Beer in the new era

yeah that Firestone is good, also really enjoyed the Green Flash IPA from some California brewery.

went a little out of town and stayed with friends over the weekend, had dinner at a brewpub that does British style Real Ale (tiny bubbles) beers and they were quite good! Usually I like a good amount of fizz but these had excellent flavor.

i am on a quest for a slap you in the face IPA with minmal/no sweetness, anyone have any suggestions?

also i am intrigued by that weird sam adams sampler pack with identical beers with the only variable being which hops they use just as a hone my palate sort of thing but i want to know that the beer is not shitty before i get a 12 pack. zero confidence in sam adams, but it seems like such a cool idea to me.

slap you in the face IPA with minmal/no sweetness

Lagunitas Little Sumpin'? minimal sweet but serious hop-slap action.

jjjusten I was in yr town drinkin' surlys (and primo and nordeast) the weekend before last. adrian's bar & grill ftw.

as far as IPAs like that, I dunno... seems like they're mostly on that sweet/bitter balance lately in my experience. great lakes commodore perry, maybe?

i have been drinking surly furious like my life depended on it

Surly's no longer available in Chicago -- I should totally have my friend in Minnesota bring me a six-pack when she comes to town next weekend.

my gf's brother always asks us to bring dogfish head products when we go visit him in the cities, apparently they're no longer available there

beer exchange program, imo

I drank about 12 of the Full Sail Session Lagers throughout the day Monday. Really drinkable stuff.

yeah the commodore perry is pretty good, thinking something more like the sierra nevada torpedo (or even reg sierra nevada), summit ipa, surly furious - almost a bitter thing

i have just started to come around on the lagunitas stuff recently, the first beer of theirs i had tasted like lawn clippings and the second one was that brown sugar thing which is like 180 degrees out of phase with what i like in a beer.

i was suprised how much i liked the new belgium belgo actually, pretty good for that whole belgian style ipa crowd

xpost wait i have been to adrians! its aok!

xxpost yeah i think i heard that the dogfish head dude ran into some super irritating thing w/the licensed bev association up here and basically threw up some middle fingers and is never going to distro here again ;_;

I was in a bar by myself last night, sitting at the bar having drinks and dinner. Often when I am drinking/dining alone, I am on my phone, browsing the internet, logging the beers I drink, reading twitter, etc. Out of the blue the bartender asks me what my Beer Advocate ID is??? I told him I didn't have one, that I read Beer Advocate, but I'm not one to write reviews (I would be horrible at it, other people do it much better). I wonder if he thought I was reviewing the bar or the beer I was drinking? It was a weird encounter.

― Jeff, Wednesday, September 7, 2011 5:08 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

lol i drink/eat alone while sitting at the bar on the reg and would be baffled if that's what someone assumed i was doing

I feel like there's a higher percentage of ilxors that do the solo eating/drinking at the bar than in the general population

My people

amen brother

I feel like there's a higher percentage of ilxors that do the solo eating/drinking at the bar than in the general population

^ I do it all the time. Especially when traveling for business.

one of the few small pleasures of traveling for business imo

And especially if you're a beer geek. You can usually get more informed beer talk (and free taster samples!) from the bartender than from waitstaff at a table.

true, plus its all paid for.

xpost

had the north coast brewing company acme pale ale and it might be the blandest bullshit i have ever tasted

i am on a quest for a slap you in the face IPA with minmal/no sweetness, anyone have any suggestions?

i HIGHLY recommend blind Pig IPA
http://russianriverbrewing.com/pages/brews.html

xposty

looks like that is not distroed in mn as of yet which is sad because it sounds pretty awesome

yeah russian river brewing is awesome but hard to find

the plineys both elder and younger are super highly rated

jjj, Surly Wet comes out again in October, which should satisfy your face-slapping needs. $$$, but !!!

YES

i think that the stone ruination IPA is the next thing i need to try

that sam adams latitude 48 was SWILL

drinking a brooklyn local #1 bomber tomorrow to celebrate K doing a 60 mile bike race and me uh idk going to work and not killing anybody i guess (note: neither of these are guaranteed to be successful attempts btw)

yeah russian river brewing is awesome but hard to find

― Aerosol, Thursday, September 8, 2011 9:08 AM (Yesterday)

depends where you live ;-)

last night i shared a stone 15th anniversary black ipa and a dogfish head my antonia; was pretty impressed with both.

hitting the belgian beer fest tmrw night, this is a few days of next-level beeriness for someone whos only been drinking jever and hofbrau original lately.

green flash IPA is good, imo. i also like their "hop head red" ale which is slightly maltier.
past few days been drinking the long hammer IPA from red hook brewing. i like it .

