Day 270, Sep 27 / Hop Mountain Pale Ale

Day 270 / September 27, 2011

Hop Mountain Pale Ale

2010 Old Dominion Brewing Company / 

Dover, DE

A

NG

P

G

VG

O

Hops for Pops

I met up with a friend Tuesday night at Buffalo Wing University in Fairfax, VA.  This place, in a strip mall next to a Safeway, started out as a neighborhood and family / wings and burgers / restaurant and sports bar.  In the five years it has been open, it has morphed into a cheap drafts and shooters / college student and hoodlums / drunk fest and pick up joint.  With wings and burgers.

New Belgium Beers were on special, but I had them all already, so I looked for something I hadn’t had yet this year. 

“What’s the big green tap handle on the end?” I asked our waitress, whose name was Brittany or Tiffany or Shelby. 

Surprisingly, she knew it off the bat.  “That’s Dominion Hop Mountain.”

“What type of beer is that?” I asked, inquisitively.

“Ummm…” she said, as she put her hand on her hip.  She didn’t know anything more than the name.  That’s OK, I guess.

So I ordered one, because at this point in the year, at least in a bar, it’s all about the uniqueness of the brew.  If there’s only 1 beer on tap that I haven’t had, that’s the beer I’m getting.

And this wasn’t a bad choice.  Hop Mountain is an American Pale Ale, and was a dark reddish color in the glass.  While it’s called Hop Mountain, it wasn’t overpowered by the hops, and was actually very well-balanced and tasty.  I’d say it’s pretty similar to a Sierra Nevada, which is OK in my book.

So, Brittany / Tiffany / Shelby – if you’re reading this (yeah, right), tell the next pair of middle-aged guys sitting in your bar that the Hop Mountain is kinda like Sierra Nevada.  They’ll thank you for it, and you might get a bigger tip.