Beer in the new era

Also, all beers should be all the time. The least of my worries is if a brewery releases a fall beer in the summer.

Had Lost Abbey Duck Duck Geuze, Boneyard/Alpine Chingadera, and Surly Cocoa Bender

dang...

This time of the year is truly the gloomy end of summer for me as we enter the autumnal days of pumpkin ales followed by undrinkable holiday ales.

― Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Tuesday, September 2, 2014 6:45 PM (44 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah for me it's gonna be like a month of oktoberfests and then porters and stouts. no pumpkin beers ever.

xps - maybe i just don't want the summer to end yet, and it feels a bit like an early push for "holiday season"... can't we just have some back-to-school oktoberfest things for a while?

i def do not agree that "all beers should be all the time", at least in terms of personal taste if not distribution. drinking seasonally can be super fun, and context/setting definitely plays a part in my appreciation of nearly everything

my love of winter ales has cooled considerably, but I still look forward to buying Sierra Nevada Celebration on the regular in two months or so

I will rep for the Anchor as well

i am a fan of pumpkin beer but do not like that kind of beer that tastes like a christmas tree. "winter warmer." more like winter wwwwgross

The beer people I follow on twitter got SO ANGRY about fall beers being released in July/August. Like it's the worst thing ever. They'd rather there be nuclear war than have a pumpkin beer a few weeks early.

Oh, and I have stated before. Or at least I stated that I'm sure I've stated. Let's just state this for the future of all time and be done with it.

I'm sure I've stated my pumking hate before. I just don't get it, I would rate it as one of the worst beers that I've ever had that is supposed to be good.

― Jeff, Friday, October 4, 2013 9:28 AM (10 months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Toronado Seattle

This is an interesting development that I was unaware of.

I love that Lost Abbey (and/or Toronado SF or SD) is just sitting on untapped kegs of Duck Duck Gueze for special occasions. Do you remember how flat the pour was? Almost every Lost Abbey bottle I've ever opened was heavily lacking in carbonation but I know their procedures with keg beer is different (forced co2 injection) than bottling.

most recent duck duck gueze was carbed perfectly, surprising me and everyone present when i opened it

The beer people I follow on twitter got SO ANGRY about fall beers being released in July/August. Like it's the worst thing ever. They'd rather there be nuclear war than have a pumpkin beer a few weeks early.

― Jeff, Tuesday, September 2, 2014 9:10 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I live in the south. No reason at all for this transition down here. It can be 75 degrees at thanksgiving where i live.

Good beer is Collette Farmhouse Ale from Great Divide. Very tasty.

Had one of the Longman & Eagle/Pipeworks collabs, "brown & stirred," a sort of reconstructed Manhattan: strong rye-based ale with cherry and bitters. Reminded me a bit of a flat cherry Coke beer, but it was OK.

http://www.longmanandeagle.com/blog/2014/07/pipeworks-x-le-brown-stirred/

Anybody get Zwanze tix?

This year's* edition sounds more interesting than last year's**.

*2014 cuvee blend of 2011 Iris gran cru with gueze and kriek lambic, cold hopped with Bramling Cross hops.
**2013 top fermented Abbey tripel double spontanteous fermented with wild yeast first then 10% lambic.

I never do Zwanze day because it's just always a clusterfuck here.

damn, i was unaware of zwanze day. will definitely head to apex in pdx on the 20th, sounds incredible

that sounds good, i went last year but normally don't like the amount of day drinking involved

Chicagoans -- Northdown Cafe has a very gose and berlinner weiss-heavy tap list at the moment, with house made syrups to boot. Something like half their taps were one of the two styles as of last night.

Y'know, if you're into that sort of thing.

Yeah, they had an event a couple of nights ago. I expect many will be on though most of the week. Probably won't make it up there though.

MW folks, can I get an approximate price check in $ on the following?:

25oz New Glarus Wisconsin Belgian Red
25oz New Glarus Strawberry Rhubarb
25oz New Glarus Raspberry Tart
25oz New Glarus Serendipity
12oz New Glarus Thumbprint Apple Ale
12oz New Glarus Thumbprint Oud Bruin
12oz Central Waters Bourbon Barrel Stout

The 25oz NG bottles would be about $10 each and the12oz about the same per 4pk. The CW might be more like $11-12 per 4.

Thanks dan m!

birthday tasting notes:

Anderson Valley Heelch O'Hops Imperial IPA - very nice, not too much malt, not too boozy for a high ABV hophead beer

Stone 13 Double Bastard - too sweet for me, again not too boozy, almost reminds me of a winter ale

Flat Tail 4th Anniversary Apricot Habanero Saison - terrible, homebrew skunk banana esters and no fruit or heat

Upright Saison with Muscat (I think?) - delicious, amazing, intriguing, heavy weird grape notes in the body and aftertaste, another success from Upright

Ft. George "The Optimist" IPA - hmm, they are making 12 oz cans now! A solid IPA but a bit malty for me

Deschutes "Fresh Squeezed" - I wish the hops were crisper/more citrusy, but this is very solid

uh how about instead of that 2nd "solid" insert "much more my kind of IPA than the Optimist, all due respect to Ft. George"

I love Upright's saisons, haven't had a bad one yet and sounds like you got an interesting variant.

