Flailing About like a Drunken Monkey: Dayton OH

This week found me in the wilds of Ohio.  Not even a place particularly interesting in Ohio, just kind of... well in Ohio.  I was close to Dayton which basically means I wasn't even in Dayton, but farther in the endless suburbs to the South.  Pickens is slim. 
We did manage to find a pretty cool taproom by the name of Chappy's Tap Room.   

Overall, it's a place where there is good beer and good burgers to be had.  If that is your thing, and you find yourself in that part of Ohio, then you owe it to yourself, you might even owe it to America to go there.
The terrorist win otherwise.  At least that's what I've heard.

While I was there I had sips and pints of whatever happened to catch my fancy.  There was a lot to choose from here, so this is going to jump around a bit.  From brewery to brewery, state to state, this is a sampling of some of the goodness going on around the country.

First, from Denver Colorado is the Great Divide IPA.  It had a sweet citrus aroma.  The beer was well balanced overall.  The citrus hops were mixed with a bit of pine and medicinal flavors.  Overall a very good IPA for those that like the hops but also like enough malt to stand up to them in a fight.

Next, from Grand Rapids Michigan, is Founder Brewery's Dirty Bastard.  This runs screaming to the opposite side of the malt, hop spectrum.  The aroma is all chocolate and caramel.  It has a big creamy body with some sweet coffee and chocolate flavors with some subtle dark fruit flavors hidden somewhere in it's beefy folds.  It ends dry with a tiny hint of bitterness in the back of the throat.

From there it was a sample from an old friend in California.  Lagunitas brewing in Pentaluma is one of those breweries that has achieved almost legendary status from beer geeks.  At this taproom in Ohio they were still pouring their August seasonal beer, the Daytime IPA.  It's kind of billed as a low APV beer to drink during summer days without passing out in the bathtub before lunchtime.  It has a very lemony aroma almost to the point of being lemonade.  It doesn't pack that IPA punch to the palate that most do.  I suspect that it has enough hops to plant itself firmly in IPA territory, but the flavor is far from overpowering.  It is a very smooth, highly drinkable beer that seems perfect for it's intended purpose.  I could see myself drinking this all day although I couldn't because after a couple sips the guy across the table was already giving me that look that says, "Gimme my beer back you freak!"

Okay, it's back to Michigan, Kalamazoo (A city that exists purely so that people can say it's name.  Seriously that word is fun just to type) and Dark Horse brewing.  The word 'Dopplebock' evokes something primal in me.  There is something about that style that almost guarantees awesome is afoot.  When Dark Horse first made their dopplebock however, they weren't impressed.  It just seemed too... well... normal.

So they gave the middle finger to German Purity Laws and came up with the Perkulator Coffee Dopplebock.  The aroma and flavor are pretty self-explanatory, I feel.  It has a coffee with cream sensation all around with a slightly dry finish.

To finish up it's back Founders Brewing and their seasonal breakfast stout.  It's billed a the coffee lover's stout, but I didn't pick up the java bomb they were promising.  It might have been because of the Perkulator, I don't think mankind's palate is designed to handle that much bean after about 10am, but it just didn't have that big flavor.  It had the big body and a sharp roasted barley note with some bitter roasted coffee aromas, but it was basically just another stout.  A very, very good stout, but just a stout in the end.

That was all the flailing I am prepared to handle in one sitting.  Back to some more focused (or not) discussions later. 
Cheers!