Beer in the new era

http://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20140418/ukrainian-village/three-floyds-expand-production-distill-dark-lord-whiskey

Had a pretty solid beer weekend, can't complain. Found that I do, after all, have a ticket for Dark Lord Day, so I'm pretty excited about that.

Was visiting my dad in Wisconsin over the weekend and we stopped at the Mars Cheese Castle, mainly to stock up on some New Glarus stuff, but they've added a pretty decent craft beer selection over the past few years. Ended up picking up a 4-pack of that Tyranena Devil Made Me Do It mentioned upthread, as well as Central Waters Brewhouse Coffee Stout.

Oh and Friday, I got to meet Josh in Chicago, definitely a beer weekend highlight! Thanks again Josh. Oh, also picked up a Mikkeller Brunch Weasel and a Three Floyds Backmasking from one of my local stops.

so i mentioned upthread that i've been on the lookout for bocks to enjoy during the spring. picked up anchor's bock which is really good, lots of caramelized malts and dried fruit tastes, dark but really not heavy at all. i don't drink a lot of anchor in general, i feel like i always overlook them, but i've always liked this beer. sadly they are phasing it out:

“Anchor Bock has been a beloved seasonal not only by craft beer fans, but by the folks here at Anchor,” said Mark Carpenter, Brewmaster at Anchor Brewing Company. “In an effort to expand and innovate, as we have done for decades, Anchor will be retiring Bock after the 2014 season to allow room for several all-new American craft brews, which we will be sharing with the world very soon.”

My tired eyes kept reading "books" for a second and I was all trying to figure out why you'd want to be reading about caramelized malts and dried fruit tastes.

I'm heading to Wisconsin this weekend, will be keeping an eye peeled for the New Glarus Dubbel & Black Top. We'll be in/around Sheboygan and will have to swing by this place, too: http://3sheepsbrewing.com/

mmm Habanero Sculpin on tap at my local!

Not big on bourbon beers but finally tracked down some of Sixpoint Imperial Otis and liked it a lot, hope it sticks around

jon, have you had the central waters brewhouse before? it's stellar for a cheap bomber, like outrageously good

^otm

so i tried to take a better picture of this but eventually i gave up

http://postimg.org/image/acad4iyb9/

thanks cad! i am so stoked to try all of this new england beer you have no idea

umm let's try this

http://s10.postimg.org/7i77r2w55/10154417_10152391408069577_5492726656843998143_n.jpg

yeah! it made it! special thanks to your community center, special non-thanks to fedex.

Nice, I see a few similar bottles in there to the box I just got!

Shared the Grassroots saison with Jeff and some other friends on Sunday. It was good for a brunchy party situation but I thought it was a little flat? Seemed pretty popular overall though.

I've also tried the Peak Organic, Be Hoppy, and the Citizen Cider so far. Be Hoppy was quite tasty (especially loved the unfiltered quality), Peak was crisp if a little basic, and the cider very nice and appley, especially yesterday when the temperature touched 80.

Looking at the Notch Session Saison tonight and maybe cracking open the growler as well...

unrelated, but I can't see this being at least slightly disturbing

http://philly.thedrinknation.com/articles/read/12742-Craft-Brewed-and-Nude-No-Clothes-Allowed-at-This-Beer-Fest

*not* being

xp - lol, i really wanted to just crack something open and start playing ping pong but not sure they would have been into that

i have been collecting a LOT lately btw, both for trades and for myself... over the weekend i found some pannepot, capitalized upon a limited bottle release at the commons, and discovered the largest and most unorganized beer store in portland (best belgian selection i have ever seen! and decent prices too). i have gone from having a couple special bottles in the basement to having several cases in just a few weeks lol

dan i owe you a treehouse growler in the future! that's the one that they overfilled and i was scared it might be leaking. interesting about the arctic, i haven't cracked one yet but carb issues would kinda suck. be hoppy is sort of a sleeper around here, no one goes crazy for it but it's so solid.

jon, have you had the central waters brewhouse before? it's stellar for a cheap bomber, like outrageously good

Nope, but I've heard this before. Which is why I immediately grabbed. My only regret was that they only had one bomber.

more xps - i want to try the growlers first, but i'll have a really hard time waiting to crack into this stuff! only a few should be aged anyhopw right?

yeah definitely do the growlers soon, they're just over a week old at this point. i really should take my own advice and not let 99% of beers age much at all. of the hoppier beers i sent, citra mantra is a little older at this point but i had one the other day and it's holding up fine.

that nude beer fest is like some fresh hell i have never imagined

I finally tried the Anderson Valley Huge Arker I bought a month ago. It's a stronger (and longer in the barrel) version of their regular BA that I liked but wasn't blown away by. This one is 13.5% abv and it's very apparent on the first sips, but became less noticeable as I continued drinking. Very good flavor, which improved by the end of the bottle (22oz).

