Beer in the new era

Still has the XV? Buy it when you go in there, I'll pay you for them. XV

Dan, yeah, I read it already. Basically gives many of the nerds that were on the fence on hating GI since the AB-InBev purchase a chance to really write them off now. I'm fine with that, more beer for me. And also excited about his new brewery.

My wife was just in Portland for the weekend, and her host had been calling around. Apparently the out of state allotments, given how much was kept for Chicago this time, were particularly paltry.

xpst. Whoops, finishing the first sentence. XV was a wonderful beer and I liked it better than the XVI. But both are great blends.

I may have snagged the last two XV, for me and my friend, but I can try to pop in again tomorrow and see if they have more/totally convince them I am a psycho by making three trips for the same thing in three days.

I can indeed confirm that BCS is still out there, and that you may find them in unusual places. The tiny, tiny 24-7 market on Wabash near my office had at least six 4-packs and one other full case as of today, from what I could see. Their beer selection is tiny, so I was really shocked to see them.

So you lucked out? That's awesome news. Any chance of revealing your source. :)

I would imagine that the Walgreens at Fullerton and Greenview still has some. I can't imagine too many people paying $29 for a four pack at Walgreens.

Can't remember if I talked about it before, but the Bayerischer bahnhof Brettanomyces lambicus is a fantastic light, sour Weisse beer. And only 3% ABV.

See, I drink low ABV beer sometimes.

I noticed the pendulum swinging to lambic and sour beers lately. Which is fine by me, though I'm not a huge fan.

xp yeah that beer is really cool!

if it was available in six-packs for cheap i would drink a lot of it in the summer

I followed up the 3% beer with a Sierra Nevada Narwhal. Not a bad imperial stout. Tastes a little too sweet. 10.2%.

yeah narwhal was p. good for a commonly available imp. stout.

i've been meaning to go back to storm king, that was like the imperial stout back in the day

I still need to try the Narwhal, sounds like. I wouldn't mind a good, easier to find imperial stout.

It was the Burnham Mart on Wabash, south of 8th.

Per Imperial stouts, people seem to like Old Rasputin, which is all over the place.

Yeah Old Rasputin is pretty good, but I don't know that I'd compare it to other Imperial Stout's I've head.

if you ever see it on nitro drop what you're doing and drink that

Definitely haven't done that! Maybe Old Rasputin is just one of those that has kinda been spoiled by over-familiarity. It isn't bad, by any means, but a couple places around our house that serve good food, that's always like the one dependable not boring beer they have.

Green Flash double Stout is a nice around pickup in these parts.

I've really liked all the Green Flash stuff that has made it to my regular bars. Rayon Vert, which I guess is their namesake, in particular.

Great Lakes blackout stout is v v good fyi

Boulevard Brewing Farmhouse Ale is really good.

Ok, so I decided to participate in the office secret santa, in which we're allowed to request something, so I'm thinking beer. What's a good $20-25 beer or beer pack/set that would be reasonably available in New York?

the belgian/trappist sets are always good, i've been seeing a boulevard set around that would be fun

Dozens of boxes of BCS at the south loop Binnys..

I think it's only $21 there too.

Oh man, wish I would've known that. Paid the $29 at the place near my office. Ugh. Dude from the Binny's I spoke with specifically told me the South Loop location was all sold out. Idiot.

re: secret santa - 4 pack of cuvee de jacobins would be my go to choice

Totally gonna get a bomber of RevBew "FistMas" for a coworker in our office secret Santa exchange.

Ha, I went to the Burnham Market today. That guy was so nice, and so on the ball for a convenience store, that I didn't mind the price, really. Help the little guy for at least making an effort.

But yeah, Binny's has piles and piles of it right now. I counted at least a couple of dozen cases.

grabbing some of this tonight!

http://www.dogfish.com/brews-spirits/the-brews/occasional-rarities/hellhound-on-my-ale.htm

so i went to this victory tasting -- i don't know, i find their stuff generally blah across the board -- but got a bunch of yum looking beers while there including the hellhound and a cappuccino lagunitas stout that came recommended (among other stuff)...

I'm going to a place tonight that has the Cappuccino Stout, pretty excited for that.

Oh wow you're going to Trader Joe's?

(Because they have Cappuccino Stout bombers for $3.99, well at least my local does).

Good to know! But I meant on tap.

had mikkeller's christmas beer last night, one of them. it tasted like a cake. very enjoyable but more than half would be sickly i reckon.

i had a delicious sam adams gingerbread stout this weekend, a good lagunitas cappuccino stout, a lot of really delicious original sin hard cider from whole woods growler which might be the best hard cider i've ever had, and some blue point blueberry ale which i don't like as much as the wild blue. oh, and the samuel smith imperial stout which was okay... not as good as the sam adams surprisingly!

http://www.syossetbeverage.com/image_library/zt9k5e.jpg

seriously this was delicious ^

Beer update for me (I'm drinking so freaking well these days it's pretty decadent):
had a really good Delirium Noel last night, also grabbed a Santa's Little Helper and a YuleSmith. Today I picked up (2) bottles of Troegs Mad Elf (they wouldn't sell me any more), a Southern Tier 2XMAS, Sierra Nevada Celebration and Narwal, Main Beer Company Mean Old Tom, and an Elysian Peste Chocolate Chili Ale (mainly bc it says it's brewed w/ chipotle, cayenne, ancho, guajillo, and pasilla peppers and I was curious).

there was a limit on mad elf? wow.

also cool that maine beer stuff is making its way down to you. i was unmoved by mean old tom but if you see their hoppy beers with a recent bottling date scoop those up.

yeah, my beer store told me that the maine stuff doesn't come down here very often. i don't know if this was a one time delivery or if it'll become more frequent. they also promised me they'd try to get the hill farmstead on tap -- which i am greatly anticipating.

oh yeah, that's a must

also re mad elf, i was at whole foods last week and they said they sold all out of the mad elf a month ago and weren't getting any more. i don't know if it was more limitedly available this year, or what. i mean, you'd think there's be a lot floating around philly.

i haven't really noticed this year but we were swimming in mad elf up here last year, i distinctly remember multiple stores having stacks of cases of the stuff

List of empty bottles in my front room following semi-impromptu Saturday night tasting session where four of us turfed out some bits and bobs which had been hanging around in our cupboards:

Grain Blackwood Stout
Durham Brewery White Stout
Schneider Weiss Unser Aventinus
Evil Twin Biscotti Break
Struise Rosse 2011
Kernel / Buxton NZ Pilsner
Cohort Belgian Double Black Rye PA
Dark Star Green Hop
Struise Motuecha
Arbor Ales Impy Stout
Buxton Smokey and the Band Aid Imperial Smoked Rye Porter
Troubadour Obscura
Adur Black William Stout
Brewfist Jale ESB
Westoek Flemish Triple Ale
Struise Pannepot Grand Reserva 2008
Goller Rauchbier
Jester King Le Petit Prince
Struise Elliot Brew Imperial IPA 2011

Biscotti Break is great. Have you tried Imperial Biscotti Break? That Buxton sounds intriguing.

Struise Elliot Brew Imperial IPA 2011

how was this, tim? have one at home.

i had a dream about beer last night. i don't remember anything about it except that i was drinking lots of beer and it was delicious.

i had a dream that i came into possession of a bunch of baby polar bears and had to figure out where to put them and how to feed them. it was actually really stressful, your dream sounds a lot better.