Green Flash Pt. 2: West Coast IPA

Oh, sweet mother of all West Coast IPAs. Green Flash–which by the way, gets its name from the elusive green flash that happens for a moment as the the sun goes down into the ocean–has made one sexy, herbaceous beauty of a beer. What a perfect beer for this lazy, warm Sunday evening while Kiki's drunken beans made with yesterday's Le Freak, simmer on the stove. Such a treat. (Sorry, East Coasters - were you digging your car out of the frozen street, while I was pondering digging out some young native fennel out of my backyard?) It goes down real easy with with some roasted asparagus, and a baked fennel, potato and leek delight.

At 95 IBUs and 7.3% ABV, the West Coast IPA is the flagship beer of Green Flash, and there's a good reason for that. It has a lovely burnt amber color and a frothy head. "Extravagant" and "pungent" in their words; and still, there are also flashes of homey malt, citrus, and spring flowers.  Not sweet at all compared to Le Freak (the more I think of it, Le Freak is the perfect fancy burger beer). The "menagerie" of hops in West Coast IPA includes: Simcoe, Columbus, Centennial, and Cascade. It's all about the balance of these four hops for this IPA goddess of a beer. With this much hoppiness, One Woman wonders why this beer is not bright green. It went well with the meal that I had planned, but One Woman also imagined that it might go well with a salad of raw fennel and beets with citrus.

  

(One Woman captures the green flash on camera!!??)

The musical pairing for this charming belle of a beer: Duke Ellington's Black Brown and Beige Suite. Have you heard the banjo solo intro to "Come Sunday?" It's pretty wild, especially alongside all those velvety textures that Ellington gets out of his horn sections. "Caravan," which is one of the Ellington orchestra's signature pieces, is mean. Kurt Weill wishes he could have written that (no - not Kurt Vile, actually, maybe Vile too). Unfortunately, during Ellington's lifetime, the piece was rarely performed in its entirety since its premiere in 1943. For Ellington though, it was more important to have parts of the piece heard in doses that his audience could take, rather than let the piece rest. It makes me sad that many audiences and programmers still have it in their heads that a jazz composer doesn't have a place writing longer and more complex works, because it's an awfully gorgeous and historically important piece.