Beer in the new era

I had four-packs of Ommegang Hennepin and North Coast Brewery's Pranqster recently - both tasty domestic micro-brews in a Belgian style (saison & golden ale).

Not to knock your enjoyment, but I've always found Ommegang brews to be a little lacking.

Anybody besides Omar had Le Merle? I got a bottle last week, 1st purchase under the state's new reasonable beer laws, and liked it pretty well. It's a saison.

ok i know that this sounds like i have gone crazy, but if you see a 12 pack of the sierra nevada beer camp sampler, buy it immediately - 4 of the best beers i have had this year. yeah, its $20 or something, but thats less than a couple of good bombers so suck it up.

The only Ommegang I've had is Hennepin, so I can't speak for the others, but it seems like a pretty good version of a saison to me - comparable to Saison Dupont for instance, but maybe that's lacking too?

I like Le Merle, too. Pleasantly creamy, iirc.

Haven't tried Le Merle, but I like Pranqster, so if I see it, I'll buy some.

I've also had their Old Rasputin, which is a very strong, bitter stout - probably not the best thing to have with food, but pretty well balanced.

Never like much I the OMG beer I've drank.

Last night enjoyed a Two Brothers Philosophers' Stone (black saison) and my first Dale's Pale Ale. Along with the G'Knight Imperial Red I had last week, I'm quite enjoying the Midwestern encroachment of Oskar Blues.

i've been drink a ton of Founders Porter lately. At $8.99 a 6 pack by my house you can't go wrong and i think i'm the only one buying it.

also on the really cheap porter tip
http://clatl.com/binary/aee1/Zywiec-Porter-329x400.jpg

at 9.5% abv and $1.80 for 500ml this is an awesome deal for a good beer.

if you like Polish beer, look for Warka. ime it's around the same price as Zywiec and more flavorful (tho that porter is a good one)

Do the people who knock Ommegang beers just not like Belgian-style beers in general, or do they find them lacking as compared to others of a similar style (names would be helpful)?

My taste has moved away from Belgians over the years, with the exception of Saisons/Flemish Reds/Lambics.

No I actually find Ommegang a little weak as belgian style beers go

The Bruery make some of the most exciting belgian style beers i've had in awhile

if you guys happen to see this around, nab it. wonderful!

http://ab.haresrocklots.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/ab-ein-toasted.jpg

found my sixer at cap'n'cork in los angeles.

So the place half a block away now has Jacobins Rouge on tap. Perfect topper for my sour obsession, probably time to move on tho.

i'd be all over that if i saw it for sure xp

Bruery is good. I need to try more of theirs.

i've also been loving the Wells Banana Bread Beer

http://www.theperfectlyhappyman.com/uploads/wells-banana-bread-beer.jpg

Bourbon County Brand Stout being release today in the Chicagoland area. A giant clusterfuck of people chasing trucks and store owners fielding hundreds of calls asking about availability.

ah i've had that einstok a few times, very nice. their pale ale not amazing but that one is great.

i've also been loving the Wells Banana Bread Beer

Ha, I bought that for NYE a couple of years ago and thought it was gross!

I dislike any banana beer.

I have had a banana bread beer I liked, but as with all fruit/flavored beers, subtlety is key.

btw, Minneapolis hopheads: Bells will be tapping numerous rare kegs at Bulldog Uptown tonight. Not sure I can make it, but:

Multi-Tap Event
Join us at the Bulldog Uptown in Minneapolis for a tapping of 21 different beers including The Oracle, Hopsoulution, Wedding Ale, Roundhouse, Debs' Red, Black Note, The Jazz Series and many others starting at 5 p.m. Get there before the kegs run out.

I had mongozo banana beer recently; it was rank. have had draught banana bread beer before though and it was delish

my favourite beer I've had recently was this
http://farm5.staticflickr.com/4054/4557977648_aeeed4afa6_z.jpg

oh shit i need to reorganize my evening for that bulldog thing, altho i work until 7 in wstpl so prob so not goiing to happen

They did one at Buster's last night that I was not alerted to until this morning :-(

oh that sucks, i would have totally rolled out to busters last night instead of watching "the voice" off my DVR

beer is not real

have had that maui too actually.

