Beer in the new era

Basically the same Chicago bars as last year with the addition of Fountainhead (worthy) and Old Town Pour House (a horrible place). Sub Maria's for Pour House and I'm fine with the Chicago choices.

Basically the problem with the Pour House is that it has 90 taps, but the majority of them are the typical beers for each style or brewery. They have a rotating seasonal tap list that can be decent but doesn't have anything else you couldn't get at a better bar with a better overall list and much better atmosphere.

based on what i've been to...

absolutely deserve to be on this list, these spots are top notch:
beer revolution
belmont station
saraveza bottle shop & pasty tavern

these places have a lot of beer, aren't terrible places to hang:
bailey's taproom
imperial bottle shop & taproom
toronado sf

overrated, expensive belgian beer bars unworthy of your brew $:
bazi bierbrasserie
the trappist
spuyten duyvil

really weird that they didn't list apex for portland, esp considering how many other pdx bars made the list

Whoops, I was reading the wrong list. Old Town PH dropped off for 2014. Good job draft mag! But still no Maria's. Bad job draft mag.

Others on the list I've enjoyed:

BusyBee Cafe
ChurchKey
Haymerchant
Lord Hobo
Monk's Cafe

there was a lively debate in the comments of the Portland OR newspaper about the five PDX bars that made it onto this list and the ones that didn't

I haven't been to any of them but the Portland and Bend and Eugene breweries are on fire lately, 10 Barrel, HUB, Boneyard... so good.

yeah, that is just the tip of the iceberg! boneyard rpm is still probably my favorite single ipa, not sure if it's ever going to be bottled tho. i'd also put hop valley on that list, and that's just like the 'newer general purpose breweries who really know their way around hops' list, i think OR is only beginning to get the props it deserves for specialty brewers like cascade and logsdon and block 15 and upright and crux and pfriem etc etc

oh don't even get me started about Block 15, I have driven 40 minutes to Corvallis just to drink there. amazing.

also props to Claim 52 and Agrarian, who are doing some cool draft beers in Eugene. Hop Valley opened another brewpub here recently, that whole Whitaker brewery district is like a 10 minute walk from my house.

yeah agrarian blows my mind. those guys were at the farmhouse fest at saraveza in spring of last year in these silly tie-dyed logo shirts and were rocking the gnarliest white-dude dreads i have ever seen. i wanted to hate their beers for obvious yet stupid reasons but i unabashedly liked the 3-4 beers they had there. i'll have to check out claim 52 tho, haven't seen that around at all

boston listen is p. dull.

i loved torst personally, their bottle list does not fuck around.

yeah, that is just the tip of the iceberg! boneyard rpm is still probably my favorite single ipa, not sure if it's ever going to be bottled tho. i'd also put hop valley on that list, and that's just like the 'newer general purpose breweries who really know their way around hops' list, i think OR is only beginning to get the props it deserves for specialty brewers like cascade and logsdon and block 15 and upright and crux and pfriem etc etc

― hug niceman (psychgawsple), Thursday, January 9, 2014 4:29 PM (23 minutes ago)

Split a growler of Boneyard Hop Venom 3-ways this past summer, it was incredible. Another great brew from that neck of the woods is Pelican Pub's Mother of All Storms aged barleywine.

i really need to have mother of all storms again--first time it was a revelation, second time it was just ok

xp really wanted to do the beer pairing thing at luksus when i was in the area, but it's a good thing i spent that $140 elsewhere

is this beer pairing idea popping up in other place much? seems like beer sommeliers just became a thing 3 years ago

*places

never tried mother of all storms either, loving these pacific nw tips

I was thinking Monk's, Marias, and one of the Small bars needed to be on the Chicago list, but at the same time I'm fine with there being some hidden jewels out there.

Also I'm going to be in Portland in March and am very interested to hit up Gigantic and also Saraveza.

