Beer in the new era

Arctic Panzer Wolf is in stores. Also I noticed that my local shop had Abrasive in the "build your own 6 pack" shelf, so I got myself a sixer of Abrasive for $9.99. :D

Way to work the system

Jeff have you had the Revolution barrel-aged stuff, specifically Bean Gene or Straight Jacket? Both are sitting on the shelves at my local but the price is a little steep for an impulse buy ($18ish). It really doesn't look like anyone's buying them, I keep hoping for a price cut. Are they worth trying?

What should I get in WI this weekend?

I always look for New Glarus stuff with red foil on the cap that isn't the Apple Beer. Or, get the Apple Beer if that's your thing, I didn't like it. It's very apple-y.

I like straight jacket a lot. It does tend to sit on shelves though, even on the northside. Bean gene is just ok to me.

Stopped at the bar, saw Chillwave on the list, lolled and then had to order it. Not bad!

What happened with New Belgium's packaging? They had the same labels for what felt like forever (since I first saw Fat Tire when I lived in Arizona in the late 90s), then re-did everything two or three years ago. A couple months ago I noticed that everything has been redesigned again. It just seems odd.

Guise I am inside Lagunitas' Chicago production facility and it is insane.

http://imgur.com/EHNN0OE

Fucking url http://imgur.com/EHNN0OE

The numbers for the amount of beer they are going to make there is insane.

Holy shit

That pic does not do it justice, there is about 6x as much space as you can see. Thousands of kegs.

that's amazing. i still don't have feelings much stronger than neutral about lagunitas but good for them i guess.

Lagunitas is huge and only going to get bigger when they open their Chicago brewery. That facility along is planning to make 1.7 million barrels a year. By comparison, the Petaluma based brewery currently makes about 700k barrels a year and that covers their entire current distribution.

― Jeff, Wednesday, April 10, 2013 2:18 PM (10 months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

other than sucks which is a seasonal is there like a universally loved lagunitas beer?

Hop stoopid is pretty great. And cheap!

Lil sumpin sumpin, despite the terrible name, is wonderul.

tbh I don't think I've had anything from Lagunitas that wasn't good to great. glad they're expanding.

Not only was I able to find some Peruvian morning stout, it was mispriced at half off.

sup y'all
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other than sucks which is a seasonal is there like a universally loved lagunitas beer?

― call all destroyer

Hop Stoopid like Jeff says, Little Sumpin Sumpin, the IPA is solid.

I got a 6-pack of Ballast Point Sculpin thanks to this thread - it was really good, but I can almost buy a 12-pack of 10 Barrel for $15 and it wasn't twice as good.

^^^Sleeve OTM: Hop Stoopid is great (I always tend to confuse it with Maximus, but I prefer Hop Stoopid). Their plain old IPA is highly underrated imho.

Capuccino Stout is seasonal and very good as well.

They do a very limited annual release called Fusion that's worth checking out if your local picks up rare kegs.

So, my WI beer haul included:

New Glarus: Raspberry Tart, Strawberry Rhubarb and Belgian Red (cherry), plus more Serendipity, all if which I consider closer to wine than beer, but which should be good for the spring/summer. I had the strawberry, and it was like drinking strawberry shortcake. I also got a six-pack of foil-wrapped Spiced Ale.

Central Waters: Peruvian Morning (I guess they taste OK if I drink them sooner than later?), plus some Brewhouse Coffee Stout.

Sand Creek: Noir Black Belgian Barley Wine.

Oh, and some Bell's Cherry Stout, which was sort of like drinking a cherry beer with soot in it.

OK, I had my first bottle of 2014 Peruvian Morning Stout. Bullet: dodged. But my understanding is that one of a couple of scenarios could play out. Either my bottles will taste fine now, but will (may?) increasingly go sour/bad over time, or my bottles will taste off from the first sip. No idea if the problem is so pervasive that every one of my bottles is doomed, though, and (again, if I understand correctly) even if one bottle of my four-pack is good, the other three could be bad, or the other way around. Shame, as this is a tasty beer. Best case scenario is that my sense of taste is so unrefined I don't notice anything wrong!

