Beer in the new era

I'm going to this a week on Saturday:
http://www.kwvr.co.uk/events/151-featured/126-beer-a-music-festival-2012.html
Real ale! Steam trains! Real ale on steam trains!

so i live in l.a. and a recent article pegged it as a top 5 beer city, citing a couple of breweries and some gastropubs, but idk, the scene here is a little thin.

you've gotta go out to orange county imo - bruery provisions in orange is a great beer store (and often the only place to get some of their rarities), but there's a store in corona, el cerrito liquor, that i'll personally stan for as the best bottle shop i've ever been to on either coast.

regardless there's some amazing stuff in/near LA that doesn't make it very far at all - look for stuff from craftsman brewing (which doesn't bottle, but should be available at father's office and the like), alpine brewing, kern river...

I usually don't get excited about lagers, but the Craftsman 1903 is really good. And I like Golden Road, less enthusiastic about Eagle Rock brewery.

I guess that's the official name of the New Belgium "ancho" ale I spoke of a bit ago.

Oops, I must've been conflating these two:
http://greatbrewers.com/sites/default/files/images/Product%20-%20New%20Belgium%20Cocoa%20Mole.preview.jpghttp://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UgTeOSdevuo/UD7RSHSuoFI/AAAAAAAAJjY/owx7AQNTFcY/s1600/ska-mole-stout.jpg

Was interested in the Ska one.

I like GRs hefe but everything else I've had has been a bit avg. bruery provisions is dope as fuck. Friend of mine has worked the bar there for some time now.

I really like GR's brown ale (dumb name notwithstanding - Get Up Offa That Brown). And the Point the Way IPA would not be my usual IPA, but sometimes it's what I want.

I've had a couple Bruerys in the bottle, but don't remember how much I liked them.

Just discovered that banana bread beer has arrived in the local supermarket. Drinking a bottle as I write.
It's in a 5 for €10 offer with various European beers etc and the LOndon Pride they were supposedly having in an offer about this time last year but was never on the shelves.
Hope its permanent addition would love to have this available whenever I fancy it.

got a 6 of Founders Centennial IPA and not crazy about it, got a 6 of lagunitas brown suggah and other than the brain-crushing ABV, i have nothing good to say about it. WAY too sweet.

centennial is my least favorite offering from Founders iirc

much prefer their dry hopped regular PA to their IPA

yeah i went with the IPA because its supposed to have higher IBU, but man, theres just something sorta off about the bitterness. hard to put my finger on it. preferred the red rye PA or whatever by leaps and bounds.

Picked up bruery mischief/saison rue/tart of darkness today. Psyched to try them.

I buy a lot of my beer during my lunch break. Always feels weird to roll back into the office carrying three bombers and a six pack.

And heavy.

Tried Estaminet Pilsner yesterday. Not bad. It's a smooth pilsner with a crisp hoppy bite - similar to Pilsner Urquell. Wouldn't have guessed it was Belgian.

I can't believe I live that close to New England and won't get to taste any because Quebec is being Quebec. Not that beer is bad here, it's actually good, but i'm getting tired of the same 10-15 breweries.

man i know it is plebian boring whatever, but every year when the sierra nevada celebration comes out, my heart skips a beat. love this beer.

i think our next brewing project is going to be a trad apfelwine.

The 5 for €10 deal on exotic beers is coming to an end without me having tried half of them.
Sio I just picked up 5 this afternoon
Banana Bread Beer
Chocolate Stout
Erdinger Hefe
Erdinger Dunkel
London Pride
so for some reason I bought several I tried most of before, maybe should have headed out to the bigger shop nearer to home instead of settling on 5 from the market in town.

Not sure if I've had Erdinger Dunkel.

Well they're keeping the brands they didn't stock before in some of the stores at least, think this was mainly introductory.

May grab another 5 tomorrow.

Used to <3 Erdinger Dunkel back in the day when I was all about wheat beers.

(xpost) No shame in your Celebration celebration. I love it too, my go to beer this time of year.

Celebration is great

i have been drinking so much lagunitas lately. a case of the normal IPA and last night i had 2 of the Maximus ones which were delish. sump'n sump'n also delish.

A world where sierra Nevada celebration is boring plebian whatever is such a strange world. It's good stuff though.

Some people do not like Celebration Ale.(There were a few way upthread.) I, on the other hand, could Celebrate year 'round.

Drank lots and lots of barrel aged beers last night. Delightful. My favorite was Perennial's Barrel-Aged Abraxas. Chocolate, cinnamon, thick, smooth.

Not sure which I prefer at the moment Young's Double Chocolate Stout or Erdinger Kristell. Hadn't tried either before about 2 weeks ago.
Love flavour on both now.

Double Chocolate stout is really plain chocolate tasting.

Sierra Celebration ale is so classic

Had Bourbon County Rare/Vanilla/Coffee 2012/Bramble Rye/Cherry Rye/King Henry in a tasting today. Best tasting ever.

wow

It was a little pricey but you also got dessert pairings, a BCS glass, and a bomber of 2008 BCS to take home.

2009, not 2008.

which was yr fav variant?

Vanilla has always been my favorite, but this years coffee is awesome. Rare was great, I wish I had a full 10oz to drink over an hour or so to really enjoy it.

Highly recommend Stone's "Enjoy By..." if you enjoy the Simcoe grapefruit/rosewater fresh hop action up in YO FACE.
9.2%ABV, $4.99 bomber.

Costco has these Sam Adams special brew packs -- it's four bombers for $20:
Merry Mischief Gingerbread Stout
The Vixen Chocolate Chili Bock
Norse Legend Sahti
Griffin's Bow Oaked Blonde Barleywine

Worth pulling the trigger?

no

Haven't had any of those.

The Sahti is good, though I think it might be the only Sahti I've ever had.

I think they might all be one-offs?

I've been really trying to cut expenses lately so I've been mostly drinking the cheapo kirkland ales, which are fine, but when winter comes around I crave some good strong brews.

i've had some really nasty sam one-offs in the past.

The Sahti is good, though I think it might be the only Sahti I've ever had.

Dogfish Head has a good one, IIRC.

^yup, had that a couple times (once for a sauna party even). it's good.

Cisco Brewers - Summer of Lager - pretty good rendition of a Bavarian lager, tasted fresh

Had a Samuel Smith Imperial Stout last night and GODDAMN is that a good beer. Only 7% and not as intense as a lot of other imperial stouts, but might just be perfect.

Just misread that as Samuel Adams, and I was about to say maybe I should revisit my long-held avoidance of Sam Adams. But those Gingerbread Chili beers listed upthread just seem like they're trying too hard to do too much, in a Cheesecake Factory menu sort of way. And tbf with all the great beer choices every time I look in my local's cooler, Sam Adams is just never going to even be a consideration.

sounds right.

would be out of the question if they weren't $5/bomber. But I can't even imagine liking the gingerbread one, and the other ones...idk

The barleywine actually sounds good to me. If I see that for cheap I may give it a shot.

sam adams astounded me with a really good baltic ipa a while ago (whateverthefuck that is), but in general they are a kinda awful brewery imo

i have a sick dr. strongo-esque love for the cranberry beer in the sam adams xmas pack

also "old fezziwig," mostly because it's called "old fezziwig."