Steve Austin’s Broken Skull IPA by El Segundo brewing

11064647_10103030123245690_6307354638756236756_o 12491756_10103030123759660_2925438282763516112_oRating: 4.75/5

Steve Austin’s Broken Skull IPA by El Segundo brewing is a 6.7% ABV American India Pale Ale.

Label:
A bad-ass 6.7% IPA designed by Steve Austin and ESBC for the working man & woman. It features Citra, Cascade, and Chinook hops to deliver big flavor with an easy finish. Now stop reading and start enjoying this awesome beer! Cheers! Steve.

==Introduction==

So, Steve Austin from WWE got together with one of my local breweries to brew a beer… I nearly lost my shit! This was some freaking bad ass news! I know the theme of different celebrities and bands getting together to brew beer such as Will Wheaton on W00tStout or Iron Maiden’s Trooper beer. Hell, even Cyanide & Happiness had a beer. So in the spirit of collaborations with other popular entities other than other breweries, I say keep them coming! Heck I hope one day I get to collaborate with an actual Anime or Manga artist that likes beer. I already make actual Anime themed homebrews and labels. Ofcourse I can’t sell them but my good friends and family seem to love them. Anyways, On with the show and let’s see if this brew is a Stone Cold Stunner!

Aromas:
Super dankness, grapefruit, herbal, floral, piney and grassy hops, tropical notes of mango, passion fruit, honey dew melon, dragon fruit, kiwi, raspberry, prickly pear tunas and biscuit bread.

Flavors:
Dank, herbal, grapefruit, floral, grassy and piney hops, Orange peel, lemon candy, lemon peel, starburst candy, honey dew melon, some tropical notes like dragon fruit, passion fruit, prickly pear tuna, raspberry, kiwi notes, biscuit bread, tangerines, mango hints, strawberry hints and caramel hints.

Aftertaste:
Finishes dry with some lingering herbal and grassy hop notes, tropical fruit hints and grapefruit peel. No alcohol in the taste. Light Straw Body, crisp, clean and refreshing mouthfeel with an easy to moderate drinkability.

Overall:
A very good IPA, and that’s the bottom line! Very refreshing and pretty close to easy to drink. Since Stone Cold helped with this creation, he definitely has good taste and has definitely moved on from the cheap cans he used to guzzle down in wrestling. Certainly a change for the better and definitely something that many IPA lovers will enjoy. This brew was limited to select markets so if you are able to find it before too long, give it a shot. Go find this brew! Cuz, Stone Cold said so!

Anime Corner:
Original characters were used in this pairing to go with the aspect of the Broken Skull from Steve Austin. Back in the WWF/WWE days of late 90’s and early 2000’s, it was the “Attitude” era and the black and red were pretty influential colors in wrestling. With that being said, I was looking for art would that would basically show a skull but was also bad ass. I think with this I was able to find a good pairing for the beer.

Sources:
http://images3.alphacoders.com/649/649990.jpg
https://files.yande.re/sample/9cae7cebe292c86bf221f6a37477a73b/yande.re%20334156%20sample%20halloween%20kagehana_%28artist%29.jpg

Rosabi by Dogfish Head brewing

1620651_10102245349308950_3380873172692238478_nRating: 4.5/5

Rosabi by Dogfish Head brewing is an 8% ABV Imperial American Pale Ale brewed with Wasabi.

Label:
The vivid rose hue of this imperial Pale Ale comes from a combination of Munich and Caramel malts and a touch of red rice from Louisiana, birthplace of musician and collaborator Julianna Barwick. Citrusy Simcoe and Centennial feed Julianna’s love of hops, and the star of the show is her go-to ingredient: wasabi. What’s hoppy? … Wasabi. The Japanese root adds bittering and herbal notes similar to hops, with its subtle heat creeping in after the kick of carbonation. It’s expansive from start to finish. So go ahead, take a sip, toss your head back, and howl at the red Rosabi moon.

==Introduction==

Now this is a Dogfish Head beer that really intrigued me. After seeing this one at Luekensliquor.com, and the fact that I am a Sushi and Wasabi fanatic, It didn’t take me long to just go on ahead and get this beer. The only unfortunate part is, they only allow you to purchase 1 bottle from the site. This was devastating since I know some good friends who would probably enjoy this beer. I really hope they release this one to all states that sell Dogfish Head. Not sure if this is a gimmick or not but I have never tried a Wasabi beer and this is definitely a great way to explore the vast world of the Lost treasure of beer experience. Cheers!

Aromas:
Rich caramel malt forward, wasabi notes, citrus and grapefruit hops, mango, grapes, hazelnut, rye bread, butterscotch, toffee, dragon fruit, brown sugar, cherries, chocolate hints, coriander spice, toffee, peanut brittle, hibiscus flowers, pineapple and rice cakes.

Flavors:
Subtle but not burning green Wasabi, citrus and grapefruit hops, caramel, grapes, hazelnut, rye bread, peanut brittle, toffee, oranges, mango, peaches, pineapple, chocolate notes, dragon fruit, coriander spice, mild wasabi spice as the beer warms up, apples, brown sugar, rice, cherries, hibiscus flowers, biscuit bread, toasted coconut and vanilla.

Aftertaste:
Lots of Caramel, citrus and grapefruit hops, wasabi notes in the backbone, sweet toffee rye, peanut brittle, hazelnut and mainly malty finish. No alcohol in the taste, crimson ruby rose medium body, moderate drinkability with a silky mouthfeel.

Overall:
Drinking more like an Amber Ale, this beer is really very good. There is no heat but if you know the subtle taste of wasabi, it is there but mild enough to be very enjoyable. It starts with the Wasabi flavor and then moves into a world of sweetness and hoppy goodness. There seems to be more sweetness than hoppy though which could be attributed to the malty sweetness cutting the Wasabi extreme heat. I can only hope that this beer and Sushi would be the ultimate combination which makes me want to have another bottle. I can only recommend this one if you would like a more maltier Pale Ale. There isn’t nothing wrong with that and I generally enjoy sweeter beers more, but I love me some super bitter hops too. So there you have it, Wasabi with some hop bitterness and drinks more like an Amber. Maybe not quite what you’d expect but still a very good beer.

Anime Corner:
Flandre Scarlet from Touhou Project was used in this pairing since I wanted to pair the label of the ruby red moon as well as the green colors of wasabi which you can see by the diamonds. Since this beer is more on the sweeter side than what I had expected, the apple Scarlet is chewing on represent this as well as the fact that this beer is more of an Amber ale than a Pale Ale. However, despite the fact that Wasabi is extreme, maybe how it worked with this beer, it cut all the other bitter hops and cancelled its own spiciness to get to this. This is why Scarlet looks innocent but her burning eyes state another story.

Sources:
http://anime-pictures.net/pictures/get_image/361397-2560×1440-touhou-flandre+scarlet-ankh+%28ankh+05%29-single-short+hair-wide+image.jpg