Also hearing at least one bottling of the CW BBS may be bad. So far I think the Barleywine is testing fine.

sixpoint's hi-res is very good. Surprisingly un-boozy for 11%+ ABV, also not overpoweringly bitter for something that touts its hops so heavily. Definitely a little on the sweet side, but finishes dry.

not a fan of the hi-res tbh.
but i do REALLY like the 2xOne single-hop IPA by Southern Tier; could drink all day.

A few more Lagunitas Chicago shots:

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https://scontent-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/t1/1898097_370195779790274_1430867088_n.jpg
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oops, doubled up that first/last one

wow!

i'm gonna be in san diego for work around the end of the month. i probably won't have a lot of time to go beer touring, but can anyone recommend 1 or 2 must hit spots in the area? i'm definitely not going to be able to make it up to san fran.

I think Stone gives tours at their brewery (Escondito?). Might be fun. I don't know any bars there.

http://toronadosd.com/
http://www.blindladyalehouse.com/

i always hit these two up when in town

Stone is an awesome facility but a bit far from san diego proper

Also, I noticed an Anderson barrel aged stout today that's stronger (13.5%) than their regular one, called Huge Arker. Also claims 6 months in the barrel where the other doesn't state how long. Anyone try this? It's $15/22oz and I'm thinking I might pick one up tonight.

I did buy a He'Brew RIPA on Rye, the BA version of their Bittersweet Lenny RIPA. I read about it on their website and had to try it, as the regular RIPA is a favorite.

Top 3 breweries in San Diego*:
Stone
Pizza Port/Lost Abbey
Alpine

*unfortunately as carne asada hints at, none of these are particularly close to SD proper.

Societe, Green Flash, Ale Smith and Ballast Point are also worthy mentions.

Toronado was the best SD beer bar but it's been a while since I've been there. Fond memories of non-sober lunches at Board N Brew in Del Mar as well, I'm pretty sure they've expanded to other locations across the SD region.

Other non-SD SoCal breweries that you should probably keep an eye out for bottles/taps: Firestone Walker, The Bruery, Smog City.

firestone is central coast fwiw ;)

i haven't been there in forever but based on that list alone sd has a ton of amazing breweries

Heh, Firestone's distribution is run through LA so calling it a "Central Coast" vs. "SoCal" brewery is not really worth getting into when recommending stuff to an East Coaster. ;-) They make some great stuff and it should be pretty easy to find in SD (as opposed to other parts of the country).

no lol i'm just being stupid

how far do alpine and pizza port distribute? they're pretty hard to acquire outside of the area, no?

We get Pizza Port in Chicago. I should drink it more often.

checking out the sierra nevada ipa mix pack someone upthread recommended (jjj was that you?)

the white ipa is lovely, great aroma and a lot going on with the flavor. the black ipa is solid too.

Yeah that was me. I would be super stoked if they made that white ipa a year round thing or a 12 pack seasonal

yeah i would drink a ton of that in the summer

On the other hand I am drinking my way through a six of the lagunitas undercover investigation shut down ale (not like all in one night obv) and eh it's pretty underwhelming

huh i don't know if i've seen that around here. listed as an american strong ale which i will continue to maintain is not a real thing.

The nassau inn in princeton has its own beer called the yankee doodle ale. I've been drinking it a lot recently. It has a unique, sort of chemical taste that is addictive but I don't know if this is a great beer or a terrible one.

the fact that you describe the test as "chemical" is not a great sign

yo treesh u should check out round guys brewery - it's like an hour from where u're at and it has some fantastic sours + berliner weisse

Thanks for the tip! Yeah, if they have good sour beers I will definitely check it out soon.

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