Maui Big Swell IPA and Stone Oaked Arrogant Bastard

2 Hopped up beers to talk about tonight. First, another selection from Maui Brewing Co. Their Big Swell IPA is pretty good, it is a hoppy, medium bodied IPA, I'd say not very unique, but good all the same. B+ overall (Maui Brewing is quickly gaining ground in my top breweries). The second beer of this evening is the Stone Brewing Oaked Bastard Ale. At first I thought this was a barrel aged edition of the Arrogant Bastard, but it turns out it is brewed with oak chips. Not having a regular old Arrogant Bastard to compare it with, it is hard to say how much of a difference it makes, but I'd say it's pretty damn good, hoppy with a smooth finish, and I think you can taste the oak....A- overall, I'd recommend it.

Happy drinking.

IPAs at the Tap Room

Just got back from dinner at the Tap Room in San Diego (www.sdtaproom.com). I had two different IPAs, the first was moor traditional, and on the milder side for an IPA, it was the Fathom IPA by Ballast Point Brewing, a local joint. It was relatively tasty, but in my mind closer to a Pale Ale than an IPA, I enjoyed it however, and would give it a B overall. The second was some kind of Black IPA, can't remember the name now, it was good, fairly hoppy, with a full body. Overall a B+. Check out the beer list on the taproom homepage...it's mostly SD local beers.