AN IPA WORTH THINKING ABOUT MAYBE DRINKING AGAIN SOMEDAY

Fairfax, California is the upscale hippie/bohemian epicenter of uber-wealthy (but a lil’ left-of-reality) Marin County, just north of San Francisco. Real live hippies and cult freaks roamed the hills of Fairfax back in the 1970s, including wacko personality cult Synanon – a former classmate of mine was a 70s child of 2 Synanon-addicted parents, and told me of long days hoeing fields in weird robes with a shaved head at the age of six. And mind you, this was a female. Nestled in this happy community in 2006 is the IRON SPRINGS BREWERY, and their IPA was on tap the other day at Barclay’s Pub in Oakland and may still be there as we speak. I found this one all a bit much. The hoppiness reached out and strangled my gullet & forced me to pay attention, and tasted so overhopped I was wondering if it wasn’t really one of those newfangled Triple IPAs the kids are getting so excited about. Or maybe someone simply forgot to stir the kettle. Conversation stopped as I worked this one down, and yet, I know something decent was lurking in that golden, hop-choked pint glass. I gave it a 5/10 and an extra good-on-ya “salud” for attempting to overwhelm rather than underwhelm. We’ll revisit this place’s beers in a future installment, when Hedonist Beer Jive takes to the road for the 35-minute drive to Fairfax and a lost afternoon at Iron Springs.