Beer in the new era

of local interest only i think, but the grainbelt nordeast is pretty much as expected, much better than premium, less banana taste and some sort of vague brown ale thing going on? worth a bottle or two, def wouldn't buy a 12 pack.

I will admit that "less banana taste" is very very very high on my list of desirable qualities in the flavor of my beer

suggest banana taste in your beer

obv you guys have never fallen victim to the trick where someone tells you to think about bananas when in the middle of a premium and then you can never ever drink the stuff again

once you taste it you cant ever untaste it is what i am saying here

hahaha I'm going to just start doing this at random, with random things

hopefully I will find someone with defective tastebuds for whom I can ruin sushi

I was at a bar in northeast Mpls last week where almost everyone was drinking Grainbelt Nordeast. Don't know if it was super cheap, if they all got curious to try it at the same time, or if it's actually that good. Didn't try.

whoah waht is it maed this GB NE? granted i live in the wrong part of mpls to imbibe it, i guess, btu still

also: i first noted the banana flavor thing in BUDWEISER---it's endemic to a lot of american "pilseners" imo

I read some blog reviewing the japanese beer I had upthread and it mentioned banana and bubblegum flavors which made it all the more delicious imo

surely the ultimate banana beers are hefeweizen and suchlike

how have I been blissfully unaware of this banana beer phenomenon

Yeah, Franziskaner Hefeweizen is very banana-y but in a good way.

There was some discussion of the banana/bubblegum/clove taste of most Hefeweizens way upthread. It's all about the esters.

banana/bubblegum/clove taste

lol, I didn't know Bobby Flay made beer

Dan (not HI DERE, the other one) I think the launch was last week and they did a bunch of promo stuff in NE MPLS, maybe at grumpys and a couple of other places, so that would prob explain that

this fine beer should be pretty freely available around town now i think, i can of course guarantee that it is in ready supply at my dear beloved BOOZE MART

lol "grumpys"

avoid the brownie surprise

on actual beer topics, I've noticed that I've been buying Harpoon assortment packs almost exclusively because I don't actually have one particular beer that I like drinking all the time

(xpost) I was at Shaw's. Yep, that's probably the reason.

Speaking of fruity beer, as in grapefruity, I've been drinking Widmer Deadlift Imperial IPA a bunch lately. Excellent.

i love assortment packs but i have gotten so burned by some of them that i am very cautious these days. however i learned that the breckenridge and horny goat breweries make shitty beer that i hate across the board from getting these, so i guess thats a win?

xpost

actually the Sam Adams assortment packs are often great as long as they don't include one of their crime-against-nature fruit beers

my default assortment pack is the brau brothers one because i love literally every beer in there (even the strawberry wheat! no really!)

but you cant get that outside of mn right now so nananana booboo sucks to be yall

btw is it sad that the reason i am most excited to go to an upcoming wedding in philly is so i can drink the monks sour red ale?

depends, do you hate the ppl getting married?

also trying to figure out how to bring back a case of the yards brewery stuff, which is fucking fantastic imo, esp the brawler:

http://www.yardsbrewing.com/ales_brawler.asp

xpost no its m1ch3ll3, who is one of my closest friends! (i think you might remember her from like a million yrs ago) i just really really like that beer and cant get anyone here to track it down for me

and since were on the subject if anyone has any suggestions for other sour beers that would be ace - its really hard when you are one of the rare freaks that really like sours because NO ONE stocks them, at least not around here.

philly is one of the great underrated beer cities as far as i can tell, tho maybe its rated really highly and i dont know

Last night at Hopleaf I had the limited-edition Lagunitas Fusion Ale -- which was quite good. I think I've been spoiled a bit by IPAs, because my first reaction was that it wasn't hoppy enough, but then as I kept drinking, I found it pretty refreshing. And it still had a lot of character.

My gf ordered a Short's Magician -- which usually isn't distributed outside Michigan, but Hopleaf acquired a few bottles when Short's was in town for the recent Craft Brewing Conference. Anyway, it was kind of weird. It billed itself as a "dark red ale"; I picked up notes of black bread and baker's chocolate but also a slightly unpleasant sourness.

i had no idea this thread was so full of mentalism

philly is one of the great underrated beer cities as far as i can tell, tho maybe its rated really highly and i dont know

I always thought Philly was well known as a great beer city!

I love Monks.

haha I know it's in MN and all but I am looking at the website for Brau Brothers and thinking the "Brothers" part of their name is deeply ironic

really want to try this beer
http://philadelphia.grubstreet.com/hitachino.jpg

^^^good stuff imo, I've had a couple of theirs

pricey but good

i saw that some place had it on tap,can't remeber where though

hey TC-erz waht is best beer bar in the cities and should we go there for all of the beers

still thinking on question 1, but answer to question 2 is def yes

Muddy Pig is pretty incredible selection wise actually

I am almost done with school and ready to vacate the memory hole

I remember that!

Yeah, Muddy Pig has mondo selection, but I have more than once had beer a bit flat or off-flavored there; prob the result of too MANY taps. I like Buster's on 42nd and 28th, too; super-small, though.

I spend more of my time at Town Hall than those two combined.

yeah, Town Hall is pretty great, esp w/patio. also: on my home from school, so

God, Monks is so friggin good.

i am also down with town hall as an ok spot, and the beer is really pretty good.

all those hitachinos are so so good, except the ginger brew one, which is kinda more LOL than good

http://www.joesixpack.net/images/Bells_Hopslam.jpg

Finally got around to dropping the loot for a sixer of this tonight, from a store in Ann Arbor that allegedly gets preferential product directly from Bell's. Regardless of whether there is any validity to that claim, I've now heard two unrelated reports from two of my most trusted beer insiders that this shit is now there all-time favorite beer ever. Those are some tall words. The question I now face is if this has been overhyped to such a point as to ensure disappointment & even if not, could it really have been worth the $21.95?

oops rong bbc tags

http://www.joesixpack.net/images/Bells_Hopslam.jpg

my feelings on hopslam are mixed. its ok. would never ever ever pay $22 for a sixer tho.

sorry did not see that you had bought it already - was trying to get all consumer reports on you. it is a totally worthwhile beer to drink, just not sure that i would commit to a 6 pack i guess?