Serenity Now, notes from the Rogue.

"Serenity now!" - Kramer
Ready to launch. St. Martin River, the Pines. 10/7/2020

   My warm evenings are numbered. Warm evenings with pink, orange and blue sunsets and calm water, even more so. The St. Martin was not quite slick cam as I backed into my drive. Close enough. Hard to pass that up as most twilight waterviews get a wind on 'em by 6pm. Sun droppin' fast as well, so I ran in, changed, and was launching my board over to my neighbor's within minutes. Light ripples in the shallows as I rounded the bend into the canal. But, glassed out very quickly as I made my way south through the quiet slough. Minnows, crabs, and who knows what else bobbed up here and there to make little shockwaves in the still waters. A double kayak approached, it's rowers making the craft look like a giant water bug skimming along the surface...a family, their child sitting up front with the mother, enjoying the calm of the night. If there was a way to experience the serenity of an autumn nightfall...this was it. Paddleboarding, walking the waters of the Pines canals. 

Teal Circle canal, the Pines.

 

   One thing about big beers. They WILL mellow you out. A couple warm weather IPAs starting with Evo Craft Brewing's Liger, part of their newest Hybrid Series. A Sour IPA with the haziness of a New England IPA. Poured a very hazy, sediment filled, golden orange with a finger and a half, pillowy, white head. Lots of tart clementine, apple, and lemon in the smell. Bits and pieces of oatey malt and bready cracker in the background. The taste was very refreshing for an IPA. A combo of sugar and green apple gave a nice muted tart on the first swig. The tartness was offset by the bitterness of the juiced up hops. Grapefruit, more lemon and orange citrus. An explosion of IPA flavor. 7.2% alcohol made this easy drinker dangerous. Estimated 50 IBUs. Given an A- rating.

                                                                                         Offshoot Beer Company originally caught my eye with their graphics. I'd had one other Offshoot brew about a year ago...Relax Hazy, complete with a fat shark closing in for a meal. This time it was Retreat, a Hazy Double IPA replete with some dude surrounded by jellyfish. On a raft. Like on a SUP. Poured an opaque orange with a finger-plus off white head. Thick, sticky lacing. Heavy aromas of pineapple, lime, and a hint of berry. Bready malts and some herbals rounded out the nose. Flavors of tropical mango, more pineapple and the telltale grapefruit. Some heavy booziness from the 8.6% ABV, and a thick texture were noticed as I drank. However, 50 IBUs of refreshing, crisp hop bitterness provided a balanced finish. Doubles also tent to extend a little more malt sweetness in addition to the fruit.  I do like me an Offshoot beer. Graded a B+/A- rating.

"I wish we could all have good

luck, all the time! I wish we had

wings! I wish rain water was beer!"

  -Robert Bolt