Beer in the new era

I've been to Thirsty Pagan a couple times. I love their physical space, but oddly can't remember anything specific about their beers. Certainly worth a revisit.

And thanks for the tip on Borealis, will def look into that one.

Jeff, just sent you a PM.

had a pretty excellent orkney brewery skull splitter scotch ale today with lunch. I've only seen it mentioned by CAD iirc on here. it was good. I can't drink much beer anymore. I feel like my beer knowledge has faded away. Lots of sours and wheat beers and blonde ales and others don't sit well with me as age tightens it cold vise ever more tightly on me with each passing year. Fortunately I'm cool with scotch ales, which do sit ok with me.

j/v/c, did you see this? http://t.co/OgqGmJnO05

so it turns out i'm perfectly located to hit up breweries here in sd. i went to green flash (literally across the street from my hotel) on Sunday, and Alesmith last night. gonna try to hit up Societe tnite and Pizza Port tmmrw. so much brewery goodness here!

I did Jeff, trying for those most definitely. Thanks!

Talked to a guy at W@rehouse today and he confirmed the rumors, that Firestone Walker halved all of the deliveries of this year's special releases (they only got 6 bottles of Parabola and Sucaba, instead of the usual case).

Er, spoke with him yesterday I mean, not today.

I managed to find a Sucaba but my guy at HP Binny's just shrugged when I asked about Parabola.

I had the day off Friday and happened to catch a store out in Lincolnwood update their Beermenus at 11:45 with Parabola. Called at 11:58 and he said all six bottles were gone already.

damn, and it's not even like that stuff is cheap. i regularly see the parabola + sucaba's priced around philly for like ~$30!

Not that I actually ever saw any in person, but the stores around here seemed to have it priced between $16.99 and $19.99 on their beer menus page.

Yeah the Sucaba I got was $18.

Usually by the time it's posted on beermenus, it's too late.

Oh, I know. Hence the phone call first.

Found a cafe that currently has Sculpin on draft for $3 during their 4-hour happy hour, it's literally cheaper than buying a 6-pack, pretty stoked.

got a couple Stone Enjoy by 04-20-14. stoked because lol (_̅_̲̲̲̲̲̅̅̅̅̅̅̅(̅_̅_̲̅м̲̅a̲̅я̲̅l̲̅j̲u̲̅an̲̅a̲̅̅_̅_̅_̅()~~

otm

did you enjoy any local greenery while in socal ?

not yet...

Anyone think that Enjoy By 4.20.14 tastes a little off or did I get a bad bottle?

I had this kind of flat/sludgy/Elmer's Glue note to mine that didn't go away even after a few sips. I did have some smoky ribs not long before tho...

Also Parabola should be priced around $18. I remember when it was $12 T__T

very very excited about this beer list - http://www.saraveza.com/site/comments/2nd_annual_portland_farmhouse_wild_ale_festival/. if it's anything like last year, the pours will be enormoussss

Mikkeller vs. Evil Twin!

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/30/magazine/a-fight-is-brewing.html

that article explained a whole lot about the quality of their beers.

Stone enjoy by 420 tastes like bubblegum -- the weed.

Evil twin just showed up in mn, so I grabbed some Molotov cocktail and hipster, only had the Molotov so far and it's def good, but it's nowhere near what I've gotten out of mikkeller.

Stone enjoy by 420 is pretty goddamn awesome imo. Might be my favorite yet.

picked up a single of BCBS 2013, finally gonna try it just to see what the fuss is about. It sounds like something I won't like, but at the same time I've never not liked something rated that highly.

this stuff is a little bit gross tbh

I mean it tastes like a fucking rum & coke. Kind of shocked that this is what the hype is about. Def have a decent buzz from my single though.

o_O

Did you let it warm up sufficiently?

I think it can be gross if you drink it like a beer - cold, fast, even with a meal, let alone the wrong meal. The best comparison I've thought of is that it's a bit like drinking a cigar (I've never had a cigar): you have to make it last. It's definitely an intense beer and/or an acquired taste, imo. Even in that article I linked to above, the dude takes a swipe at Dark Lord and its ilk:

Jeppe’s affability notwithstanding, he was full of bravado when it came to discussing business. “I wanted to change the beer scene in New York,” he said. “I wanted to show New York how to do it.” I ordered an Evil Twin beer called Bikini, a mere 2.7 percent alcohol by volume, and when I expressed surprise at its abundant flavor, Jeppe took a shot at his brother’s tendencies. “For me, drinkability is the most important,” Jeppe said. “I’m not gonna make a Dark Lord” — the ultrarich Three Floyds stout. “It’s a fun beer to try, but it’s undrinkable. don’t want to sound like I put down my brother’s beer, but he’s in the line of Three Floyds a bit too much. He’s very fascinated with what they do. He makes this blueberry spontaneous” — a Belgian-inspired ale — “and I hate it. I think it’s disgusting. It tastes like Kool-Aid.”

