The Year in Beer

Name: Stranger

Brewer: Left Hand Brewing Co., Longmont, Colo.

By the numbers: About 150 calories per 12 oz.; 5 percent alcohol by volume

Notes: This is a decent American Pale Ale from another Colorado brewer that generally makes decent beer. As for the previous entries from Left Hand, I liked Black Jack Porter a lot, thought the Sawtooth ESB was good and thought 400-Pound Monkey had a cool label. This beer also has a pretty cool label, but it’s also a good beer. It poured a rich golden color and gave off a slightly fruity aroma like pear. The taste was crisp with a good bit of malt, a spicy rye flavor and an almost noble hop finish.

Try it with: A weird coincidence bordering on the absurd. A friend on Twitter made an off-handed reference to Albert Camus the same day I tried this beer. The weird part, of course, is that Camus’ most famous novel is “The Stranger” and it’s not like Camus comes up in conversation all the time.  Maybe I’m reading too much into it. Maybe I just need another beer.

    — Posted by Mike Freimann