And it stoned me

In south Florida for the first half of a three week vacation in the States.  Travel in the US&A means that I can wallow in the giddy thrill of shopping for beer and finding buckets of variety.  I finally got a bit of time at the Total Wine store in Boca Raton.  It took me a few minutes to get my bearings.  I stared at a wall of colored labels from a lot of breweries I'd never heard of wondering just where to begin.  The first decision was to stick to US beers.  It's a hassle, but if I'm desperate for something Belgian, Chimay can be found in Munich and I'm in London often enough that I get the odd ale.  Decision two was to stick with breweries that I was familiar with, but beers I hadn't yet tried.  And the winners were: Dogfish Head Ommegang, Shiner, Brooklyn Brewery and Stone.

Tonight, my father-in-law and I split a Stone Pale Ale and a Levitation.  The Pale Ale was just ok.  There was more dark malt than I had expected.  Bear in mind that I'm never quite sure what to expect when I crack open a pale ale, but in my head they're a lighter color and not quite as sweet.  The Levitation, on the other hand, was sublime.  This has one of the nicest hop aromas I've ever sniffed.  It was like smelling a glass of liquid hops.  Lovely, lovely stuff.