Days of the Beer, June 19

The beer for today is Terrapin Side Project Volume #1, Hop Shortage Ale.

On June 19, 1986, less than two days after being drafted number 2, by the Boston Celtics, Len Bias died. After arriving back on the campus around 11 p.m., he ate with with some teammates, the left campus around 2 a.m. on the 19th and drove to an off campus party. He returned to his dorm room around 3 a.m. He then took some cocaine which caused a heart attack.

He went into convulsions, and his friends called emergency services. When they arrived, he was unconscious and not breathing. They tried to restart his heart and breathing but were unsuccessful.

Len Bias played college basketball at the University of Maryland, the Terrapins. He was supposed to be the person who led the Boston Celtics out of the Larry Bird era and to help them continue their dominance for years to come. From the time Bias was drafted until... Tuesday... it had been exactly 22 years. Len Bias was drafted June 17, 1986, the Celtics finally won their 17th championship exactly 22 years later.

On the label of the beer it says.

2008 will forever be known in professional brewing circles as the year of the Hop Shortage. Brewers everywhere are scrambling to find hops just to produce their standard line of beers. Some are so nervous they are even cutting back on brewing hoppy beers. NOT US! In typical Terrapin fashion we are going against the grain (or against the hops, so the speak). If there is going to be a shortage of hops, why not put them all into one huge hop bomb of a beer? We hope you enjoy our HOP SHORTAGE ALE.

It was a rather tasty IPA. I had it on May 26, during our Memorial Day beer gathering. It's rather hard to find, in limited distribution, so if you can find one, grab it; enjoy it.