Beer in the new era

favorite time to drink beer is while i'm cooking

but yea CAD is right too, there are plenty of mexican beers that are very enjoyable served w/ mexican food but i'd never call them bad beers. peruvian beers (most of them lagers) are outstanding imo served w/ spicy peruvian food. but bud light is also garbage in any universe. i mean to make a point about light lagers fine, there are many good ones, but bud light is not one of them.

I always got a kick out of going to my favorite BYOB Thai place in Chicago (Spoon, for all you locals) with a six pack of some crisp, very cold, Polish lager like Warka or Okocim.

BUD LIGHT COORS LIGHT MILLER LITE, WHICH

BL lime

I was in Singapore and Thailand earlier this year and sort of thought it was crazy to drink Singha or Tiger or Chang in a big mug with ice cubes but it totally made sense when it's 95 and 95% humidity and you're eating super hot food. I've also started to appreciate salty/limey beer cocktails on ice a lot more, especially with food. But never with Bud Light.

it's always frustrated me to hear chef-types hate on craft beer. i think the idea of beer pairings is still pretty new to the culinary world, and the variety and inconsistency of craft beer can make it hard to make decent pairings without some pretty extensive research. it's easier to pair a light beer with nearly any dish, but that doesn't mean it's always better

that being said, it's sorta idiotic not to consider the possibilities all these crazy beers offer wrt food. when i was in charleston we hit up this joint - http://edmundsoast.com/ - and they basically created one of the most successful new bars / restaurants in the country based on a huge, impressive taplist and a full menu designed to play off of it. had an amazing beer-sausage dish with roasted shiso peppers that worked brilliantly with beers that i might not have been into otherwise (ie: a smoky, funky, savory belgian wit from against the grain). it's not like it's unheard of to pair a big/sweet wine with dessert, so why not a nice barleywine or w/e

good taplist there

yeah, the bottle list is sorta crazy too. lotsa guezes (not aged) in the $35-100 range

ooh i'm gonna be in charleston in a couple weeks for a conference, will have to check that place out. i see that it's only 2 miles away from the place i'm staying at, that could be a fun walk to explore the city too

what's the vibe like? is it fancy? menu and website are a little slick and calls for reservations but it is a brewpub after all. i.e. do i need to wear a collard shirt there?

lol *collared shirt. honestly straight up i have collard greens braising in the kitchen right now and obv i am excited about southern food before going to charleston

you should totally go! it's got a sort of boiler-plate hip mid-priced restaurant style, which is extremely prevalent here in pdx so honestly i didn't think twice about it. definitely not like torst or anything crazy, i'm sure a t-shirt would fly, but it's def different than your usual 40+ taps kind of place. we went there for brunch (semilol @ brunch beers but i was not going to pass up the opportunity) and i'm p sure it gets more bar-like as the day goes on

(i had a short-sleeved collared shirt fwiw)

sorta crazy tho that they have all those taps and no tv screen system or chalkboard but these silly "artisan" looking wooden plaque-type things for each beer

you can go to torst in a t-shirt, they don't kick you out.

yeah the only places that seem to gaf about dress code / standards are crazy steakhouses or prix fixe places or w/e

http://imgur.com/OugyTMh

http://i.imgur.com/OugyTMh.jpg

oh shit

that looks tremendous.

btw any of you pnw dudes rate hop valley? i just drank a can of their alphadelic ipa and i thought it was a total winner. doesn't seem to be getting very high scores on the usual sites but for a basic and assertive ipa it really did the job for me.

I love love love Hop Valley and live a 5 minute walk from their brewery :)

my faves are the Alphadelic, Cirtus Mistress, and Proxima - the hoppy ones. I also had a great fresh hop brew from them as part of the blind test I mentioned above.

I guess I should join some of these rating sites

CITRUS Mistress, that is. I haven't experimented much with the rest of their beers cuz I'm such a hophead.

in fact, I'm gonna drink an Alphadelic right now

awesome! i had a can of the citrus mistress too, it was fine but did not make as big an impression as the alphadelic.

I am drinking a bell's expedition stout and realllly loving it.
been a week or so of stouts.

exp. stout is so so good.

other stouts i have enjoyed lately:
bells kalamazoo stout (is it weird that i wish the licorice taste was stronger?)
founders breakfast obv
narwhal
central waters 'satin solitude' imperial stout (stupid name, very drinkable, not expensive.)

i regret only getting one bottle. i hope they are still around when i get back from RI. or maybe i'll stop after work tomorrow if i can...

gonna bring a speedway stout up to RI with me for drinking while having a fire in my mom's back yard.

