Beer in the new era

ice cr?m, your distaste for their packaging is awesome, especially after this quote from that article:

He designs many of Dogfish’s labels and cites Andy Warhol and Coco Chanel as inspirations—“that fusion of commercialism and art."

I have printed that article out to read on a ten hour flight. I am now worried it will throw me into a fit of rage and that I should chuck it out.

hey caek--the articles does follow the dogfish guy cause hes the lol wackiest brewmaster but it does provide other opinions such as that of the guy from brooklyn breweries and honestly even tho theyre very hit and miss in the opinion of many including this poster when dogfish is on theyre on and all in all its quite well written article imo and probably will not throw you into a fit of rage unless you have very strong opinions about which beer companies deserve to be written about in the new yorker which is obviously a ridiculous thing to have an opinion about.

its funny i pretty much agreed w/the brooklyn guys pov except his beer sux and displays too the bad qualities he criticizes dogfishguy for

i dont know about annoying philosophical positions behind these beers i just know when i buy the 90 min. it tastes good + i get a buzz pretty quick

jhoice cr?m just curious what beers do you like?

― ┃♜ฺ│♞ฺ│♝ฺ│♛ฺ│♚ฺ│♝ฺ│♞ฺ│♜ฺ┃ (dan m), Sunday, December 28, 2008 3:35 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

mostly imports bro - tho obv theres some mircobrews that dont conform to the classically american aspiration more is more

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c72/tong1/paulanerhefeweizen1.jpg

check out this wholesome celebration happening on the paulaner hefeweizen label - some days i like to gaze deeply and imagine myself there - one of my fav beers btw

http://i42.tinypic.com/dqk5jk.gif

this pinkus pils is slammin!

http://i43.tinypic.com/33c44dh.jpg

i like this microbrew called hennepin - its creamy and delicious

pffft
midas touch, punkin ale, pangaea and the palo santo marron are all pretty excellent beers imo (black and blue, raison detre bleccchhhh though)
brooklyn brewery is generally more so-so, nothing to write home about. Their lager recipe needs a re-tooling I think

the best beer I drank over christmas was this
http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/30/43903
and we found some Cooper's Vintage at a new DC bottle-o and had it fedexed to TN
http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/491/3624/
also very delicious

some other really excellent beers I had over the holidays was a tecate that had been in the fridge for who knows how long, a gennessee cream ale because nobody had seen that stuff in like years, some fordham beers and of course grolsch in the stopper bottles and tetleys in the widget cans.
I need to track down this "grolsch weizen."

had some of bosco's stone beer in nashville - the steinweizen was HORRID, the regular stone ale was acceptable though, steak sandwich and garlic fries mostly made up for it. blackstone's in nashville has the better beers I think, bosco's has better food.
also got to try a couple of other schlenkerla biers - the rauch weizen (bleah) and the helles (boring)

i like midas touch but it doesnt really taste/seem like a beer, plus its $$$

btw pumpkin drinker the restaurant downstairs from me has gennessee cream on tap

Paulaner Hefe was one of my first beer loves <3 <3 <3

oh and rodenbach flemish sour ale, the regular and the grand cru, both definitely in the does not taste/seem like a beer category

the rodenbach definitely reserved for late evening drinking
also just remembered I got some of this other weirdness
http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/697/37837
which is just weird basically - I would not recommend

http://beeradvocate.com/news/1610704
^^^ Leinenkugel 1888 Bock story

this is available in the 7-11 by my office now
it's okay. BA posters gave it a B- which I think is probably about right.
I suppose I should be drinking it out of a glass like a civilized person

I bet it would be better if it were 1988 Bock though

i just had one raderberger tonight at the end of the workday.

I bet it would be better if it were 1988 Bock though

^^^^^^this

Is it sweet?

Bell's Best Brown is available on tap here for so cheap! 2.25 a glass.

it's not sweet like the fireside, no. I think I'm really getting a thing for these vintagey browns this winter. It's definitely best in a glass and left to sit and air for a while, big fluffy head.

I just had to wonder, since they used to just sell "Bock" in the winter w/ little to no fanfare. Then it became "BIG BUTT DOPPLEBOCK" and now this.

