Beer in the new era

well yes but the real ale ppl will tell you that there's as much a stylistic component (basically low-abv beers with subtle flavors and malt emphasis) as anything.

So, would something like Bell's (unfiltered, but not afaik unpasteurized) hooked up to a typical beer engine be considered "Almost Real Ale"? bc a bar I used to frequent does this sort of thing all the time. (The Globe Pub fwiw Chicagoans)

one of my favorite things I had recently was plain old Bronx Pale Ale on cask

I had Zombie Dust on cask once, it was fantastic.

the camra thing is cool because it's kinda like a d.o.c. stamp of certification for beer culture (as opposed to just the product itself). would be interesting to see that attention to the process of serving / defining beer take hold in other places with different regional styles, but it might be a good thing that you can find something so distinct in london and not in a southern ca suburb or whatever

After a week of drinking real ale in London, drinking an IPA from The Kernel was like a breath of fresh air. I like real ale, but the flatness tends to make me drink it faster, and more of it, so I usually just end up feeling gross.

i felt like this after visiting germany, too. just craving something with more hop flavor after being bombarded with malt and yeast and wheat for a few weeks. hard to say that one is objectively better than the other but i think i am developing a hop dependency

AVOID: New Belgium x Cigar City Lips of Faith.

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

― Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Wednesday, April 30, 2014 8:16 AM (4 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

lol what was wrong with it

― call all destroyer, Wednesday, April 30, 2014 8:17 AM

Was this an herb-based beer (had horehound and wormwood on the list of ingredients, among others)? Saw this at WF today and was curious, but didn't buy.

Described as: "Belgian yeast with Anaheim and Marash peppers along with loads of citrusy hops aged on Spanish Cedar."

Didn't get any of that except for the off capsaicin flavors, kind of a dank mildewy flavor. Drain-poured (something I rarely do).

That's nuts. I'd rather have a peanut butter beer.

yeah maybe one too many things in the mix there

i felt like this after visiting germany, too. just craving something with more hop flavor after being bombarded with malt and yeast and wheat for a few weeks. hard to say that one is objectively better than the other but i think i am developing a hop dependency

― hug niceman (psychgawsple), Wednesday, April 30, 2014 2:37 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yea, it's all about balance. i finished that sierra nevada ipa box and felt like i was needing some bocks, so i went through a couple sixes of bocks. really felt like i wanted something hoppy and floral after that.

As I understand it, in Belgium (in contrast to the UK) the tradition of small, local, high-quality brewing was never under any significant threat. They've always had a tradition of what would be called "craft brewing" there, so there's less of a campaign feel to the culture than there is in the UK. The influence of US brewing has clearly been felt, though; De Struise is probably my single favourite Belgian brewery and they are very happy to play with heavy hopping (with New World hops) and experimental brews. De Ranke and De La Senne are others who IMO show some US influence (the De Ranke XX is really seriously bitter, I don't like it).

As you might expect, the different traditions bring their own strengths and weaknesses: the US is the home to really amazing experimentation but the lack of a deep-rooted continuous tradition has meant a beer culture which has everything all at once and (I think) as a result tends to be a bit stunt-y and a bit faddish; it's also a tradition which has grown up as the same time as twitter culture so really values things which you can describe as distinct.The Belgians (with their belief that only they really understand the very best beer in the world) and the British (with their self-righteous campaigny zeal) have established markets which reward continuity a bit too much, I think.

I wouldn't want to be without any of them; I hope the traditions don't converge.

This last message written after a few pints of cask ale so forgive incoherence.

a bit stunt-y and a bit faddish

What??!? I say good day to you, sir.

Now back to my banana walnut bacon brown ale...

haha that actually sounds good and I don't like any of those things

(in beer)

Otter Creek mini-tasting tonight courtesy of call all destroyer!

Citra Mantra: Really liked this. A wide variety of citrusy hop flavors, maybe leaning a little bit towards lime, all in a light tasting lager package. Light and refreshing but not with the sort of artificially-lighter-flavor of a "session" IPA. I would drink the shit out of this in the summer.

Fresh Slice: Good, but I liked the other one better. Seemed to me like a hoppy hefeweizen, more or less, with traces of the wheaty banana scents and a light finish.

Both were good, the Mantra bordered on ZD levels of hop flavor but with a lager crispness.

Also had a bottle of New Glarus Dubbel, which weirdly smelled like cheap beer basement keg party (wife confirmed this) but had a great fruity, boozy, somewhat malty depth of flavor. A great sipper at 18° Plato (according to the label).

Drinking a central waters 2013 bourbon barrel stout and oh man, peeps can go ahead and keep their bourbon county imo. Stellar.

Also bought a bomber of central waters space ghost to pop at the liquor store as a thanks for some crazy back room freebies, and it was pretty damn good. Stout with ghost peppers (I know I know wait for it)12% abv. Shockingly balanced, heat but not stupid, high abv buried under flavor. $6 bomber. I'm pretty close to central waters evangelist at this point. Not going to lie, half of my share choice was based on "there's no fucking way I am soloing a ghost pepper stout."