Laughing, Jeppe told me about Bozo, a high-alcohol stout that he designed expressly to “make fun of” the extreme flavor experiments in which craft brewers like Mikkeller often engage. “We added cocoa, chocolate, coconut, cinnamon, oak chips, chili, coffee, vanilla, hazelnut, chestnut, marshmallows,” Jeppe said. “It’s not a beer I’d drink, but it came out excellent, and it gets crazy high ratings.”

amazing quote from the guy who has realized multiple variants of imperial biscotti break

I was thinking the same thing.

Also, so many gross sounding one-off beers.

Soft Dookie is pretty good.

I want to say Evil Twin is one of those brews that just seems to clog the shelves, like Pipeworks or Clown Shoes. Just so many different varieties.

Hey, has anyone, ever, anywhere, ever had one of those Fifty Fifty Eclipse beers? Talk about clogging the shelves, they just sit there. Aging.

Right. Depends on the quality. Like all the Eclipse variants that just came out. At $30 you'll see them in shelves for months. I think they taste good but putting out like 6 variants and charging so much, seems like you could just dial in a couple of variants and it would be more worthwhile.

― Jeff, Tuesday, December 17, 2013 4:54 PM (3 months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

And I have two at home, but honestly I'm not sure which variants they are because I can decipher the wax color. I think they are the Bernheim Wheat and Mellow Corn. But the wax color could go either way.

i've had one, they're good, they're not 30 dollars good though

I think it can be gross if you drink it like a beer - cold, fast, even with a meal, let alone the wrong meal. The best comparison I've thought of is that it's a bit like drinking a cigar (I've never had a cigar): you have to make it last. It's definitely an intense beer and/or an acquired taste, imo.

I dunno, I drank it very slowly. Maybe it was a bit too cold when I started it but it certainly warmed up in the glass. To me it tasted out of the realm of beer entirely, more like booze, and not very good booze, like a dessert wine gone bad or something. Very sweet, syrupy, the whiskey flavors seemed generic and lacked the nuances of an actually good whiskey, overpowering, too much going on. It was like a better version of some of the bad Dogfish offerings I've had. Gave me a very weird buzz fwiw, almost druggy.

going by most of your post i see in this thread our taste in beer is miles apart most of the time.

xpst Do you like other bourbon barrel aged stouts better? Or is the whole style not your thing.

Nah I think I just don't like the style.

I think it can be gross if you drink it like a beer - cold, fast, even with a meal, let alone the wrong meal. The best comparison I've thought of is that it's a bit like drinking a cigar (I've never had a cigar): you have to make it last. It's definitely an intense beer and/or an acquired taste, imo.

I dunno, I drank it very slowly. Maybe it was a bit too cold when I started it but it certainly warmed up in the glass. To me it tasted out of the realm of beer entirely, more like booze, and not very good booze, like a dessert wine gone bad or something. Very sweet, syrupy, the whiskey flavors seemed generic and lacked the nuances of an actually good whiskey, overpowering, too much going on. It was like a better version of some of the bad Dogfish offerings I've had. Gave me a very weird buzz fwiw, almost druggy.

i've never had BCBS before, and i enjoy various bourbon barrel-aged stouts, but i've numerous beers in that style that totally match this description.

that palo santo marron beer from dogfish completely fit this vibe

yeah i mean i don't find bcbs to be overly sweet, i'd call it more viscous than syrupy, but i can see how someone would make those criticisms. i don't really get the out of the realm of beer comment though.

i don't like a lot of the barrel aged stuff (too sweet, esp with the high APV) but i think the BCBS is pretty exceptional

xp palo santo isn't a bourbon barrel beer, but it is barrel-aged in palo santo wood, and is similar in taste to other dark, rich, boozy imperial stouts. dogfish called it a "brown ale," yea right

this is exactly how i felt about a Kentucky BBS (not positive on the brewery?) i had in a bar recently, especially in comparison to the Goose Island BCBS, which has a lot more going on imo.

xp

yeah actually it did have aspects that reminded me of palo santo marron (which I also dont' really like) now that I think of it. I'm being a little harsh, it wasn't completely terrible, I just enjoyed it a lot less than I expected after all the hype. Maybe I'll wait a while and try it again. I have some Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout on deck, which I love.