Beer in the new era

Stumbled upon a 4 pack of barleywine yesterday and thanks to Dan got a Proprietors today. So the only variant I won't have is the backyard rye.

we made it as far as victory brewing today before conditions became too treacherous + we had to turn back. we're rescheduling our beercation for next week. nothing really mind-blowing at victory - had a glass of hop devil off nitro which was pretty delish. apparently tours are closed until they open their new/larger facility :(

split an afternoon BCBS coffee with my girlfriend yesterday, the first thing we've had from our stash, and it lived up to expectations.

now i'm about to make beer pancakes, brb.

now drinking: Bittersweet Lenny's R.I.P.A. from Schmaltz. This is good. Not overly boozy but a def alcohol kick. Floral/citrus hops, not a ton of rye in the flavor tho.

to be digging soon:
dark horse Fore Smoked Stout
Southern Tier 2XMAS

also have another BCCS in the fridge as well as a mad elf for when i am feeling festive.

also got the Schlafly T IPA, which i am psyched to try.

T stands for Tasmanian, btw. And I am expecting similar to the Jai Alai IPA; citrusy but also tropical fruit flavors/pine etc.

Question about growler etiquette:

I got my hands on a growler of pretty unusual beer and would like to share it with friends, unfortunately we usually meet at a centrally located pub which has a great selection.

Have you guys ever taken a growler out with you? I usually have consumed them at friends' houses, or parks when the weather's nice.

Seems weird that most eateries will allow a corkage for wine but taking a growler into a bar is like a taboo... could be wrong though or maybe I haven't found the right place yet.

Discus.

If it's a BYOB place, then there should be no issue?

yeah i mean if the place in question is a bar that serves their own beer they're not gonna allow a growler in. is there a byob restaurant you guys could meet at?

i would also agree that a restaurant that charges corkage should be bright enough to let you bring in beer if you paid corkage.

I'm even willing to pour two glasses for the bartenders (1/4th of the growler?) in good faith but we'll see. Haven't tried any BYOB places yet but that's a good idea.

idk where you are but there are legal issues for some bars w/r/t outside beverages. it's not that they don't want to, it's that they can get in trouble.

also what in the world is in the growler?

Anyone had Surly before? It's a big deal, I guess, that it's back in Chicago for the first time since 2010. Not limited, thank goodness, but I'm not sure where to start.

i've tried abrasive and furious, they were both excellent

i have had, and miss dearly, all of the surlys

i had furious at a share before, i remember liking it but can't recall specifics. since it's chicago return i've only picked up overrated so far, which i liked, but i'm a big IPA guy and i would like it.

Surly is fantastic, although I didn't think distributed across state lines at all? I've certainly never seen it anywhere it WI but I pick some up every time I go to Minneapolis.

btw the IPAncakes were delicious.

Surly is in Chicago as of a few weeks ago.

i think wet is actually my favorite of their ipas - just amazing hop flavor in that one

well how about that: http://www.surlybrewing.com/eventsblog/

sad to think of trucks just driving through WI with Surly just to get to Chicago :(

Ha, well, it makes up for Chicago losing New Glarus a few years back.

fair enough but i would gladly trade NG for Surly.

i still say the core surly stuff is mostly good, but their limited $$$$ stuff is almost always like rogue level fail to me. my beer store dudes dont even bother to hold bottles for me anymore.

whereas new glarus stock stuff is fine and all, but their limited stuff is like 90% amazing

yeah they do have some good stuff, it's just overhyped here (idg people's obsession with Spotted Cow), and even with the special stuff they tend toward styles i'm not that interested in (fruity belgians, sours, lagers, etc).

i guess i haven't had much of Surly's limited ones, except for a glass at the Nomad or at the Great Taste of the Midwest once a year.

re: Schlafly "T" IPA: smelled delicious, tasted like sour apricots and bitter hops.. did not really like.

Surly's regular line up is about 1000x better than NG's.

Yeah, honestly, I think everything from NG tastes sort of the same. I only picked it as an example of another beer that taunts IL from the other side of the border.

How is the Surly coffee?

we have much better breweries that don't distribute to Chicago (at least i don't think?). :) O'So, Ale Asylum, Central Waters, etc.

We get Central Waters. Thankfully. Anything they put in a barrel has been fantastic.

Drinking a Hill Farmsted

Whoops, submitted too early.

Drinking Hill Farmstead Madness & Civilization tonight. Amazing beer.

How is the Surly coffee?

Haven't had it recently, but I have v fond memories of drinking one on draft several years ago, before it was pulled from Chicago.

We get Central Waters. Thankfully. Anything they put in a barrel has been fantastic.

We get O'So, too! Although I thought the O'So Night Train was kind of gross and haven't been too excited to try their other stuff.

Drinking Hill Farmstead Madness & Civilization tonight. Amazing beer.

― Jeff, Monday, December 9, 2013 6:24 PM (12 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

nice! have not tried mine yet, bigger bottle so i'll probably save it for a group.

Mmmmmmiller High Life

all goes well i'm drinking pliny elder + Allagash PNC Broken Elevator tnite at monk's

there is a flavor in every o'so beer i have had that is such a perfect example of some sort of malt character that i hate that ive been tempted to write them an email so i can avoid it in my own homebrews

central waters brewhouse coffee stout is def by far the best coffee stout ive ever had out of a $5 bomber, i love that stuff. central waters however is another brewery that is cursed with the terrible generic looking label disease

keep meaning to make a special trip to VT for hill farmstead/heady topper but i am lazy and also have no time for this

I need to have ppl over for bottle sharing. Took a recent inventory and I'm up to 74 bottles. So hard to justify cracking a nice 750 ml bottle for myself.

xp yeah it's basically a full day even from where you are

our landlord just decided to have the cellar professionally cleaned for some reason so there are currently 7 boxes of beer in my kitchen.

it's a bad hobby.

I can't wait until Carl really starts drinking again, we're going to blow through the 4 Cantillons I have left, for sure.

tell that babby to hurry up and turn 21

CW recently changed their labels and i think they look more generic now: http://centralwaters.com/beers/img/Satin-Solitude.jpg

man, O'So Night Train is one of my stand-bys. but lupulin maximus is the one that's really insane.

yeah that looks like three different designs mashed together

Around here three Floyd's and pipeworks do the worst labels. Everyone is pretty much used to it though.

We ended up taking this to a BYOB restaurant, it was pretty great:
http://distilleryimage1.ak.instagram.com/fafcffa65e2311e3b9670ed18cdf8007_8.jpg