Beer in the new era

i won't be there around closing - i can only get there earlier in the day. maybe they'll do flights? or i'm going w/ ppl, so maybe we'll share glasses

yeah, I'd be shocked if you could get growlers of many of those.

http://img.ffffound.com/static-data/assets/6/430aa5afe46c93352a8f689bd4e274d0034b2e82_m.gif

Although just had a friend in DC and said a place was doing 32oz bourbon county growler fills. I don't remember the price, but it was an outrageous amount.

anyone who can drink a 32oz growler of bourbon county before it goes flat.. has my respect.
or they just like to share w friends.

Yeah, I drank a 750ml of Three Philosophers (9.7% ABV) the other night and I was SICK the next day. 32 oz of a thick 15% beer like that would be disgusting honestly. I'd almost rather just take a bunch of shots of tequila.

It took me like an hour to drink a snifter of bourbon county this summer and I was kind of trashed afterwards. A growler would be a fatal amount.

Don't skip the Black Albert!

― Jeff, Wednesday, November 20, 2013 2:08 PM (4 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

pro tip

i'd kill a 32 of BCS. just saying

believe it when i see it.

Had a growler keep beer from going flat for a week once (i was ill).

xp idk i finished off a 12oz regular and a coffee in one sitting and i would have been down for a cherry rye on top of that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Jj2R69qRxU

i had lunch at the harvest moon brewpub today (rutgers area) - beers were okay, nothing particularly memorable. it's always nice drinking ime though drinking at these tiny brewpubs. they had the big tanks in the front right when you walk in and the food was pretty okay. the porter i tried was better than the ipa (which was barely an ipa) - it had been brewed w/ coffee from a local roaster; another thing that never really blows away my tastebuds but that always makes me feel happy about drinking.

I've been there a lot of times, and have played shows there, although I haven't been there in many years. I never thought the beers were amazing even back then when I had tried so few craft beers. I remember I used to always order Flying Fish beers there though, which I thought were pretty good.

Not a bad place as far as atmosphere. I have fuzzy memories of it.

trying the Ommegang Rare Vos -- not one of my favorite of their offerings. The flavors in it (orange peel and coriander) are done subtly enough that they're not obnoxious, but I think they'd work better with a little higher alcohol.

Drinking all the Surley cans. Welcome back.

My wife wants to know where you got it

heading back home to upstate ny for vacation/thanksgiving tomorrow, and it suddenly dawned on me that they get bell's there now. stoked.

They had a bunch of surly in cans at the Lakeview binnys yesterday. Bought some furious.

see if u can score any of the 4 stouts bell's has out atm - cherry, expedition stout, special double cream, and java. xp

bell's only started distributing to syracuse a month or two ago, so i have no idea what's out there. i'd be happy just to drink two-hearted all week, honestly; it's one of the things i miss most about living in dc.

if i can grab a case of expedition, i may as well throw it in the cellar, aka my parents' actual cellar - i've got plenty of other stuff i could never fit in a nyc apartment stored down there for the long term

Matilda lambicus is fucking garbage bye unless you want beer that tastes like froot loops.

On the positive note, local beer store just went all in on the "soon to be out of season" indeed sweet yamma jamma, so I will be buying a couple of cases tomorrow for tiny dollars. My pumpkin root veggie pick of the season bar none.

Dan, I got mine at Printer's Row Wineshop. They are starting to appear everywhere.

Matilda lambicus isn't very good.

They had furious, bender, overrated, and cynic. Was hoping for some coffee bender.

CynicAle that is.

was just watching Do The Right Thing last night and was surprised to spot Brooklyn Lager at the corner store. I didn't even know the brewery was that old, although apparently it was only founded two years before the film. Was also surprised to see a "micro" in a Bed-Stuy convenience store in 1989.

jeff have you had the coffee bender? by far my least favorite of the stock surly beers

New Goose Island Bourbon County Stouts out Friday. 1) It's nice that the original BCBS will be better distributed around the country. 2) It's nice that the Coffee Stout will be sold in 4-packs as well as bombers. 3) It's gross that someone decided coconut would be a good one-off flavor to try out.

http://www.chicagoreader.com/Bleader/archives/2013/11/25/brace-yourselves-here-come-goose-islands-2013-bourbon-county-variants

I had coffee bender a couple of days ago. I liked it! Made me think I was drinking iced coffee.

my appointed task on friday is to scour the city for BCBS.

based on some tasting this weekend, if anyone's hanging on to any '06 or '07 bourbon county bottles, they're pretty much dead. if you have any '08 i'd drink it real soon.

that coconut bcbs looks delicious. i'm sure i'll never get to try it tho lol.

Everything I've had before 2009 recently has been meh.

it's almost like goose island knew what they were talking about when they gave it a five-year window

thanks for the heads-up! i've got a couple '08s lying around that i wouldn't have opened otherwise

TBH, I can't think of many beers that would be better over 5 years old. Most beer is the most awesome when fresh.

in unrelated news, i'm going to lancaster/hershey/harrisburg/gettsburg area for a beercation in early december. some places i'm hoping to stop at:
Victory Brewing (on the way from Philly)
Troegs Brewing (in Hershey)
Battlefield Brew Works (Gettysburg)
Al's of Hampden (Enola) -- Pizzabar!

there are so many breweries + brewpubs in the area. i could even shlep up to yuengling (probably will not).

any recommendations from the ilbeer crew?

i tasted a lot of milk chocolate in the '08 we sampled. very different beer but not without merit.

is selinsgrove too far north? i'd go there for sure - it's completely out of the way but well worth it imo

otherwise, i've only been to the old troegs location in harrisburg, but i really enjoyed it - they have a great tasting room and usually a couple crazy one-offs on tap

i've also heard good things about tired hands in ardmore if you haven't been

i'm in tired hands like twice a week these days O_O i own cad a growler from there - one of the best breweries i've ever been to for sure

Ever notice how flavors that you completely dig on a given day can suddenly seem insipid or gross to you on another? I was drinking an Ommegang golden ale last night and I suddenly felt like "fuck this fruity, champagney fluff" even though I normally like that sort of thing.

xpost - ha, i wasn't sure! i talked to somebody who did a PA beer tour recently and they came back just raving about it

owe* -- it's really fantastic tho. they also make insanely good pickles

Most beer is the most awesome when fresh.

i recently experimented with aging for the first time with a 2010 deschutes abyss, and it was one of the best things i've tasted all year. i think the boozier styles lend themselves to aging, especially imperial stouts, sours too

Bottle conditioned beers age better than those that are not, no? I remember going to a beer lecture and the dude said he had been in Belgium drinking Chimay from the 80s and Chimay from the prior year side by side.

certain sours def age better than others - the surly sour from a few years was insanely good after a few years (five? i cant remember) but we aged a pentagram from last year and just tried it and it tasted basically exactly the same, or maybe a bit earthier. the unibroue stuff ages really really well, by contrast.