Beer in the new era

*hic*

Been loving deuchars IPA lately. Was on a pub-crawl yesterday and only one out of the 8 or 9 pubs we went to had it though :'(

drank a bunch of great stuff at various engagement celebrations recently but (haha) dont remember all of it.

some highlights tho - the rodenbach grand cru flemish sour ale is like beer kombucha, stupidly refreshing and drinkable - not my favorite sour ale, but i will take what i can get since its so hard to find.

also the Odell brewery just started bringing stuff into MPLS/STPL, and their IPA (they make several, but this is the only one just called IPA) was just fantastic, a little of the grapefruity thing going on but just kind of perfectly balanced with some piney something and light carbonation zing. super super good, on my short list for favorite new IPA at the moment.

anyone seen nordeast outside of nordeast?

for sale at (you guessed it) boozemart - or do you mean outside of the TC area?

no, inside! haven't seen it anywhere in these parts

figure out a day that you arent busy doctoring and i will lead you to the zone

basically free from now until may 23rd. then into the memory hole for six weeks, then free-ish until late august :D

i am out of town next weekend, but hey lets do this! also included in offer - patio, dog of unseemly size.

newcastles in triumphant end of week pre-practice quaffing!

cuz i'm taking off friday for a bros wedding

enjoying a green flash imperial ipa. a bit surprised by how sticky/sweet it is. more like orange than grapefruit, but still plenty dry and bitter.

Drinking corona tonight!!!!

I know, sad. It's what my inlaws drink.

i am becoming a bit of a beer snob. Pretty much derive no pleasure from lagers i used to enjoy and guinness, which i used to love, has gone down a lot in my estimation vis-a-vis real ale stouts and porters that i've tried.

Enjoyed a sixer of the Stone Levitation Ale over the past few nights. Really, really good stuff.

Want to get into some heavier IPAs this weekend.

just finished a big bottle of heineken :(((

beer kombucha

LOL, this is a good thing? My wife keeps trying to sell me on kombucha, but I ain't havin' it.

my wife loves kombucha but to me it's like drinking a bottle of salad dressing

He says, pounding yet another bottle of Hidden Valley Ranch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwkcBi0_L28

cool little trailer featuring MI beers across the spectrum, the little breweries from my hometown make an appearance

Black Isle Organic Porter: a real disappointment. Pours without much of a head, thin mouthfeel, not much of a nose, bland taste.

Can I just say I love Terrapin's Hopsecutioner...

I've got a fairly random assortment of beers in my fridge right now:

Weyerbacher Quad (2)
O'Hara's Stout (1)
Sierra Nevada Stout (1)
Samuel Smith Porter (4, but soon to be 3)
Smuttynose Porter (2)
Troegs Java Head (2)
Dogfish Head Chicory Stout (2)
Stone Smoked Porter (1 bomber)
Troegs Flying Mouflan (1 bomber)

Michigan beer fest at my local tonight. On tap:

new holland night tripper
new holland dragons milk
dark horse fore smoked stout
dark horse crooked tree IPA
founders old crumudgeon oak aged old ale
founders reds rye IPA
founders double trouble imperial IPA
founders cerise (bottle)
jolly pumpkin ES bam bier
jolly pumpkin la roja(750ml bottle)

...plus a "special treat" from Bell's.

Yeah, ton of stuff going on for Chicago Craft Beer Week.

It's over: Mammoth Brewing Co's Double Nut Brown has the dark chocolate flavor nailed.

I had a bomber of Arcadia Sky High Rye last night, very good. I'm starting to get a taste for ryes, they might break me from the IPA habit yet.

i don't want to break my IPA habit; I'm still on the Deuchars big time. had a few bottles of Brew Dog IPA which was maybe a bit too strong for me, in terms of alcohol -i prefer a lighter IPA and find it more refreshing-, but still palatable.

Beers I drank in Portland that were new to me:

Double Mountain India Red Ale
Widmer W'10 Pitch Black IPA
Firestone Walker Union Jack
Amnesia Copacetic IPA
Upright Farmhouse Rye
Fearless IPA
Roots Burghead Heather Ale
Ninkasi Total Domination IPA
plus about a dozen 4 oz. samples (shared with my gf) of various Rogue beers

Notes:
The IRA may have been my favorite -- no real surprise there, since I really love that style. The Copacetic had a strong but very pleasing weed aroma, though it was a bit undercarbonated (may have just been the keg). The Farmhouse Rye was subtly flavorful. I didn't love the Burghead Heather, but it was fairly drinkable (and I liked trying a beer made with heather tips instead of hops). The other IPAs were all stellar, though none in particular stood above the rest.

I found the Sierra Nevada Torpedo IPA to be quite good, and well-priced when on sale ($8 / 6-pak). Doesn't hit you over the head with its IPA-ness.

I also bought a sixer of Samual Adams Longshot, which is actually 2 bottles each of 3 different style beers developed by their employees. One is a lemon pepper Saison, which wasn't as weird as it may sound, neither lemon nor pepper flavors were detectable to me. Another is a Scottish Ale type that I haven't tried yet, and the third is an Ale with 9% abv that was very good. Dunno how long this will be in the stores or if there's even a chance any of it will make it to regular production.

