Beer in the new era

Perennial just launched in Seattle. Looking forward to Abraxas. Saison De Lis, and a few others being readily available.

I as initially skeptical of Carton, but they've managed to impress me with nearly everything I've tried. The Swisher one was pretty great; hoppy and smoky. Regular Coffee was spot-on, and Boat Beer is just a world class Pale. Kane in NJ is also doing great things, but it's a real hassle tracking down their beers.

Shared a bottle of Firestone Double DBA with friends after dinner last night, perfect application for such a beer. Another one of those where about an 8oz glass is perfect, and despite the stuff tasting great I couldn't imagine trying to consume a whole bottle solo. I was also under the impression that it was much more boozy and big-flavored than it turned out to be.

Ha, I think every time I've had that beer I've finished off the whole bottle myself. I do what I got to do.

i've drank bottles of merkin solo before, prob could do a ddba.

i am getting worryingly bored of beer at the moment. been a fairly long time since anything really knocked me out. boo me.

i'm with ya

I think there's an element of choice paralysis crossed with general high quality across the board going on. I have enough great, easy to buy/drink standards that I'd have to go out of my way (or drink everything) to find some truly shitty beers. If anything that explains all the even weirder novelty beers popping up. It's like the brewers are getting bored, too, having perfected all the normal/not disgusting permutations of beer.

Found a bottle of V. Merkin on a shelf today. Still some DDBA, too, though less of it sitting around than there was last year.

1st paragraph OTM, I think. I am also feeling a bit burned out, going for lighter beer in general.

Idk, I still drink something different almost every time. Still an adventure for me.

agree with that, jeff. also i don't feel a huge need to get blown away by every beer i have. it's nice when that happens but i don't expect it to.

^ thirded. i'm not a huge wine guy but it seems like people know the parameters of the wine world enough that they don't buy a bottle expecting to be blown away by some new and previously unheard-of style or w/e, it's more about regional variation, subtle differences in craft, etc. it's not a perfect analogy but it doesn't seem crazy to notice the higher-end beer market developing in a similar way, with tons of options for each partic style and fewer ways to immediately differentiate between them

yeah basically i think we can officially say creating good beers is no longer a problem, the problems now are accessibility, consistency, volume, and price.

One thing I do love about beer more than most drinks is that it's so seasonal. What I like to drink, and what brewers produce, changes with the weather, and each season also offers its share of new surprises to explore. It's also great fun that each region produces its own stuff, and they all overlap a little but rarely wholly. So here in Chicago, we've got all the local stuff, but also nearby is Bell's, and Founders, and Three Floyds, and Central Waters, and New Glarus. Etc. Then in, say, Portland, they have all their own stalwarts, plus their own regional satellite brews. Same in Denver, and Boston, and Los Angeles, and so on. Tons of fun exploring this world.

I will readily admit that my taste for beer is nowhere near as refined as that of some, and that I do have trouble differentiating between similar (or not) expressions. Like, say, as I posted above, Allagash White vs. Saison, or some of the barrel aged stouts. That said, one other problem I have is that many of them taste so good and few totally disappoint, which is a nice problem to have.

FWIW I was at a Triumph brewery restaurant this weekend (New Hope PA) and tried their bitter and their eichweizen, and while not blown away by either I enjoyed the exceedingly "fresh" taste that the beer had, which I can assume was just the result of having it on tap right where it was brewed.

Hey, it's finally beer camp day! Scheduling with my pal has been tricky, and I was worried that it would be faded by now, but hooray for careful storage.

Just started, but the cigar city tropical maibock is incredibly good, great kick off.

2/2 the ninkasi double latte is right up there with mikkeller beer geek breakfast and lagunitas cappuccino. Going to be a great boozy afternoon.

Just started, but the cigar city tropical maibock is incredibly good, great kick off.

That may be my Best of Show for the box.

Square grouper

^ ha, you seemed to like that one?

fresh hop stuff is still very much in its prime. commons' fresh hop myrtle was pretty incredible - a light, slightly sour, drinkable saison with added earth complexity from the hops. awesome.

so i started messing around with untappd, 'ChantsWI' if anyone wants to add me.

hoegaarden with lemon slice is the best beer to have with lunch

I was feeling kinda broke until payday, so I went for a $7.99/6 alleged double IPA from Sprecher. You get what you pay for (sometimes less...) No floral hop aroma whatsoever, rather dank, malty and skunky. The bitterness is all in the finish, which lasts for an hour on the tongue. This is horrible. Avoid.

there is a huge and glaringly obvious gap between a bad double ipa and a good one. little crazy to me that so many bad ones continue to be made and sold in such an oversaturated market

had hopnami by greenport recently and it was really drinkable DIPA, like so smooth it almost had a creamy quality? A+

There are no reviews for Sprecher "IPA2" on ratebeer. Maybe it killed all the previous victims.

