A busy week is a great way to secure the future but BEER makes it worth living in the present! Beer at home and beer while out this week as I slowly take over the world and keep up my Beerologist chops.

Source:https://www.pinterest.pt/goldensaintbeer/ with a little Zeke design on top.

This is my weekly BEER update as a beer is a staple of my happiness and blog alike. You will have to read back a number of weeks to get the gist of how I earned the vaulted status of Beerologist but know that I combine business with pleasure and beer is often my enabler.

I was out and social this week and here are a couple beers I enjoyed with the company of others.

Though not on the town, this beer was shared with friends nonetheless. I just love sitting down after the family goes to bed and enjoy a brew while playing some online games with friends like I was in college again. It is such a gift to be able to laugh and play with friends hundreds o miles apart and online gaming is a big part of who I am since before there were online games.

The game is Grand Theft Auto 5 https://www.rockstargames.com/V/ and this pint is Life In The Clouds IPA from Collective Arts Brewery https://collectiveartsbrewing.com/beers/life-in-the-clouds/. This beer is a special balance of hazy and unrefined, hoppy and sweet for such a solid and reliable taste. The fact that the local stores stock this year round and consistently makes it such a great go-to for the standard gaming nights that are regular. Consistently in my coveted top 10 and still makes me pause and say, "Man I forgot how good this beer is."

When I hit a bar, and ask which IPAs they have, I make my decision based upon whether or not I have had a selection on tap before, how long it has been, if there is something local, and the rarity of seeing that certain brew on tap. Having tasted pretty much everything under the sun at the regular pubs, I generally know what I am getting into.

For this little tasting flight, the waitress told me they didn't only offer an IPA, but they have Boneshaker by Amsterdam Brewing https://www.amsterdambeer.com/beer/ , Four Fathers Brewing IPA http://http://fourfathersbrewing.com/beers/ and Upper Thames Brewing Portage IPA https://upperthamesbrewing.ca/our-beer/ As I scratched my chin and considered, she told me she would bring me a sample of each. Who am I to argue that?

I like how they are all IPAs but are uniquely clear, hazy and amber. What to drink what to drink.....

I can't keep you in suspense. I went with the Four Fathers IPA http://http://fourfathersbrewing.com/beers/ first. It would be a spoiler if I were to blog about this at a later date but it was a long evening of watching the UFC with friends from the Jiu Jitsu club so I had 1 of each.

This pic is a little about diversity and tolerance. The hipsters are screaming at this pic as I put one of the most obscure and new IPAs in the same frame as their grandfather's beer. While I agree with that sentiment, to each their own. I share the table with many folks, some who could not choke down and IPA, and some who want a simple old school lager or ale. I won't even link this one because I would have to be in some dire straights to have to order an OV. I simply enjoyed my IPA and the conversation without paying too much mind of the trauma/boredom being suffered by my good buddy's taste buds.

Be patient and tolerant my friends.

This beer will be familiar to my followers as I snuck it into my Wednesday Walk post https://steemit.com/wednesdaywalk/@zekepickleman/winter-wednesday-walk this week. Someone even called me out for not reviewing it but I gotta leave them a reason to come back on Saturdays right?

This was a great walk of a couple thousand steps, a business meeting, social hang out and afternoon session all in one. When you are a beerologist, you have this ability and I take full advantage of it. This was sitting in one of the oldest pubs in town featuring one of the newest breweries in town https://blackswanbrewing.ca/show/our-beer Black Swan IPA is such a gift because it is always fresh and available, features some of my favourite hops (Galaxy and Mosaic), and I can get it right from the brewery a couple blocks away. It is so good I would drink it even if it wasn't a brewery owned by my friend Ryan and I didn't support their point of sale system. CHEERS!

I shared this brew at home with a visitor who likes to come by and sample what I have in my fridge. It just so happened that I picked up a couple of these old school IPAs I haven't had in a while. "I will have whatever he is having" is something I hear quite often when we are on the town and the sentiment seems to carry over while I am hosting guests.

Cameron's Brewing https://cameronsbrewing.com/ is one of the breweries that ushered me from the mainstream beer into the realm of craft brewing before that wasn't even a term. It was Microbrewery back then and they had great cream and brown ales. Since then, they have gotten into IPAs and this was their first. Not as fancy or fantastic as the others out there but a great start which has lead to many more by them. I had to sample it again after a couple years and it did not disappoint. The guest liked it too.

Join me next Saturday as I go back in time to sample some of the "I would buy this again" beers and stay true to my word.

Please consider giving my buddy

Hive account@detlev a follow and making a #beersaturday post of your own! https://steemit.com/hive-187719/@detlev/beersaturday-week-140 Beer is the common global currency along with STEEM afterall so we all can hang in the pub, swap stories, and share the rewards and prizes of the longest running contest on STEEM! 140 weeks and running strong!