Beer in the new era

ha, yesterday I had the extremly though: "Hmm, I wonder how you would make Kosher for Pesach beer...oh wait, you wouldn't."

xxp I agree, and furthermore they're still priced the same as regular IPAs for the most part, so it feels like a little bit of a rip-off to pay the same for less bang. Where I love the sessionable stuff is out at the bar, where it typically is priced a little more reasonably and where keeping my wits about me is a little more important.

Passover beer has also proven a boon to another beer-thirsty constituency, long deprived of the ability to quaff a good lager. The protein complex found in wheat, rye, and barley is known as gluten, which becomes part of grain-based beer. Many people cannot tolerate gluten in their diet because they suffer from a condition known as celiac disease or other forms of gluten intolerance, and have therefore long been deprived of the ability to drink conventional beer. Passover beer, however, contains no grain, and is therefore gluten-free. It is perfectly suited for anyone who must avoid gluten, allowing all to enjoy a good brew regardless of their gluten sensitivity.

The confluence of the needs to these two constituencies — Passover observant and gluten free — has served to open a new market for beer, and members of both communities now have the opportunity to partake of a product that had previously been off-limits.

also i'd guess sephardim can drink rice beer.

this might be blasphemy on this thread but my reaction to not wanting something too hoppy or rich or w/e is to just drink a nice dry cider? imo the more of these we get on the market that don't taste like candy, the better our collective hearts, minds, and gastrointestinal systems will fare

i'm with y'all on ambivalence abt session ipas, none of the ones i've tried have been bad but i don't see them fitting into my regular rotation

Def. a cider resurgence in effect, though I'm not sure it's really taken hold, as much as new bottles keep hitting the shelves.

this might be blasphemy on this thread but my reaction to not wanting something too hoppy or rich or w/e is to just drink a nice dry cider? imo the more of these we get on the market that don't taste like candy, the better our collective hearts, minds, and gastrointestinal systems will fare

― hug niceman (psychgawsple), Monday, April 14, 2014 1:34 PM (29 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

tremendous post--there's just not enough regularly available dry cider around here

The amount of cider in Portland was mindblowing. Most of what we get in Chicago seems to trend sweeter rather than dry.

this probably isn't available to most of y'all, but the new release of Tyranena's 'Devil Made Me Do It' is really great.

http://beerpulse.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Tyranena-The-Devil-Made-Me-Do-It-Imperial-Oatmeal-Porter.png

last time i was in sf i went to an all-cider bar and had the absolute tastiest dry cider i've ever tried in my life, checked into the maker and it's like barely even distributed locally, the company consists of a husband and wife and the only other listed employee was their 4 year old.

i feel like there is a good amount of cider out there and it's only getting better, but the price point is still fairly high? crispin is a pretty good deal but it's a little on the sweet side for me. $10 for a bottle of basque cider is a great, reliable choice but it's not an amount i want to spend on a regular basis

seattle cider co. dry cider comes in cans at a decent price, though it seems like we're still a ways from it being priced comparably to something like a six-pack of lagunitas or deschutes

http://www.tiltedshed.com/our-ciders.html

this is the place! i had the graviva. do try it if you ever happen to get the chance.

Devil Made me Do it is great. Haven't had it in awhile, need to seek it out again.

Cider bar is supposed to open this year here. I've had a lot of ciders I like. Vandermill does interesting ones.

does Tyranena distribute in Chi?

the company consists of a husband and wife and the only other listed employee was their 4 year old.

hahaha so great

I love heavily hopped session beers! Like the 10 Barrel ISA, drank it all last summer. I think Lagunitas made a decent one last year as well?

The amount of cider in Portland was mindblowing. Most of what we get in Chicago seems to trend sweeter rather than dry.

yeah this is apple-country, it's growing a lot here b/c it's easy to do (much much easier than beer if you have a press) and obv dovetails nicely with the whole gluten free/paleo thing.

i'm a huge proponent of isastegi and other basque ciders, if you like farmhouses/saisons/sours you really gotta give that stuff a shot. also the sour cherry stuff reverend nats does is fantastic, and they're right in my 'hood so that helps. i think they're connected with the seattle cider co stuff in some capacity

xp I've seen Tyranena around at a few places, yeah.

this might be blasphemy on this thread but my reaction to not wanting something too hoppy or rich or w/e is to just drink a nice dry cider? imo the more of these we get on the market that don't taste like candy, the better our collective hearts, minds, and gastrointestinal systems will fare

― hug niceman (psychgawsple), Monday, April 14, 2014 1:34 PM (10 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i do like cider for sure.

but there are plenty of beer styles that are not too hoppy or too rich, it just seems like a lot of craft brewers aren't making them. or better said, my local beer stores are not selling them.

i love hoppy and rich beers, just not 100% of the time! would you all like to enjoy a deep rich $15 piece of bourbon-infused chocolate cake every time you want a dessert? no! sometimes i want some vanilla ice cream, or maybe just some fruit!

