High Hops Brewery

I have seen stranger combinations in my life, but none quite compare to what Ammon and I found when we visited High Hops brewery last night for the first time.  Never ever before could I imagine the combination of a Garden Center and a brewery.  Yes, a Garden Center and a Brewery.  You can shake your head in confusion, it's what I did.

I don't know why this confused me, it hits on two things I really like to do together: drink beer and garden.  Add in music (of which there was plenty), and it's my idea of a total party.  This is the greatest combination that doesn't make sense that you will ever see.

 Oh, and there were these awesome statues too.  I can't make these things up, I can only appreciate.

We decided to start off with their flagship taster, their 5 beers that they always have on tap.  We learned that they grow the 3 different types of hops that they use in their beer.  That's pretty groovy.

So from right to left:  The Golden One, The Witty One, The Honeyed One, The Power of Zeus, and The Dark One.

We decided to sample our beers in the portion of the greenhouse they have converted into a beer garden.  It may be one of my favorite places ever, because it's like being at a Garden Party year round.  You can smell the flowers, listen to live music, and enjoy the feel of astroturf between your toes.

Ammon found himself very drawn towards The Golden One, a Pilsner style beer.  It had a coriander note to it that he was fond of.  He also really enjoyed The Witty One, a wheat beer.  I have always had an affinity for Reds, and so their Honeyed One was an instant sensation for me.  It was sweeter than the red beers I usually go for, but it had a great depth of flavor, and I really enjoyed sipping on it.  Their IPA, The Power of Zeus, also surprised me.  I found it to be pretty bitter, despite its IBU rating of only 60.  I liked the bitter quality of it, and found that it was a great foil to their milk stout, The Dark one.  While Ammon is still trying to appreciate the darker beers, I find myself being drawn more and more into their silky, sultry depths.  This one had a great malty sweetness, and wasn't so heavy that I couldn't drink more than a few sips.  This may be the first dark beer I could ever see myself ordering a full pint of.

After the taster tray, I decided to order a pint of one of their rotating beers.  I chose The Weiss One, a German Hefeweizen.

 The flavors were subtle, and made for some easy drinking.  It was a really balanced beer, and I appreciated that after the large variety of their flagship beers.  But what really made us smile was the price.  Ammon and I are accustomed to paying a decent sum on these nights out of tasting.  Last night made our wallets smile in delight when we saw our grand total:

Boom.  You can not find cheaper brewery beer in our area.  Period.  It does not exist.

Moral of the story?  We will be back.  Probably more than once, and with friends.  We totally get and appreciate the vision that High Hops has, and we want to see it blossom... get it?  Blossom?  Garden Center?  Sometimes I crack myself up.