Beer in the new era

They keep saying that, but since the last expansion the stuff has been weirdly scarce for long stretches.

They were going to open a place in Chicago too but that never happened.

https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-frc1/t31/1412362_10152153266146738_863572903_o.jpg

After hibernating for six months in bourbon barrels, we’re excited to report that we will release Bourbon Barrel-Aged Troegenator at the brewery on Thu. 2/6 at 11am. The barrel-aging process has transformed Troegenator into a lush Double Bock with undertones of vanilla, oak, and toasted coconut amid a warm blanket of tangy bourbon notes. BBA Troegenator is packaged in 750mL cork and cage bottles and available only at the brewery through the General Store for take-out as well as our Tasting Room for on-premise consumption. The price per bottle is $17.99 and there is a two (2) bottle limit per person.

Normal Troegenator alone is like one of the best double bocks i've ever had so this sounds amazing. I'm going to try to head out there Thursday morning to snag some bottles.

sierra nevada ovila is seriously one of the shittiest beers i have ever had, thank god i didnt get suckered into buying a 4 pack

ugh yeah, the plum stuff? i had a bottle last year.

and i am far from a sierra nevada hater but christ man, yuuuuuuccckk

the plums werent even the issue, the base beer was just awful, and the plums sure didnt help. idk wtf they were thinking honestly.

i don't get why they still make a beer that doesn't play to their strengths at all

tried Three Sheeps Ewephoria (ginger chocolate stout) last night, really liked it. super gingery.

also Central Waters Bourbon Barrel Barleywine is amazing.

barrel-aged troegenator sounds delicious

totally predictable yet totally devastating news - http://www.wweek.com/portland/blog-31196-northeast_portland_speakeasy_deans_scene_closed.html

NOOOoooo

Smuttynose Rhye, fantastically earthy/hoppy. Going to buy this again.

Saw that at WF today, I was more curious about their Scotch Ale. Anyone had that?

Although once I realized what the Homunculus label was I was thinking, this is clown shoes territory.

Also I have to say I bought a SN Ovila 4-pack a month or so ago, drank all 4, and didn't find it bad.

x-p to myself

http://smuttynose.com/_Media/homunculus.jpg

Had a bunch from Ale Asylum last night, which are new to the market. Really liked the Bedlam.

Ale Asylum is a brewpub in Madison, WI, right? If so I was taken there by my in-laws last year. The beer seemed fine, if unremarkable.

Bumped into a bottle of Sucaba the other day.

I hope the bottle is ok. You should drink it.

It's always nice when you find something on the shelf you're not looking for (in the active hunting sense). Find it a bit funny that DDBA sits around for a while (out here) but Sucaba still goes fast.

i bumped the homebrewing thread if anyone is interested - i'd love to chat about homebrewing over there...

I bought a bottle of Sucuba the other day - I like beer and all but I've learned I'm not that obsessive about it and don't really care about collecting or anything - but elsewhere on the internet dan m quoted a friend who said "when you see Firestone in a box, you buy it" which stuck with me for some reason. I think there were at least four others available at the time, pondering going back to grab at least another one.

If I wanted to hold on to this for a while, what's the proper procedure? Keep it in the fridge or is that too cold? How long does one age something like this?

cellar it - no fridge. put it in a closet ~70 degrees would be perfect.

i've got a firestone parabola + an anniversary ale aging

fridge is fine if you have space, but it will change more slowly in there. you just don't want it to get extremely warm or to fluctuate in temp a lot. if you have a cellar or basement in your house you can probably just throw it down there and not worry. make sure it isn't in direct sunlight.

you don't need to age it at all, but it will mellow out a bit after a year or so and will be drinkable for at least 5 years. i haven't had a beer (at least not a non-lambic/gueuze beer) that actually improved after at 3 years plus.

I save beer not really to experience any sort of change, but really just to enjoy a beer I like at a later date. But still, drinking beer fresh is almost always preferable to me.

I don't really have a good storage area either. I keep it in a closet and it's dark, but the temp can vary. Everything I've tasted that I had through the summer seems to have held up well though.

We just moved, and our new house has this bonus semi-insulated closet in the basement. In the winter (well, at least this winter) it chills white wine down to pretty much perfect serving temperature. It has been hypothesized that in the summer, it will be perfect red temperature. In any case, it's a pretty great place to keep beer. Whiskey, not so much, but it gives me an excuse to let a glass sit a bit while it warms up.

I just picked up two bottles of New Holland Night Tripper on my lunch break. Why not?

I drank one of my cellared-for-18-months 2012 DDBAs a month or two ago and I couldn't really say if it was better than a fresh one. I also have some 2013s, so I was thinking I should have cracked open one of those to see if it mattered, but then I wasn't sure if they alter the formula from year to year, which might make the comparison meaningless.

i had some Night Tripper last night, also more Epic Big Bad Baptist and Alesmith Speedway Stout (my folks were in town and i asked them to pick up some birthday bombers).

Enjoy, this is my local Whole Foods' tap list for the week:
https://scontent-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-frc3/t1/1891109_647065002027900_787464401_n.jpg

Half of those would kick within a couple of hours here. Probably faster.

Beer guy at the store today was impressed that not only does Trader Joe's carry Revolution's barrel aged barleywine, but that it just hangs around on the shelf. He thinks it's pretty strong, and remembers the day not long ago when his store would just be allotted one bottle.

Straight jacket, love it. I really like most of rev's barrel stuff.

nice list al

Yeah, that beats my WF list. Though they did have Parabola, and I'm pretty sure it lasted at least 2 days.

since when does whole foods have...taps?

Lots of them do. Several in Chicago do. One has three bars in it!

The larger Pasadena one has about 8 taps, I believe. A 5 minute walk from my work, I should eat/drink there more often.

what does a growler of something like bourbon county/world wide stout even cost??
looks like a great list.

First day of Oskar blues in my local beer store, bought everything but the ten-fidy. It is all stupid stupid good so far. Ranked of what I have had inn order from most awesome to slightly less awesome in order - g'knight, rales pale, mommas yellow pils, old chub. Probably won't get to the deviant dale tonight.

went to a bar tonight that had bourbon county stout & barleywine on draft. wanted to try em, but had to drive, so i had to limit myself to just trying the goose island illinois double IPA; it was fine but nothing exceptional. this bar for some reason had tons of goose island stuff -- lots of the weird belgian/wild ales. i wish i was more into that stuff.

gi has been doing a lot of random tap takeover type things since a-b bought them. great events imo.

this was julian's in providence, if you feel like driving an hour to check it out. they have great food too imo.

should be acquiring a sixer of hop slam later. never tried it, stoked that bell's is in NY now.

yep! was visiting a friend in rockland county NY the other day and the Target had 6 packs hopslam for $16.00 i bought a case.

that's a great price! most places in the city here it's like $20+

That stuff is such a cash cow. My MI beer insider friend complains about it a lot... "It's not that good! They are knowingly gouging you!" etc. He has a bit of a point.