Beer in the new era

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.

Elliot Brew - I love it, but Struise are probably my favourite Belgian brewery of all now, and certainly the one where I get the most excited about drinking something new / different. If you look on the likes of beradvocate it's their dark, dark beers (like Pannepot, Pannepeut, Black ALbert) which get the really stellar ratings, but I think their lighter beers (like Elliot, Ignis & Flamma, Svea) tend to be not only delicious but also have such amazing balance even when they are very hoppy.

Jeff, I haven't tried the Imperial Biscotti Break, will keep my eyes peeled for it when I'm in the US over Xmas.

elliot is a collab with mikkeller right? the one i have is anyway. unless that's a special one-off. it does say elliot on it though.

The first bottle I had did have Mikkeller on it* but subsequent bottles haven't - I guess they made the first brew(s) together, but then Struise have kept on with it. That is only a guess though.

*Actually on Saturday I looked for the word Mikkeller on the bottle but couldn't see it and wondered whether I had misremembered. Apparently not.

Finally tried Young's Double Chocolate Stout and was a little disappointed. You can really taste the "chocolate flavor" that's added a bit too much, so even though it's not overly sweet, it's a bit candy-like.

I also had Pinkus Organic Munster Alt, which was good but I think the style may not be my bag, or maybe it's just something for warmer weather.

i tried the 21st century amendment fireside chat bc someone said it was better than the watermelon beer. it was canned 09/24/12, and was pretty awful. it had way too much going on, was super nasty tasting, bad mouth feel, and it has a kind of metallic aftertaste (i guess from the can?). i'm wondering if maybe it's impossible to get good 21st century stuff (or maybe just traveling all the way across the country in an aluminum can automatically skunks the stuff?).

it is better than the watermelon thing, but i also dislike that one. brew free or die is good, and their black ipa is good as well.

of course, everything ever is better than that fucking watermelon beer so

oh hey look what i am going to tonight:

http://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/598469_10151340222405590_1332544124_n.jpg

i noticed u posting that on fb. jealous!

oh, the bitter american from 21st amendment is good too. i dont like the monks blood, but if you are into that style, ive heard good things

so basically mordy, youve had the 2 they make that i hated the most. congratulations?

yay. i'm so lucky

I also know that they do contract brewing, so i have the advantage of it being brewed for my area about 2 hours north of the city

So now Costco has gift boxes of Ommegang -- three 22oz bottles plus a beer glass for like $20. Pretty good deal. Bought one for my office secret santa person. I'm forgetting the beers atm, I think maybe it's the rare vos, the chocolate indulgence and one of their standards (witte? hennepin?) I don't love Ommegang but I think they're a solid brewery.

ppl weren't kidding. that sierra celebration is a seriously delicious IPA

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2012/12/12/166987378/a-sign-from-above-needing-new-roof-monks-sell-rare-beer-in-u-s

yes plz

love the back and forth in the comments

i'm going up to NY tmmrw. i wonder if they'll all be sold out by then.

i've got a box reserved. wish it contained all three of their styles (or at least the 8) instead of it all being the 12.

i've gotta ask some NYers to buy a box for me today so i can pick it up tmmrw...

they'd better get in line like three hours ago

:(

fwiw i tend not to believe that this isn't going to happen again.

They are pretty hard line, those monks.

I'm annoyed because I have a bottle of 12 at home which I'd been planning to drag over as a gift for a Chicago-based beer enthusiast for Xmas - this rather reduces the impact of that gift. :(

If you get the impression from that article that you have to go on some kind of quest to Westveleteren in order to buy this in the real world, don't believe it (it's available in eg Brussels thouhg it is expensive.)

it's usually available online through etre gourmet to anyone who is willing to pay the shopping.

I have a hard time justifying the price for a brick when it's a beer I've never even tasted. And it will probably be sold out in stores around here by this afternoon.

yeah, i mean having tasted it and knowing of no beer that would be worth $85 for a six pack, purchasing it is partially an act of charity and partially an act of novelty. it's a nice quad, that's all.

I'm not a big quad fan either. How does it compare to something like a St. Bernardus 12?

haven't had a st. b in quite a while but they're similar. westy ages pretty well. the one i had was very subtle and elegant, not a candy sugar bomb or anything.

the best thing about beer is that the more you drink the better it tastes.

i had some seriously great beers tonight. that mad elf is really really good, i had a la fin du monde which was pretty perfect, a cinnamon'y and chocolate he'brew reunion '12 and this magic hat stout 'heart of darkness' whose name i only remember but i chatted about conrad while drinking it. beer is pretty great. i love it.

i am still pretty inebriated so

List of stores carrying the Westy.

Westvleteren

http://www.slate.com/articles/business/drink/2012/12/nanobrewing_how_tiny_beer_making_operations_are_changing_the_industry.html

http://t.co/M1dnMcZy

This is nuts. Can't believe how much he is asking for some of those bottles.

nice gotta love SN
http://vimeo.com/53546831

Just received a bomber of Nøgne Winter Ale in my office secret Santa exchange!

This is nuts.

OTM. a: Why does he have $15 grand worth of beer, and b: why is he selling it all for half that?

dying at some of those prices

$50 for a one-year-old hill farmstead everett, a bottle which cost EIGHT BUCKS

I say let him try, there are obv beer dorks out there who don't mind paying (cf the convo here about Westy earlier this week).

OTM. a: Why does he have $15 grand worth of beer, and b: why is he selling it all for half that?

― Rocking Disco Santa (Dan Peterson), Friday, December 14, 2012 9:20 AM (56 minutes ago)

Well most of the beer on that list was made to be enjoyed fresh... unless it is corked and wrapped. Any cork that is exposed to the air, the contents of that bottle may see some deterioration in taste and flavor after ~6 months. Seems like he cherry-picked a lot of the signature brews from those breweries, and this is the "best of the rest".

whoa, hi steve shasta

sup. also, note the "OBO" and mention that list is changing. Seems like he's open to parting it out, I'd throw a lowball out there, esp if you're within driving distance. To ship that collection via skid would be $$$$, esp. with the insurance.

yeah if i were in the area i'd def consider trying to get the eclipse and dark lord out of him

yeah - some of these prices are obviously crazy, but tbqh $150 for an iced eclipse seems almost fair considering what you'd have to trade for it on the market