Beer in the new era

how did you like the sixty one, mordy?

i haven't drank it yet - just brought it home today

People starting to go sort of bonkers over Solemn Oath here.

prices at this store don't seem outrageous actually -- the singles that are normally sixpack beers seem to mostly be in the $2-$2.50 per bottle range, which is basically what my convenience store charges.

oh yeah the store pricing is fine, it's mbc that sucks

mordy i would dig a report on that green tea thing, i keep almost buying it. sadly, i think the 2 brothers sidekick is a terrible bore.

wrt sours, i stick with the idea that other than seeing how the surly pentagram cellars, my a#1 sour is still the cuvee des jacobins. heavy rumors about it's impending disappearance for 4-6 months followed by controlled distro allocation, so grab them while you can.

yes, the cuvee rouge is also my alltime #1

aw damn, thanks for the tip. i'll have to grab a couple next time i see them.

I still don't really get sours at all; maybe if I don't think of them as beers I could appreciate them but that taste isn't something I want when I want to drink a beer.

i get that, i was baffled by lambics forever for the same reason. i just think that theres not much of anything more refreshing than a good sour. its def an acquired taste though, and the world is littered these days with some pretty mediocre sours for sure.

i had a chance to sample the jacobins mother lambic (the stuff that they add flavors to to get either lambics or sours) and it was the craziest thing ever, just pure sour with almost no other flavor. i loved it, but they technically dont sell it, a bar in town doing a sour night got one 5 gallon keg for the brave by working some distro magic.

Some days they are my favorite beers.

i had a chance to sample the jacobins mother lambic (the stuff that they add flavors to to get either lambics or sours) and it was the craziest thing ever, just pure sour with almost no other flavor. i loved it, but they technically dont sell it, a bar in town doing a sour night got one 5 gallon keg for the brave by working some distro magic.

― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Saturday, June 8, 2013 9:12 AM (1 hour ago)

Sounds like Bockor's gueuze to me?

Did a sour tasting night at my local with 2 friends on Thursday:

750ml 2009 Oude Gueuze Tilquin a l'Ancienne
750ml 2007 Gueuze Lambic Cuvee Rene
3 tulips Rodenbach Grand Cru
3 tulips Bockor Cuvee Des Jacobins Rouge
3L of Russian River Supplication (we put about 1/3 dent into this, and put it back on the shelf for keeping)

Came out to $50pp. mostly because of the Supplication that will take another session (+) to work through.

the two that have lost all their luster for me are the rodenbach grand cru and the monks one.

although credit due to monks in philly for starting me down the sour path several years ago with that beer. i swear it used to be much more sour back in the day.

currently drinking 32 american adjunct lagers in a blind tasting, bracket style.

I did that with 16 double IPAs for a friends birthday a couple years ago, it got real ugly by the end.

ha, I guess it is mild. The guy was trying to sell me on another sour first but then when I said I had ever had a sour he was like "Oh, well you should try this, it's more of a starter sour." I guess he was serious.

― i don't even have an internet (Hurting 2), Friday, June 7, 2013 8:55 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i know i've repped it in this thread before, but seriously try peekskill simple sour if you get a chance - i've had it at habitat in greenpoint and i think it's been on at sunswick in astoria, and probably a few other places in the city as well. an absolute stunner, and very approachable if you're new to sours.

3L of Russian River Supplication (we put about 1/3 dent into this, and put it back on the shelf for keeping)

3L say wuuuuuut

and the winner is....schlitz 1960s formula

3L say wuuuuuut

― Western® with Bacon Flavor, Saturday, June 8, 2013 4:21 PM (1 hour ago)

Yeah mang, I normally don't post my pix online but here ya go:
https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/292509_531445400245892_269078269_n.jpg

hah nice

so I didn't make it all the way to the new beer/gourmet store tonight, but I did decide to pick up a couple singles at my corner store, and they had lagunitas sucks brown shugga substitute, as well as lagunitas lil sumpin sumpin, so I decided to try each. Drinking the sucks first. I like it a lot. I'm bad at describing tasting notes and I always feel psychologically suggestible, for example the first thing I thought was "I'm picking up some brown sugar." But it has an unusual sort of "profile" or "narrative" or whatever you call the way the flavors develop start to finish or front to back. It starts off very hoppy but then gets a bit sweeter and less bitter and it tastes a little honeyish but not cloyingly so.

