Beer in the new era

i dig the black toad.
my wife's fave beer is the mission st. pale ale, so we drink a lot of that tbh.

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

This. I mean, the fact that I can roll down to the grocery store literally 1/4 mile from my house and pick up sixers of Revolution stuff is pretty awesome. Symptom of critical mass of craft beer or w/e, I'm perfectly fine with having convenient access to some great fucking beer.

jeff box update--double daisy cutter is great stuff, i like the hop profile a lot (like, that is how you use simcoe) and it's combined with a really nice mouthfeel.

Glad you liked it. If I had unlimited money to send beer, I would have sent a four pack of regular Daisy Cutter too. Great every day beer and the beer I've drank the most of over the last 2 years.

Of yours, I've drank the Zoe (shared with jaymc) and Our Finest Regards. Zoe was another beer that ended up being hoppier than I expected. Very good. OFR was great, I love barleywines so much. I don't get to drink a lot of english style barleywines, good stuff.

Heading up to Wisconsin, may stock up on some New Glarus and/or Central Waters. Any suggestions? Peruvian Stout?

You can still get most of the CW stuff in the city, peruvian morning included.

My 4-pack of Surly Furious arrives tomorrow afternoon.

Sam Adams Double Agent IPA surprisingly good. I like the flavor of the hops they use.

Re: new glarus, I haven't gotten this but oh damn

http://www.newglarusbrewing.com/index.cfm/beers/OurBeers/Beer/serendipity

Now that I have found that fuck it, I'm taking a trip to wisconsin

Chicagoans! I'll be visiting your manor in the next couple of weeks, hooray. Can you give me any tips for good quality stores in which to find a really good selection of craft beer? We're staying in Bucktown this time, which is a change from our usual Andersonville / Logan Square haunts, so places in that zone especially welcome, as are stores with a decent selection of bourbon.

I (and more importantly my ex-Chicagoan lovely wife) know a selection of bars around that end, but any advice on ace new places much appreciated also.

Don't know much about bourbon or Bucktown, but here's the usual suspects:

The Noble Grape
Puerto Rico Food & Liquors
Walgreens Greektown (seriously)
Before You Go
West Lakeview Liquors
Bottles and Cans
The Beer Temple
Warehouse Liquors
Printers Row Wine Shop
Maria's Packaged Goods
Any Binnys

I haven't been to all these, but they are generally well regarded. You can find most of what they have on beermenus.com.

New places, when were you last here? There is new stuff all the time. In your sorta general area, go to Revolution, Haymarket, Map Room, Local Option. There is actually going to be an awesome beer event at Local Option next week celebrating Pi day. Amazing draft list: http://localoptionbier.com/2013/03/04/pi-observance-day-3-14-2013/

VAS Foremost have a decent bourbon selection. Can't really go wrong with Binny's, though.

Bangers & Lace is close to Bucktown too, they're relatively new.

Yes! I forgot B&L. Awesome bar.

I didn't list Vas because I've had a couple of bad experiences there. They do some price gouging on special releases.

I was last in Chicago around Christmas (think we discussed Bangers and Lace upthread a little bit, good place but they peeved me somewhat).

We arrive on the 15th, so will miss that event, which is a shame. Our first couple of days will be spent in sunny Rockford, IL anyhow.

Thanks for the advice. If anyone's totally desperate for a bottle of something easily purchasable in London I could be persuaded to drag a couple across...

Yeah, probably nothing much new since Christmas. Enjoy Rockford! I ran a 10K up there once through too much snow. So I have bad memories.

You have bad memories, I have in-laws.

Actually my in-laws are decent folks, but Rockford itself is... well, it's no Chicago, as you know.

Asked a friend who lives in Bucktown and he recommends Olivia's Market.

going to an Allagash tasting tnite

unrelated: http://www.birchbox.com/men/guide/post/4-beers-that-are-good-for-your-skin

Decent Bucktown liquor store well-stocked with craft beer:
http://www.yelp.com/biz/dannys-buy-low-chicago

Thanks for the advice chums.

drain poured this: http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/1924/28938

and i rarely don't finish a beer but it was TERRIBLE

"naked fish" does not inspire confidence.

ok, in general i think the alaskan stuff is pretty mediocre, but their new Hopothermia Double IPA wins the crown for being the worst beer I have had in years.

Serendipity on the other hand is doooooooope, cellaring a bottle as well to bring out some more funk. at this point it is more tart than sour, but you can smell the sour taking shape in there.

