Beer in the new era

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.

I'm surprised to hear that the BCBS doesn't age that well. I've heard that about the flavored variants - like the coffee - but the standard stuff? At 15% ABV I figured it'd be hardier. Then again, five years is a pretty long time!

It changes, but I don't think it necessarily makes it better. Just different. Maybe still good, maybe not.

When I tasted the F-W Parabola last year they had the 2011 and 2012 (just released), and the 2011 was better. I believe they even recommend a year or so of aging on their Double DBA boxes. I have a couple of these in my cellar, buoght during the tasting. I'm not sure if the Parabola is even available in bottles.

i think a beer that develops for five years can be considered as "aging well." anyone who puts down a beer for longer than that is sort of kidding themselves (ppl with serious gueuze collections excepted).

way upthread someone talking about whether this means the end of getting lots and lots of heady topper, as far as i understand the closing is due to local complains & they're scoutingf a place to open their own retail location. odds are that this means they'll continue to sell the same way just somewhere down the street once they open that new location. in the meantime yes it does mean you can't really make super-runs until they fix that. :(

that said i made my first vermont vacation this past month and tried it for the first time. whether or not it "lives up to the hype" is entirely based on how much you hyped it, but i went in hoping for the best ipa i'd ever had and was not disappointed. ended up buying the maximum allowable (2 days before the cannery closed to the public, no less -- 20 mins in line!) and sort-of smuggling it into canada (we declared it, told him we were over the limit, and he smiled and told us to have a nice day... vermont border guards always seem consistently awesome :D)

tried one or two others from tap while there (will need to see which ones they were, remember maybe trying a lawson's, at least one hill farm, and another one... steve's?) and wow, vermont knocks it out of the park eh?

were you there on wednesday? maybe we were in line together.

xxp yeah i've come across forums where dudes were drinking westvleteren from the '60s, and i'd be real surprised if even that stuff improved after the five year mark

i was there on wednesday the 13th yeah! around 1130am. small world :O (were you the beardy dude who i talked to in line briefly who was first talking about tabletop baseball games? that would be amazing)

hahah we were def there at the same time. i am beardy but was not talking abt tabletop baseball.

Tired Hands Brewing Company
2 hours ago
This Wednesday, November 27th, we will offer 30 loaves of our beautiful bread for sale. We will also offer our decidedly autumnal barrel fermented local plum Saison, Out of the Emptiness, for sale.

Listen...

Bread: One loaf per person. $5.00 per loaf.

Beer: Six bottles per person. $15 per 500ml bottle. This beer is the perfect autumnal digestif. Orange-hued Saison fermented in red wine barrels on local plums. As it exists, Out of the Emptiness, is a rather lightly carbonated beer. Enjoy its petilant charm now, or age for a more rousing carbonation level. 7.0% abv.

I've never even seen a Tired Hands bottle before.

drinkin:
ithaca - dark vines black IPA (prob the best, most well-balanced black IPA i've tasted. only a hint of alcohol bite.)
westbrook - one claw rye Pale ale (kicking myself that it took me so long to drink this.)
weyerbacher winter ale - not that into it -- bananas on the nose and in the aftertaste kinda kills it for me. not a bad beer, but just not for me.

Give me all your damn Heady Toppers, gah.

hahah we were def there at the same time. i am beardy but was not talking abt tabletop baseball.

bummer because i actually really want to know more about tabletop baseball

i also want to know about tabletop baseball

dudes from Surly are gonna be at a local bar in a week or two, my one chance to drink Surly in WA. Includes:

Misanthrope
Pentagram (lol 6.66 ABV)
Darkness
Smoke
Abrasive
Coffee Bender
Furious

Drinking a 1+ year old Brooklyn Monster Ale, which is a "barleywine style" beer. Pretty smooth and mellow for a 10.1% beer. Not remarkable but enjoyable.

The Trader Joe's Vintage Ale has shown up at my TJ's. Bought one but haven't drunk yet. Still $4.99.

Ooh, thanks for reminding me -- I rarely go to TJ's anymore so I'll have to make a trip.

I did pick up some Corsendonk Christmas Ale from Costco, which is also awesome.

Ive been drinking this a lot lately, a local brew out of Decatur, GA. Very good-and potent

http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/23651/61833

Sucked down a Pipeworks Ninja Vs. Unicorn last night, one of the better big IPAs I've had in a while, almost reminded me of the old proudly unfiltered Bell's products.

also crazy fuckin label

http://www.beerdestroyer.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/2pipe_works_ninja_vs_unicorn.jpg

that looks freaking awesome - i wish we got pipeworks in philly

pipeworks stuff is usually p great, as is spiteful as far as younger Chicago brewers go. just picked up a Jingle Balls by the latter yesterday, as well as my first Surly (Overrated!).

I think Pipeworks would be the only Chicago brewery I'd include in a bottle trade.

it looks like there's no way i'm going to score any of those tired hands bottles - apparently line is already forming + it opens at 4.

more like tired feet amirite

yeah, it was snowing + raining this afternoon so i thought i'd swing by around 4 to see if ppl stayed away. nope - line around the block and way more ppl than bottles available. so i went inside and filled some growlers instead (cultonsour + The Light That Spills Out of the Hole In Your Head ftw)

had the St. Bernardus Christmas Ale with dinner tonight and thoroughly enjoyed it. first time i've had it. just cracked open an Evil Twin Imperial Biscotti Break (another first) and wow, great as a late 2nd dessert. delicious.

Walked right in to the store and bought a 4pk of BCBS today, no line, no nothing, though I did have to ask for it. They had the barleywine around too, thought about it but didn't want to drop that much more $. Gonna give the stout to my brother in law for xmas I think.

got a case of regular bcbs this morning easy but variants haven't popped up yet.

I got regular, that's it. Didn't even want to try for the variants. All the places I can get to it is long gone.

Just saw this in the cooler of my corner liquor store by my train stop............

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3834/11123459803_94aa331fd5.jpg

Fuck this guy. He's being sitting on this KBS for 8 months and just pulls it out today to try and entice people that may have missed out on BCBS?

jesus christ

KBS is good but not that good!

Regular BCBS was sitting right beside it for $26.99, which is a bit much. I didn't even ask about the varients. I'm sure he's keeping them in the back until he can charge $75 a bottle in 6 months.

Didn't even bother with the BCBS this year. I'm sure like last year the regular stuff (which I don't really like) will be easy to get for a while, but the coffee stout (which I love) would have been a hassle. My Pappy Van Winkle hunt, however successful, robbed me of much initiative to do it again for beer.