I live in a small town in WA (where we apparently produce 58% the of apples in America) and we have an equal number of breweries and cideries. Which means one of each but still.

cideries + breweries are buds in 2014 - tired hands made a bunch of cider-beers (49% cider + 51% beer) w/ Tom Culton's estate cider, they were super delicious, esp the sour version. i've seen other breweries do that kind of thing too.

xps yeah lol the NW is home to all the apples and all the hops

I love heavily hopped session beers

i was super jealous about how common and affordable dale's pale is on the east coast. would take that over sierra nevada any day

do you not get dale's out there?

the company consists of a husband and wife and the only other listed employee was their 4 year old.

tax avoidance scam?

not normally, no (xp)

we get dale's, but it's usually as a single can and not at a v good price

I bought a 4-pack of Moinette (the Dupont brewery Belgian blond) this weekend. It does taste very nice - complex yet refreshing - though it's probably not something I'll drink regularly because of the price.

for w/e reason i just recently tried the deschutes fresh squeezed ipa and i was kinda blown away, it might be my favorite six-pack ipa right now (it's very similar to the laurelwood workhorse actually, another huge fave)

ok I will pick some of that up on my way home, thanks!

yeah i wanna hear what others think. it's on the high-end of the six-pack price range at $11 but worth it imo (also i bought it at whole foods so maybe it's cheaper elsewhere)

^^^ posts that make me weep for the high beer prices in new york city :(

i think its def solid but nothing that totally blew me away i guess

yeah i guess it's in my wheelhouse since i dig malty and citrus-y ipas, and it's pretty smooth-drinkin'. also i'm a sucker for citra and mosaic

As much as I try not to be a huge Three Floyds fanboy, they still come up with stuff that knocks me out. Had the Permanent Funeral (collab with Pig Destroyer) the other night and absolutely loved it.

Fanboy status not required, it is really good.

I liked that one, but I think I liked their Live a Rich Life a little more.

I've got that one sitting at home now, I've heard mixed things about it.

btw i should have written Devil Over a Barrel, that's the new Tyranena. it's like Devil Made Me Do It but with coffee beans + bourbon barrels.

Had a fresh pint of Freshly Squeezed at a Deschutes Event last summer and it registered as okay/average. Maybe they tweaked it this year, I'll have to try it again. Their Chainbreaker was equally average if memory serves correct.

Switching gears, results of that IPA tasting I posted a few pages upthread:

Knee Deep - Hopoholic 4IPA
Delicious. I'd had a couple quad-IPAs before and with exception (I think Pliny the Younger is technically a 4IPA?), they've all been pretty unremarkable. This was actually quite tasty and very balanced. Knee Deep is one of my favorite breweries that gets very little press/attention/awards/fanfare.

Rip Current - Caught In A Rip 3IPA
This was not great, not even very good, I think it suffered from a lack of balance. Very fresh keg so no excuses. A definite pass on this.

Russian River - Pliny The Elder 2IPA
This is one of my all-time favorites. Ultra-hyped but 100% worthy, had a very fresh keg (doesn't come much fresher in fact). The keg was not for distribution, but small-batch brewed on their brewpub premises. Very, very hard to get that unless you pay them a visit.

Alpine - Nelson IPA
Another ulthyped and totally lived up to the reputation. New Zealand Nelson hops backed with rye malts. Poured thick and cloudy, almost looked like a mimosa. They just increased their production (Green Flash production loan) so expect to see more kegs of this (and Duet) around the country soon, which is good news for those of us who live very far from far east San Diego county.

Russian River - Blind Pig IPA
This is thee gold standard in my book, the one that started the whole craze. It's had a few names going back 20+ years to it's roots at Blind Pig brewery in San Diego, then as "Russian River IPA" for Korbel. For those of you who want a full flavor sessionable beer, this is all you need. 5.6% ABV and that signature Russian River Simcoe/Amarillo/Citra hop recipe.

yeah i should stress that it blew my mind in context, there's no way it could compete with the kind of stuff you just listed lol

also - awesome news about alpine!

a few notes on beers i've tried from a recent box from ilx's own dan m:

off color/scurry - this was challenging to place stylistically, dry and relatively light bodied but with dark malts and lots of molasses. interesting beer, maybe for fall/early winter?
revolution/a little crazy - "belgian-style pale ale" is such a bad category but i like this beer a lot, retains the better qualities of both belgian yeasts and pale ales. would be easy to drink a lot of this in the spring/summer.
bell's/smitten golden rye ale - maybe more golden than rye? didn't get the spice i normally see in a rye beer, but perfectly pleasant.
bell's/java stout - very nice, tons of fresh coffee flavor in a reasonably drinkable stout
bell's/porter - bell's doesn't really seem to make bad beer, this is a very straight-up representation of a porter and it works just fine.
bell's/hopslam - i think i posted a bit about this already? this type of heavy/sticky dipa seemed a lot more prevalent a few years back, like people were really into dfh 90 minute and stuff like that? this is sort of the opposite of drinkable, it's a sipper at best, but it achieves an amazing depth of flavor before destroying your palette. selling this stuff in six-packs is a ballsy move.
three floyds/zombie dust - i always get a kick out of contrasting the three floyds aesthetic with this beer which is probably the first thing i would give to anyone who wanted a definition of elegance and succinctness as they relate to brewing.

i still have to get to the larger formats! that saison will get cracked soon on the type of nice spring day i'm guessing it's built for.

what don't you like about belgian pale ales?

i think when american brewers try it, it usually results in a really over the top belgian yeastiness that is not enjoyable to drink.

Pretty much. Well done American made Belgian-style beers seem to be in the minority.

I feel the same about Smitten, but I still like it well enough. My wife loves it. Scurry is supposed to be some pre-purity-law German style I think?

I like scurry a lot.

The off color beer I'm most excited about them bottling is dinos'mores.

Bomber of Brickstone APA for me tonight, It's good but I don't understand how ppl can say this tops Zombie Dust.

It was much better when I had it on draft than when in bottle.