give me an I . . . P . . . A

for the hops-lovin' LWS guys . . . and gals.

some new beers that have come up on the long weekend style beer doppler:

- racer 5 - crafted by bear republic and is better on tap than in the bottle - the hipper restaurants are leaning towards racer 5 as a solid go-to in their beer lineup but it can also be had in the cold beer section of most whole foods markets.

- pliny the elder - distributed by bear republic and brewed by russian river , who are headquartered in northern california and again, this one is best tasted directly from the tap when you can find it as it is one of the harder IPAs to source. also available in certain whole foods (picky, picky) but not always in stock, we did manage to find a site that you can order pliny online: http://www.klwines.com/ or http://www.caskstore.com/ and search "pliny the elder"

- ranger from new belgium brewing, colorado based brewers of fat tire ale. this has the distinction of bring nice right out of the bottle or tap and is widely distributed plus, when you can't source pliny, ranger is a very very good substitute.

all are IPAs - india pale ales, for those not into the achronisms. historically, pale ales were brewed in england and shipped off to british troops stationed in india, so they had to be able to travel long long distances by boat, the only available method of travel at that time. originally derived from porters, IPAs tout a higher alcohol content and are "hopped up"; in beerspeak, this means supa dupa hoppy - made with lots and lots and lots of hops which lend a "forest-y,pine tree" taste but in a good way. IPAs are classified as running beers, not because the like jogging in their off hours but because they are ready-to-drink within days of brewing and don't require a lengthy aging process like porters and the stronger ales.

try 'em and let us know what you think, long weekend stylers!