Monk's downtown? They can have good tap lists, but I'd have to leave them off by how annoying the afterwork crowd there can be. No issues with any of the Smallbars, in fact, one should definitely be there.

what are can't miss beer bars in the boston area ? i'll be up there for work and will maybe have time to get out this time around.

i'd recommend going to cambridge and hitting lord hobo and cambridge brewing co. which are a short walk from each other. depending on where exactly you're gonna be there are a couple other places worth checking out, but that's the trip i would make if location isn't a factor.

also i just checked out the beer list at new-ish oyster bar row 34 and it's really, really good for mass.

I enjoyed jm curley's as well. I regret not making it to CBC.

Bought a six pack of Bells Java Stout. It's OK, a little thin, a little bitter. Paired well with pulled pork.

i'm staying by Boston Common but will be working in Cambridge and Brookline . Will have a car though so that might work out.

kendall sq. in cambridge is a quick trip by subway from the common if you don't want to drive around too much. if you're in brookline you could also check out the publick house tho i don't really dig it there.

word thanks
if i'm going to be hanging anywhere for awhile i'll post on the boston thread if anyones around to meet up.

yeah sounds good!

xps gigantic is great too! the location is a bit more out of the way than most places here so i don't get there often. i always end up getting in sorta lengthy discussions with strangers there, ime it happens at small-ish breweries more than any other bar environment

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2014/01/10/261398742/american-beer-fans-praise-the-heavens-a-trappist-brewery-in-u-s

Only MA for now- hopefully cad can hook the rest of us up

I had this beer called jai alai tonight and it ruled. It was an IPA but it was like bright orange and tasted very citrusy.

I also had some beers from Evil Twin, including a porter called Lil B that was very distinctive, if not necessarily my "thing." Y'all should go to Torst in Greenpoint.

i <3 jai alai. it has been my go-to IPA since it started being available in NY. it is similar to lagunitas sucks IMO but available year round. so good when it's fresh.

torst is a cool bar but if i went there regularly i would be broke as a joke.

maybe it's just me or the day i went but i just wasn't feeling the vibe at torst

it's not a cozy neighborhood bar, but they have good beer, and if you bring some friends along it's as fine as anywhere else imo.

yeah agrarian blows my mind. those guys were at the farmhouse fest at saraveza in spring of last year in these silly tie-dyed logo shirts and were rocking the gnarliest white-dude dreads i have ever seen. i wanted to hate their beers for obvious yet stupid reasons but i unabashedly liked the 3-4 beers they had there.

hahaha I don't know those dudes but that is soooo Eugene

i like the olives they served with the cheese platter at torst a lot

the bro who served me at torst was at the same beer fest i was at in vermont a few months later, but i recognized him too late to say anything.

thanks for chilling that bottle of mamouche down to appropriate serving temp, bro.

Occurred to me tonight that Lagunitas Sucks tastes almost exactly like Three Floyds Gumballhead.

Wha??????

yeah i don't get that at all

i have never had a three floyds beer.
had my first lagunitas sucks of the season last night tho and damn do i love that beer.

^^^

Heh, I might agree with that statement if you said Lil Sumpin Sumpin* instead of Sucks as LSS is Lagunitas' hopped up wheat beer.

Starting to realize the palettes on ILX are pretty unusual! It's kinda like when I search the ILM archives and find all these Dexys Midnight Runners and Brooks & Dunn threads.

i don't really like most wheat beers or belgian-y beers. i am a weird guy, i know.

palate~~~

not liking wheats or belgians is not partic. weird--i do with limited amounts of both. gumballhead was excellent the one time i got to try it tho.

i want to try three floyd's zombie dust so bad but it's tough to come by.

dittos

totally lives up to the hype imo

The more I think on it, yeah, Gumballhead is much ...fruitier. But there's something about the sticky aftertaste of Sucks that reminds me of the the 3F.

I've been lucky with Zombie Dust recent. I think I've drank three 6-packs in the last couple of months.