“Pint Night” is what they call it at “Bier Thirty” Bottle & Bistro at Bown Crossing in SE Boise. Every couple weeks or so a brewer (usually regional or local) is featured and takes over several of their taps. Typically a rep from the brewery is there that night for hob-knobbing and chatting and generally glomming on to the visiting beer big wigs. Make no mistake, there are craft beer “groupies” out there.
This past Thursday night, the featured brewer is Laughing Dog
and the beers that have populated the taps are their 8th anniversary “De Achtste Hond” Belgian-style Sour Ale, 2-1-9’er a pilsener, which recently was made available in cans, the 2012 version of “Cold Nose” their winter English strong ale and also “Purebred” Citra APA their first is a planned series of beers showcasing a single hop variety.
The atmosphere of these things is usually quite electric. Kind of a party. Especially considering that they are often held on a week night. It was already pretty crowded when I got there and I even had to sit outside with my snifter of the sour ale for a few minutes while I waited for a table to open up.
De Achtste Hond, translated to “The 8th dog” (referring to their 8th anniversary as a brewery), was a nice clear deep golden color with classic sour aroma, green apples, grapefruit with a little wild funk as well. Not a fruit based sour, and I didn’t see on their website what method they used to sour it up, but they are calling it a Belgian, which is detectable and also the oak flavors are just about right after 1 month in new oak barrels. Its a balanced, not over-the-top sour that is a good beer to get into the style. Its their first of the style at Laughing Dog and I hope we see a few more from them in the future.
These “Pint Nights” are a fun way to try a few beers from a particular brewer and maybe even meet them in person.
