American Beer Review LIVE!

American Beer Review LIVE! Review #28 - Boundary Bay Brewery's Northwest Original IPA

• Alec, Brian, and Chad • Season 3

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On today's American Beer Review LIVE! review, Alec and Chad are holding things down still - Brian is scheduled to return next week. For this week's review we bust out the bottle opener and pour ourselves some old school beer - Boundary Bay Brewery's NW Original IPA.

Boundary Bay Brewery
NW (Northwest) Original IPA
- 22oz Bottle, Grocery Store
- 7.5% ABV 

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Brian:

Welcome to another episode of the American Beer Review Podcast.

Chad:

Good times for good friends requires good beer. Lucky for us, we know ethnic all three.

Alec:

We're a group of friends who grew up in the Pacific Northwest, giving us a jump start on our craft beer journey.

Brian:

Join us today. While Brian that pride myself on not getting to know other people, so do not put that on me.

Alec:

Alec, the bananas up until like the 60s weren't entirely different species of banana.

Chad:

And Chad Hit me like a bacon bar.

Brian:

Review some beer, talk about beer topics and whatever else comes up. We invite you to pour yourself a drink and hang out with us. Ear buds in.

Chad:

We're on mute and it's coming up.

Alec:

And we are live Perfect Back for another episode, Chad. What are we drinking today?

Chad:

We are drinking from our friends at Boundary Bay Brewery. Yes, the Northwest Original IPA, the Inside Passage Ale, but it is an IPA In a Bomber Old school bomber baby. We are back in as such.

Alec:

Uh, oh, uh, oh. Oops, that wasn't my poor this time. Last episode did so well that we decided to fire Brian. Yes, so he's not joining us again this week either. Plus, he knows nothing about Bellingham or any of their breweries, so he wouldn't be much of a help talking about Boundary Bay Not at all. So they're Northwest IPA About as good as me. Let me pull it up here. So 7.5% ABV78 IBUs, their classic IPA, first introduced in 1996. A big bald backbone and a heavy dose of Amarillo hops lead the way for this true Northwest-style IPA.

Chad:

So they're calling their shot on that one, yeah, and it's Every time they talk about it it's North Northwest old school, so that's why I grabbed it.

Alec:

Well, we've had so many conversations about a West Coast IPA and we're getting West Coast IPAs out of this. We're the.

Chad:

SEC of beer. We've like been really talking ourselves up here, up here in the Northwest. I'm just gonna get right into it. Go for it. Rip Going ham today Obviously Got a nice little backup, nice little backup beer here. There you go.

Alec:

Just a little one, we're going old school.

Chad:

I'm going old school with the old school. Champagne oil can starter yeah.

Alec:

It's either that or Fosters, but we're American beer reviews, so I'm going with Miller Lite there you go and that's probably what we were drinking is backup beers as soon as we finished our boundary bays back in the day.

Chad:

Yes, because these used to be like two bucks. Yeah, back in my day I think we were like two for three. Fucking inflation Flations of bitch. You know what's not. This is really good, this beer. This beer is tasty.

Alec:

I mean if you've been making a beer since 1996. Oh, that is, and I think now they classify it and it may not have been in the category. So now it's a double dry hopped IPA. I saw that, so I'm pretty sure when they they made it.

Chad:

It was an.

Alec:

IPA. That wasn't even a thing. No, they didn't even have to name it at that. I don't know when I checked it in or if I've ever checked it in, or anything like that. All I know is I love, give me some Boundary Bay and an IPA at a Boundary Bay.

Chad:

Yeah, because we've definitely talked up cabin fever. Yes, and then what Scotch ale?

Alec:

Scotch ale. Scotch ale, obviously my number one. Mount Rushmore beer, yeah so, and cabin fever you just grabbed again recently, right, I thought you'd-.

Chad:

I got five in the fridge. Save them.

Alec:

Save them for a later day you may have four in the fridge by the time I leave. That's fine, I think those two might I pay you guys in here anyway. Those might both be on my Mount Rushmore beer. Ooh, that's another beer game. Like what's your top four, you could add a five. Pretend they carved another face on the mount. I'm not asking you to think about it right now.

Chad:

Oh, okay, I'm just gonna-.

Alec:

I'm gonna sprak off like four boundary babies, because those are folks. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Chad:

Brian, if you're listening while you're recovering, still think about it.

