Beer in the new era

that daisy cutter is my shit

Yeah, I have to say, I bought a growler last weekend and I liked it a lot more than I did the first few times I tried it. I think they've figured out how to balance it better.

World Beer Cup® 2010

Tried my first Dogfish, the 60-minute IPA. I wanted to give one of their IPAs a shot, but I just can't get behind really hoppy beers. I want the malt! I want balance! I'll finish this sixer, but you'd have to pay me to try the 90 or 120.

Completely understandable, I am kinda getting 'over' the hoppy beers. 60m IPA (and in a way the 90 too) are pretty much the platonic ideal of the IPA and I like that but I am not so interested anymore.

Even though I live about a 2h drive from Burlington VT I finally had some of the Magic Hats for the first time lately (I had had the #9 a couple years ago, but I've now had Wacko, one of their summer beers and their new IPA as well) and I rue Quebec's beer importing/distributing laws or wahtever because goddamn it I can't buy this stuff even though it's so close. If I had a car... you best believe I'd be running this shit prohib-style.

Any other VT (or nearby) brewers I need to try? I wanna try the Long Trail (if that's the name?) Alt/Sticke Alt varieties. I had Allagash lately as well which was nice.

AND MORE IMPORTANTLY: How fucking good is sour brown ale? Seriously. The MTL Beerfest had a few varieties and I could ahve died of bliss.

I tried a Williams Brothers Red Ale yesterday that was absolutely lovely - I don't think I'd knowingly drunk a red ale before.

god i drank so much Long Trail in college. i remember it fondly, but i'm not really sure how it would stand up today.

fun to make a trip to the brewery tho!

bluepoint toasted lager is just abt the only microbrew i fuck w/regularly these days.

Found Goose Island in SoCal a couple weeks ago, Sophie and Pere Jacques. Both good, and would drink again, but at $7/22 oz bottle won't be drinking often.

but I just can't get behind really hoppy beers.

― Grisly Addams (WmC), Tuesday, July 20, 2010 6:57 PM (1 week ago)

wait i thought you liked Sierra Nevada?

I mean REALLY hoppy beers. I think SN pale ale is well-balanced!

wowzers. i need to try dogfish 90min again then. i thought the same thing but reversed (btw the two).

I have so much to write, but I will keep it short.

Beers that have absolutely floored me since the beginning of my road trip:

New Glarus Enigma
Snake River Pako's Eye-P-A
Brooklyn Sorachi Ace Saison
Three Floyds Apocalypse Cow Lacto Double IPA
Lagunitas Hop Stoopid Centennial Double? IPA
Port Big Black Poochie Double Black IPA
Port Poor Man's Double IPA
Everything at Russian River
Mikkeller Yeast Series: Brettanomyces

For anyone who is in the distribution area of Three Floyds and enjoy big IPAs, I would suggest seeking out the Apocalypse Cow. It is really big, but the lactose adds a smooth creaminess. It is one of the best beers I have ever had.

Sorachi Ace, a Japanese hop variety, seems to be a hot hop. Three Floyds made a nice lager with it and now Brooklyn has made an even better Saison with the it. It has a nice spicy bite and is really a unique hop. I love it.

The Mikkeller yeast series is a nice little experiment. They start with the same wort and then use 5 different yeasts to ferment the wort to give an idea how each yeast creates different flavors. The Brettanomyces yeast is used most often in Wild Ales and this is an exceptional example.

Ok. I am going to bed.

For the Chicago folks.

Binny's has 2008 and 2009 Stone Russian Imperial Stout and Old Guardian Barleywine in bottles for sale.

These beers age well and it is a great opportunity to get aged beer without aging it yourself. It is also great to compare the different vintages!

