Day 7: Stillwater Artisanal "existent" American Farmhouse Ale

Okay, so I'm annoyed right off the bat. Why? The name is monstrously pretentious for a beer out of Brooklyn. Or distributed from there or something. Whatever. Don't believe me on the pretentious front? Here's the blurb on the brewer's blog about this beer:

Existent represents the philosophy behind Stillwater Artisanal. We strive to define ourselves through our passion and sincerity while accepting that not all aspects of life are readily explainable. To manifest this ideology we present an ale of intrigue. Deep & dark though deceptively dry, braced by a firm yet smooth bitterness and accented with an earthy hop and mild roast aroma. This is an ale for you to define..’and if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.’ –Nietzsche

Well la-dee-FRICK-in-da!

The guy needs to take himself a little less seriously, but the beer is pretty good. At 7.4% ABV it's the highest test brew so far, and it isn't overpowering...which is saying something at that level. First sip wasn't great, but again, I'm probably setting in while it's a little too cold. Remembering that I thought the Hurricane Amber needed seafood, I thought I'd try eating some stuff along with this beer.

A little sirloin transforms the taste here. I would highly recommend this as a steak companion. Oh, and this is not a thirst quencher, it's a sipper. Chowing down on a little kale with butter and lemon changed the taste again. Better than solo, but completely different than sipping with the sirloin. Then I got a little goofy (7.4%, remember?) and decided to chomp a vitamin C tablet to completely change the taste profile in my mouth. Again, a completely different flavour when I sipped the beer. Not bad, either.

I have no idea why. Some foodie could probably tell me something about acids and tannins and lipids or something. At any rate, food, particularly dark, fatty meat, wakes this brew up. I had to admit that I liked it, in spite of the toolishness of the brewer.

At lot like that Hammerhead stuff that I like, but it's actually better. If you're into that flavour in general (dark, dense, full bodied bitter ale) yesterday's Moose Knuckle was noticeably superior. But this is worth a try for sure.

Four tankards!