Surprise, Surprise Surprise

Well...Ralph was definitely surprised and fine time was had by all...as far as I know anyway.
Jimbo showed up with some Alpine "Duet" which is just one of the finest IPA's I've ever known. The first time we came across it a couple years ago on one of our Alpine safari's they had it listed on the Brewers board as being a Pale Ale with 5.6% alcohol. Naturally we bought copious amounts due to it's outstanding hop aroma and fine balanced drinkability. Thinking of course that if we can find this nice a beer that was that low in alcohol.......well... turns out either we can't read or the fine folks at Alpine just made an error that time and it's really closer to 7% ABV than we'd hoped. Nonetheless it is a rare and wondrous day when you can get your mitts around a pint of....or three of it.
Fortunately Jimbo also brought along some Pure Hoppiness, which at times, for me anyway, seems the only beer even in the same class as Vinnies "Pliny the Elder". He also made a last minute stop at Green Flash for some West Coast IPA and Imperial. We can get both beers up here at the local Nugget Markets and/or BevMo but the glower product always seems a bit of a step above.
At the surprise party Ralph, Jimbo, CP, Terri and I shared our growlers of Sacramento IPA, "Auburn Ale House 'Isotope Pale Ale" West Coast IPA, Pliny the Elder, Duet, Pure Hoppiness and a Lagunitas Hop Stoopid with the other party revelers, but there were but a few sippers and even fewer takers of the fine assortment of California Hop products.
The next evening Ralph, Terri and I made short work of a Blind Pig, Pliny, a Moylans Hopsickle and a rare growler of Avery Brewing Hog Heaven Barleywine.
On the way North on Monday Terri and I stopped at Sequoia Brewing in Fresno and had lunch. They had a really nice seasonal Hefeweizen and a 8% Dopplebock. I had hoped for the Log Splitter or the Buzz Saw but my luck was poor.
We also noticed that they have changed the name of their IPA from "Mineral King IPA" to "General Sherman IPA". When I asked our wisp of a bartenderess about the change she muttered something about "New investors wanting it changed". Fortunately they hadn't altered the recipe as far as we could see and we opted to bring home a growler full of it. Naturally I had my Sequoia growler stashed in the trunk of the Crown Vic for just such an occasion.