Alec:

It's definitely, definitely Northwest this. They're not. They're not lying when they say Northwest, this has plenty of hops, good malt back right. So it's not overly piney, overly hoppy, but if you're so, smelling this, you're not like.

Chad:

It's not like. It's not like an IPA now or a hazy IPA now where you have to on the nose. They need to tell you okay, this is a, you need grapefruit, citrus, all that stuff. This is a dust. Yeah, there's a little. There's a little bit of little bit of hops in there, little, very not piney. But then when you taste it, that's when you're getting the flavor.

Alec:

This is in the flavor, not the smell 100%. That might change if we're pouring out of like a bigger glass. Get a little bit more surface area.

Chad:

This is nostalgia. This is nostalgia in the glass, like I. I'm trying to describe it, but this is. This is like what we in our early craft days as the beer aisle expanded Yep, this is what we got into, like I oh Well, this is why, when we have, IPAs. This is why we're IPA heads, that's what I'm saying.

Alec:

This is why, when somebody says West Coast IPA, we go no, no, no. This is what an IPA should be.

Chad:

This is a Northwest IPA but then a you know, a West Coast obviously branched off of that, because we're the SCC of beer and I'm going to die on that hill.

Alec:

But when you go to other places and they're like this is our IPA, and you go this is, this is a like hoppier ale like this is not an IPA like.

Chad:

This is a beer built to just just to carry the hops. Yeah, this, an IPA, should be hoppy and that's it a little bit of, a little bit of malt in there, if like the hop balance or whatever, to make sure it's all blended together.

Alec:

Yeah, and a nice little package, but this is just this is a beer brewed to survive the passage from England to India.

Chad:

Yeah, and still tastes good at the very end fun fact, if you didn't know why it's called an IPA. That's why it's called an IPA this is fantastic.

Alec:

I'm glad you got a 22 of this.

Chad:

We don't have to share it through ways we might just sit here for the rest of the episode and just finish it.

Alec:

Honestly, we might be probably gonna get big glasses for this one.

Chad:

I almost almost said, should we go pint glasses? But no, let's do it, we'll do it. Little sippies at a time that gives this time to it's all our only beer for the day yeah, my only beer for the day so sit relax. Oh no, our replay as our sporting event is over.

Chad:

Now we're watching college basketball, which I never watch anyways. Back to the beer and Bellingham. So you got the. You got the old man in the sea on the front and the inside passage is like the reference to I'm so happy we can call this now the Pacific Northwest fjord system is that they start officially referring to it as that on the Wikipedia page. The inside passage so basically kind of going the coast and protects you from the Pacific Ocean so you can go from Seattle all the way up to Alaska and whatnot, and is the I think they call it the Pacific Northwest fjords huh system. I was like nice, that is cool. It's one of my favorite words, that's.

Alec:

That's on my Mount Rushmore words fjord, yeah, yeah, fjord, yeah yeah, don't ask me how I know that.

Chad:

So it's a pretty metal yeah, from the land devices no, mm-hmm no, this is awesome.

Alec:

This is one that I'll grab up in Bellingham. We usually we haven't been there this year. Your year is very early, very early. We usually go mid to late spring and then we'll go towards the end of the summer before school starts back up. Yeah, I spent some time up there in boundary base always a stop because I can bring the kids into the restaurant, we can have food, I can have some of their delicious beers and then order either some bottles or a six pack to go on the way out when we enjoy the town. And oh, that's, brian does a lot more perusing he spreads his love around yeah, and I, and I stayed with my first love.

Chad:

Yeah, so there's not both ways have their merits.

Alec:

It pays to be a regular, some places too yeah, I'm not regular enough that they would know me anymore when I show up.

Chad:

Well, they do. They throw us plenty of love on the gram. Oh, they're there for this trip now they're one of the first ones, so we won't give it a little back. I'm sure we're gonna do a that some someday. We're gonna get our all of our asses up there, that is the full setup legitimately.

Alec:

Probably the next one you need to put on the table is getting up to Bellingham. It's gonna be an easy sell for me and my wife and family. It's gonna be an easy yourself or Brian, and then you just got to find someplace to have somebody watch the dog.

Chad:

I can stash my dog away for a weekend, no problem, and we could get up there. I mean, he loves going to grandpa.

Alec:

Graham's house. There you go, because comes back spoiled like five pounds heavier every time. Yeah.

