So, this review includes beers from the last two weekends, meaning I'm all caught up on my beers I've drank while out and about in Columbia. This means I need to start drinking more beer--what a torturous life to lead.

Before starting one comment on a beer from a couple of weeks ago. I had Stone's Go To IPA at a local establishment. Now, I don't really have a frame of reference for how this beer should taste, but this beer seemed very obviously off. A colleague of mine with a better idea for Go To's flavor confirmed the same thing, describing it with a pretty unsavory descriptor. This leads me to believe it was a single bad keg or something bad in the bar's set-up. I want to give both the beer and bar the benefit of the doubt, so I am declining to say much about the beer itself, other than I will give it another try at some point, if for no other reason than Stone's quality reputation.

Onto the reviews.

Westbrook Brewing Company has certainly established a reputation as arguably THE top brewery in South Carolina, and one of the best in the country. Beers like their Goze and Mexican Cake are held in the highest regard, and White Thai is a personal favorite. Their seasonal collaboration with The Charleston Beer Exchange, called Citrus Ninja Exchange, is a Double IPA that is pretty light in color. Grapefruit is one of prime ingredients of this beer, resulting citrusy hops and a fruity taste with a pretty clean finish. At 9% ABV, I felt the booze came through more and more as the beer warmed up.

Another Charleston, SC brewery, Revelry Brewing Company, is new to me. They seem to finally be making their way inland from the SC coast. I got to try one of their IPAs, Funkmaster Brett and the Furious Hops. Officially listed as a "Belgian IPA", this beer didn't have a huge hop flavor. I detected some citrusy sourness. I also got a bit of a red wine-like aftertaste. Perhaps this is a result of some blending of styles. Overall, a pretty quaffable beer.

Redhook's Longhammer IPA is a pretty commonly available craft IPA among the Columbia watering holes. Longhammer brought a balanced hop flavor with some mild bitterness. There was also a hint of caramelly sweetness early in the mouthful that resolved to some more piney hop flavors pretty quickly. However, I found that sweetness mixed with some maltiness to hang around longer as the beer warmed up.

This was a trio of varying-style IPAs that were all quite enjoyable.