Beer in the new era

yeah I feel like I've had plenty of "examples of the style," like probably dozens of different IPAs over the years, and I'm just not a fan of the style. Even with the best ones I almost never want more than one. I'm not big on any beer that makes the flavor of particular hops the complete centerpiece of the taste.

Actually I did love the Evil Twin Femme Fatale Yuzu though. I would definitely try another Evil Twin IPA.

hurting, you might be able to still find bottles of evil twin femme fatale brett. it is great & has nice clean citrus flavor in the initial rush

yeah I think the Yuzu was some kind of small run of the brett that also had yuzu fruit

This guillotine stuff is damn good (same brewery as Delirium Tremens)

belgian-style golden ale, almost champagne-like

the hitachino sweet stout otoh is borderline disgusting

I have hated every hitachino I have tried, and I've tried several. Particularly maddening considering the price.

Basically my thought is if you are reaching for a hitachino, stop, turn around and find a mikkeller if you want to blow $$$ on a 12 ounce and be pretty sure it will be worth it. Or at least not suck.

I was pretty mad because I've always been like "$7 for a single? No beer is that good." But it turns out it's not even like $2 good.

The Guillotine had one of the tastiest heads ever -- super thick foam. I could just drink the foam.

there's like one good hitachino, one that's not bad, and the rest are experiments in flavortown that are best not breached

that one with ginger in it is bleehhh and I love ginger

the stout kind of tasted like it was made by people who had heard a description of a stout but never tasted one

is that the one that is kind of syrupy?

I am not much for wheaty beers these days but I will still rep for their white ale

Hitachino Nest is by far the worst craft brewery going.

coughroguecough

haha

I had this guinness red harvest stout on Halloween and it was good but seemed to be exactly like guinness except the black food was replaced by a deep ruby red. Maybe there was a bit more sweetness, like a scotch ale?

Haha, Hitachino Nest has 2 drinkable beers to Rogue's 1.

I have hated every hitachino I have tried, and I've tried several. Particularly maddening considering the price.

they are not great but the one that's "based on a japanese original ale" or whatever is nice - like i dunno, as nice as brooklyn lager or something, i was looking at bars in nyc for my visit and saw hitachino for 13 dollars or some shit, no way is it that kind of stand-out.

might have been a restaurant rather than a bar, but still.

went to a friend's "near beer" party, where everyone was supposed to bring beer from their hometown. probably the best thing i tried that i hadn't had before was Alesmith (San Diego). the IPA was good but i was told the Speedway Stout is the way to go.

speedway stout is imo tremendous

went to a friend's "near beer" party...

Was about to say "That's no friend!" till I read the rest. (For those too young to remember, Near Beer was a non-alcoholic beer I tried a couple times in the early 70s, may still be in production).

Also tried the Ballast Point Sculpin IPA that was raved about upthread. Excellent, but $15/6-pack is kind of steep.

drank so much SN celebration this weekend

I really don't know much about beers from the DC area, which is where I grew up

http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/food/blogs/99bottles/2013/11/the_alchemist_closing_cannery_to_the_public.html

Does this mean I've probably had all the Heady I'll ever get? Every can I've ever had is because people have gotten their stock by driving to the cannery.

my phone blew the fuck up abt that today

it's going to be much tougher to justify the trip to vermont from boston. but given some of the ppl i know who were contemplating heady runs (to make it clear these are people who really could not be described as beer nerds by any definition) it's no surprise. if you're resourceful and willing to drive it's still possible to scrape together a case (i know, i've done it) but overall this sucks.

contemplating one more run next wednesday.

Go for it!

I say this as I'm drinking a fresh batch of Pipeworks Unicorn vs. Ninja and holy fuck is that a good beer. They've really nailed this one, probably the best PW's I've had.

just opened the delerium nocturnum -- interesting, definitely has some flavors in common with the guillotine, and also some elements that remind me of a chocolate stout

belgian ales are really a whole other thing from most beer imo, they're like something in between beer and wine

Newcastle Werewolf (their rye malt ale) was pretty okay (and much better than their brown ale). Nothing to seek out, but probably the best offering at the local Rite-Aid near me (save the unrefrigerated Sierra Nevada).

have always really disliked newcastle brown

I will always drink Newcastle

Ok so I was going to rave abt the weyerbacher blasphemy I just drank and tell you all to go get it, and then I realized that not only is it retired I guess but maybe the one I got is a 2012 or earlier that has been lingering at my beer store as far as I can tell from doing some label research. Sweet in all the right ways Belgian quad whiskey barreled with just the right kind of heat. $8.99 a bomber, 11.8 abv, might buy every bottle they have left tomorrow. And I hate sweet beers, and am sorta eh on Belgians, but holy shit.

Also I blame that rambling mess on the fact that I just banged through a high octane Belgian and didn't hide my phone from myself.

I've only had the Double Simcoe and I have no recollection of how it tasted.

I had a Weyerbacher Tiny a few months ago and was pleasantly surprised by it. Big Belgian-y Imperial Stout that you really couldn't beat for the price. Weyerbacher's got some uuuuggggly labels though. Yeesh.

Maine Brewing Company has suddenly entered the Chicago market. I love their labels.

watch that freshness dating!

Yeah I doubt I actually buy much of it but I'll gaze longingly at the bottles in the cooler.

mo is my wife's favorite beer ever

Philadelphia Brewing Harvest from the Hood is really good

any recommendations for seattle/portland beer i should look for this weekend?

Oh yeah I like that brewery (Philadelphia). They split off from Yards, which is also good. I used to drink beers from both of them more often because I was in Philly a lot. Haven't seen them in NYC much.

we must philly beer fap imho

I like Gigantic from PDX.

beer shipment from friendly ilx trader arrived today!

http://i42.tinypic.com/11sikhy.jpg

In Seattle, the Ballard neighborhood has a ridiculous number of breweries. I'd recommend Reuben's in particular. If you want to grab stuff to bring back, Chuck's Hop Shop has pretty great selection and 20 beers on tap, the people there could probably recommend tons of good local stuff that I haven't tried.