My local beer store regularly stocks speedway stout and its a guilty Friday night pleasure of mine

Old Rasputin is obviously the shit.. Also check out black xantus if you can get it.

http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/17963/53256/

never seen black xantus. definitely enjoy old ras, and i enjoy the brooklyn black chocolate stout a lot as well!

Had a Ska Brewing Molè Stout (cocoa, chili peppers, and other spices). Interesting, but not something I'll buy again. I bought a 6-pack on a whim, so I'll finish it over time.

it's always frustrated me to hear chef-types hate on craft beer.

It's perhaps no coincidence that whenever they're asked for their favorite comfort food or what they eat when they're not working, they always say McDonald's or Chipotle or something.

old rasputin has always been so good, probably the first stout that really blew my mind and i still love it today

both kalamazoo and expedition are fantastic

new holland the poet is also really good mio

thanks for the info psychgawsple! will definitely check that place out in charleston. now i can just wear a hoodie there, lol

GIVE ME SIERRA NEVADA CELEBRATION RIGHT NOW YOU SONS OF BITCHES

oh also tried their new mixed 12, the coffee stout is eh ok, and the other new pale ale (no memory of the name, white label) was pretty good? not as punchy as a torpedo, maybe a little sparkly/citrusy? not worth buying a mixed 12 for unless you really want the occasional porter from those dudes, which i dont.

hey does sierra nevada pale ale still taste good to you guys? my brother and i were talking about how/whether it has changed as a beer, or whether we've changed as beer drinkers. seems like a familiar topic that we've already discussed on this thread but i am wondering specifically about SNPA -- do you think it's changed? i remember LOVING that beer like 10-14 years ago but i haven't been too impressed with it lately. i don't know if it's my tastes, there are still plenty of regular american pale ales i love, and no one who knows me would peg me as someone who only drinks DIPAs or RISs and has had their taste burnt out.

my favorite local IPA (it's super citrus-y) is finally in bottles. the box/bottle artwork is, uh, something: http://https%3A//fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xap1/v/t1.0-9/10409756_728274943892246_3533655589782244980_n.jpg%3Foh%3Da87d47c4ce799b32babf5d257d39b52c%26oe%3D54B64423%26__gda__%3D1425579007_7803e3a3ca48f349681b5888b7643bf8

did that not work?

http://www.isthmus.com/media/2014/10/16/144beer101614.jpg

haha that label art is amazing, who brews that?

interesting you would ask that about the standard SNPA, ive had the same feeling! as a big fan of canned beer, i noticed it for the first time when i tried the cans, but the bottles taste different as well. maybe im getting stuff from the NC site instead of the CA one?

SNPA still taste the same to me. Still great.

hey does sierra nevada pale ale still taste good to you guys?

yeah i think i've covered my stance on this already but it's still prob the beer i drink most, just a perfect conception of a pale ale.

the ipa in the winter pack seems to be really good, my assessment is similar to yours john.

haha that label art is amazing, who brews that?

Karben 4, they took over Ale Asylum's old facility after AA outgrew it. really solid.

SNPA is still one of my standbys and probably always will be, but I like middle-of-the-road, balanced beers. I'm a lightweight and I also seem to have a very alcohol-sensitive palate--I find anything over 8% ABV just tastes boozy to me. On that note, can anyone recommend some good fall/winter beers that have deep flavor but low ABV? I'm a fan of SN's Tumbler, bummed that I can only get it in the Fall seasonal 12-pack.

i used to have an antagonistic relationship w/snpa (i blame this on cali bros i encountered during undergrad) and sorta ignored/mocked all the hype at the time (my entry point to craft beer was definitely the belgian stuff). i kinda dig it nowadays, though for some reason a lot of places around here with notso great tap lists will tend to have lagunitas ipa or fat tire or some local option from widmer or ninkasi before they have snpa

It's perhaps no coincidence that whenever they're asked for their favorite comfort food or what they eat when they're not working, they always say McDonald's or Chipotle or something.

a friend who worked at noma and other similar places is suuuuuper into microwave burritos and instant ramen. idk if this is chef-style challops or some statement about affordable food options or just an escape from what he's immersed in at work or what

This might be more appropriate for the Chicago thread, but it fits here too because of the discussion of where craft beer is going. Smallbar was one of the better craft beer bars in town for a long time, it's sort of sad they're closing that location but it's hard to disagree, especially when you see the direction the rest of their neighborhood is going.

http://goodbeerhunting.com/blog/2014/10/21/critical-drinking-with-phil-mcfarland-of-smallbar-division

Yeah, I got a lot of thoughts on that article. Will type when I'm not on mobile.