I Can't Fathom.......

Fathom IPA

Ballast Point Brewing Co., San Diego, CA. / 6.0% ABV

 

Do you remember the phrase that begins with, "I can't fathom"?  For example, I can't fathom that Joe just died or I can't fathom that Mary and Bill finally got married?  It's an older phrase that does not pop up as much as it used to, but I use it all the time.  When I decided to write this beer blog, I said to myself and Mrs. Meister that I would not bring politics into it in any way, shape or form.  I am going to break this promise since in today's political world there are many things that I can't fathom.   

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So what are some of the things that I can't fathom?  Well, I can't fathom the weather that we are having in NEPA right now.  The forecast always seems to be rain, followed by intermittent showers in the evening and torrential downpours with high wind gusts and potential hail for the next day.  It seems like the 7 day forecast is for partly cloudy sky's with a chance of either showers or rain.  Sometimes I feel like I live in Seattle or Ireland.

I also can't fathom a lot of things like Donald Trump being President of the United States, people still not believing that climate change is for real and that aliens do exist.  I can't fathom that the roads in Pennsylvania are horrible, that our veterans don't have the best healthcare on the planet available to them and that marijuana is not legal in all 50 states.  I can't fathom that American's are taxed on everything we buy and do (except breathing and that's coming next) and that people in this country are starving and homeless.  I can't fathom that we are still totally reliant on fossil fuels and that wind and solar power are not being embraced by the government or the general public.  I can't fathom that kids are going into schools and shooting classmates and that nothing is being done to prevent it.  This is not meant to be a political knock on anyone who reads this blog, it's just some things that I personally can't fathom.  Your beliefs our yours and I will respect them. 

However the one big thing that I could not fathom would be a world without beer.  Could you imagine living in America from 1920 to 1933 during the Prohibition Era?  During this time period, the sale of alcohol was prohibited by the federal government.  It was banned because alcoholism, family violence and saloon-based political corruption prompted activists to end the alcoholic beverage trade to cure what they thought were the ills of society and to weaken the political opposition. One result was that many communities in the late 19th and early 20th centuries introduced alcohol prohibition, with the subsequent enforcement in law becoming a hotly debated issue.  Prohibition supporters, who were called "drys", presented it as a victory for public morals and health.  Promoted by the "dry" crusaders, the movement was led by pietistic Protestants and social Progressives in the Prohibition era in both the Democratic and Republican parties.  Holy cow, something both parties agreed upon!  It gained a national grass roots base through the Woman's Christian Temperance Union and after 1900 it was coordinated by the Anti-Saloon League, an organization that I would not have joined. 

Opposition from the beer industry mobilized "wet" supporters from the Catholic and German Lutheran communities to fight back against the prohibition campaign. They had considerable funding to fight back, but by 1917–18 the German community had been marginalized by the nation's war against Germany and the brewing industry was shut down in state after state by the legislatures and finally nationwide under the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution in 1920.  By enabling this legislation, known as the Volstead Act, it set down the rules for enforcing the federal ban and defined the types of alcoholic beverages that were prohibited. For example, religious use of wine was allowed. Private ownership and consumption of alcohol were not made illegal under federal law, but local laws were stricter in many areas, with some states banning possession outright.

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Of course, criminal gangs were able to gain control of the beer and liquor supply for many cities and by the late 1920s a new opposition mobilized nationwide.  "Wets" attacked prohibition stating that it was causing crime, lowering local revenues and imposing rural Protestant religious values on urban America. Prohibition ended with the ratification of the Twenty-first Amendment, which repealed the Eighteenth Amendment on December 5, 1933.  Some states continued statewide prohibition, marking one of the last stages of what was called the Progressive Era.  Although popular opinion believes that Prohibition failed, it succeeded in cutting overall alcohol consumption in half during the 1920's and consumption remained below pre-Prohibition levels until the 1940's. Also, statistics show that rates of liver cirrhosis fell by 50% early in Prohibition and recovered promptly after its repeal in 1933.  Criticism remains that Prohibition led to unintended consequences such as a century of Prohibition-influenced legislation and the growth of urban crime organizations, though some scholars have argued that violent crime did not increase dramatically, while others have argued that crime during the Prohibition era was properly attributed to increased urbanization, rather than the criminalization of alcohol use.  As an experiment it lost supporters every year and lost tax revenue that governments needed when the Great Depression began in 1929. 

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How does Ballast Point Fathom IPA have anything to do with all of this?  Nothing really.  I was intrigued by the nautical themed can and the word fathom got me thinking.  So, what about this beer? 

THE REVIEW

SIGHT:  When I poured by Fathom IPA, I saw a nice yellow color with a slight orange tint especially when held up to a light.  Once poured into a glass, it had a very nice pure white head of about a half inch in thickness that lasted for close to 5 minutes.  I really like a beer that has a strong head that lasts.  This was a solid looking beer.

AROMA:   When I took a sniff, I could smell a typical American West Coast IPA hoppy aroma.  I also got hints of grapefruit with back notes of orange and a little pine.  I thought I may have even smelled a very, very slight aroma of watermelon and mango in there.  

TASTE:   Now for a taste.  With my first sip I could taste hops and lots of them up front which is standard for a West Coast IPA.  If you are not a fan of IPA's, you will not like this beer.  Along with this hoppy attitude, I could taste the typical grapefruit and citrus flavors.  This also had nice back notes of pine and nuts along with what I thought was mango.  This was a Good tasting IPA with a rainbow of flavors that hit your palate one at a time.    

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Overall, I really liked Fathom IPA.  It's good looks, nice aromas and a painter's palette of flavor make for a nice drink.  If you are a fan of IPA's, you will really like this beer.  I was not a fan of IPA's for a long time, but have really warmed up to them due to their overall flavor complexities.  I am going to try more beers from Ballast Point and I recommend that you do as well.  For more information on Ballast Point Brewing Company you can go to their web site at www.ballastpoint.com.  Wait until you see what their brew pub looks like...

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5= Outstanding

4= Very Good

3= Good

2=Fair

1=Skunk