Beer in the new era

dogfish head not being available there is one of those weird things for me, first learned about it when my brother in law requested I bring him a bottle of their Sahti

are pilsners the most regionally-oriented beer style? just thinking that breweries probably export the stuff that will stand out the most in a beer case, seems like microbeweries rarely consider pilsners their flagship signature brew or w/e

just realizing that most of my favorite pilsners are probably not distributed very far... i really like the upright engelberg pils for subtle yeastiness, the southern oregon brewing za ndravi czech-style pilsner has some nutty flavors that i dig, and the heater allen one is pretty well balanced

I tried that Heater Allen pilsner last night! pretty good but I prefer the Bitburger (?) that's on tap locally

Trumer Pils

xp i need to try more german import pilsners this summer

i predict summer will also bring lots and lots of berliner weisse this year, seems to be the NEW HOT STYLE tho obv it's been around forever

dogfish head doesnt distro here because MN liquor distro laws are totally fucked and wrong, basically you have to pay one of the two big monster corporate dudes (inbev and sabmiller) to put your stuff on their truck/palatte. DH guy specifically singled out MN in a doc for this and said that as a result he would never sell his beer here.

FSV Pivo Pils

FSW

beer hauled! :D

http://i62.tinypic.com/30nds9t.jpg

btw, san diego ended up being a beer bonanza. i went to green flash, alesmith, societe, new english, rough draft, pizza port and then on the weekend i drove up to encondido and went to stone (gorgeous) and lost abbey (crowded). there are so many breweries in san diego that i could probably go back and visit the same number of breweries and have no crossover. for instance i didn't get a chance this trip to go to ballast point (close by but just no time), or karl strauss. also thorn street was recommended to me but i didn't get a chance to check it out. i didn't get to visit modern times or belching beaver but i had beers from both (modern times at pizza port and belching beaver made an amazing peanut butter chocolate stout that i had at stone). oh, also scored 2 enjoy by 4-20 glasses from stone :D apparently they're almost always sold out of them since stocking them so i lucked out. of the breweries i went to, i think societe was probably the best. no sours (almost no sours in san diego at all i found!) tho they're aging some in the back. the place is done up like a wild west saloon kinda - and the beers are all named after wild west archetypes - the madame, and the butcher (a big stout) and the widow (an even bigger stout). all really delicious and i highly recommend a visit. (also while i was there i met some dudes - everyone in san diego breweries are super nice apparently - who hooked me up w/ some legit 420 so that was loverly.)

i did drink some karl strauss red trolley and some ballast point beers while i was out there even if i didn't get to visit the breweries bc they are all over the freaking place.

3Floyds Jinx Proof is the only Chicago-area pilsner that springs to mind. I guess Lagunitas Pils will be locally-made soon enough.

lost abbey didn't have any sours? sounds like an amazing trip tho, i've been meaning to visit friends down there but hearing this definitely provides me with some extra motivation

v jealous of the enjoy by 4-20 glasses

lost abbey had something brett on draft but all the sours were tapped. i did buy two bottles (red poppy + another one) of sours there. also tried their tequila barrel aged beer (agave maria) which was great, and a saison (red barn iirc?) that was good. also tried the witch's wit. so it wasn't a total loss despite the sold out sours. they also had a food truck outside (this turns out to be super common in san diego) which sold me a delicious portabello burger.

nice SD report Mordy.

The 3 sours that Lost Abbey puts out that I always try to get my hands on a few bottles:
Cable Car
Duck Duck Geuze
Cuvee de Tomme (this was their very first sour that they did at Pizza Port, pre-Lost Abbey, fond memories)

i think the cuvee de tomme was the other bottle i got there. as i understand it the duck duck geuze is super whale status at this point

the new lighter session one "dead pony club" is really really good and serves a good purpose for when you're not keen to get wasted.