That's one I'd buy to share with my macho chile-head friends.

glad you enjoyed the otter creeks, dan! i agree that fresh squeezed is a little hard to love, i'm waiting for warmer weather where i think i'll appreciate the amount of citrus they put in it.

Want to reiterate that the Sierra Nevada Wit is incredibly good!

Space Ghost was good. Not too hot, which I liked. Not as good as the Ghost Pepper Bourbon County I had a few years ago though.

Anyone have the New Holland Dragon's Milk variety with roasted arbol peppers yet? Almost picked one up in Wisconsin, but it must be making its way around.

^^^i was just about to post about that, i split a bottle last night and it's amazing. the heat is a perfect amount, warm but not obnoxious. really want to get some more while it's still around.

haven't had the dragon's milk w/ peppers but i have had the regular dragon's milk, it's outstanding. new holland is pretty great imo

Definitely hoping to taste the BLAKKR, there was a thing on the Decibel blog about that and it sounded pretty interesting.

― an enormous bolus of flatulence (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Monday, March 3, 2014 9:31 AM (1 month ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Noticed today in Warehouse Liquors tweet that they now have BLAKKR in cans. I guess this is the Surly release of it?

Anyone try the Dogfish Head Aprihop?

xp Yep, Blakkr cans have been available for a month. I got a 4-pack in the mail of Blakkr, Abrasive, Furious and Bender and was really happy with those.

i tried aprihop a long time ago, maybe 5 years ago. someplace had it on draft and it was sublime. i bought some in bottles and shared with some friends and we all thought it was terrible

I tried a sample of aprihop on draft and liked it so I got a growler. Opened it up after a day or two in the fridge and it just tasted off.

Noticed today in Warehouse Liquors tweet that they now have BLAKKR in cans. I guess this is the Surly release of it?

Yeah, I'm guessing it must be because 3Floyds confirmed they were just doing the bombers from their end.

I've had Aprihop on tap and liked it, but can't remember if I've ever bought bottles.

Well, I just bought bottles. Will report. It's hard to believe so many folks love it on tap and hate it in bottles. How radically different could it be? (I will see!).

OK, Aprihop is perfectly fine. Pretty subtle, hardly disgusting. Pairing well with strawberries right now.

RFI I guess. I don't know a whole lot about US beers, and I think we only get the most widely-distributed breweries in the UK. But what would you guys suggest best starting points to seek out in terms of appreciating that big beer continent of yours?

Xpost Aprihop getting less OK as it warms up.

A couple weeks back we started chatting about the new era and what defines it, specifically in the context of a post of Michael Jackson's best American beers list from 2002.

It kinda had me thinking of different milestones and landmark beers I'd enjoyed over the years, and what has changed in the new era.

I recently remembered in 1996 getting into a Red Hook x Starbucks(which somewhat of a niche company at the time hah!) collab called Double Black Stout.

So I looked it up online to see what people thought of it then...

''On a scale of 1 to 10, it was between a 3 and a 5,'' said Keith Mackie, brewery general manager for McMenamins Pubs and Breweries. ''I bet Double Black Stout's going to be a flash in the pan.''

And as of 2014 BA rates it very good/outstanding: http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/18134/55/

Similarly around this time (1995?) I took a trip to Seattle in January and it was really cold compounded with this bone chilling wind coming off the Sound. We ended up seeking refuge in a bar and the bartender recommended Black Butte Porter from Deschutes and it was served absolutely ice cold in a frozen mug, like the top of the beer was iced over... and I can still remember how delicious it was.

#beerstalgia

seandalai i have no concept of what you get over there so if you can talk a bit abt what you see on the shelves that would help.

I did a quick little google of a couple of UK beer shops the other night, and the handful of "American craft" offerings were pretty run of the mill, iirc, at least from my perspective.

This is the biggest selection I've found over here: http://www.beersofeurope.co.uk/american-beer
Plus my local shop seems to have about 50 varieties of Rogue.

Based on that page, Founders, Green Flash, Jolly Pumpkin, Stone, and Lost Abbey are all very good buys. And hell, they have BCBS, may as well get that too. Also lolled to see Huber on there, haven't seen that shit in years.

yeah those would be many of the breweries i would start with, alesmith as well.

if i were you i would be trying to figure out how fresh the pale ales/ipas they're stocking are, no real use in overpaying for a 6-month old green flash ipa

BCBS may be as American as it gets, relatively speaking.

Awesome, thanks. Some of those (Stone, Founders, Lost Abbey) I can get locally too so I can check the dates on the bottles. How fresh should an ipa be to count as "fresh"?

within 6 months imo

slowburn LOL at "Millers Genuine Draught"

I saw Sierra Nevada Pale Ale on tap last time I was in London, I'd have to look through expense report journals to try to find out more specifics though.

Rumor is Surly to start distro to Wisconsin?

really? that would make me very happy. thinking about going to a tap takeover thing tonight (part of this insanity, which i don't want to get too caught up in).