Beer in the new era

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.

Not cheap!

It wasn't! I believe 17.99 each?

I got one too :D and yeah, pricy.

I realize now that it is what I compared with Heady Topper, not Over Rated.

Also met the HP Binnys beer guy and got his card, which may come in handy down the road.

http://thehopreview.com/features/2014/2/16/brewer-chat-the-incomparable-pete-crowley-of-haymarket-pub-brewery

Relevant to Chicago beer drinkers, he drops the bomb that FOBAB is going to be at UIC Pavillon this year. Three sessions over two days.

Whoops, bought Bender yesterday, not Coffee Bender.

Stupid Surly names. Should just call the beer Confusing, or maybe sell purple cans with random contents, like dum dum lollipops.

Do any of you Chicagoans know how the Half Acre special releases work? There's a collaboration between them and 3Floyds coming out today, can you only buy them at the taproom or do they go to stores?

It really depends on the release. Last year I got Shewolf from the shop, I don't recall it being in stores. Others show up in stores, at least in some limited qualities. Like Big Hugs, Double Daisy, Galactic Daisy, etc. Best bet is to go to the store front. And then drink in the wonderful taproom.

I thought the Shewolf release was tomorrow though?

One of my twitter friends said today. It doesn't really matter for me, getting there from the south side is not really feasible on weeknights.

It should be around through the weekend. Perhaps famous last words.

crooked line not yet mentioned itt?

in other 3floyds collaboration news: http://apintaday.com/three-floyds-x-mikkeller-bla-spogelse-sour-ale/

i saw some crooked line in the store today but i don't buy random large formats without a strong recommendation.

i did buy a single of sam adams bandwagon jumping ipa, it's called rebel, lol

I've been enjoying the Sierra Nevada Ruthless Rye IPA lately. It tastes kind of like a regular Sierra Nevada Pale Ale but slightly different. "Peppery" seems to be a good word.

^ seconded on the ruthless rye. good stuff

the crooked line bottles i've tried are great! they're an offshoot of uinta, which is another relatively solid brewery all around. of course, i usually try that stuff when i'm visiting my folks in utah (not that it's not available elsewhere) so it might just be that it tastes amazing in comparison to utah's horrendous 3% abv mandated beers that you find most places. iirc the black ale was the best (labyrinth) and the imperial pilsner was mildly impressive too

Nothing sexy but I really like the Surly Bender brown ale I accidentally bought. Worked well for washing down Chinese.

http://thefullpint.com/beer-news/firestone-walker-barrel-works-feral-one-release-march-8-2014/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=firestone-walker-barrel-works-feral-one-release-march-8-2014&utm_reader=feedly

Las two nights I've had Perennial Abraxas at the bar on my walk home from the train. Love this beer, wish I could repeat every day of the year.

picked up the new sixpoint 'hi-res' to try -- imperial IPA; not that great. too boozy and sweet for me. not the worst but would not buy again.

also picked up some blood orange pale ale which i am excited/nervous to try -- i love citrus/orange aroma but don't want anything that tastes like minute maid

I liked hi-res. I see how the sweetness would be off putting thought.

Huh, I don't typically find "too sweet" to be a flaw of Sixpoint offerings. Curious to try it. Haven't met many imperial IPAs I like though.

speaking of imperial ipas... is it worth skipping out on work early to grab pliny the younger tickets? $15 for a glass of elder and younger, with half going to charity

i would