Game day beer picks: Syracuse vs. Wake Forest

Hopefully you’ve recovered from last week’s brutal last-second loss to Florida State by now. But even if not, the Syracuse Orange football team is right back at it on Saturday to try once again for win No. 4. Standing in the way this time around? The unbeaten Wake Forest Demon Deacons. Cool...

Whether you’re imbibing before, during or after the Orange game, we wanted to make sure you had some beer selections to choose from. Fair warning in advance: You won’t be able to find at least one of those where you are.

Syracuse Area Beer Pick: Buried Acorn Wholphin Loves Narluga

I haven’t highlighted a hop-bomb in a while, so why not. Wholphin is Buried Acorn’s NE IPA that floats in at a whopping 7.8% and doesn’t drink like it. Hop bill includes Mosaic, Chinook, Nugget and experimental hop HBC 431 which creates a damn solid NEIPA. If you haven’t hit up the brewery and you’re in the area, it’s well worth a shot. Always a solid variety from lagers, to barrel aged, to IPAs and anywhere in between. You can usually find them in local distribution as well in any of the variety of bottle shops in the Syracuse area (shout to my local shop, Branching Out Bottle Shop in Camillus).

Wake Forest Area Beer Pick: Incendiary SHIFT: Orange

We’re potentially trying to create some luck for Syracuse here by opting for the beer called “Orange” (funny enough, its sister beer is called “Blue”). But SHIFT: Orange is a hazy DIPA that bursts with citrus aromas, tastes lighter and smoother than any 8.1% ABV beer should, and finishes off with some excellent dry-hopped Galaxy notes. It’s not always easy to stand out with haze given how ubiquitous the style’s become and the extent to which juicier options do seem to blend together. But this pick from Incendiary pulls it off.

Los Angeles Area Beer Pick: Cellador Ales Jackson Ranch - High West

Alright, admittedly I’m not drinking this beer this weekend because a) I already had my bottle months back and b) it’s 10% ABV. Still, it’s a delicious rye wild ale that’s been aged in a single High West bourbon barrel. The result is a pleasant blend of whiskey aromas, sweetness and sour notes that immediately lets you know you’re drinking something unique. It drinks like more of a spirit than a beer, admittedly. But that’s not a knock on a drink that gets progressively more cohesive as it warms.

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What about you? Share your own beer choices below.