Beer in the new era

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.

xp I thought it kind of tasted like someone poured a shot into an otherwise decent beer. I liked it more as it warmed up but didn't actually finish it.

I've really been enjoying Surly lately, finally picked up the Coffee Bender, such a fan of that stuff. Also picked up the Smoke Lager, which seems to be highly rated.

I'm just assuming at this point that this year's Hopslam exists in the mythical world for me. From what I've heard, that may not be a bad thign.

KBS release coming up in march. Talked with my local shop and they expect to get 12 bottles. One of which they'll hold one for me.

Oh yay, another beer that I'll have to watch everyone rave about while I admire longingly from the sidelines. Some days I really hate craft beer culture.

I'm gonna have to start scouting TI more frequently, huh?

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.

^tempting. all ive had is the sculpin which is so good.

everything i've tried by ballast point has been really solid - i'm usually not very partial to coffee beers, but victory at sea is fucking awesome

yeah victory at sea is amazing

kbs is great but the hype is comical when bcbs can be had by the case

I thought it kind of tasted like someone poured a shot into an otherwise decent beer.

this is a v accurate summation of my issues with most barleywines

i've been trying to cut down on the amount of beer i purchase, but i couldn't help myself today + scored a bottle of

http://greatbrewers.com/sites/default/files/images/1547981_632455756816381_1728423314_o-1.preview.jpg

and speaking of otter creek:

http://res.cloudinary.com/ratebeer/image/upload/w_250,c_limit,q_85,d_beer_def.gif/beer_246903.jpg

hopefully going to stop by the Round Guys brewery in Landsdale this afternoon too (they have a Berleiner Weisse on draft I wanna check out!)

sweeet

Think I'll buy my first Surly today.

furious imo

Is that the hoppy one?

one of them!

honestly im just trying to stemn the tide of everyone pushing bender/coffee bender as the surly to try, they both put me off surly for about a year

Saw the smoked lager in the South Loop Binny's over the weekend but every rauchbier I've ever had has been offputting so I didn't pull the trigger.

I would go for Furious too. Or maybe Over Rated.

had some Sucks on tap last night, i'd forgotten what it tasted like but turns out it's really good, huh.

http://www.mightysweet.com/mesohungry/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/08-ginga-kogen-beer.jpg

Had this at a japanese restaurant. SO GOOD.

Abrasive has hit Chicago, buy it if you see it.

i think sleeve had mentioned laurelwood above, but it bears repeating - workhorse ipa is one of the best bottled single ipas out there right now. if you are into citrus-y, bright ipas that aren't commonly referred to as "hop bombs", buy this if you see it:

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ckCX-i2crSE/Ub-kVVLlckI/AAAAAAAAVo0/Gc2AV1v7Pdg/s1600/Laurelwood%2BWorkhorse%2BIPA.jpg

it's usually priced similarly to deschutes/new belgium sixpacks, which is another plus. i think they had some production issues with it a few years back so it wasn't really on my radar, but this most recent batch is a good'n (seekabrew says it only has full distro in washington, oregon, and for some reason vermont?)

I enjoyed Surly Smoke, one of the better smoked beers I've had. It wasn't overwhelming as much as something like a Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier.

I bought a pack of abrasive and a pack of coffee.

wooooow guys this round guys brewery is something special. more tk when I sober up

Got two 4-packs of abrasive. Haven't had this in forever, excited to become aquatinted again.