Shoddy commuter ride, but new fancy beer

After last week's generally good weather, this week is shaping up to suck. A good 30%+ chance of rain every day, and today (and yesterday) was no exception. I was planning on mountain biking yesterday in addition to the more traditional grilling and beer drinking. The rain crossed the riding off my list and I just drank and grilled and played games with friends.

Today there was more of the same, and being a bit lazy and hungry after work I skipped a serious ride. I got sprinkled on both directions on my commute this morning and evening, but avoided any heavy downpours. As I was picking up supplies for dinner, I grabbed a new beer I hadn't seen before: Whole Hog 6 Hop IPA. Seems Point Brewery in Steven's Point Wisconsin, has made a few special and/or limited edition beers that are outside their normal range, and they've named this line "Whole Hog."

The color is just slightly lighter than pictured, cell phone cameras and all that, and the flavors are deep and excellent. Complex, hoppy, floral beginnings give way to a malty and solid mouthfeel with a smooth bitterness and malty heft and the end. Not as much citrus flavors as their website copy says, but there are a few citrus notes in there, which I love and wish there were more. At 87 IBUs this is not for noobs. Because of the brewery this is from and the regionalness (regionality?) of beers like this, you're unlikely to find it outside of the upper midwest. You know what? That's fine by me. Most other regions have outstanding IPAs. The midwest now has another, which is still not enough.

On a completely unrelated note, with my wife gone I've lost most of my ambition to shave. She's threatened to punch me if I'm still unshaven when she returns which I suspect it mostly due to my sister getting married 3 days later, but I digress. Anyhoo, here's a picture of my terrible facial hair. I blame my crappy beard on my inferior beard growing genetics, I'm mostly of German heritage with some Swiss, French, and assorted other European mixed in.

Note the lack of cheek hair and patchy neck beard.