Beer in the new era

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

I do love the Marble Brewery, Manchester.

Also drank (Manchester band) Elbow's beer yesterday. It was quaffable.

http://labeley.com/

Mildly amusing.

http://labeley.com/public/img/saved/print/1319753044hth11j9fef.png

i would drink that

lol thanks for that--my buddies just bottled their first homebrewing experiment (named "contagion" and described as "keystone light light") and now i can contribute something.

Anyone have any thoughts on Bass? I think it was the first *premium* beer I ever remember liking (I had tried I think Sam Adams and Heineken prior to that and hadn't been all that into them). We're probably talking about when I was like barely drinking age, if drinking age at all. Then I stopped drinking it for years once I discovered other stuff, Magic Hat -> Sierra -> German Beers -> Belgian Beers -> various American micro-micro brews-> Brooklyn beers -> Sixpoint (best local beer) etc.

Friend brought Bass to my place recently. Thought it was pretty decent, as good as a dozen other micro-Pale Ales anyway, if not one of my favorites. Cleaner than the average PA, maybe very slightly too watery.

It's been ages since I've had a Bass. Apparently it's not doing so well in the US, according to Wikipedia:

In 2001, 665,000 hectolitres of Bass was sold in the United States.[40] However Bass seems to have suffered under the custodianship of InBev and later Anheuser-Busch InBev as it is undergoing heavy decline in American consumption, with 242,000 hectolitres sold in the country in 2010.

I think maybe it's been supplanted by the rising tide of hoppier domestic pale ales. I seem to recall Bass having a sweeter, nuttier taste, more like a brown ale.

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.

otm it was good but i'm just about as happy with the FBS for $10/4pack and easier to find

Agreed. And I think I like Firestone Walker Parabola just as much as well.

perhaps Bass has been in decline since the age of the Black and Tan has up and went.

black and tans w/ Bell's Oberon & Expedition Stout

Was at a suburban bar last weekend that offered a Black-Hearted (Guinness + Bell's Two-Hearted).

I got a 4 pack of Founders Harvest ale and really like it a lot. But there is no way I can accurately describe the taste. It is a wet hops beer, whatever that means.

There's also the Black Cherry: Guinness + Sam Adams Cherry Wheat

I bought a six of the Guiness black lager. Will try this evening. Any good?

i find everything about that stuff frightening, but uh, let me know if it's good.

will do.

Wet hops means they add fresh-picked whole hops to the brew (as in, fresh picked that day- not dried or anything).

German black lager (schwarzbier) is among my favorite styles! I'm curious what the Irish version is like.

Yeah I'm really into this Kostritzer black lager now -- I keep going back for it. It's so refreshing after drinking so many heavily hopped beers -- not that there's anything wrong with a lot of hops, but sometimes one needs a change.

Actually just had the Guinness black lager tonight- not bad! Not especially flavorful but nice and clean and creamy.

Why do you think New Belgium Ranger is always like a dollar cheaper per 6pk than other comparable IPAs, even those that come from several hundred miles closer to Chicago?

The brewery also uses an energy-efficient kettle for the brewing process. The Steinecker Merlin kettle heats twice as quickly by boiling thin sheets of wort in the entire kettle at once. This provides significant savings in natural gas consumption.[16]

Peak Organic Fall Summit Ale - another hit from the most generically named microbrewery. Interestingly, has a slight dryness/pucker and a certain other flavor that reminds me of their summer session ale, almost like a taste signature.

Why do you think New Belgium Ranger is always like a dollar cheaper per 6pk than other comparable IPAs, even those that come from several hundred miles closer to Chicago?

― bomb.gif (dan m), Saturday, October 29, 2011 10:44 PM (4 days ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

I haven't looked up sales figures, but I would speculate they make it up in volume. New Belgium's marketing is GREAT. They're in virtually every store in Minneapolis, neon signage, even my local dive bar that has no other beer of interest has Ranger on tap.

They have some pretty awesome promotional events, too. The urban assault bike rides, the traveling short film show...

having my first non-draft sixpoint sweet action. It's really good - sort of starts out like it's going to be too sweet but then the bitterness sneaks up on you.

FWIW I don't know if I like the look they went for with the cans -- feel like it makes it look too bro-y or something

at $9 a glass and 9% abv 3 Floyd's Arctic Panzer Wolf = surprisingly mild

If you've ever had an IPA and thought, "I wish this tasted more like iced tea mixed with ginger ale," then I've got the brewery for you: El Buho, in Argentina. Literally the worst IPA I've ever had. Not sure what kind of hops they use down there.

i had this very good "black metal" stout:

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5189/5655760732_feb4bd3a33.jpg

also:

http://www.drunkenpolack.com/images/blacktuesday.JPG

http://www.thebrewsite.com/images/beers/the-abyss.jpg

Those look great. I think I'd like to get into stout more this winter.