Breakfast stout

O_O http://hoosierbeergeek.blogspot.com/2011/09/open-thank-you-to-bells-and-founders.html

My most purchased of 2011:

1) Pliny the Elder (California)
2) Arrogant Bastard (California)
3) Racer 5 (California)
4) Duvel (Belgium)
5) Sierra Nevada (California)

intrigued by yer love for arrogant bastard. the regular stone IPA is more than enough fer me. i do quite like racer five tho.

i think my most purchased beers recently are prob:
1. brooklyn pilsener
2. radeberger
3. stone ipa
4. dogfish head 60 minute
5. six point sweet action

Arrogant bastard is great.

guessing here

1. bell's two hearted
2. new belgium ranger
3. DAB
4. great lakes burning river
5. high life

According to my untappd, my most consumed beers are:

Daisy Cutter Pale Ale
Half Acre Beer Company
American Pale Ale

Gumballhead
Three Floyds Brewing Company
American Pale Wheat Ale

Pale Ale
Stone Brewing Co.
American Pale Ale

Arrogant Bastard Ale
Stone Brewing Co.
American Strong Ale

Double Jack
Firestone Walker Brewing Company
Double/Imperial IPA

Hopslam Ale
Bell's Brewery, Inc.
Double/Imperial IPA

http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/1/40912/1983638/beers5_750.jpg

Had Pliny the Elder for the first time last week. It was indeed awesome, but then I went to the Russian River brewery and tried nine or ten of their other brews (on one of those sample paddles), and nothing really stood out.

Those Mexican wrestling mask labels are awesome! Should be the official beer of Los Straitjackets.

I had to enter a lottery at a local store to get a chance to buy a bottle of Canadian Breakfast Stout. And I won! 1 of 6 bottles they had.

bro from the store i frequent just called me to say he is saving me one!

my buddy just traded some cbs for a couple bottles of westvleteren, and i will be a lucky beneficiary of this.

we should live blog a tasting

so i am a very happy guy who got to drink some really rare beer tonight.

westvleteren 8 - surprisingly light body, belgian brown ale/dark fruit flavors, amazingly awesome soft carbonation. the trick to this one is the very subtle sour fruit taste that comes in on the finish. feels like you could drink a six pack, easily.

westvleteren 12 - kind of the opposite of the 8. huge dark fruit flavors in the aroma and that's the first thing that hits you when you drink it, along with some welcome booziness. very wine-like. carbonation is barely there. finish is surprisingly short, with a nice dry bitterness.

these beers are special not because they're ridiculous flavor bombs, but because they're subtle, drinkable, and balanced while providing amazing depth of flavor.

Finally drank my Canadian Breakfast Stout bottle. It was delicious, but was it better than other imperial stouts that I've had? Not sure. It was certainly the hardest to get.

Also drinking Firestone Walker Union Jack. I love their IPAs so much.

I've been into the Union Jack a lot lately too; I'd never any of their beers before until last month and suddenly they were everywhere here.

Had the Sierra Nevada 2011 Estate Harvest tonight. Really delicious, strong hops, turns sweet, clean finish.

Kostritzer Black Lager -- yum

yeah, i love Sierra harvest and esp. the estate grown hops vers.
friend hooked me up w/ a bottle of 3 floyds (who are pretty much not distributed in Calif.) imperial pilsner. was v. nice but didn't make me go "a-ha!"

Kostritzer Black Lager -- yum

I second that. A bit like a Guinness Stout but crisper and slightly smoky.

http://blogs.westword.com/cafesociety/assets_c/2011/09/LeftHand.MilkStout.Nitro-thumb-565x304.jpg
got a six pack of this last weekend. supposed to be some kind of magic science breakthrough (widgetless nitro stout). Still not crazy about this beer though. Left Hand has some good ones though.

News and Events @ The Muddy Pig

4th Annual Belgian Beer Festival: October 18 - 23

The 4th Annual Muddy Pig Belgian Beer Festival runs from Tuesday, October 18 through Sunday, October 23. This is an A-Side event where all our draft lines are turned over to Belgian and Belgian-style beers. All beers are sold in flights of three 5oz pours so you can try more of these fantastic brews. We have 85+ beers lined up this year including several that you have never seen on draft before. The event runs all day, every day. This is the biggest Belgian beer event in the state so start making plans.

how many days in a row can i go to this and survive with my bank account intact? they are serving flights of 3 - 5 oz samples for $10. it has been magical so far