CBNYC Super Bowl Special!

For American beer lovers, there is perhaps no beerier day of the year than Super Bowl Sunday. Hardcore football fans and casual football acquaintances alike give their livers a firm pummeling.  We here at CBNYC are certainly no exception, but this year we decided to give that pummeling a little twist. Jess and I selected one craft brew from Seattle and one craft brew from Denver, and let them slug it out

To represent Seattle we selected the Elysian Bifrost Winter Ale (7.6% ABV).

Elysian styles the Bifrost as a Winter Warmer, but it doesn’t have the spiced quality one would expect. For me that was fine, but its something to note if you’re looking for that type of brew. If I were to guess from taste alone, I would’ve put it down as farmhouse ale- there was a definite sourness to it. Overall it felt like there was something lacking. You expect a lot of flavor bang for your 7.6% alcohol buck, and you just don’t get it.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5

For Denver we decided go with the Crooked Stave Vieille Artisanal Saison (4.2% ABV).

Ugh, sorry for the blurry photo!

The Vieille had been very well reviewed so we were excited to get a crack at it. We were mightily disappointed. Our initial reaction was well, to stop drinking it immediately. The sourness completely overwhelmed the beer. I know that sour beers often shock my system initially, and that I need to plow through to get at the more subtle elements, but quantity did not improve this one. It didn’t linger on the palate very long, so its possible there was more to be had here, but I don’t think so.

Rating: 1.5 out of 5

Conclusions

We weren’t in love with the Bifrost, but it was the clear winner of the two. Its not something I’ll actively seek out, but its certainly pleasant enough.

Jessica's additional comment:

We had several more beers we were planning to try, but alas in the hubbub of the Super Bowl party it got to be too crazy to do this in an organized way. But I got a chance to try Elysian's Loser (7.0% ABV) which I really enjoyed! It was easily my favorite of the night: a lovely crisp pale ale. This beer is also commemorating 20 years of Sub Pop records, the legendary Seattle indie label, which I got a kick out of too!