I like hops but I like them in balance, I'm not a hop-maniac. I finished off some Sierra Nevada Torpedo the other night and while it's a good beer, I found it a little too heavy and bitter for my taste. This is a nicer balance.

on to the sumpin sumpin, but I think 7.5% alcohol has already dulled my tastebuds

Did I just drive to another state to buy a case of cuvée des jacobins because I panicked after seeing that my local was out of it? Yes. That appears to be a thing I would do.

This just in - a case of cuvée is really really not cheap

otm

http://www.newyorker.com/sandbox/business/beer.html

Sarnac white ipa = mild disappointment

i've never had an impressive saranac

can't really feel good abt something called a 'white ipa'

It really is just a bitter tasting belgian white beer. I thought it would be something else -- what, idk-- but it isn't.

Trying Founder's Dirty Bastard right now. I find it to be a little too low carbonation, which makes me wonder if I got a bad bottle. Doesn't taste "skunked" or anything otherwise.

Eh actually the descriptions say it's "lightly carbonated" so. Anyway, has kind of an interesting mouthfeel. I think it's a little too sweet and syrupy for me on the whole, and also maybe something I'd enjoy more in winter.

All i have had by founders is the "tavern ale" and i remember thinking it was too syrupy as well.

i haven't had dirty bastard in a minute but carbonation is prob appropriate for the style. like a lot of people, you prob just don't really like scotch ales.

Dirty bastard is great. Backwoods bastard is phenomenal.

yeah I think I don't like scotch ales. I forget what the other one I had was, but I didn't like it.

oh yeah, mcewans

i'll do the occasional skull splitter or traquair house but it's not the friendliest style

McEwans was my first scotch ale, and I've liked the style ever since. Had a couple He'Brew Bittersweet Lennys (tagged a rye DIPA but scotch ale-y to me) tonight, still one of my favorites.

Any of y'all catch that the Lincoln Park Binny's is expanding to 50,000 square feet? They better have an IKEA style kids playland.

You heard it right via Shanken News Daily, we’re expanding and boy is it going to be big!
Starting this July, Binny’s Beverage Depot in Lincoln Park (1720 N. Marcey St.) will start its expansion from a measly 33,000 square feet to 50,000 square feet, making it one of the largest beverage superstores in the world. Needles to say, we’re pretty excited about it!

In addition, the Lincoln Park location will also incorporate the notable Lincoln Park Pumping Station including a wine and craft beer bar.

At Binny’s we’re always looking for ways to bring more product to you and to give you a different kind of experience. But of course, it wouldn’t be possible without your committed business, so thank you!

We believe the expansion will be completed by October of this year. *Crosses fingers* But don’t worry, we’ll still be open for you during the construction.

Keep your eyes out for a grand re-opening this fall!

Probably the best stocked binnys I've been to. Adam, their beer guy is awesome. Especially his cellar sales.

Also conveniently close to Goose Clybourne.

I think I'm pretty much done with IPAs for a while. Might try to delve into this sour thing a bit more.

:(

heavily hopped beers actually seem to affect me badly -- I get tired, sometimes headaches, and have worse hangovers

the tired thing sort of makes sense, since you can make tea using hops that acts as a sleep aid? i don't know how much of those hop oils make it into the beer, if any.

it would be nice to think that i want to go to sleep after one strong beer not because i'm getting old, but because i love my double/imperial IPAs.

lagunitas 'undercover investigation' six pack.. this is okay, i dunno if needed to get a whole six but it was cheap for a 9.6% beer... billed as 'incredibly bitter' but i don't think it really is. a little too sweet, but not as cloying as 90min ipa. decent beer.