So…I might have gotten a bit overwhelmed when I went in to my local LCBO (King/Spadina for Toronto readers) and noticed that the start of their new summer line of beers came in.  For the first time in a while I saw the shelf COMPLETELY covered with new beers I’ve never had before.  After being stuck with some of the same Pale Ales and Weissbiers, it’s probably an understatement to say that I danced a little jig in the aisle.  In fact, if we’re going to be perfectly honest, I pranced and sang a little.  You know what a four year old girl does when she has a plastic tiara, pink cape and a magic wand and is playing Fairy Princess?  Yeah.  THAT.

But I had to stop myself.  Pull in those reins.  I’m on a VERY limited budget, after all.  And some of these beers aren’t cheap.  A few were in the $11-12 mark.  I have to be cool about it and avoid the urge to get the shopping cart out and just stack up on stuff.

Normally when I find myself COMPLETELY overwhelmed with the selection and a budget of about $20ish  I go with four beers.  Two that I have tried either on tap or in a bottle before, and two that I have never tried before.

So I bought two bottles of La Trappe Tripel, a BEAUTIFULLY malty Trappist Abbey Ale from De Koningshoeven Brewery in the Netherlands (the only Trappist brewery outside of Belgium) which I drink on tap at my favorite pub. For the stuff I haven’t tried I bought a bottle of ROGUE Double Dead Guy Ale, an evolution on their wonderful Dead Guy Ale (duh) and Wells Banana Bread Beer.

The Banana Bread Beer is something I’ve been interested in trying out since I first heard that such a thing existed.  I love the idea of putting interesting and sometimes crazy things in beer and I’m looking forward to giving this one a try. And really it was either this or the ROGUE Chipotle beer, but I already got one from ROGUE.

The Double Dead Guy Ale, well…I’ll be honest.  I like the original Dead Guy Ale and am looking forward to seeing where it goes, but really…I also like the bottle design.  Simple, but wonderful.

So that’s my strategy when there’s so many beers out there you want to try but can’t pick.  Two safe beers, two new beers.

I’ll be posting reviews on these at some point.  Sadly, this weekend I’m off to the cottage where the Internet doesn’t roam as free as it does in the city.  But I have my little notebook and will be making notes for you.