Having my first Left Hand brew, their Wake Up Dead Imperial Stout. I really like this, for a reasonably priced stout.

havent had a left hand beer in a minute, but nitro milk stout was really nice

yeah, i'm going to have to delve in, i really like this one.

these are all pretty good

http://www.beer-pages.com/images/carolus.jpg

holy shit, i went to a beer based bachelor party last week and one dude raided his cellar and it was magic. 90% crazy limited sours (including a bottle of surly 5), pure heaven. going to estimate that the 5 of us drank about $500 of crazy rare beer.

also if people have access to New Glarus stuff where they live (sadly mn is not distributed) buy yourself a bomber or ten of the Wisconsin Belgian Red (tart/sour/sweet belgian with cherry juice) and the enigma thumbprint limited (an oak aged sour that is fucking fantastic). I just drove to Hudson WI to stock up.

on a self-congratulatory note, these same hardcore beer dudes/homebrewers loved our imo failed homebrewed imperial ipa that went somehow into a hardcore barleywine, so maybe sometimes being wrong is right? subtle carbonation is ok when your beer turns out at 11.2% i guess.

Of the new(ish) London micros, Sambrook's Wandle is already a classic: an old fashioned southern English bitter of the Young's Ordinary/Harvey's Best variety.

Brodie's can be rather inconsistent - too many beers, over-reliance on new world hops to give character.

Redemption's beers are excellent, esp. the pale ale, which I could drink all day.

East London pale ale is one of the finest beers I've drunk in a long time.

Kernel - can be great, but again, too many US hops for my taste.

Camden Town - can't really remember

This place just opened up earlier this year a few blocks from my house, and while they're not bottling, they have anywhere from 4-7 of their own microbrews on tap on any given night. I was there last week and tried a chocolate milk stout and an imperial oatmeal amber (!) that were both terrific. I really hope they get into bottling.

http://imgur.com/CvNmr

f people have access to New Glarus stuff where they live

IIRC you can only get it in Wisconsin. Weirdly the last time I had it was in Maryland -- at the house of a friend who'd just moved there from Chicago and had transported, along with the rest of her belongings, a few bottles she'd acquired during a weekend up north.

Yeah every time we visit WI (once or twice a year) a substantial proportion of our transatlantic baggage allowance is set aside for New Glarus products.

sort of feel the opposite to you about most of those bham, to each his own i guess. brodies always impresses me. not tried east london pale ale mind...

f people have access to New Glarus stuff where they live

one of my favorite dark lord day memories ever was driving up to woodman's in kenosha and finding myself in a huge convoy of fellow out-of-staters who'd come up to clean out their new glarus stock

i was at a wedding in NC this past weekend where there were audible cheers when the groom's relatives from WI rolled up with a case of moon man - and this was after we drank all the '10 kate the great he'd been saving

http://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/389921_4687417029314_700793835_n.jpg

I will never ever drink this well again

That New Glarus cherry is so good, and I normally hate fruitbeer.

I just finalized a deal to ship 9 cases of this http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/gigantic-axes-of-evil/178679/ from Oregon to Illinois. Total beer cost: $280. Total shipping cost: $305.

Welp ratebeer doesn't like that link so http://beerstreetjournal.com/three-floyds-gigantic-axes-of-evil/

It seriously mystifies me why this "collaboration" beer is only available out west when 3 Floyds is about 45min away in Indiana, but I've contacted the brewery and they're not selling it here.

http://www.theperfectlyhappyman.com/uploads/wells-banana-bread-beer.jpg
wish I could find this stuff over here, tried it in London last trip and enjoyed it.
But no sign on thsi side of the Channel, may be this side of the country though. Wonder if Dublin has it?