Hopslam - Bell's Brewery

Two weekends ago at the CityBeat Festival of Beer, I met Veronica, a regional sales rep from Bell’s Brewery.  She approached our booth and introduced herself, noting that she loves using TapHunter and often finds herself visiting what’s on tap at Churchill’s in San Marcos. Keep in mind that Veronica lives in Indianapolis, MN, a city where TapHunter isn’t currently live yet. She was only in town for a few more days, visiting her brother that lives here, and we were stoked to hear that TapHunter was a part of their drinking plan.

Sadly, Bell’s doesn’t distribute to the west coast, let alone San Diego. All this beer talk with Veronica made me think of my favorite Bell’s beer– Hopslam.  My first taste of the beer was actually at a friend’s, who traded some San Diego beer for a couple mini-kegs of Hopslam. It was love at first gulp!

Around the same time, the Pliny the Younger craze hit San Diego, and fifteen of us flocked to a well known San Diego bar to be first in line for PTL 2011. We had called ahead and got permission to bring the last of the Hopslam mini keg, with the goal of having a side by side tasting of the two, giant beers. Hopslam won my vote; it’s brewed with honey and hoppy as hell. Yum.

Have you ever done a Pliny the Younger side by side taste-test? If so, with what? What other styles of beer have you done taste tests with, and how did it go?

Have a hoppy week, San Diego.