Beer in the new era

Saw a website today where I could order some surly and coffee bender. Tempting.

I often feel like I ought to take orders for Surly when traveling to MN.

Lagunitas Sucks and Founders Imperial tonight right off the handtruck at my liquor store before any of the other animals could bet their hands on it. Drinking the Sucks right now and oh my god.

oh dude Lagunitas everything is the shit

they had a total hole-in-the-wall no frills booth at the first Boston beerfest I went to and they were seriously lifechanging

excited to get sucks again. i think all their beers are kinda similar but it's a good similarity.

hey cad, have you had Duck-Rabbit? I should bring you some

i want to say that i shared a bottle of duck-rabbit something once upon a time, but i can't remember what. i definitely would not mind if you wanted to share some!

I have bottles of their Brown Ale and Milk Stout (they are super famous for the latter)

If we'd had more luggage space, I would have brought back their Scottish Ale too

yeah i have that problem whenever i try to bring beer back from someplace

Ok Founders Imperial Stout? Also awesome.

http://beerpulse.com/2012/09/stillwater-artisanal-launches-sensory-series-with-lower-dens/

has anyone tried this? i'm skeptical but willing to give it a chance...

Had another Trader Joe's 2012 Vintage Ale, the best under $5, 750 ml, 9% abv beer you'll ever drink (made by Unibroue).

When I bought it yesterday they also had a lower alcohol beer also custom brewed by Unibroue, but I didn't buy one.

Had another Trader Joe's 2012 Vintage Ale, the best under $5, 750 ml, 9% abv beer you'll ever drink (made by Unibroue).

Yup, I've already gone thru a few bottles of that this season.

Just read that the state of Washington is going to be removed from Russian River Brewing Company's distribution. They are having a hard time matching supply with demand and have no plans of expanding.

how do you pronounce dyao's lager beer

sugarloaf ska

two of the most delicious beers i've had have been porters -

troegs dead reckoning and the founders porter are both ridiculously tasty. can anyone recommend other readily available porters to try? such a joy to drink

smuttynose, fuller's

sinebrychoff is pretty great. duck-rabbit baltic porter, flying dog gonzo (barrel-aged version, if you can find it, is especially good). great lakes edmund fitzgerald. deschutes black butte. captain lawrence makes a nice one, the name of which escapes me.

i don't know if my bottle of edmund fitzgerald was bad but i was really disappointed in that beer

Had another Trader Joe's 2012 Vintage Ale, the best under $5, 750 ml, 9% abv beer you'll ever drink (made by Unibroue).

Yup, I've already gone thru a few bottles of that this season.

― jaymc, Friday, January 4, 2013 9:51 AM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

me too. I am quite a stan of this beer, as I may already have made clear in this thread. They do indeed also have a Unibroue-brewed golden ale now as well, which I intend to pick up. However for the time being I'm working through my $22 3x750ml (plus very nice glass) Ommegang gift set (that I bought for myself) from Costco. Hennepin is fantastic. Also comes with Three Philosophers Quadrupel and the kind of cornily-named Chocolate Indulgence Stout

i've had the great lakes eliot ness and christmas ale and found them pretty lackluster

Deschutes is now available in Chicago! Last night I had a bottle each of Mirror Pond Pale Ale, Red Chair Pale Ale and the Black Butte Porter. All good, with the Red Chair being especially wonderful.

Almost everything I've ever had from Great Lakes has been at the very least very good.

it's possible that it was just old - imo some great lakes stuff fades extremely quickly, and a lot of it tends to sit around on shelves for awhile. burning river is a beer i love fresh but which gets gnarly after a month or two

that's possible, i don't know how long it was sitting before it came my way.

Consistently disappointed in GL's normal line up.

edmund fitzgerald smelled and tasted like malt extract

sounds like a wreck

boooooooo

jk

speaking of GL, this is a kinda dumb list http://amog.com/lifestyle/155665-10-american-cities-brew-beer/

considering the source... smh

no michigan, no credibility imo

Yeah, I'm not wildly excited about any of the basic Great Lakes beers (the brewery's website lists Edmund Fitzgerald, Burning River, Commodore Perry, Eliot Ness, and Dortmunder Gold as its year-round offerings), but some of the specialties are worthwhile. Nosferatu (imperial red), for instance, is quite good. Conway's Irish Red is one of the most pleasantly surprising beers I've had -- I tried it at a friend's place, not expecting much at all, and found it very drinkable. Curious about the Blackout Stout, which I've started to see around recently.

AVOID Boatswain brand beers at Trader Joe's. Admittedly I shouldn't have expected much from a $2 22oz beer that's 8-9% ABV, but yuck.

no michigan, no credibility imo

Michigan has no shortage of great breweries, but they're fairly well spread out around the state, aren't they? Grand Rapids (Founders), Kalamazoo (Bell's), Holland (New Holland), Battle Creek (Arcadia), Marshall (Dark Horse), Sawyer (Greenbush), Dexter (Jolly Pumpkin), Bellaire (Short's), etc.

Grand Rapids has a bunch of others, they should prob be on a list. Some list.

Speaking of I'm probably going to sign up for the Grand Rapids marathon specially to go to breweries afterwards.

i have never had a founders beer i didn't like.

http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/17271/54379

porter talk reminded me of one of the worst beers i've ever had - bootlegger's mint chocolate porter, picked up in LA last year. kinda tasted like drinking a porter and smoking a menthol at the same time

hey friends,
never drink anything called a "lavender ipa"
take it from me,
ij

oh my goodness

at least u lived to tell the tale

AVOID Boatswain brand beers at Trader Joe's. Admittedly I shouldn't have expected much from a $2 22oz beer that's 8-9% ABV, but yuck.

― drunk 'n' white's elements of style (Hurting 2)

Had one once (can't remember the type), I wouldn't say "yuck" but no desire to re-buy.

And I had that Avery Mephistopheles Stout (16.2% abv) that a bought a couple weeks ago. Very good on the first sips, alcohol not overwhelming, but later tastes had a very slight funkiness in the aftertaste. I was eating chili with it, and maybe that was the cause. Would like to try it again, but at almost $9 for 12 oz, it may not happen soon.

had my first founders imperial stout last night. simply outstanding imo.

i spent too much on beer today - got the firestone 16 anniversary ale, avec les bons voeux brasserie dupont (came w/ a nice glass!), and a dogfish head world wide stout.

i'm feeling a little guilty for splurging

oooh I had that dupont last summer, very very nice

lol I went to a craft beer store in ATL with my sister-in-law and she and her partner spent $180 on various beers.

It can happen.

I think they walked out with... lemme see here, 9 6-packs and 17 big bottles? We got two huge boxes to carry them out in.

Of course two of those sixes were my Duck-Rabbits, which I then brought home

i wasn't a partic fan of the boatswain beer from trader joe's but we LOVE the Mission St. Pale Ale around these parts -- my wife considers it her #1 favorie beer. and it is quite good.