L and I did a blind taste test for nine local breweries, each of them made a fresh hop recipe. Fun! The Oakshire should have placed imo (the winners were Ninkasi, Hop Valley, and Claim 52).

http://blogs.registerguard.com/tastings/two-or-19-new-reasons-to-visit-the-tap-growler/

nice! had the oakshire galaxy ipa recently and was feeling it

have you tried the fort george fresh hop? i think it's still around, foresty and delicious and much cheaper than other fresh hop beers one can purchase in a bottle/can

i don't think i've had a single disappointing fresh hop thing all season tho tbh

This just reminded me of the Founders Mosaic Promise I had over the weekend -- single malt, single hop APA, it was quite fantastic, maybe approaching Zombie Dust levels of balance but with Mosaic instead of Citra flavors. Only had the chance for one, but I'd love to try it again to get a better impression.

Beer that I stocked up on because it's not everyone's cup of tea:

Limoncello imperial IPA by Siren Craft collaboration with Mikkeller and Hill Farmstead

It's a double IPA with a more sour mash than usual, then they add Lacto, lemon peel, and then huge dose of Citra and Sorachi Ace hops.

Sounded bad to me, I loved it, none of my friends liked it at all so I was able to trade shelf turds to get theirs.

so the evil twin "Ryan and the Goseling" or whatever is super hyped and super ehhhh imo

i mean the name is almost sort of funny i guess

man I saw some Evil Twin stuff last weekend in our bottle shop... $20 for a 22? f that

now drinking a Hop Valley Alphadelic IPA, our go-to these days along w/their Proxima (slightly less strong)

I guess it depends on what beer it is. I paid $22 for bombers of the bourbon barrel aged variants of imperial biscotti break and imperial doughnut break.

I'm pretty sure I've lamented up thread about the mediocrity of Evil Twin beers that are not imperial porters or stouts.

i had the Founders Dark Penance Imperial Black IPA last night, really good. fruity and hoppy, which is the only way i like fruity.

ha i had that last night too! liked it a lot.

yeah, if you want a barrel aged imperial dark beer of some kind it prob makes sense to spring for a nice one. i had the (reasonably priced) anderson valley wild turkey barrel stout thing last night and it was a total waste of time... when i go for that style i want something big and sweet and complex and decadent, not watered down bourbon + fake vanilla-flavored malt beverage

not sure you can find a better canned gose in these parts than the evil twin nomader weisse, and it sells for about $2-2.50/can if you can find it. the quality probably has more to do with westbrook being involved than anything evil twin contributed, tho i certainly benefitted from the wider distribution

yeah, I had the Dark Penance Saturday night, thought it was really good.

imperial black ipas / cdas are becoming one of my favorite styles, seems like brewers don't make those unless they know what the fuck they are doing

also my gf scored a couple bottles of Founders KBS, that was great too of course.

I had dark penance too but was too drunk to remember anything about it.

xpost - yeah, as I commented on untapped at the time, I'm a sucker for Imperial black IPAs. they always seem to be done really well.

still have never had KBS.

imperial black ipas / cdas are becoming one of my favorite styles, seems like brewers don't make those unless they know what the fuck they are doing

― hug niceman (psychgawsple)

in the fridge for tonight is 10 Barrel's "Beer #2", a fancy CDA: http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/16873/125530/

jvc I have 4 2014 KBSs still hanging around, would be happy to provide you with one so you don't miss out entirely!

btw I'm still curious to hear KBS impressions from psychgawsple and Al Broccoli after our trade, assuming you guys aren't just sitting on them ;)

Yeah Jon, I have a kbs I'd throw your way too.

xp - wanted to wait until it got colder outside, will keep you posted :)

my instinct with imp stouts and barleywines is to just put them in a box in the basement and try to forget about them until a special occassion. not sure i need to age it all but i'm in no rush

i realized that when hearing 'KBS' i was thinking of something else. i think it was this, which is really shitty: http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/430/18698/

so now the hype makes a bit more sense. :)

ha, I've wondered about those type of generic bourbon barrel beers before, but never enough to try

that beer is awful

Lips of Faith Transatlantique Kriek: okay, but not worth the price tag.

anyone try that stone xocoveza thing yet? looks intriguing http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/147/128500/