Mardi Gras Lunch at Great Basin and a little about Proof...

Yesterday, for Mardi Gras, we decided to take a drive for lunch and ended up in Sparks, NV at the Great Basin Brewery. I was driving, so I didn’t get to drink. My husband had their IPA, called Ichthyosaur or “Icky”. It’s a single IPA made with Cascade hops. It’s named after Nevada’s State fossil. I didn’t realize states had official fossils. It has 6.4% ABV. ABV means alcohol by volume; it’s one of the standard measurements of alcohol in beverages. It is related to proof, in that a beverage’s proof is a number equal to twice it’s percentage of alcohol, or ABV. For instance, Captain Morgan has just come out with a new spiced rum that is 100 Proof. What this means is simply that it has 50% ABV. However, typically you will see only liquors and spirits listed by proof and beer and wines listed by ABV. Anyway, the Icky is pretty good, but not too hoppy. My husband was on a hops kick today (As Vinnie from the Russian River would say, he was having a Lupulin threshold shift), so while he enjoyed it and had 3, he wasn’t quite satisfied with the hop level. After, lunch we headed to the brewing supply store to buy bottles and corks for the wine, as it’s going to be ready to bottle any day now.