Also tried a Black Market "Embargo" which is a BA brown stout at a bar and thought it was great. Found it in bombers at WF for $10, hope it's as good that way. They're from Temecula, a town in the larger LA area toward San Diego. Wouldn't have expected much from there, but was really impressed.

yeah definitely do the growlers soon, they're just over a week old at this point. i really should take my own advice and not let 99% of beers age much at all. of the hoppier beers i sent, citra mantra is a little older at this point but i had one the other day and it's holding up fine.

That settles it, that sucker is going down tonight.

On the aging note, I was kind of wondering what to do with some of the stuff I've been holding onto. Most of it is barrel-aged stouts/barleywines so it should be OK, but I have a couple sours and some other stuff I've just sort of been hanging on to, waiting for the right occasion.

DRINK IT ALL NOW

Here's everything I got saved. I think it's mostly up to date.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AnzCKvN4-MMgdEpaUmFhVXU4MUV3S3h4TDZja3lBTkE&usp=sharing

Not a huge fan of these guys with a couple of exceptions, so this was kind of affirming of my doubts:
http://bruery.blogspot.com/2013/12/beer-issues-cacaonut-barrel-aged-autumn-maple-praecocia.html

(But I'm sure I've let it known I'm not a fan of big syrupy, candy/soda/dessert flavored crap to begin with, so bear that in mind)

waiting for the Jeff episode of HOARDERS /jokes

i tried to keep a list but i gave up. basically i really need to drink down my cellar because i am not moving all that shit and i've never had a beer that got much better with age.

never?

xps - that is an impressive collection! how does any one human manage to acquire like 25 bourbon county stouts without having their own distro or smthg

do people just store their stuff in boxes usually? i had a couple bottles break recently when a shelf collapsed somehow :( obviously the answer is "don't put it on a shitty shelf" but now i am hella concerned about storage lol (esp considering recent investments)

I just store everything in a closet with a red construction paper sign on the door that has "do not enter" scrawled on it in crayon, a remnant from when a bunch of kids were playing hide and seek in my liquor and beer collection. A bad idea that will not get better as they age.

i got a case of bcbs this year! cases were sitting around at one store here as of a few weeks ago. my stuff is partially in boxes and partially in some cardboard trays on some chairs in our cellar.

re: aging, it tends to mellow out whatever flavors were present when the beer was fresh. bcbs at 1-2 years old develops more of a milk chocolate quality which is nice enough. sierra nevada barleywine gets less boozey, which some people like. wild ales just seem to kind of fade ime. basically, for me, if i don't buy beers that have problems when they're fresh, i have no reason to age them.

xp jeff

Noticed the westvleteren on that list -- assuming you go that through a trade, how hard was it to get? I assume that's the only real option for those of us not going to Belgium any time soon

i have very little experience with aging but i found that it added a LOT of complexity and weird-but-desirable flavors to deschutes abyss, though this is a beer with a "drink after" date so it was definitely designed to sit for a while

I have a fancy "better with age" beer aging in the cabinet under the liquor, but I forget what it is. Only way to really test it out is to go out and get a fresh bottle and drink 'em side by side.

XP picked them up while in Brussels, along with a bunch of Cantillon, of which I'm down to 2 bottles :((((((

Lucked into two bottles of Black Note today. Was just getting out of work when I saw the store tweeted it was in. Ran nearly a mile down Dearborn to snag two of the last 4. This is what it has come to.

Every time I hear from someone who says they found Black Note in Chicago I have to go check my usual stores... all the time realizing it's probably going to be futile.

As I predicted, Black Note came in yesterday and Black Note went out yesterday. Plenty of Zombie Dust available though, I swear this place puts it out when other releases happen just to ship a few more bottles.

Grab the ZD! One of the few beers I'll almost always buy a 6 pack when I see it.

i have yet to try ZD

few more notes on beers dan sent me--

gigantic/hellion belgian strong pale ale - this is good, nice belgian strong profile, not outrageously sweet, the dry hopping adds some interesting flavors. i was looking into these guys and i can't really get behind the "we only brew everything once" philosophy but if it works for them i guess that's ok.

surly/abrasive ale - more or less perfect tropical dipa, you chicago guys are so lucky this is in your distro.

Hurts so good every time I pay $19 a 4 pack for Abrasive.

It's a good one. Somewhere in New England there is a dude sipping a Heady Topper, dreaming of Abrasive.

oh heck i didn't know it was that expensive

it is surely not 7 dollars better than heady topper

I don't know if it'll stick, but some crazy Norwegian guys I met in Brussels got me to sign up to untappd. There as here I am seandalai.

i just added you, untappd is fun