The Ultimate 6er | Black Friday Edition
The most controversial shopping day of the year is nearly upon us. Black Friday (now starting on Thursday evening) is the one chance a year to score outrageous deals on things you didn’t even know you needed. Some people live for this day, planning months in advance and scouring every store’s mailers for the deals of the century. Others avoid it like the plague, refusing to leave their house and risk getting caught up in the cutthroat madness. A select few have even been known to consider it a spectator sport and wake up at ungodly hours to watch the chaos ensue…guilty as charged. Regardless of which group you identify with, at the end of the day, you are going to need to do some serious recovering and reassessing. This will surely call for the Ultimate 6er Black Friday Edition.
It is unlikely if you are out shopping on Black Friday that you will have the time (or energy) to consume 3 square meals. So this carefully selected 6-pack will both help relieve the stress of the day and act as somewhat of a meal replacement.
Appetizer
21st Amendment Bitter American Session Ale
First thing’s first: we’re going to need to ingest some calories, and quickly. This will get the recovery process rolling. An excellent, easy-drinking beer is the Bitter American from 21st Amendment. 42 IBUs and 4.5% ABV make it a refreshing, smooth beer that won’t throw off the palate and will reset the balance after a long, hard day of sale-slaying.
Crux Fermentation Project Off Leash Northwest Session Ale
Another excellent session ale and one of my favorites is the Off Leash from Crux Fermentation Project. This session ale has nearly identical stats to the Bitter American (45 IBUs and 4.5% ABV), but a noticeable difference in hop flavor giving a nice variation to the first course.
Main Meal
Crux Fermentation Project Outcast IPA
Now it’s time to kick it up a notch. Outcast IPA is bursting with incredible citrus and passion fruit flavors from the Galaxy hops. 70 IBUs give this beer a pleasant bitterness without being too harsh and it definitely has a solid malt backbone to balance it out. 8.0% ABV also lends a slightly warming quality to the beer.
Elysian Night Owl Pumpkin Ale
‘Tis the season for pumpkin and spice beers. There’s nothing crazy or outlandish about the Elysian Night Owl- just an extremely flavorful and pleasant pumpkin ale. The pumpkin flavor is more present than in most other pumpkin beers I’ve tried, but there is a great balance with the spices used. This beer goes down easily at 5.9% ABV, so you can save room for dessert.
Dessert
Deschutes The Abyss
The Abyss is the heavy hitter of this six-pack (11% ABV) and it will surely brighten your mood! Any vintage is excellent (2010 really struck me), so you really can’t go wrong with this one. Heavy molasses, vanilla, bourbon, chocolate and licorice flavors lend to an extremely complex beer that is nearly perfect on a late Fall/early winter evening. Words cannot even begin to describe my adoration of this stout.
New Belgium Transatlantique Kriek
The Transatlantique Kriek is quite literally the cherry on top for our 6er. A substantial sourness, effervescent mouthfeel, and tart cherry flavors create the perfect beer to finish off our decadent dessert. 8% ABV will leave us feeling warm and fuzzy inside and the stress of the day will just melt away…
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