I need a good punch me in the face IPA.

The wife, a friend and I all split one of the 21st Amendment watermelon wheat beers this weekend just to see what it was like. Holy shit was that vile, four ounces was way too much.

Lagunita's Wilco Tango Foxtrot - our visiting friend apparently knows one of the guys who helped brew this so she had to check it out. I liked it a lot, one of the big malty / hoppy beers that I generally go for but it was a little much post bike ride.

Oskar Blues Gubna Imperial IPA - this was pretty good but kind of exceeded my tolerance. Strong but way too sweet for me, at least in 12 ouce format. I could have gone for a smaller amount of this.

21st amendment watermelon is seriously maybe the worst bullshit foisted on beer drinkers ever.

Three new big bottles at boozemart this week from the BarrelHouse brewing company in Cincinatti. Trying the Cumberland Pale Ale first - pretty good, a little too much caramel for my tastes but def not a bad beer at all, esp for the LOW INTRODUCTORY PRICE of $2.99 for a 22 oz. Spends a lot of time lingering in the sides of the tongue, with some sort of sweet/bitter aftertaste going on.

Jaymc, did you have the Copacetic at Amnesia itself? I've always found it a bit flat there. Feel like maybe that's just how they do that one. Also, a little too floral for me, but I like their other beers plenty.

Oh beers.

Recently I have enjoyed:
Half Acre Double Daisy Cutter
Three Floyds Blackheart IPA
Lost Abbey Serpent's Stout
Goose Island Coffee Bourbon County Stout
Two Brothers Coffee Domaine Dupage
Goose Island CBC Belgian IPA
(holy chicago-area brewers)

It seems like everyone under the sun is now brewing an IPA with Belgian yeast. The first one I ever had was the Allagash Hugh Malone a few years back, but now Stone, Flying Dog, Goose Island, and Great Divide all have versions out. I have enjoyed every beer in this style, but Hugh Malone may be the finest of all.

I tried the Stone/Dogfish/Victory Saison made with herbs, it was solid, but not special.

That reminds me. The Stone Russian Imperial Stout is really good. 22 oz bottles of it are only $7, which is an unbelievable deal in my book. I picked up a few extra to age in my "beer closet."

There are bottles of the Schneider Aventinus brewed in 2003 and 2005 out there. I had the 2003 last night and it was really fantastic. If you aren't familiar with the beer, grab a bottle of the current year and a bottle of 2003 to compare.

One final note: I had an IPA from a brewery in Florida called Cigar City. It was aged in cedar and tasted like a cigar. It was interesting, but I definitely didn't need 25 oz of it!

xp Yeah, it was at Amnesia. I did like the ambiance there. Wasn't hungry at the time, but I could see it being a pretty sweet spot to hang out during a summer afternoon and have a brat and a couple beers.

Gulden Draak has been mentioned on this thread, though only in passing really, tried it for the first time tonight and it is amazing. A lot of alcohol on the nose but sweet and fruity to the taste, far too quaff-able than 10.5% has any right to be.

nice and hoppy too.

I should have documented what the heck I drank in Montreal, because I had a few local brands and they were pretty good. Am I right in thinking the the majority of Quebec beers aren't available in the US, Unibroue aside?

re: barrelhouse beers i mentioned a few posts up, they were pretty unremarkable.

ive been consuming new beers at a rapid clip (consolation for non-smoking) but nothing really all that noteworthy as of late.

When I was in Montreal in 2006, I'm pretty sure I just drank Griffon Blonde and Griffon Rousse the whole time. They seemed to be everywhere.

not sure if this is cool or ... not cool: http://www.milesdavis.com/us/brew

Yeah, I saw that on facebook (I "liked" Davis at one point). It seems pretty crass, but as they say, "If it brings more people to his music, it must be a good thing."

I never tried any of those Frank Zappa beers, but since i'm usually at least curious what new DFH beers taste like, i'll probably check this out if/when i see it.

it sort of seems like a beer trying to capture the essence of Bitches Brew should be kinda nasty.

Amazing beers nowhere to be found on this thread: Mothership Wit from New Belgium, thought this one was pretty common? Perfect summer brew IMO, light Belgian-style white.

And from North Coast, Pranqster is a belgian golden, Brother Thelonious is a dubbel, both have a sweetness and really full flavor despite high ABV, they're served in 10.5-oz goblets in bars.

Dope-looking taps too:
http://www.coloredhorse.com/FineArts/Images-Commerical/Thelonious/Thelonious-Taphandle-Final-1-med.jpg

ha, that is a cool tap. jazz beers!
on the new belgium tip, their Trippel is pretty tasty.

welcome to the future, have a powdered beer beer-flavoured drink

http://www.gizmag.com/powdered-beer-to-wash-down-canned-cheeseburger-12656/12656/

picked up some lagunitas Undercover. i've never seen it before, slightly hoppy ale with almost too much sweetness. it's okay but not exceptional.

that daisy cutter is my shit