Beer in the new era

i don't seem to have the right tastebuds/much luck with this stuff

had various (expensive) beers at the old fountain nr old street the other day amongst some very committed craft beer trendies and i couldnt see what the fuss was about

one of the £5 kernels (i forget which) was indeed like a delicious rich chocolatey taste sensation but do i go to the pub to drink a whole pint of that? no sir i do not

the pale ales were mostly akin to sheep dip

do you like any you've had in particular?

I like Thornbridge Kipling a lot.

Barrel aging class was extremely nerdy. Lots of talk of bacteria, brettanomyces, yeast, lactose, pediococcus, etc. More than I really want to know, but I did like the tastings. Drank Sofie that comes from three different barrels to compare the taste, which can be vastly different. Ultimately the Sofie that goes in the bottles is a blend that comes from many barrels. Also had Bourbon County that has spent 1 months, 3 months, and 6 months in a barrel.

Didn't know Thornbridge was in the US.

@rtc weirdly am actually in the old fountain now, for first time in ages, assuming it's the same as when you were in it's not a great selection. Magic Rock Highwire is good tho.

It's not very many places but I've had it on tap at Bangers & Lace and local Option here in Chicago.

friday beer haul:

http://i48.tinypic.com/dfjf28.jpg

The book-ends are your best bets imho.

those are the ones i'm most excited about! can't waiting to wreck my fucking palate! XD

(loose gerand indicated that i've started drinking already this lovely fri nite!)

I really like Green Flash beers (certain I've said this already, but it's worth repeating). They're just solid all around, never had a bad one.

i am going to go buy something interesting tonight to drink with my brother in law, but what? itisamystery.gif

My corner store seems to get distro from some place that specializes in microbrews that don't sell well elsewhere, so they have a bunch of random dogfishes, some riverhorse brews, a few founders, and a bunch of unusual sam adams varieites. I tried the Midas Touch tonight although both the packaging and description ("ancient ale with barley, honey, white muscat grapes & saffron") were offputting. It's not as bad as I thought. Definitely has a little of that white box wine flavor/feel to it, but not bad.

racer x was really outstanding imo

Finally had the Rasputin barrel aged Russion Imperial Stout. Good, but not $20/half-liter good. Followed it with one of the Full House Coffee/Chocolate lagers I've been drinking and it came off a little watery by comparison, but not bad.

i don't know what their distribution is like but if you get the opportunity to try the fegley's hopsolutely triple ipa (http://www.thebrewworks.com/brews/flagship-beers/hopsolutely-triple-ipa/) you def should.

Surly Pentagram is ok fresh, but I am looking forward to what 6 moths to a year does to it in the bottle

months

it's definitely not as sour as i would like, but judging from what happened to the Surly Six over time, I have high hopes. Cuvee has ruined me for sour beers that dont go the distance i think

Received this nice box in the mail today from call all destroyer. Excited to try everything because I've never had or even heard of any of it.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8250/8516279077_eccdd8f1fb_o.jpg

CAD, looks like you'll get my box tomorrow.

http://media.avclub.com/images/425/425216/16x9/627.jpg?6572

Someone send me a Pliny

Trying the Dogfish Midas Touch again, I found it pretty gross. I couldn't finish the last two bottles I opened.

Meanwhile, I have picked up the Sam Adams "Spring Thaw Variety Pack" at Costco, the latest volley in the battle between my love for good beer and my attempt to be frugal. At $28.99 for a 24-pack, I will be fine with beers that are above drinkable, and I've always found Boston Lager (part of the pack) just fine. Other beers: Alpine Spring (seems like sort of a german lager but slightly spiced?), Maple Pecan Porter, Irish Red, White Lantern (a white ale I guess), and Double Agent IPA.

I opened the Maple Pecan Porter first because I was most skeptical of it (brewed with actual maple syrup). The aroma upfront is almost all maple syrup and gave me strong sensations of pancakes, which is not really a bad thing. The maple sweetness in the actual taste is much more subtle than you expect from the smell though, although not a very complex beer, and on the light side as porters go (perhaps in part bc 5.6% alcohol). All in all better than I thought, and sort of comparable to a Young's Double Chocolate where you're very conscious you're being hit with "flavoring" but it's still pretty tasty in a simple way.

yay! glad everything made it intact. let me know what you think of 'em.

a beer thread local beer exchange could be cool

like i said before, i'd be glad to send a new england box to anyone who's interested

and right on cue jeff's boxes showed up! pic forthcoming.

http://i1359.photobucket.com/albums/q782/braudimusprime/FDC9D291-FBD5-4DF4-9839-669AAFC22F33-5963-000002B0235662D3_zps472ae114.jpg

thanks dude, i am really psyched to try these!

those beers look pretty extreme

3 big stouts--jeff does not f around

i would be up for doing london stuff with some of you guys, would actually be awesome.

man i would love to do that but int'l shipping costs plus customs issues (which i don't think come up that much, but are always a risk) would make it v. challenging

yeah that's actually probably true, the weight is fairly significant too i assume, not posted anything bulky to the us before.

ok i just got a fedex quote to an arbitrary postcode in london for a box the weight of the one i shipped to jeff.

anyone want to guess how much?

Ha, guess I didn't even realize the stoutness of my beers. At least there is a plain, coffee, and barrel aged milk stout difference between them.

$89

more like triple that, amazingly

$223.94

wtf. that feels so outdated. ah well...

i know! it's like they're shipping by steamboat

That's how IPAs came to be iirc, they aged while in transit between bottle-swapping nerds in the steamship era.

I'd be willing to do another trade too. Need to recover from this one first though.

Shipping wasn't a big of a pain as I thought it would be. I think I over compensated in my packaging, when I could have just done one box and bubble wrap instead of buying wine shipping boxes. I think it cost me around $24 to ship two 5 pound boxes.

Don't know how many of you outside of the Midwest get Central Waters brews but their Peruvian Morning is an excellent barrel aged coffee stout. Maybe my second favorite after BCBCS.

My local just texted me to tell me they tapped a KEG of Stone's "Enjoy By..." (4/1/13 edition)... color me thirsty.

I think I noted upthread that the previous batch was one of my top beers of 2012.

(Apologies that the above post did not include the words: pumpkin, chocolate, coffee, breakfast, barrel, voodoo doughnuts, etc.)

All the enjoy bys have been great.

This Hoponius Union is fantastic. If I was doing a blind taste test I'd never guess it was a lager.

glad you liked it. of the handful of nanobreweries that have opened up in mass in the past 2 years i think jack's abby will have the most staying power. they're releasing a barrel-aged porter lager in a couple weeks that really kicked ass according to people who got it last year.

my traditional birthday beer tasting frenzy party is going on tonight, so i should have some stuff to report afterwards if i survive.

i always forget what beers I take for granted here that others can't find elsewhere.