Traders: What is the biggest shelf turd extra you've received in a trade?

I'm kind of scared to open this vs "paying" it forward, but kind intrigued in a masochistic way:
http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/2958/73314/

The worst prior to this was the Rue d'Floyd infected imperial porter collab between 3Floyds and The Bruery, that was undrinkable:
http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/16866/116418/

whoops, Floyd d'Rue. The Rue d'Floyd was actually really good.

flat tail is so hit or miss for me, i had their "smokey and the lambic" recently and it was pretty great. but that apricot habanero saison truly sounds awful

need to try that upright muscat saison! their recent seasonals have been so so killer, can't say enough good things about special herbs, the lactovasilius sole composition series thing, and their rose (all sours). also, the brewery has started to let you get growlers of their house sour - four play - and damn is that stuff tasty

i like the optimist but it doesn't really come close to ft george's other offerings imo

I've enjoyed everything I've ever received it a trade.

What's your address?

742 Evergreen Terrace!

New favorite pumpkin beer: Stevens Point Whole Hog. That would actually make it my only liked pumpkin beer.

psychgawsple what is your take on Flora vs. Flora Rustica? We just started getting bottles.

I can't think of any trade turds but I'm far more likely to forget bad beer than remember it.

xp - just had some flora last night actually, i love it. a lot of similarities to the logsdon seizoen bretta, really well-rounded bright flavors and the barrel-aged character is super subtle (apart from the sourness)

didn't like flora rustica quite as much as their other saisons tbh, really well-done but just not my preferred style (big frothy, typical belgian yeast-y head, lemon and coriander, on the sweet side). as i've prob said before itt, i definitely prefer the old-world farmhouse funk of their standard lineup (particularly the four, which i think is super underrated)

Pretty excited to nab that Stone Xocoveza chile/coffee/vanilla/cinnamon stout. Should be hitting shelves this week.

Agree w/r/t Upright. Most of their current beers have this really cloying sweetness that makes it a slog to get through more than a pour.

Who in the PDX has the best Cascade hookup? Looking for something particular that blew my mind at a share yesterday.

(just responded to your webmail)

I was looking at my running mileage from last year to this year, and I currently have over 600 miles less than I had in 2013. So for fun, I compared my beer consumption. Last year at this time I had drank 517 beers. This year, I have already have 625.

The two may be related.

Is there something like runkeeper for tracking beer intake or do you keep tabs yourself? Not a very serious question but still...

Regarding the potential correlation, does 600 miles equal 15 to 20% of your total mileage?

so many ppl complain about pumpkin beers that there's a backlash to the backlash and i've started seeing think pieces about how pumpkin beer is not that bad. but i think the trendsters are right about this one - almost 99% of pumpkin beer is a total drain pour waste w/ maybe PumpKing and Warlock as exceptions. my local bar tried to sell me a growler of pumpkin beer yesterday - i was like plz do not try to pass off your crap on me. i bought some delish Troegs Hop Knife instead.

The two may be related.

― Jeff, Tuesday, September 16, 2014 9:55 AM (17 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

hahah you also had a child iirc? seems easier to drink beer with a baby than run with one.

Truth.

Repped for it before, but Schlafly's Pumpkin Ale is worth your time.

Re: Pumpkin beers, definitely try Stevens Point Whole Hog, it's basically the only palatable pumpkin beer I've ever had.

Never had the Schlafly, but I've heard it taste similar to Whole Hog.

yesterday's samples:

pFriem DIPA, can't remember the name, this is pretty much perfect

Bend Brewing sour salmonberry, a bit tart but very nice

pint of Sculpin just for the hell of it

i've seen that pfriem thing around, i should probably try it

bend brewing's sours are actually pretty decent, though they're generally more sessionable / less complex than other sours (thinking mostly of ching ching)

very excited about fresh hop season. it should be more of a thing. seems like people are starting to recognize the importance of freshness in an ipa (the stone enjoy by series is one of many examples of this) but the right use of fresh hops can totally transform the character of a beer. some of this stuff is just out of control good and most people who do not live in the PNW have no idea what they're missing. hell, i have lived here for 4 years and i sorta didn't know what i was missing until recently

favorites so far this year are the laurelwood fresh hop workhorse (picked up a growler of the amarillo variant last night) and the breakside simcoe fresh hop IPA (which was brewed using this crazy process, which i think might be a first?)