The Beer:
There were a lot of things about Gordon that I had trouble with. To begin, this beer has been a part of my collection of beers longer than any other at the time I decided to try it out. I bought it nearly 7 months ago when I heard that Oskar Blues could no longer sell it under the name "Gordon". Some lawsuit (which I believe came from Gordon Biersch, but I could have totally just made that up) forced them to rebrand the beer as "G'Knight". Realizing that the can would become something of a collectors item, I snatched up a 4-pack and stashed it away. But after some time it dawned on me that I'm not really one to collect things like beer cans or bottles. I don't really collect anything at all. Comic books and pop art prints are about all that I have collections of. So I chose to take out this well-respected beer and use it as one of my test subjects. I also chose to bring it with me to my buddy Mark's 31st birthday. Because if you can't share a 7 month old beer with good friends, then who can you share it with?
As far as how the beer tasted, it was a hop driven IPA with strong notes of caramel and fruit. The bitterness from the hops were carefully balanced with a sweet aftertaste. It wasn't the greatest IPA I've ever had but it wasn't the worst. It wasn't the hoppiest or heaviest. But that may just be my own taste and preference. Someone else might tell you that this beer is numero uno and that I'm just a dumbass.
The Buzz:
Regardless of where it stands on my all-time greatest beer list, one thing it certainly excelled at was getting me nicely buzzed. At 8.7% abv, it was deceptively smooth and easy to knock back the entire 4-pack throughout the party. With that level of alcoholic content, Gordon actually qualifies as an Imperial IPA (or double IPA in some circles...some disrespectful circles if you ask me). Whatever you call it though, there's no doubt that I probably shouldn't have driven home. No, I didn't drive drunk...I had several glasses of water and waited a couple hours after my last beer to get behind the wheel. But regardless, it would've been an uncomfortable conversation with a cop had I gotten pulled over. Unless it was one of the cops from "SuperTroopers". Then, it would've been AWESOME!!!
The Hangover:
Apparently there are karmic retributions for making questionable decisions within this experiment. Because after safely navigating my way home from Mark's birthday I had a small bite to eat, another glass of water to drink, and passed out to some Colbert Report on the couch. When I awoke hours later to two hungry dogs, the minions of hell had risen up inside my body and were trying to escape out of my eyeballs. The headache at 6am was like no other. Naturally I took my morning after cocktail for killing whatever demon was festering inside my body and went back to bed. A few hours later and I awoke not feeling all that much better. Fortunately, the hangover was strictly internal. The wife assured me that I did not smell like booze, look like I was hungover, or otherwise display any outwardly symptoms of the impending death I was sure awaited me in the coming hours. But as the day progressed, the hangover regressed. It certainly took its time to go away and it wasn't the worst hangover I've ever had. But it was bad enough to add Gordon to the list of beer I'll be avoiding in the future.
The Verdict:
Oskar Blues Gordon, now Oskar Blues G'Knight, was good. Not great though, just something respectable. I don't know what to say really about this beer because it wasn't the like Lagunitas beers that immediately taste amazing but leave me feeling the next day like every cell inside me has exploded. It also wasn't like Anchor Steam Small Beer, where I hated every aspect of it. I'd have one again. But only one at a time. There was nothing seperating this beer from the ever-growing craft beer collection of IPAs stocking the shelves that warranted the hangover that came with it. That said, I absolutely want to try Oskar Bluess' other offerings, if for no other reason than the company has some killer names for their beers!
