Beer in the new era

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!

Just don't leave. Stand your ground Mordy.

Having the Stone Stochasticity Project Grapefruit Slam IPA tonight--decided between that and the 4.20, both at Plum Market. (I don't follow beer super-closely but wanted to get something tonight and have liked Stone a lot.) IPA made with grapefruit peel and tasty and interesting, not to face-scrunchingly grapefruit.

drinking a Hop Valley Citrus Slam right now, same deal (made w/grapefruit peel), delicious

oops that's Citrus Mistress, not Slam

#GrapefruitBros

went to a bottle share tnite armed w/ a bottle of spencer trapist beer + framinghammer vanilla from jack's abby. thx to cad for the contributions bc drinking tnite was excellent. highlights were petit mutant and focal banger from alchemist, feral one by firestone (so danky), melange no. 1 from the bruery, upland's strawberry lambic (this was really out of this world delicious)... can i just say unironically while i'm still drunk that i love beer + it is all so good. bless.

Hoppy beers and problems...as I approach forty anytime I drink anything relatively hoppy i end up with a massive headache after two. THIS IS NOT IDEAL.

I wonder why that would be? Is it the hops, type of hops, ABV? Dehydration?

I have no idea, its killing my beer drinking. I would assume its dehydration since I drink nothing but caffeine and beer. Haha.

http://www.cvs.com/shop/product-detail/CVS-Stress-Formula-Tablets-With-Zinc?skuId=217208

Friend of mine swears by these things esp in relation to 40-ish drinking.

hmm, thats worth a shot.

You know, I like those things too, in general. I get mine from Whole Foods, and at the very least they turn your urine the brightest, richest (in both senses) orange/yellow.

Caffeine/beer could do it, though in the case of coffee its diuretic properties are I think strictly in the make-you-pee sense, no worse than a lot of water. But alcohol will accelerate dehydration.

i do notice if i take my old man multi-vitamin the headaches aren't as bad.

got a photo of last night's tasting:

https://scontent-b-iad.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn2/t1.0-9/10172796_10152009120750036_2043793757_n.jpg

Hoppy beers and problems...as I approach forty anytime I drink anything relatively hoppy i end up with a massive headache after two. THIS IS NOT IDEAL.

i'm approaching my thirties and this basically killed my craft/"good" beer drinking hobby.. i drink ridiculous amounts of water all day but as soon as a get a taste of something hoppy, i feel dehydrated.

because of this, i tend to prefer your cheap beer variety: old style/schlitz/hamms/pbr because they are clear, light, and refreshing. can anyone in thread recommend maybe some upgraded beers of this variety?

I've taken to watching the occasional ep. of one of the many youtube beer review shows, this one where the dudes blind taste brews so as not to be swayed by hype. The results are pretty fun, though the best rated beers tend to be, you know, rated the best. But I think that attests to the generally high level of brewing going on right now, anyway. I like it when one of the guys absolutely nails a guess at the ABV or some other superhero skill that is eons beyond me.

link? i've done quite a few blind taste tests, they're a lot of fun and a good way to confirm your suspicions (with the caveat that freshness is at play when you're dealing with big IPAs and also palate fatigue).

Here's one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTeflNpMbyY

i still need to try zombie dust. love the label.

Shit, not that one. He bugs me. Hold on ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZM1XhZlfag

Or this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zznVhHDEeYA

xxxp Wait, did you post the wrong video?

Yeah, not Beer Geek Nation, these other ones from Better Beer Authority.

Hahaha, I was like... ummm this is one of the worst reviewers I've ever seen (just keep repeating "bitter, fruity, astringent and biscuit" while gesticulating wildly for 5 minutes).

Ok, the Dark Lord BBA was a great episode (and also confirmed a lot of suspicions, heh).

jfc mordy i am super jealous of that tasting. how the hell can you taste that much and remember anything about it / not spew?

even drunk i find that talking about beer while you drink it helps you remember different tastes. i don't remember every single beer there, but i do remember the standouts. i loved: rook & leer, the upland lambic, hunapu (so hot/spicy!) and gga (tasted like sweet potato pie), the peche was a peach bomb, the petit mutant was the alchemist standout (i don't really remember the other can), the feral one was probably the funkiest sourest thing of the night - firestone totally nailed their first sour, the spencer was surprisingly spiced, reminded me of a saison, and also historical!, in general i wasn't in love w/ the barleywines tho other ppl were very enthusiastic. you're right tho, looking over these bottles some of them i can barely remember. but the ones i loved i loved even at the end of the evening (and after we took a vigorous 420 break). oh yeah, the bruery stuff was fantastic as well, tho all very reminiscent of their tart of darkness. all those dark, stouty, barrel aged sours have a similar taste to me. i think my fave of that genre is the pnc elevator.

also i thought for sure by the time i got home that i was gonna spew - everything was pretty spinny. but i put on Alvin Lucier's I Am Sitting in a Room and laid down on the couch and it lulled me to sleep. no spewing! yay!

lol, yeah i'd imagine that after all that sugary/strong/spicy/sour in a row everything would start to blend together but it seems more than worth it cause how the hell else are you gonna get ahold of that all stuff otherwise

this thread needs more METAL MADMAN content

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6uRUqHKlA4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJxraH7HbSw

Costco had an IPA variety case for $28 -- Torpedo, Snow Wit ("White IPA"), a Black IPA whose name I forget, and the Nooner "Session IPA." I've always liked Torpedo and so far the White IPA and Black IPA are very solid, so I feel it was a good deal. The Session IPA I'm guessing is going to be the weak link. The White IPA is especially nice because it's really dry.

the session ipa was pretty good!

yeah, i was gonna say, that's the one i've been hearing the most about from the 3 new ones

Nice, maybe I'll crack one open tonight then.

the white was definitely my favorite

yeah i was talking abt that mixed case upthread, liked all of them, but the wit was outstanding

Yeah I love the wit, would definitely buy it on its own.

i about the 12-pack of that sierra nevada mix. torpedo i've had many times but as for the others i liked all of them except for the wit, really. session was great. the black ipa was awesome

should say "i *bought"

i don't know what it is with wheat beers for me, most of them are terrible, especially american wheats

that SN mix is a great deal, even if i wasn't crazy about the wit.

IPA tasting this Saturday:

Knee Deep - Hopoholic 4IPA
Rip Current - Caught In A Rip 3IPA
Pliny The Elder - 2IPA
Alpine - Nelson IPA
Blind Pig - IPA

Sorry headache guys...

I had a glass of the Bruery Sour in the Rye today at Whole Foods and it was pretty good. And at $7 for a 10 oz pour cheaper than the bottle price. I also overheard they're getting Parabola in bottles tomorrow or Friday. Also heard someone say a couple of Costcos in the LA area had Parabola for $11 each.

nick, buy all the parabolas please!

Sour in the Rye is my favorite Bruery beer out of those that I've tried.

Happened to find a six of Zombie Dust this evening and it was 10% off day w/ college ID at my local store, made the standard slightly too high 3F price tag a little easier to swallow.