― Know how Roo feel (LocalGarda), Tuesday, 11 September 2012 22:54 (1 year ago)

not hugely fond of this

takeaways from pdx farmhouse fest: logsdon peche n brett is worth the hype, probably the best fruity saison i've ever had (tried it 3-4 times now and it's super consistent); the block 15 caves anniversary saison was also excellent; i've still yet to have anything from ale apothecary or propolis or trinity that wasn't impressive but damn they are $pricey$; hennepin tastes way better on tap; bruery sour in the rye is an amazing beer

Just got a bottle of the peche n brett, good to hear as it wasn't cheap out here, I'm sure it's much more reasonable in OR.

yeah, i think it's pricey ($30 or so?) and rare out here too but i've lucked into finding it on tap all those times. probably helps that the owner of the beer bar closest to my house distributes for logsdon tho.

i highly recommend the seizoen bretta too, and that's usually around $10 for a 750 ml bottle

I was pretty let down by my bottle of 4-20, but after hustling so hard for Parabola it was nice to get a limited beer that was neither hard to find nor pushing $20.

This opinion may bother some people but I would rate Surly Abrasive equal to Heady Topper and above HopSlam. A truly great double IPA.

It's up there for me. I can't compare it very well to HopSlam, they are too different.

I was pretty let down by my bottle of 4-20, but after hustling so hard for Parabola it was nice to get a limited beer that was neither hard to find nor pushing $20.

― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, April 2, 2014 3:41 PM (2 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Sweetwater 420???

enjoy by

my local beer bar managed to somehow to get a keg of KBS. on the list for the private session. can't wait i've never had it before

I got a bottle the other day, and on the way out of the store some guy behind me was also carrying a single bottle. He lowers his voice: "So ... have you ever had this before?" Then we sneaked our separate ways, likely never to cross paths again.

Local growler/fancy beer joint sent out an email saying they got a shipment of KBS in, called about four hours later to see if any was left and they said they sold out... four hours ago.

Meanwhile stop by the grocery store on the way home and notice a tiny sign "KBS SOLD HERE," go inside and the manager is doling them out by hand from his little office, so I grab two bottles, go figure.

^^ this sort of thing happens to me with this weird grocery store near my house. they STILL have bourbon county coffee. on sale even, at $25/four.

Founders Centennial comes in 12 packs of cans now? I might never be seen again.

My dad called today to say he got me two 4 packs of KBS.

whoa, wtg dad

i had a few shots at it here, but between being sick this week and not wanting to go through great lengths for 1-2 12 oz. bottles i passed on them all.

My folks live in middle of nowhere Michigan but the store with the best beer selection in the area got 6 cases of the shit. Half the price it was selling for in Chicago.

yeah i don't think any stores here got more than a case

btw dan i'm drinking the first of those hopslams you sent--super intense, not really high on drinkability, but the flavor is outstanding

Went to one of my favorite local stores to enter a lottery to buy a bottle. They were only selling 20, and about 50 to 60 ppl showed up. Didn't get one but had tons of tastings. 2 years of KBS, 3 years of backwoods bastard, Great Lakes Barrel aged blackout stout, Westy XII, bolt cutter and a few more. Great little event, wish more stores would drop the first come first serve or buddy system and do it this way. Everyone leaves happy and I bet they sell a ton of beer.

how was bolt cutter??

It was very sweet! I didn't get a huge taste, but I don't think I could have taken much. I never had it when it 1st came out, so I can't compare. Didn't taste much barrel at all. So not great, but interesting.

got one bottle of KBS today, and a very nice customer brought us two cans of heady topper....!

I know this is the beer drinking and not the beer brewing thread but we just opened a saison we made and holy crap and had an earnest discussion abt starting a brewery. So not (prob) going to happen, but 2 dudes with lucrative jobs that they hate plus some dumb dude who owns a guitar store, stranger things have happened.

sounds like the descriptions of the majority of dudes who have started breweries around here in the past three years

Brought it to my beer nerd local store and dudes flipped out over it. Which I would assume was just politeness if I hadn't brought 40 other homebrews over the years that they verbally didn't give 2 shits about, including the other 3 I brought by at the same time. Plus they are generally saison haters.

:D

YSI?

Some local dudes out here trying to get their brewery/bar off the ground want to focus on session beers and other low ABV beers, complaining of alcohol creep in craft beer that makes it hard to hang out and drink more than one or two of these knock you on your butt beers. I sort of get their point, but on the other hand, a craft beer bar that specializes only in weak beer ...

http://www.notchbrewing.com/

what's up w/ brewery tasting rooms closing so early? i don't expect them to have bar hours, but so many close at like 5 or 6 PM!