Beer in the new era

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."

Sam Adams' Thirtheen Hour and Stony Brook Red are very good. I'm still attracted to Utopias. Their regular stuff is o.k, not great but not bad either.

I remember liking the Old Fezziwig too, and not just because of the name.

I buy at least one sam adams xmas variety 12-pack every year, old fezziwig always hits the spot.

And, really, I have never not enjoyed a boston lager.

yeah boston lager is one of those beers that I never seek out but if it's the best option at a bbq I'm usually pretty happy

sam makes solid basic german-style beers but they are uh not generally good at stepping outside that box

i had a taste of a sour stout once at a liquor store that made me want to hurl

for me it was sam adams honey porter

Worthington White Shield

bourbon county brand stout is finally hitting my area (in stupidly limited quantities). opened one tonight; goddamn that's about as good as it gets.

I saw it in Walgreens tonight, which still amazes me. Last year, I could only get one single 12 oz bottle. This year I can get cases at a time.

you're lucky, in mass we're scrambling to get to stores that are doing 2 or 3-bottles limits and selling out inside of a day

If you don't already, follow the Beer Advocate sightings thread for your area: http://beeradvocate.com/community/threads/goose-island-bourbon-county-stout-massachusetts-sightings.44773/

The variants are always tougher to get. I've managed to get three Coffees, but still in search for a Cherry Rye.

Bad thing about these BA threads though is you have to deal with the truck chasing beer nerds posting pictures of their hauls. It can be depressing.

http://img703.imageshack.us/img703/2665/tooooeasy.jpg

http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a2cf00b3127ccef1ffa0cff2e900000050O08EZOXDRqxcg9vPgw/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/

xp i have posted in that thread! and yeah, i have no hope for the variants which sucks a lot.

tooooeasy.jpg

fuck a beeradvocate

Last night, on the way to a concert, I stopped in to a slightly out of the way Binny's (though it was on the way to the show) in search of a four-back of KBS. I'd heard that Founders had upped production, so I figured, what the heck. The Kentucky Breakfast Stout was pretty easy to find, so I wandered over to the bourbon, where I found a bottle of Pappy Van Winkle Lot B. I had them unlock the case for me to grab it, and the guy volunteers that they just got their shipment of Bourbon County Stout. Score! So I left there with a four-pack of KBS, a bottle of Lot B, four-back of BCS, and two Bourbon County coffee stout 22oz. bombers. Total price: $150, which is less than people are currently asking for a bottle of Lot B around here!

I have a hunch they have more, possibly even more Pappy, so I may be on my way back imminently.

otm, its a horrible place

Shocked about the KBS. Is that last years release? I didn't think they had released this years version yet.

Also, which Binnys..

Binny's in River Grove.

The KBS was bottled 9/13/12.

I could take the Belmont bus all the way there!

The 4-pack of KBS would last about 15 seconds in the city. And it would be broken up into singles.

hate u guys . i'v never even seen anything from Bourbon County

My beer place has some bourbon county but not for sale yet- they're saving it for their tap opening. I asked them to tell me when it's for sale...