Beer in the new era

those cigar city dos costas oeste saisons are really cool, especially if you get the set and compare them.

would be cautious ordering anything hoppy unless you can confirm that it's fresh.

Yeah I think that's a big part of why US stuff is often disappointing here, not that the selection is radical either, but all my favourite beers are British.

Dark Matter Coffee, which I've never actually had but people say is awesome.

It is.

hey gang,

i'll shut up abt trading after this but if anyone is interested in a 4-pack of heady topper (aka beer advocate's #1 beer at the moment) in exchange for, like, a 6-pack of your favorite most delicious local pale ale/ipa, let me know, i have a couple extras.

love,

cad

ygm

I'd trade again, but I need to think about what to send.

mordy, you got ilxmail. jeff, if you agree in principle then that's cool, no rush. one beer i'm super interested in is zombie dust but i have no clue how common it is.

ZD does pop up every now and then, I'll keep an eye out.

That's really be the only worthy IPA/PA from the region I can think of. Maybe some Alchemy Hour if you haven't had that.

What are you interested in from the Mpls/STpl area?

i haven't but i actually just received a bottle of it, curious to try since i was not a fan of edmund fitzgerald.

tbh i may have a lead on zd elsewhere so i'd be up for whatever (since i trust yr taste), basically i'll earmark a 4-pack for you and we can figure it out.

Also someone needs to explain me how the shipping of the beers works

xp i'm interested in whatever you think is good! i've gotten a chance to try surly furious and abrasive, was v. impressed by both of them but also up for other stuff if i can't get it in massachusetts.

Hmmmm. Maybe indeed? I could try to do a mixed six of day tripper and midnight Ryder.

http://www.indeedbrewing.com/

yeah those sound cool! here's a primer on beer packaging: http://alewatcher.blogspot.com/2010/11/new-trader-tips.html

ignore the stuff abt ba trading culture, the packaging tips are good. only other thing you need is a fedex account.

Alchemy Hour is basically the only GL brew I've really liked. Much better than anything in their reg lineup.

Nosferatu's pretty tight.

i also greatly enjoyed an alchemy hour recently

Get it before its name changes:
http://www.ohio.com/blogs/the-beer-blog/the-beer-blog-1.273124/widmer-bars-great-lakes-from-using-alchemy-name-1.384628

just a bit of a stray thought here --
i am a fan of a bunch of breweries on facebook. cuz i like beer, i am mildly interested in beer etc.
BUT does anyone besides me get a bit creeped out when you see, for instance, a little baby in a STONE ARROGANT BASTARD onesie? i seem to see this a lot.

i have not noticed that myself but yeah, not in the best taste.

Bourbon County Baby.

hey CAD I'll trade beer with you oh wait a second

Tried a bunch of beer over the weekend:

Furthermore Knot Stock
Pipeworks Double IPA
Bruery Mischief
Ska Mint Chocolate Stout
Ska ESB
Boulevard Tank 7

Highlights were the Furthermore, Bruery, and Boulevard. Mint Chocolate Stout was just weird, the Pipeworks was good but nothing very new.

The Ska stuff was brought to a party by a dude who does promotional work for them and some other western breweries, v interesting guy to talk to.

lol xp you are welcome to come over and drink beer; much easier on my fedex account tbh

http://beerstreetjournal.com/images/Cigar-City-Forgotten-Island.jpg

This dark complex style of ale originated in the Trappist monasteries of Belgium. It was sipped by monks during fasting and winter months. Forgotten Island adds a tropical twist via agin in Jamaican rum barrels. The barrel lends notes of vanilla, molasses, orange peel, cocoa, brown sugar, nutmeg, hazelnut, apricot and peach.This plethora of flavors and aromas from the rum barrel intermingles with banana, clove, cinnamon,fig, plum and brown sugar aromatics and flavors from the quadruple, creating a contemplative ale perfect for introspective moments far from the cares of the world.

brought home some Revolution Eugene's Porter from Chicago, pretty good!

oooh forgotten island sounds rad

^^^ sounds ah-ma-zing, but what, no notes of wintergreen? Or fenugreek?

Still sad I missed out on Rev's Bean Gene and Mean Gene. Was hoping some bottles show up in stores.

i'm going to start an escrow fund now in preparation for whenever Goose Island comes out with the Bourbon County Stout/Coffee Stout again.

Usually in the fall.

I got back from Chicago - on our first day there we would up driving to the Binneys near North / Clybourn and it blew my mind, just in terms of the variety available. Of course I forgot to make a note of what I drank, but amazingly I lucked out and they had put out a bottle of the Bourbon County Coffee Stout, in honour of Stout Week or somesuch. I hadn't expected to see a bottle for sale. I haven't tried it yet, it's safe here in London with me, waiting for the correct moment. It's sitting next to a bottle of Half Acre Baume hopped Rye Stout, no idea how that will go but the Half Acre beers I've tried so far have been pretty good.

I also brought home a bottle of the New Belgium Beer Barrel Bourbon, which is probably something of a stunt but which I like a great deal. That's another thread, of course.

The beer guy at the N/C Binnys is awesome. They have the best selection of all the Binnys.

i was at Andersonville Wine & Spirits, the beer selection was pretty decent but not as good as here :)

The BC Coffee is my fave.

15% off member sale at Binny's this Saturday!

can anyone recommend a good place to buy bottles in san jose?

this week's haul!

http://i50.tinypic.com/34xqm81.jpg

the heady topper + hill farmstead on the left are from my first trade! the rest of it is: maine lunch IPA, black racer IPA, ballast point dorado DIPA, arcadia ales cocoa loco, evolution sprung, bell's two hearted ale, bell's consecrator doppelbock, abita strawberry lager and abita spring IPA (NOLA brewery i have warm feelings towards), and the cans on the far right are bc beer-bellied mordy has joined his synagogue's baseball team and i need something inconspicuous to drink during games so i picked up a sixpoint bengali tiger, outlaw IPA, sly fox odyssey IPA and caldera IPA.

if u couldn't otherwise tell i went overboard this week - what 8 days of no beer drinking will do to a person i guess.

Didn't know that Two Brothers distributed out east. I like a couple of their beers, but Outlaw is just a so-so IPA, IMO.

yeah, i wasn't sure what cans to get. i only knew that i wanted something IPA-esque/light (there were some heavier canned stouts + stuff) and in a can

obv i'm super stoked about drinking lunch

For a hot second I thought that Outlaw can was actually a can of Frank Thomas' BIG HURT BEER

http://ih.constantcontact.com/fs196/1108848433660/img/128.jpg

(shit's terrible, obv)

I like the Caldera IPA, one of the better canned IPAs.

The last two times I went by Pleasant House Bakery here there was a Big Hurt Beer truck parked outside. Image the above visage, watching you while you eat ...

so that lunch is really an exceptionally delicious beer

have you had any other maine beers?

the mean old tom