Chad:

I, just, I am. Everyone's looking at me on the YouTube like what are you doing? Like a deer in the headlights, but I am just trying to find words to describe this, but all I'm just getting in my head is this nostalgia, nostalgia, nostalgia yeah, we haven't gone back this hard on a beer like we have we switch to tasters we haven't had.

Chad:

I don't think we've had this flavor because we've been branching out. We've been on to war and we've been branching out and looking at all these wonderful interpretations like where the SCC a beer? I'm gonna say it again, I'm gonna die on that hill. But like, people Come here, taste these flavors, go back East Coast, middle of the country, all these places and they try to replicate it. I don't know if they're trying Some of them, some of them try to replicate it, but some folks go. You know what? We? This flavor isn't gonna fly here because we grew up with this Yep, like it were, palates, fuck, we're entering our 40s, yeah, so the breweries up here have a built-in customer base, customer base that you don't necessarily have. Who cut their teeth on this flavor when they were in, you know, college, college and whatnot. You were around boundary Bay.

Chad:

All year all through college. I Skedaddle that'll endsburg before iron horse really came up.

Brian:

But the captain he was there too.

Chad:

But that was almost and I know it's tough to think about, but but but it is the truth. And now that this is a flavor we're searching for out of all, like, if you go to the beer case now, it's tough to find this flavor. I'm glad the bomber started showing back up.

Alec:

I was gonna say my cold case. Where did you find this? Because you didn't. This isn't a to vor drop and this isn't a this.

Chad:

This was in the grocery store.

Alec:

This is grocery stores. Not even a bottle shop.

Chad:

No, this is in the grocery store because my grocery store whoever's Stock in the beer there has started cutting out a little boundary Bay niche. Hey, that's the cabin fever, got cabin fever, got nice little section, the Scotch ale, and then they Managed to cut out a little area for some more bombers. It's. It's tough, because this form factor disappeared to the 22 is one away. Yeah, because the 22 is.

Chad:

And Going back to the OG American beer over, just a blog and everything was in a bomber. Yep, it was great because you just 22 ounces, pour your 16, yeah, and then you finish half your pint and go, oh, I gotta top it off, uh-huh, and then you do your blog post and all that stuff. It was. That is a fantastic form factor, but I don't know if a lot of beers now are built For that there. Just built to. You get your 16 ounces or your 19 to and just finish it because they're all it. Yeah, what, as I say that this is at 7 5, so this is 22 ounces at 7 5, which is kind of around that ballpark of the new, the new brown paper bag section, oh, by the 19 twos.

Alec:

What? When we were on the blog, we were reviewing solo so 22 was the 22 was on you. Yes to either Whatever taste or waste Versus. This is easy. I mean, with three of us here, this would have been gone already. Oh.

Chad:

Well, we get.

Alec:

I mean it will the spoils go to us, it will still be gone, all right, while we Well, let's rate, and then while we savor the rest of this. Okay yeah, we're Crankin along, good yeah, while we rates, or let's rate it, and then savor the rest of this. While you have a Topic beer topic for the yeah, well, we'll fill something out.

Chad:

The rest of the episode We'll figure it out.

Alec:

I am 100 buying boundary Bay. If I found it in my grocery store, I am. I know we don't. I mean so boundary Bay. There's something in my beer fridge pretty consistently right now it is just the Scotch ale at home. This one I did. My son did catch me lying and saying yeah, yeah, you didn't put all this stuff in your beer fridge. Boundary Bay is one that is always in my beer fridge and if it's not, I'm Trying to angle for a way to get more of it in my beer fridge. Scotch ale is usually my go-to cozy sweater, not cozy square. Winter warmer Yep, their winter warmer is Also a strong one. This one I have not had in a while. This one needs to make an appearance, especially over the summer.

Chad:

Yes, this is a great summer IPA. Now that you say that, yeah, I'm gonna echo that. And now what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna keep a. I've got a actual Unusable shelf in my fridge that doesn't fit a lot of things, but you know what it fits? 22, a single bomber. So I am probably going to have a single bomber of this Because it is an IPA. It's very hop forward but it's not overly hoppy like I could. I could crush this whole 22 and not feel overload, but I could. That that hop, that kind of hop Limit that I need for the day is fully fulfilled. Definitely not doing two of these.