I am very much in favour of East End Black Strap Stout

http://www.eastendbrewing.com/?q=node/18

so i just cracked open one of these:

http://www.brewbasement.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/dogfish_head_red_and_white.jpg

^^^love their Brown Ale

guinness all week.

going between goose island and berghoff lately, bought some 12 packs in chicago and transported them back west

bell's <3 <3 4 ever

tonight I had a Famosa, from Guatemala

http://www.1000bottlesofbeer.com/images/37.jpg

xp 2x

so this red and white is really something (and at $13.49 for 750 ml it's a good thing). if you're unaware, my understanding is that it's a witbier plus pinot noir grape juice that is then barrel aged. the taste is mostly witbier but you do get the wine thing (moreso when it's cold for whatever reason) and a 10% abv that you can't taste at all. not too light, not too heavy, and really fucking delicious.

bell's <3 <3 4 ever

― Tracy Michael Jordan Catalano (Jordan), Monday, January 26, 2009 8:22 PM (1 week ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

so true

I can't remember if this is the beer thread that had the "over hopped American microbrew" conversation, but on that note and the Bell's note I am drinking a "Hopslam" Ale, brewed with honey and coming in at 10% ABV. The honey balances the ridic amount of hops surprisingly well. It's still probably too much, but I kind of like it. I imagine some here would have a field day with the label:

http://i182.photobucket.com/albums/x68/LIONSTEETH/BellsHopSlam.jpg

Lonestar: still shitty, still cheap.

I think I've had two beers so far this year. I'll be remedying that this weekend.

i love hopslam!

Had an AleSmith Wee Heavy Scotch Ale tonight, pretty good (750 ml at 10% ABV = decent buzz). Would drink again.

i found the fiddler's elbow ale i had last week to be pretty good. english ale. medium-to-slightly fizzy. similar to old speckled hen, with a more bizarre aroma to it. some would say earthy but it's not quite... more pungent in the nose, refreshing in the throat.

that said, the stone chocolate stout was a more enjoyable, warming brew for the time of year. i go for the english ales in spring & summer, typically.

btw fiddler's elbow is a Wytchwood brew, same as the folks who make the Hobgoblin dark english ale, which i'm much more likely to get.

<IMG SRC=http://www.hoppocketwine.co.uk/images/wychwood%20fiddlers%20elbow.jpg>;

oh hell,

http://www.hoppocketwine.co.uk/images/wychwood%20fiddlers%20elbow.jpg

so i'm getting married this may, and considering it's one of my biggest interests/financial drains, i'd like craft beer to be well-represented at the reception.

i've been asking a lot of friends to get some input, and thus far people have given me basically three opinions:

1. offering some craft beer is all well and good, but you should also offer a bud or a pabst or something that everyone knows and likes
2. offer all craft beer, just make sure there are some styles that are accessible, too.
3. it's your wedding, get whatever the fuck you want

option 2 seems the best to me. i'd love to offer all great lakes (say, their 4 or 5 mainstay beers that are always available), b/c they're incredible, awesome beers that are also pretty accessible. i'm a native clevelander, too, so GL would represent my roots. though the wedding's in new haven, CT. and i know that GL isn't available, at least in package stores, in new england, so that might be a problem unless the venue knows a distributor who can get it.

but the same could be accomplished with say, brooklyn brewing co. - everyone knows them and the beers for the most part are pretty good (though i know there's much better out there.) i like how they're regional, too, as new haven is in the NYC/tri-state nexus, i guess.

what do y'all think? anybody plan a wedding and have to pick the beer?

before i even finished yr post i was thinking brooklyn would be perfect for this situation.

option 2 seems the best to me. i'd love to offer all great lakes (say, their 4 or 5 mainstay beers that are always available), b/c they're incredible, awesome beers that are also pretty accessible. i'm a native clevelander, too, so GL would represent my roots. though the wedding's in new haven, CT. and i know that GL isn't available, at least in package stores, in new england, so that might be a problem unless the venue knows a distributor who can get it.

get in touch w/ the public affairs/communications ppl at great lakes and explain the situation and then sort of vaguely ask for help--you never know, if theyre looking for good publicity opportunities they might supply yr wedding for free! esp. if u play up the "cleveland boy pining for home" angle.

ha! i did exactly that, max. they were very friendly and put me in touch with their new york distributor, who's based in buffalo. the buffalo dist. co. wasn't helpful, basically said "sorry we only do buffalo area."

but i'm gonna ask the management at our reception venue about GL. since they buy tons of booze all the time for events, they might know a distributor that could get it.

hrm

sometimes it's easier to get a keg through a distributor than bottles.

well brooklyn would def be easy to get in new haven

option 3: it's your wedding....

there is new england brewing co, which is located in CT and has pretty good beer and the elm city lager is something most anyone would drink, i think.
http://newenglandbrewing.com/brews.html

tbh i've never had NEBC. i should give it a try.

xp - i like the spirit behind option 3, but i guess i'm just not that kind of host. i'd rather have my wedding guests be drunk and happy and liking the beer than be sour over some russian imperial stout b.s.... besides i guess my own tastes have tamed quite a bit recently. i kind of overdid it with the RIS and double IPAs last year. if i can find a good amber or traditional pale ale, or a scotch ale or something a bit more balanced, it impresses me just as much.