Union Craft Double Duckpin IPA

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I had no idea what a duckpin was but I was intrigued by the can design and figured it had something to do with one of the greatest least athletic sports ever invented: bowling. Turns out, duckpin is a type of bowling popular on the east coast. The pins are smaller, fatter, and harder to knock down. The ball is the size of a large bocce ball (which coincidentally is another of the greatest least athletic sports) but the lane you throw it down is the same size of a standard bowling alley.

Duckpin Bowling

I've never tried duckpin bowling but its origin story is pretty fucking awesome. Apparently a bunch of drunk Baltimore Orioles started it in the early 1900s at a billiard and bowling hall they owned. The origin story is still in dispute because everyone was drunk at the time but some red-faced Oriole says he invented the game first and gave it its name. You'd kinda have to be drunk to claim to "invent" a new sport simply by making the equipment slightly smaller. That and adding a third rolling frame is the only fucking difference between duckpin and regular bowling. It's still popular in certain areas on the east coast because everyone is just perpetually drunk here and, aside from birthday parties, only the perpetually drunk seem to bowl on a regular basis. I don't really care who's whippersnapper of a grandpa did a line of coke and thought up this "new" game, I only care if it's fun or not. Since I've never duckpin bowled, I can only assume it's awesome because of its similarity to bowling and the rich, majestic cinematic history bowling occupies. 

The first movie I saw to feature bowling was Kingpin. It's a classic. Bill Murray, Woody Harrelson, and Randy Quaid occupying the same silver screen all while throwing turkeys was a dream come true. If you've seen the movie, you also know it gave us our first bowling finishing move: the Bill Murray strike.

Work it, Bill.

Oh how I pine for the thrill of that strike, the sexy hip thrust you want to make, the body building pose just itching to make an appearance. If you've never done this after a strike, or even a spare, I hope those missed opportunities will haunt you forever.

The second movie I ever saw to feature this illustrious sport was the Big Lebowski, the Cohen brothers classic that still delivers today. The only thing that actually makes sense in a movie with a thousand overlapping plot threads is the desire to go bowling after a rough day. This is the movie that inspired a generation of high schoolers to go back to the bowling alley, go to town on some chili fries, and roll down some pins while listening to the greatest hits of the 1970s. Additionally, it gave us the finest pre-bowling ritual of all time. Enter the Jesus.

The Jesus also gave us cinema history's second bowling finishing move:

Jesus Quintana

It took me a while to notice but Jesus Quintana is a fucking hipster. This fucker rides his fixie to the diner and takes instagram pictures with a DSLR camera.

That gif makes you angry because it doesn't finish. The urge to watch the whole scene on YouTube grows stronger with every unfinished leg grab. Grab your nearest purple one-piece and get your fucking ass to the bowling alley, bruh. 

There are plenty of articles out there comparing and contrasting these two cinema classics. However, the bottom line is that movies about bowling are hitting 1.000. What does this have to do with the beer? Beers about duckpin bowling are also hitting 1.000. 

Nose: Big Malt, Big Hops. Hops take on a tropical fruit aroma.
Body: You can definitely tell it's a double IPA but the 8.5 percent ABV is hidden well amongst the base malts.
Mouth: Smooth bitterness and maltiness throughout. The hops make the same tropical appearance at the end. This is a great beer.