Alec:

No, probably not, and this will be interesting and too bad. Yeah, b isn't here as he's avoiding IPA's to see what this would feel like tomorrow morning. And you've had some susceptibility towards, yes, those, because this, the day is young, because if IPA, you can back it up with some water. But, yeah, ipa's are getting to you. This, this will get to you.

Chad:

Oh well, I this is one of those sneaky ones like I think you could, if you're up, go up. You go up to Bellingham, I'm sitting in the tap room, you have one pint of it, do some other things, but then I could see you order in a second one, working on it over dinner, and then, you know what, I'll have a third and I think that'll one over the edge.

Alec:

But the what it would get you into trouble up there especially if we stayed walkable or uberable is you'd have One, maybe two, a third on the way out, and then you know we would get a growler.

Chad:

Oh, you're leaving there with beer and yes back at the Airbnb. You would then open said growler, and that's where we would get into trouble and if they Happen to have cabin fever that you could put into growlers, then yeah, you have to have an extra day built in, right?

Alec:

That's when we don't take the kids.

Chad:

No, you just pop in in front, you will bring the Xbox and the PlayStation will just hey. You know what here's? Here's a bag of Doritos and soda. Do all the things that we tell you you can't do. This Daddy needs 24 hours and right, sleep this off. Right, I'm gonna give this delicious beer. We give it 4.5 out of five Western Washington universities.

Alec:

There you go. This is a five-star Northwest IPA for me. When we've talked about what a Northwest IPA should be, it's in this class.

Chad:

Yep, look at that Mm-hmm part slightly hazy, beautiful. This everything you want to be here and yours is full, so I'm gonna take the last a little bit of that Because I'm wearing sure I've got the rest of my shell and talk to you here.

Alec:

I was gonna say it's because I'm wearing my. Well, yeah, you're, you're fully standing boundary today.

Chad:

I.

Alec:

Was would say that had to find it, knowing we were gonna review this today, but it's in pretty constant rotation at the top of my closet, so Clothes are meant to be worn, use them. Beer news. Let's see something quick.

Chad:

The craft beer boom is over, so bars and breweries are cutting back.

Alec:

Yeah yeah, we'll follow up more on this, I think next time with when with our man on the street yeah, who's in? A lot more of them We've hinted at it is. We kind of felt it was cresting for a little bit. Obviously COVID had a Indifficiently negative impact, but it's interesting to see that it's still I think.

Chad:

I'll do a little more research on it, but COVID kind of accelerated beer sales enough. There was a false spike. But I think some people bit on. Oh, okay, cause, like in our, looking at our business personally, if you looked at the trend line pre and post COVID, that trend line stayed the same but you had a bump in COVID. Like, if you look at overall sales, I feel like maybe a lot of folks went oh, everyone's going to stay at home. Whatnot, send them home? They're going to have beer for lunch. You can be drinking more beer. So I think a lot of folks who had some extra scratch lying around and not much to do, or yeah, but if you're not able to go out to dinner, you're not able to at bars yeah.

Chad:

And started a brewery, which is great. I think people you know, if you feel like you should start a brewery, start a brewery. But I think a lot of them got started during a period of time when beer sales were artificially inflated because there were a lot of folks yeah, fill in the void, yeah, just drinking my like. I can tell you the recycling days in my neighborhood, oh, a lot more rattling, oh yeah, oh yeah. So I think it's normalizing, but folks like boundary Bay, who have been at it since 1996.

Alec:

I think they've been around for longer. This one, yeah, even longer.

Chad:

But they've been. If you've been making a tasty beer since 1996, before I could even buy a beer legally- Before you could drive legally.

Alec:

Oh fuck Right.

Chad:

Oh, I'm okay. Okay, I'm good, I'm good, I'm gonna have a sip of this beer.

Alec:

All right. Well, brian, follow up next week on what he thinks about the declining beer industry and what that means in the longer term. Whether this is just kind of a or shadowing Course correction or what that looks like, glasses aren't empty because we are finishing this 22 today.

Chad:

Yeah, we're gonna keep sipping while you losers log off.

Alec:

Yeah, and hopefully, if you have some boundary Bay, your glasses are getting topped off as well, and we will catch you next time.

Brian:

If you've enjoyed what you just heard, make sure you subscribe to get new episodes when they drop, and don't forget to leave us a review. If you wanna see what we're drinking, we're not on the pod. You can follow us on social media at A Beer Review. Feel free to send us any beer suggestions that we can make. Chad go buy off at DeVore. I will.