Day 228 - Rail Splitter IPA (Triton Brewing Company)

If you have read other beer reviews on this blog, you know that I in no way profess to be a beer guru.  I am not a beer snob.  I know almost nothing about beer.  But when I travel to a new city and go to a new Trader Joe’s, I always check and see if they have local beer and/or wine.

Well, when I asked about local wine at the Trader Joe’s in Indianapolis, not one but TWO employees basically steered me away from it.  They both were clear to say that the local wine is SWEET, and the particular varieties that TJ’s carries are the really sweet ones, which apparently are the ones the locals like.  But we are not locals…  So I trusted their “unspoken advice” to skip the wine and went over to the beer section.

Local beer!!

Unlike our beer experience in Chicago where they would only sell us a six pack (it was the law – the store people were totally kind about it but couldn’t break the law, of course), the guys in Indy were more than happy to sell us however many beers we wanted!  So we chose 3 different local beers and one local cider. 

Rail Splitter IPA

This review is about Rail Splitter IPA.  Uncharacteristically for me, I am drinking it without food and at 6:30 pm.  We normally don’t bust out the alcohol until there is a plate of food in front of us and that usually happens sometime after 9:30 pm.  But we are at a Fringe Festival (see http://indyfringe.org/fringe15/little-business-big-top and that means schedules are NUTTY and life is turned on it’s head.  So, here I am post-show drinking this IPA!  (I directed a show in the festival, my partner David’s “A Little Business at the Big Top”!  It’s great, if I do say so myself, but of course I am a tad bit biased…).

"A Little Business at the Big Top" - coming soon to a theatre near you!
(That is, if you live near a theatre in Indianapolis or Cincinnati...) 

Back to the beer.

Yes!  This is good!  If you like IPA and you live in the Indiana area you should try this for sure.  We learned from TJ’s employees that on the TV show “Parks and Rec”, which took place in Pawnee, Indiana, a fictitious town, they always drank Rail Splitter beer!  As non-Hoosiers* we never noticed that, but I guess the locals really dig it (as would I if I had a local connection!).  Here is an article I found recapping the awesome (and certainly missed) TV show” Parks and Rec” - http://www.indianapolismonthly.com/arts-culture/parks-recreation-recap-one-last-ride/

David’s take is that this is not a “day drankin’” beer but would be good with stilton cheese!”.  Note – this is the second time lately in reviews that David has said “day drankin’”.  I think this is because a place we drive by often has it on their marquee and it makes us giggle. 

Anyway, try this beer.  It is good.

*I do not know what a Hoosier is…  I do not think I should need to Google this.  If people here call themselves something, I want them to tell me what that something means, ya know?  So far I have asked two people and they didn’t really know, they said something like, “It means a person from Indiana…”.  Yeah, but WHAT IS A HOOSIER?  Like, why is a person from Indiana called that?

Price – $1.67 per bottle

Rating – 3.75

Day 189 - Zip Line Beer

As I have done in all of the states we visited Trader Joe’s in, while in Omaha I tried to get LOCAL products.  Because Trader Joe’s stores across the country carry the same products, the department where you can usually find something different and LOCAL is the liquor department.  So off I went :).  It is RESEARCH for the blog, right??

Look - Omaha Trader Joe's has real LIQUOR!  This is only the second location we have seen with more than beer and wine - the other was LaJolla, California

Sign at the TJ's check out in Omaha - cool, eh??

I found this local beer, Zip Line.  But I searched and searched for a local WINE.  I know there ARE Nebraska wines, because my entire family lives in Nebraska and once when we went to visit they took us to a winery (Soaring Wings I believe it was called).  So I asked a Trader Joe’s guy where I might find a local Nebraska wine in the store, and he kindly pointed out (with a funny face) that they did not carry any…  It was sort of cute, really.  It felt as if he was trying to save us from having to taste a Nebraska wine…  (Note:  the wines at Soaring Wings were not bad when we went!  And the location was very pretty and nice.  It is a fun place to visit.  Sure, it is not SONOMA, but it is worth a drive out if you are in the area!  http://www.soaringwingswine.com/ )

David presents ZIP LINE - a Nebraska beer

So, no local wine, local beer it was!  We checked out with the crazily overpriced Zip Line Beer, brewed in the capital of Nebraska (Lincoln, for those of you not in the know).  It was $8.99 for a 4 pack - $2.25 per bottle.  Way more than regular beer at Trader Joe’s. 

Just because it has "limited series" written on the box doesn't mean they should overcharge for it...

This is a seasonal brew, and for a summer beer it is “okay” according to Jim, my brother-in-law who I consulted for this review.  Jim likes beer, in fact he has been known to brew some of his own up at home.  He said to really be good it would have to be colder than it was when I served it.  My bad.  Jim said it was, “Not my favorite IPA in all the world.  Peppery, smoky citrus.  There is a hint of – hold on (this is the point where he GARGLED the beer.  I liked this part.) COMPLEX.  To me, it has too much citrus.  It is kind of a summer Pale Ale actually.  I don’t know.  But that is too much for a 4 pack.”

Jim doing a taste test

My favorite part - Jim gargling the beer.  This makes it fancy.

David and Jim tried to come up with the best pairing for this beer and decided on HOT DOGS.  Classy.

David’s review was this, “This beer would best be poured over the pavement by a police officer who has stopped you”.  Umm, I take it this was not David’s favorite beer on the planet.  Maybe because he was drinking it at Jim’s house and was wishing he had some of Jim’s home brew instead.

Price - $8.99

Rating – 3 (that is the rating Jim gave it and I gave it the same, so it averaged out to a 3)

Day 60 - Beer (in general)

Here’s the thing – at Trader Joe’s, beer is FLEXIBLE.  In stores that sell alcohol, they have a good selection of beer.  They even let you MIX AND MATCH bottles and make your own six pack!!  They often have stapled paper grocery bags filled with “mystery” beer selections.  And guess what else?  THEY CARRY LOCAL BEERS!  So, when we visit an out of town Trader Joe’s, I check out the local beer!  It rocks.

Look at the LOCAL BEER SECTION in a North Carolina Trader Joe's!

We are not huge beer drinkers, but we do enjoy a bottle every once in a while.  I do not by any stretch of the imagination consider myself qualified enough to review specific BEERS here.  I do not have a “sophisticated” beer palate and can never even remember what “style” of beer I like.  So when we were in North Carolina recently, I had a Trader Joe’s employee steer me towards the local beer section and just made us a mixed up six pack.  J 

David downing one of our beers

 We have drunk 5 of the 6 bottles.  Of those, 4 were delicious and one was not my thing.  I don’t think it was because it was a bad BEER, it was just a type of beer that didn’t taste good to me.

Hoppyum IPA

I guess my point is – if you like beer, GO TO TRADER JOE’S and check out the selection.  Make a six pack (or 2 or 3…).  They are really reasonably priced and you may discover one that is perfect for you!

Hoppy Bunny APA (get it?  HOPPY Bunny!!)

This review gives Trader Joe’s beer a perfect score for:  great beer selection, carrying local brews, and letting customers mix and match to bring home the exact bottles they want.

Price – varies

Rating - 5