Beer in the new era

not feeling the game of thrones 'take the black stout' -- feels more like a dark belgian than a stout. mouthfeel was too thin. idk. didn't finish the bottle.

Just had the Brash Biggie Smalls yesterday and holy crap its really really good.

Trying this other stout called Keegan Ales Mother's Milk -- brewed in Connecticut. I think it's a pretty small brewery, never seen it before, but a new shop in my area had it. Pretty good -- has a tang to it that almost reminds me of an old-time chocolate soda.

I guess they also have a Brewpub location in Kingston NY -- basically they're hudson valley.

Really ugly label though -- looks like a supermarket brand.

Gross name though. Drinking ballast point sculpin ipa currently. Obsessed with this stuff

i am also drinking a sculpin atm.
earlier was ithaca flower power ipa which i always love, and the uinta wyld pale ale, also good.

my buddy bought a habenero sculpin tonight; i can't handle that shit

I feel deathly sick of IPAs lately. High hoppiness gives me a headache.

u know what's delish tho? that founders harvest.

Habanero sculpin not that great.

Speaking of founders, going to Grand Rapids tomorrow to run a marathon and then drink all of the beer. Much Harvest Ale will be consumed.

here's the draft list for my local beer shop's anniversary party:
Southern Tier Pumking, Southern Tier Plum Noir, Founders Harvest Ale, Cuvee De Jacobins Rouge, Allagash Confluence, Dogfish Head Bocce Pale Ale, The Bruery Tart of Darkness, The Bruery Autumn Maple, Jolly Pumpkin Luciernaga, Free Will Saision De Rose, Free Will Freshie, Allagash Fluxus, Victory Dirtwolf, Ommegang-Game of Thrones-Take the Black Stout

a week from tmmrw. hard to know how i'm going to drink everything but i am certainly going to try. (apparently the dirtwolf is gonna be free until kicked)

got some post road pumpkin & bigleaf maple tonight

the former is p.good actually, less /spicy/ than I ws expecting

http://upperhandbrewery.com/news/

excited for this, but ugh, escanaba? boooorrring.

the region is replete with the kind of "everyone likes it, but the beer isn't very good" type of brewpubs as discussed above itt... there are some quality products but most is mediocre. this could be a great bar-raiser.

Not simply Escanaba but 3.16 acre plot in an Escanaba industrial park.

In other beer news a guy I knew pretty well in high school got called fat by a dog puppet at the Great American Beer Festival and now appears in animated gif form on Conan's site:

http://cdn.teamcococdn.com/assets/file-v2/0480_babydrink2-5267255c33294.gif

http://www.esquire.com/blogs/food-for-men/beer-snob-mockery-1013

Just tried a Corsendonk Pater Dubbel -- excellent beer all around.

Now about to try a Dogfish Pumpkin Ale just for shits and giggles. I don't have high hopes.

went to that party tnite. had tart of darkness, cuvee de jacobins and a founders harvest on draft and snagged bottles of Evil Twin Imperial Biscotti Break and this little thang http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/863/9474

ok actually this is like way better than I thought it would be

xp holy shit a 100 from Beer Advocate. Did it live up to the rating?

i haven't had it yet - it's in my fridge atm

Was at some sad Chicago suburb hotel bar this week for work and they had Sculpin on tap. Made my night.

Should say the hotel and area were sad, but the bar was happening and the bartenders ruled. Think I had four and I got a 14 dollar bill. Healthy tip.

I don't want to be that guy, but I think the russian river stuff is solid but not the holy fuck experience a lot of peeps seem to think it is.

i gotta be honest - when i finally got a chance to taste pliny the younger it blew my mind out of my brain carriage

I think I've only had one of their beers when I was at Toronado in SF so it was a good time all around

individual rr beers may/may not be to one's taste, but as a whole they're way better than solid.

Never had any. Some bring me a sampler.

I have one bottle left of SN Flipside; I am saving it for EMERGENCY DRINKING ONLY, because I am broke. Next time I buy beer though I need to branch out of my SN comfort zone. If only most other craft brands weren't so fucking expensive.

By the way, do we have a homebrew thread?

This one, but very inactive.

Brewing your own beer

I've made beer a few times, and mead the last two times I've brewed.

i have plans to brew a sour soon

We've had a sour in the secondary for a year now

that temptation is a great beer. definitely the best of their sours in my opinion.

just had my first bottle of mad elf for the season and it is super cherry tasting this year

Drank my 2009 bourbon county bomber tonight. Was delicious.

Total shocker tonight from a Grand Teton (eh) 5 o'clock shadow (ehh) double black lager (ehhhhhhhhh) from 2012. Totally outstanding. Dark chocolate and coffee stoutly awesomeness with some licorice mixed in there on the tailing end. Of course, they ceased production on this this year. Jerks.

apparently i won a raffle at my local beer shop and got a free keg of bell's brown ale :D

whoa rad

Like, a barrel or one of their minikegs? Because while awesome, lol at having a quarter or half barrel around the house.

OTOH I guess it's pretty easy to build a kegerator

ok, it's just 1.32 gallons :) still!

I'd see if I could exchange for equal value bottles. Any size keg is pretty pointless for my purposes.

Sounds like a good evening at home

I guess you could invite a friend

Once upon a time a store in my neighborhood in Chicago was selling those minikegs of Best Brown and Two Hearted for $18 each. Fun weekends back then.

THINGS I HAVE DRANK OF LATE --

Westbrook Gose -- liked this more than I expected. A touch salty, nice & sour. Can see myself drinking a lot of it in hotter weather.
Westbrook Ninja - delicious citrusy double IPA made with lots of fruits. Very drinkable for the ABV (9%ish)
Barrier Dunegrass Double IPA - Nice, not too syrupy like a lot of double IPAs. Not quite at the level of Stone's ENJOY BY but really quite good.
tried some framboise; didn't like it.

other less exciting recent drinkin --
Radeberger
Augustiner Helles, nice drinkable German lager.
Konrad czech pils, crisp & refreshing
Sierra Nevada Harvest Ale -- really nice hop flavor, great for the price ($5ish for a 22)

I've been on a Two Hearted kick for a few weeks, there's just something about that stuff in the fall.

I had that Sierra Nevada recently too, seemed perfectly serviceable just like most all their other products.

Is Sierra Nevada Celebration out yet? Such a good beer.