Northwest IPA & East meets West

The Ship Inn reports (via newsletter) it’s got a new brew in the mix, Northwest IPA (inspired by a visit to Seattle) ... Cascades in the nose, Centennial for bittering. Ship folks say they’re initially pleased with the brew but are still fine-tuning the recipe.

We’re gonna have to book a trip to Milford and The Ship (maybe on the return from Easton and Weyerbacher on Saturday), especially since the Brit-style pub's got Fuller’s ESB on tap as one of their imports.

Speaking of IPAs, and the West Coast, we did a beer trade with The Thirsty Hopster. That would be Jessica Jones, who keeps, we think, the best beer blog in the US, and travels far and wide, sampling beers (Japan, Continental Europe, the Great British Beer Fest).

Jess made a trip earlier this summer to Pennsylvania (think Philly in March ’09, Jess, Philly Beer Week), with Troeg’s Nugget Nectar and trip to Harrisburg on her radar. Alas, it was a beer out of reach. (But check her archives, she did get to experience Pennsy's drive-through stores).

So we offered Jess a couple bottles of NN via UPS, complementing that shipment with Victory’s 12 and Baltic Thunder, and Weyerbacher's Double Simcoe™ IPA. (Yeah, no Jersey beers in that mix, maybe next time.)

In return, we got The Lost Abbey’s Judgment Day, Moylan’s Hopsickle Imperial Ale, Hair of the Dog’s Blue Dot Double IPA, Arrogant Bastard Ale and Green Flash’s Imperial IPA. Arrogant Bastard is on some shelves in New Jersey, but hey, this Bastard's not gonna go to waste.

We hear our glass calling.