It’s rare that I receive beers or beer-related items without prior notice, but this week is one of those times. Appalachian Mountain Brewery, which I don’t believe I’d heard of before, sent me cans of two of its IPAs: Not an IPA (P.S. it’s an IPA) and Not-A-Double DIPA. They came with a sticker and a small spec sheet, but nothing else in the way of explanation.

Appalachian Mountain, it turns out, is based in North Carolina and is a member of the Craft Brew Alliance, better known to the world as Widmer, Redhook, Kona, et. al. Apparently Widmer/CBA still has my address on file and sent these out to me without any preamble, which is fine with me (though perhaps a tad confusing). I’m always happy to try new beers from beyond the Pacific Northwest.