TBC canning machine (yes, canned beer is better - it's all about air and light, or the lack thereof), its Canadian purveyor, who may very well have convinced our lovely wives to join him at the San Francisco beer equipment show next year (no, not the beer show, but the beer equipment show), and the newest TBC release, Imperial Amber.
Dave, my longtime ale-testing companion, who is not given to overstatement, practically gushed about the Amber upon my arrival. Our opinions about beer are not always in concert, but I have to agree that the Amber was one of the best high-gravity brews I've tasted in some time. Very smooth with a slight taste of dark cherry and a caramel finish, it reminds you you're drinking a high-alcohol beer, the Amber gives you a feeling you're enjoying a grown-up beer with no pretention (read: whiskey-like aftertaste). For a moment you imagine what it was like when beer was a requisite for around-the-Cape voyages along with hardtack and the occasional seabird - a beverage, yes, but one that demands more attention from your palate than your standard iced tea or Diet Coke.
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