Beer in the new era

Excited to try this:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BlhQDpVCQAAc7gA.jpg:medium

Really liked the raspberry version of the porter, hope the PB version is just as good.

Ooh yeah, that does look good.

Btw Jeff, you've inspired me to start a spreadsheet too.

man, that does not sound good to me. what's with all these novelty flavors? Raspberry I can get behind, not so sure about PB.

Normally I wouldn't give it a second glance, but Spiteful is one of the frew breweries that seems to handle the novelty flavors well.

ah that makes more sense

spring house makes a good pb stout (big gruesome) and i haven't tried it yet, but they also make a lil gruesome that is pb + j stout (i have a bottle at home)

I'd try it, but this is getting dangerously close to Voodoo/Rogue territory imho

Yeah sometimes I want my beer to be a sweet, tasty dessert beer. It can be pulled off! Sometimes.

Went to Fischman today (FYI Chi folks) and they were kinda such dicks I don't think I'll ever go back. The guys at Dark Matter later were awesome, though, and told me lots of fun DLD stories.

I've never been there, but that's not the first time I've heard about them being really dickish. What happened?

That's the complete opposite of every visit I've had there.

I asked him a couple of questions and the guy behind the counter barely grunted one or two syllables in return, totally blew me off. And this was after they ignored me walking around the store for five minutes. Maybe they were distracted? This was in the store, btw, not the bar.

xpost

I don't think PB is that much of a novelty either. Chocolate/coffee/vanilla flavors have been generally accepted for beers. PB doesn't seem like much of a stretch from those, and could be a good compliment. It's not like they are trying to make it taste like a doughnut, or smores or something. Anyway, will report back when I actually try it!

this peanut butter and jelly beer does sound terrible but who am i to judge, i tried and enjoyed and purchased more of a white truffle gose last weekend and i'd do it again

http://coolmaterial.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Rogue-VooDoo-Doughnut-ChocolatePBBanana-Ale-2.jpg

standing on the shoulders of giants

jesus they made more than one variety with voodoo? rogue is the worst

Heh, I have one of those sitting at home that a "friend" donated to me. Kinda scared to try it. Figure I'll share the wealth at my next bottle share.

boy do I have good Rogue gossip, got an inside source

said source specifically mentioned the Voodoo collabs as the beginning of the end & proof that the owners were hopelessly out of touch

unfortunately the only other thing I can say in a public forum is psychgawsple otm

One of the things I learned at Dark Matter today is that the roasters there modeled their brand after Three Floyds, to such an extent that naming their espresso bean Unicorn Blood was done strategically to attract the attention of FFF, which worked, given the recent DLD collab.

Rogue Hazelnut Brown Nectar is super delicious though... I've only come across one other beer that was anything like it, and that was from North Carolina and impossible to find here.

yeah that's a good one, I also like Brutal Bitter, their reds, and the Juniper ale

yeah rogue isn't worthless per se, i've always thought that dead guy was a great bock and i love that hazelnut brown too, but it's seldom worth the price and their seasonal lineup is never really worth caring about imo

rogue used to be really good i thought, 10 years ago or so. dead guy is great.

i haven't bought any rogue beer though in probably 6 or 7 years

i used to go to their garage sales where they mark down beers left over in their storage facility, and even then the prices didn't add up! and of course the beer was always mediocre at best, we ended up with WAY too much imperial mocha porter one time and it was not a pleasant beer to drink in any quantity ugh

lol beer advocate lists the style of voodoo doughnut as "fruit/vegetable ale"

marcos - they're definitely competent at making interesting low abv, drinkable beers without too much hop intensity like you were asking about a few weeks back. but again, too expensive!

rogue used to be really good i thought, 10 years ago or so. dead guy is great.

― marcos, Tuesday, April 29, 2014 1:42 PM (2 minutes ago)

very true, they have kind of been surpassed by other breweries in the last ten years

xp

specifically regarding price point, it seems to me that Rogue is just slapping a few extra bucks on cuz they actually think their brand is worth the extra $.

When I first moved to the northwest 8 years ago Rogue seemed all fancy and exotic but it does feel like they sort of coasted and there are tons of more interesting brewers. The maple bacon honestly feels like the only new thing I've seen (and not tried) from them.

They aren't bad but they all have a similar flavor that I don't really enjoy.

tbf tourists always want to go to rogue and spend a lot of money there when they do. which probably speaks to the brand more than anything, also rogue is in the airport and the pearl and major touristy places so i guess it's just convenient. this is probably their primary business model, bank on the tourists and price the bottles high b/c tourists will pay for it

it seems craziest when you compare rogue to their closest competitor deschutes, who makes much more affordable and much more impressive beers. blows my mind that they can continue to sell things consistently at $4-5 more than deschutes (per six pack) and they're still in business

especially considering that deschutes probably makes a killing on tourists too

I remember really loving Brutal Bitter, but yeah that was a decade and MANY other beers ago.

when my friends and I went to PDX a month or so ago a bunch of people wanted to drink Rogue hard booze which I thought was even more o_O than wanting to drink their beer

Rogue is the only US brand that the best beer shop in my UK town stocks more than three varieties of (like, there's three full shelves of Rogue stuff), which I assume points to having good distro more than anything else. I haven't tasted much from them, though I did pick up a bottle of Shakespeare Oatmeal Stout on a whim and will probably try it over the weekend.

that wasn't a bad stout iirc but as dan peterson said, it's been a decade for me too and many other beers ago.

Sounds like they are the Shiner of the Northwest.

Well, I guess except Shiner Bock is generally pretty damn cheap.

Hm, Brutal Bitter does get a 97 on ratebeer. It may be time for a retasting.

I've only recently started actively exploring what's out there so this is all novel to me at least :)

AVOID: New Belgium x Cigar City Lips of Faith.

The bottle has "Best Enjoyed by November 2014" printed on it, good luck with that!

lol what was wrong with it

Dumb question, but is the US the only country with a vibrant and exploding craft beer scene? I honestly have no idea. Other countries seem to be more ... traditional?

I think it has spread to a lot of other countries in the past 10 or so year?

Welp we know there's Mikkeler in Denmark, there's Nøgne Ø and HaandBryggeriet (yes, I copy-pasted those) in Norway, BrewDog in Scotland... Those are the ones that come to mind immediately for me. I think Belgium and Germany's beer cultures could reliably be called "craft" to a large degree, too?

There's a ton of craft beers from Italy too, judging by the selection they have at Eataly.

the italian craft beer scene seemed to be just beginning when i was there, i don't recall seeing more than 2-3 'craft' brands and it seemed to be farmhouse stuff following an agritourism model similar to wine. that was a few years ago though, and we weren't seeking it out by any means cause duh wine

think you could make a much stronger case about belgium and germany always having a solid craft beer scene, not sure how much it's changed in the last 10-20 years but i'd imagine brewers there are benefitting from some of the momentum in the us? i don't know how many new breweries are springing up but i'd guess that beer nerdery in the us and elsewhere has significantly increased the profile of traditional euro breweries. even 20 years ago wasn't hefeweizen still a fairly new and unexplored style?

i'm sure the uk has a strong craft scene too, and iirc that has expanded significantly recently (i remember one article a few years back saying it had doubled?)

think you could make a much stronger case about belgium and germany always having a solid craft beer scene

totally agree, though something about calling centuries-old traditions of brewing a "craft beer scene" seems kind of hilarious