Rinse/Repeat

The details: Westbrook Brewing Company Rinse/Repeat (Simcoe & Amarillo) IPA, 7% ABV, served in a pint can

I'm not sure what this says about me, but sometimes it's sad when I see a beer I want to try, maybe one all my friends have been trying, and I miss it. Most recently that happened this spring with Grimm's Tesseract - it was released and completely sold out before I had the chance to have a single drop. I guess there's always next year.

However, sometimes you luck in to finding the same beer again, and you have to go for it. I originally bought one of this week's beers right after it was released when we were in ATL, and I saw a lonely can recently... and had to have it. 

I had to have it because I really wanted to review it back in March when I was doing great label design. Yet the more I thought about it the more I thought this would be a good stand alone review. The beer is from South Carolina's Westbrook Brewing Company. I've previously written about their collaboration with Evil Twin called Imperial Mexican Biscotti Cake Break. This beer is so much simpler; it's just an IPA brewed with Simcoe and Amarillo hops, and it's called Rinse/Repeat. 

So this beer has a pretty solid label design. It's a few different shades of lavender and purple, the text is well laid out and easy to follow, and it's nice to look at. But there's a few words on the side that caught my eye, and it's why I'm writing - Shower Tested and Approved.

First and foremost, who doesn't love a shower beer? You know you've all had one, and if you haven't, you could do much, much worse than this one. You should really give it a try, though. This was the first shower beer I've had at #Fergland2, and I discovered that we don't really have a great place to sit your beer while you're actually trying to get clean. I suppose that just means I have to hold it until it's done, eh?

After a bike commute from the UES to Crown Heights and a lap of the neighborhood with Freddie in his bike seat, I really needed a shower before crashing for the evening. I opened the can while I was still in the bedroom, and on first sip this IPA was OK at best. It has contrasting hops - Simcoe generally tastes citrusy and Amarillo is usually dank and earthy, so the beer started out tasting like a slightly weird grapefruit. The real test was in a medium warm shower, before I even started washing myself.

I completely agree with the label - this is shower tested and approved. I don't know what happened, but I would swear to you that this beer tasted better in the shower (and immediately after). It got sweeter once I closed the shower curtain - it was much lighter and floral. I tried to linger in the shower as long as I could, but had to get out and get dressed. In the same strange way, the beer went right back to being a dank grapefruit as soon as I left the bathroom. It's not bad like I'd turn it away, but whatever voodoo Westbrook put in this can is one of the best shower beers I've ever had.

ALSO: an amazingly big thanks to Westbrook for answering my random email for a jpg of this weeks label and sending it to me!

The verdict: 3.75 out of 5 (On Untapp'd - follow me @slownumbers to see what I'm drinking!)