Raging Bitch (et Rayon Vert)

One of the latest additions to the 99 beers offered at my favorite watering hole is Raging Bitch from Flying Dog Brewery. Now, 99 Bottles has had some shockingly named beers before and most of the time you can just assume that they're gimmicky and not that great. Bitch Please, Freaktoberfest, you know, beers like that. This bitch's good bad, but it's not evil. The first thing to discuss about this particular bottle of beer is the bottle itself.

What's that you say? Ralph Steadman label art? Surely you must be joking. But, no, I assure you, your eyes do not deceive. Flying Dog has this shtick where Steadman does all their artwork. I'm dying to get my hands on some of their other brews so I can have a collection of these bottles lying around. Steadman writes a quote about each beer (I hear this one is not one of his best, too be honest) and illustrates the hemorrhagey bottle art. As you can see from this label, this beer is a Belgian IPA, which means that it follows certain Belgian tendencies (hops that are floral and earthy as opposed to American hops which favor citrusy, grapefruit, and pine flavors) coupled with the spicy yeasts that Belgians are famous for. It's an interesting phenomenon, where a recent American beer revolution over the past few decades has influenced one of the oldest and dearest beer brewing nations. This article is very informative on the topic: http://bhamweekly.com/birmingham/article-1750-belgian-ipa.html.

Basically, I love this beer. It's got a major punch, that's for sure, and when your palate isn't properly "cleansed" before hand it can taste a bit much, but it certainly does the trick. Sweet, bitter, spicy, fruity, tasty.

I like to start with the Green Flash Rayon Vert (another of 99's newest additions), which is a Belgian Pale Ale that I find perfect. Rayon Vert actually means green flash in French, by the way. It is subtle and soft at the open, with a lovely floral aroma and a mild citrusy taste that builds as you go into floral, hoppy bitterness, with the funk of some brettanomyces yeast. If you don't know about brettanomyces or yeasts in general, well brettanomyces is a yeast that provides a sour, almost rancidy, funky flavor. Anywho, I start with this lovely beer and finish my night (or day...) off with my favorite Bitch.