BINNY'S

found some moinette blond at binny's after not really ever seeing it in CA stores. so crisp and layered.

i miss binny's

had sierra nevada's pale ale and porter and really enjoyed them both. think the pale ale was the first american pale ale i'd tried, though i've tried plenty american influenced pale ales. perhaps a bit too hoppy but more or less just what i'm looking for. not really the weather for porter, but as it's my favourite style of beer i thought i'd give it a try. something about the nose that i'm not quite happy with, but nice and deep taste and nice mouthfeel.

anyone try the sierra nevada summer?

summertime for me is all about sam adams summer ale, wachusett summer...basically any summer ale. give me some reco's on some others to try...oh and i also love miller high life after mowing the lawn.

i've had it--it's nice but won't blow you away. it's no sam which is the gold standard for the genre.

i've been drinking some goose island 312 recently which isn't specifically summer but feels seasonal to me

anyone had the super fancy goose islands? like pere jacques and matilda (I think)? (apologies if they've come up itt before.) always been curious but kind of irritated at how expensive they are from a local brewery

Yeah, they're pretty good. Sofie is the other fancy Belgian one they do. I don't go out of my way for them, though. By "local brewery" do you mean you live in Chicago?

I do...as you're probably reading in the feminist blog thread right now! :)

Ah! Yes, well, you should post in the Chicago thread sometime. We're generally kind to newcomers.

Generally

Jeff likes the wrong cupcakes >:[

im generally a wheat beer freak...there is a new pub/bar in town Armsby Abbey...which blows me away. I do like a La Fin Du Monde

<3 fin du monde! definitely my favorite unibroue, though I'm not sure i've tried them all

zee bar i was mentioning...http://armsbyabbey.com

Dulle Teve (Mad Bitch)....fucking amazing.

have you had Ballast Point Bourbon Barrel Black Marlin Porter?

that i have yet to try....not a porter guy.

but my wife loved when i ordered the mad bitch in her honor.

it's not exactly a summer beer either, but that name is kind of irresistible.

interested in this - Dogfish Head Theobrama. im huge fan of dogfish head

This beer is based on chemical analysis of pottery fragments found in Honduras which revealed the earliest known alcoholic chocolate drink used by early civilizations to toast special occasions. The discovery of this beverage pushed back the earliest use of cocoa for human consumption more than 500 years to 1200 BC. As per the analysis, Dogfish Head’s Theobroma (translated into 'food of the gods') is brewed with Aztec cocoa powder and cocoa nibs (from our friends at Askinosie Chocolate), honey, chilies, and annatto (fragrant tree seeds). It's light in color - not what you expect with your typical chocolate beer. Not that you'd be surpised that we'd do something unexpected with this beer!

sounds pretty nuts!

sounds like it would give me the shits.

Sounds great.

60 and 90 minute ipa gets my dick like a nail.

The super fancy goose islands are the only ones I ever see out here, and only in 22s.

I brought a bunch of Bells Two Hearted back from my trip to Michigan and an 18 pack of Old Milwaukee which is on of my favorite summer beers but for whatever reason it doesn't make it to WA.

I cut the top and bottom off a diet pepsi can the other day so I can slip it over an old mil can and have a beer while walking the dog.

Drank far too many sam summers last night and then popped a trazodone to sleep....i feel like something that fell out of a tall cows ass.

i broke my no complicated beers rule last night and drank a great divide rye lager, a .5 liter of paulaner pils, an allagsh white, and a clown shoes brown angel. all great but i felt pretty gnar.

60 and 90 minute ipa gets my dick like a nail.

yo what does this mean?!

also, i am going to boston in mid-september i think from the insulated beer-land of quebec, what do i need to try? where do i need to drink it? where can i get bottles to bring home?

best place to go is still the publick house/american craft in brookline

60 and 90 minute ipa gets my dick like a nail.
yeah was gonna say ... is this good or bad?
and yeah, i agree, publick house is fab -- i used to live within walking distance. i consider moving back to Boston just for the publick house.

its good.

finally tried the Oskar Blues Gubna Imperial IPA ... it was good, but I think that 10% alcohol might just be too much alcohol for me?

I'm really enjoying Trader Joe's Dunkelweizen lately - or what I guess is actually Josephs Brau Dunkelweizen. It's nice to take a break from hoppier beers.

speaking of 10% alcohol, red hook 8-4-1 expedition @ 9.5%. "oak aged ale brewed with honey" (and brown sugar and smoked malt). nice, though unsurprisingly cloying after a the first few sips. they try to offset the sweetness with massive hops, but it winds up more aggressive than balanced. still pretty tasty. one of a billion short run big beers produced every month by the nameless numberless american craft/micro/indie brewery hordes. wtf at the name though. like it's a sleeping bag or a bike seat.

anyway yeah, dogfish 90, all the way. i have often remarked that it gets my dick like a nail.

TMIPA