Heading up to Wisconsin, may stock up on some New Glarus and/or Central Waters. Any suggestions? Peruvian Stout?

where are you going in WI? i would check for:

-O'So (their Lupulin Maximus is an all-time fav, same for Night Train)
-Lake Louie (Mr. Mephisto imperial stout, they have a nice scotch ale and cream ale too)
-Ale Asylum
-Furthermore (Oscura is a great + unique coffee beer)
-Tyranena (Rocky's Revenge bourbon brown ale, whatever the seasonal special is)

my cousin is going up to CT this week and offered to pick me up some beers while he's there -- any advice?

new england brewing co.--they used to distribute up here but have since scaled back. their canned offerings should be around throughout ct though, and if he's anywhere near new heaven he should stop by and get some growlers.

Furthermore Knot Stock is one of my all time fave weird beers, ipa brewed with black pepper, it is badass.

Tried the next sam adams spring thaw -- the White Lantern. A pleasant, apricotty wheat beer -- tasty enough that I opened a second one. Probably a good summer party beer.

yeah my friend had that one, was super apricotty. decent.

really want to try their "ipl" but they were on the sponsor list for the dumbass exclusionary st. patrick's day parade we have here so not buying their shit for a while.

yeah the double agent is an IPL. It was solid and somewhat interesting - honestly if you had told me it was some local Brooklyn beer I would have believed you.

as I said above, wouldn't have gone out of my way for any of these, just liked the cheapness of the variety pack at costco. Although in retrospect, maybe not the best choice since I'm going to be stuck with a bunch of lagers and Irish Reds that I don't really want.

I guess I can keep it stocked as an offer-to-unexpected-guests beer

yeah the double agent is an IPL. It was solid and somewhat interesting - honestly if you had told me it was some local Brooklyn beer I would have believed you.

― space phwoar (Hurting 2), Monday, March 11, 2013 5:23 PM (15 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

you wouldn't be completely off-base since it's highly likely the idea was borrowed from this: http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/26520/71820 from a small mass brewery

oh man, want

Bought a 4-pack of Sixpoint 3Bean the other night, which BeerAdvocate calls a Baltic Porter. (Sixpoint, of course, doesn't like to slap style labels on their unique creations.) Coffee/chocolate notes up front but not too sweet or heavy, which I appreciated. Very drinkable, even at 10%.

"Here at [Fegley's Brewworks] brewery, we're powered by a 44kW solar array that covers our roof. So we like it Always Sunny! (The remainder of our electricity is kite-friendly wind power supplied by Renewable Choice Energy)."

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Kt7xxh5l8PE/UIMeRnwMNQI/AAAAAAAAGIs/V-_JadbgBgo/s1600/fegley

they make a few good beers actually - i had a great bottle of rude elf (bar's last for the seasonal) yesterday *like 10%APVyum* and i've had the devious imperial pumpkin, insidious imperial stout, hop-solutely triple + hop explosion. all excellent i thought.

Bought a 4-pack of Sixpoint 3Bean the other night, which BeerAdvocate calls a Baltic Porter. (Sixpoint, of course, doesn't like to slap style labels on their unique creations.) Coffee/chocolate notes up front but not too sweet or heavy, which I appreciated. Very drinkable, even at 10%.

― jaymc, Monday, March 11, 2013 6:52 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Ah, thanks for reminding me I need to try this.

https://twitter.com/brouwervanklomp/status/311447343859896320

lol

asshole, but lol

amazing twitter feed btw

i was all excited to try 120 minute ipa but it's really syrupy and offensively sweet -> did i just crack a bad bottle or is this beer terrible? (or is my palate not sophisticated enough to enjoy it?)

there's a bunch of similar negative reviews on ba but even more positive reviews so idk

I haven't had in a while, but I seem to recall liking it a lot. Have a couple of bottles in my closet, I'll have to pull one out and try it again soon.

it is really sweet iirc

people hate both 120 min and world wide stout but apparently they make a killer 50/50 mix

interesting bc i have a world wide stout i have yet to open and another bottle of 120 min i no longer want to drink

http://hoptopia.tumblr.com/post/7897548445/beer-remix-dogfish-head-heaven-hell-120-minute-ipa

i wouldn't sweat the world wide stout, i had one that was 5 years old last month and the edge was still not gone.

Ha, 29 ppl have had heaven & hell on untappd. I have a weekend plan now.