Beer in the new era

man, ballast point sculpin is a mighty fine brew.

yeah i'm gonna try to grab singles of their unconvincing-looking year-round offerings (copper ale, black ipa) because these new ones have been so good.

i dunno if i've ever had an otter creek beer, but it's good to keep in mind -- it's tough for me to find stuff i am excited about when i go visit my family in RI. my usual go-to is Shed Pale Ale, also from vermont iirc. i used to be into the wachusett ipa but last time i was up it didn't work for me... seemed too malty/sweet.

shed ipa is pretty good! like their brown ale too

yeah sculpin is way way up there for me as well. Also caved and had the Oskar Blues Ten Fidy and although $15 for a 4 pack of 12 oz cans is kinda O_O holy crap, it is a pretty killer stout. xposts

wachusett's larry is their double ipa, it's around in cans now and pretty good imo. don't really know about their other stuff.

sculpin fans--how much is a sixer in your area?

This years sucaba is awesome.

sculpin fans--how much is a sixer in your area?

^$13.99

pricey

also speaking of VT beers if you guys ever find yourselves in brattleboro, you should visit mcneill's brewery. i feel like i already posted about this place but i was blown away by their beers. they had a bunch of cask offerings that were all really good, including some kind of barrel-aged imperial stout, could've been a black ipa though. i don't remember b/c my brother ordered that beer. the cask regular ipa was pretty insane, too. i had a maibock and an old ale, both super sweet and sour at the same time. really good.

oh yea and the porter could've been all-time for me, was just perfect

my gold standard for an over-the-top imperial IPA is O'So Lupulin Maximus, it's very different from all the other crazy hoppy double/imperial IPAs i've had. very dank.

also a friend of mine just made an imperial pilsner for the Great D@ne in Madison, very unique and tasty.

I saw Sculpin for $14 in Chicago earlier this week, a buck less than Hopslam.

Ballast Point Big Eye in cans and/or bombers have been making the rounds lately too. I almost tried their amber, Calico, the other day before talking myself out of it.

sculpin here is around $16-18 depending on store
hopslam is more like $20 :\

nyc suscccckks.

move to the midwest, it's a beer wonderland here

i would move out of NY but i don't think my wife ever will.

I should look at the prices of what I'm buying more. Well I do look and if it isn't insane then I buy it and them forget what I paid.

move to the midwest, it's a beer wonderland here

― festival culture (Jordan), Friday, February 14, 2014 4:23 PM (15 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yea, you guys do have it pretty nice

SoCal has Sculpin for $15, with fairly regular sales at $14. The can 6-packs I only see at Whole Foods, and they never discount them.

I think someone mentioned Hopslam at their Trader Joe's recently. Checked my local yesterday and they carry it.

My Bevmo is doing a happy hour thing M-Th, 4-7 pm where they discount beer, wine, and liquor. I got Anchor Steam for $6.49 and they had Lagunitas IPA for $5.99 but I missed that one (6-packs). It's not on their web site so you have to go in beforehand to get the weekly list of offerings.

Should be they *don't* carry Hopslam.

I should have said that my area of the woods is Atl, GA, which is where i am getting the 13.99 Sculpin

Also noticed today that Miller is getting into the pseudo-craft line. They had an amber ale (I think) with 6.9% abv at $12 per 12-pack. I keep thinking it'd be nice if a major came out with something that was good, if not great or even very good, at a mass-market price.

I guess I'll stick with TJs Jumping Cow and Fat Toad for that.

this is why the lord created sierra nevada pale ale

My first craft beer!! Carl introduced it to me in Atlanta way back in the year 2000.

i still drink it all the time, such a well thought out beer

really? i've never liked it all that much, pre craft beer me or post craft beer me.

yep. it's not the hoppiest pale ale at all, but the hop profile is so memorable and well-defined. a little pine, a little citrus, nice malt backbone. love it.

I drink more Torpedo than OG Sierra lately, but yeah they're reliably very good and cost-effective.

And don't even get me started on Celebration. OMNOMNOM.

CADOTM

At a sour event tonight. Had Cantillon Iris, mikkeller spontanframboos, bruery sour in the rye. Probably going to have heartburn tonight.

there was a bar here that got some sour in the rye kegs last year. i drank a LOT of that stuff.

Wondering if I should get a 4th beer, my palette is pretty much shot.

the ballast point calico blew my mind, its literally ther first time i have had an amber ale and thought "oh hey amber ale doesnt have to be terrible." its shockingly good.

So I still do the untappd thing and looking at the checkins at this bar there are four of us sitting right at the bar checking into our beers, two sitting on either side of me. We dare not speak to each other. I love beer in the new era.

Sounds like a rom-com in the making.

I like SNs too but what I'm hoping for is a BudMilloors type brewery coming out with something pretty good that is popular enough to end up being sold in 30-can bricks for like 20-25 bucks.

Founders All-Day IPA is going to be sold in 15 pack cans!

Saw Surly in the store (Binny's, Chicago) for the first time today. Picked up some Furious. Very nice!

This is the Miller I saw today, with lots of smart-ass comments. Will still try it eventually.

http://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/bloomberg-news-millercoors-seeks-spirits-fans-with-bourbon-like-lager.148691/

the ballast point calico blew my mind, its literally ther first time i have had an amber ale and thought "oh hey amber ale doesnt have to be terrible." its shockingly good.

I've passed this over for weeks now because I couldn't imagine ever spending $7.50 or whatever on an amber but now I'm intrigued.

every beer has won so many awards

Maine Another One. Really good!

Still haven't tried their Lunch. Doesn't sit on shelves here.

Ballast Point Dorado was not as well done as their other offerings I've tried. Overly boozy, which is not bad but I was surprised at its lack of balance.

I hadn't really thought about Hopslam this year, but then had a sudden fit of "what the hell." Of course I was way too late with Binny's, and too late with my other regular immediate local haunts. So I call Route 66 in Berwyn (a good place to find slow to claim seasonals). I ask the guy if he has any Hopslam, and he says something like "we have some." It's hard to tell with his accent, though, so I ask again, and he confirms (I think): we have some. So OK, I had some time between commitments, so I head down to Route 66 in the snow, driving slow. Pull into the lot, kick off the powder, then start perusing the shelves. Nope. Fridge? Nope. Craft beer corner? Nope. I call up a picture of the label on my phone and head to the counter.

"Yeah, I was wondering if you had any more of this," I ask, showing him the picture.

He lowers his glasses and glares at me.

"Did you call earlier?" he asks, warily.

"I did."

He walks over to his phone and scrolls through the caller ID.

"You called earlier?"

"I did," I answer again.

"What is your name?

"Josh."

"Hmm," he grumbles, heading into the back. He returns with a six-pack.

"You are very lucky today," he says.

"I know," I answer.

"No," he continues. "Very lucky. Beers like this, we keep in the back for friends of the store, familiar faces. I do not know your face, so you are very lucky that I'm letting you have this."

"Thank you," I say. "I only found out about you a few weeks ago. The last time I was here, I think your brother was behind the counter."

"Hmmph," he grumbles again. "You are very lucky. I see the 773 on your phone, I usually just say no."

"Oh," I explain. "I live nearby, but my phone has a Chicago number."

"Hmm," he grunts. "You're very lucky," he says one more time.

"Well, I'll be sure to be back more often."

And I will, too, since there was some other goodness to be found. Like lingering bottles of Firestone Walker's anniversary et al.