Even Further Up The Creek

One of Thomas Creeks' signature beers is their Up The Creek IPA, a monster of an Imperial IPA whose ABV of 12.5% has more than a few unawares, due to its balance of malts: Caramel, 2 Row Pale and Special B, to its hoppy abundance of Warrior Nugget, Amarillo (love these) and Willamette.
So, what do they do to further expand that drinkability? Why, add black cherries and peppercorns to excite the already encouraged palate.

This happened at the latest Cask Party, the last Tuesday of each month, and I was able to get a sampler cup of this outrageousness, a one-off opportunity.

Same dark color, due to the malts, same balanced finish, the alcohol deceptively hidden tho the finish seemed warmer than usual. Did not notice a strong pepper flavor, tho it is certainly a full bodied brew. Faint cherries in the nose, more in the mid palate. Overall, fun to try and to appreciate a well made beer, but not sure I'd want too much of it. Especially if I had to drive later.

Fun time as usual at this event, which I encourage people to try sometime. Only once a month so there's time to plan, and each month the cask will be different.

Harvin Bedenbaugh, fellow Brewery 85 contest winner, likes to volunteer at Thomas Creek as well.

My home-brewing buddy, John,was back to try the cask.

Can never remember the name of this game, but it was popular that night.

Hey, what's with the photo of the Green Man in Asheville?? Well, stay tuned, I'll be giving a full explanation!

Cheers!