Beer in the new era

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.

I've thought, at some point, that Lagunitas Sucks has a somewhat similar hop profile to Gumballhead and that both are also similar to like Firestone Walker Pale 31 and Two Brothers Sidekick? I probably don't know what I'm talking about though.

Since you guys have mentioned Lagunitas Sucks lately I've been looking for it at the stores, but I always see a shelf tagged "Lagunitas Seasonal" with some other Lagunitas beer in that spot. Has it become like Bourbon County where it gets snagged as soon as it appears?

Not quite that bad around here, I usually see it the most in Whole Foods. It's availability seems to be more available than Zombie Dust, but less available than Celebration.

Speaking of Bourbon County, I stop into the liquor store next to my train stop basically every day after work to see what may be new in the color. And almost every day they have a single four pack in the cooler. I've bought that single four pack before, and the very next day there is always one more. I think he's putting his stock out there one at a time?? Not sure why he is employing that strategy.

Last year there were stacks and stacks of BCBS at the big Binny's, but this year they either similarly eased/secreted it out or simply had less to sell. Lagunitas Sucks I usually don't have trouble finding at all. Same situation, stacks and stacks at Binny's. But then, I haven't been to the big Binny's in a while, maybe it's hard to find there, too.

Local little Binny's out here had a few four-packs of Central Waters BBS. I hear good things.

idk what a binny's is but i want one by me

I liked the coffee variety of the Central Waters stuff better than Bourbon County, I think because I'm not a coffee drinker and the flavor was a little less intense.

xp http://www.binnys.com/ -- the "big Binnys" is roughly the size of a standard US grocery store.

And there's a new big one coming! Expanding from 33,000 to 50,000 square feet! Or is it done now?

Everything that Central Waters has put in a barrel has been from pretty good to absolutely fantastic. Barleywine being the best.

It's not done but the LP one is expanding greatly. It will have a tap room!

closest binnys to me:
Chicago - Hyde Park [699.6 Miles]

brb

That's my local! It's the smallest in the fleet, too.

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

― ian, Wednesday, January 15, 2014 6:21 PM

feelin u bro

same^^^

zombie dust is great, it pops up on tap around here at a few places.

I bought a six pack of Sucks last month when I saw it in Portland, it's good but I don't quite get the amount of hype about it?

it's a very good beer that happens to not be year-round, so it's hyped

woo - scored a box of hop ranch

tried my first hop ranch last night--between that and dirtwolf victory has pretty much been killing it.

I did trades with both Mordy and CAD recently, here's my impressions of the beers they sent that I've tried so far:

Cigar City Jai Alai (Mordy): Pretty fantastic IPA. A bit more citrusy than I'm used to, maybe not as well-balanced as 2 Hearted. If this was available in Chicago I'd definitely be buying it in the summertime quite a bit.

Otter Creek Kind Ryed (CAD): Also very good, maybe a bit more cloudy than most beers I go for but it stood up nicely. Really enjoyed the rye aspect of the flavor.

Evolution Lot No. 3 (Mordy): Good, but didn't seem as complex as a lot of other similar beers.

Heady Topper (CAD): Big hype, and kinda lived up to it. Reminded me a lot of Surly Over Rated, which might have been assisted by the can. I shared it with my wife and she thought the same. Looking forward to trying the other can when my palate won't have been wrecked by 3 previous IPAs...

Beer trading is fun, but I can see how it would get expensive. I feel like I should have done a better job shopping around for rare stuff! Also, I'm still fretting that my packages made it to their destinations intact. Only one bottle was lost out of both boxes I received.

I want to do some more trading. Too expensive for me right now though. Some guys I know do it all the time, like shipping out several packages a week. Who has the time/money for that.

Instead, all you guys can just come to my apartment and we can drink beer.

I have quite a stockpile now. Getting those two packages on the same day was like beer Christmas.

I've been making a big effort to drink my stash (for better or for worse).

i've never tried overrated but surly abrasive seemed to have some headyish qualities

Picked up my yearly sixer of hopslam today. Good to have you back old friend.

Wasn't able to find any Hopslam this evening, kind of surprising. Consoling myself with Smitten instead.

Went into one of the overpriced places on my street and they were charging $40 for a bottle of Surly Darkness. No fucking thank you.

I managed to get a 6-er of Lagunitas Sucks on Monday ($11 at Whole Foods). None there when I went today.

40 for darkness??? that's insane.

scored cans of jai alai white oak aged + dry hopped on the high seas w/ citra!

And I stopped by Bevmo after work and was at the Lagunitas section (no Sucks) but an employee did find an out-of-way case when I asked if they had any. Only bought one 6-pack because I didn't want to be that guy.

tangentially related to thread but so cool:
http://www.penn.museum/press-releases/1031-patrick-mcgovern-nordic-grog.html

i've had the Epic Big Bad Baptist imperial stout a couple times lately, one bottle and once on tap, super coffee-ish (and great).

Excited for this, assuming I can make it:

https://scontent-b-ord.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn2/t1/q71/1525430_661167637279994_1047597639_n.jpg

should be dece

oh wow, that looks great. i've heard amazing things about pipeworks sours but i've never tried them myself. cantillion obv most epix.

does tilquin stuff sit on the shelves where you guys live? because you should buy it if so.

I see Tilquin occasionally. I think it sits a little because of the price, and perhaps ignorance to it's awesomeness. I buy it relatively frequently, especially since I can get it in a 375ml bottle. Typically it's about $12.

I should say I buy it frequently, when I see it, which is still occasionally.

my friend brought over a big bottle of the quetsche tilquin for football on sunday and it was fabulous. pricey but it stands up to cantillon/3f stuff for sure.

i'm doing a tasting-share w/ some friends this sunday. i'm bringing the proprieters bcbs and they're bringing a fou foune (!) and a Hunahpu's Imperial Stout (!!!)

I finally tried a bottle of the regular BCBS. I don't think it's really my thing. Too sweet and syrupy plus I remembered that I don't really like the taste of bourbon. There is something to be said for 15% ABV though.

we carry tilquin stuff where i work; they are NOT huge sellers, but once in a while someone will come in and be super stoked and buy a couple at a time.

for example, the bottles of geuze tilquin we have are 2011 and the quetsche from 2012.