Beer in the new era

xp Gouging getting pretty obv now.

Dunno, if I actually get those prices it seems reasonable. Problem will be the corner stores charging 50, 75, and beyond for the bombers. 30-40 for regular.

I'm going to be in Ohio when it is released, I'm not expecting to get any anyway.

*rural-ass Ohio, that is

I think BCBCS is the real winner here imho

1-month-old Sierra Nevada Celebration ON SALE for $9 per six at my grocery store? Hell yes.

ohh yeah was just looking for that the other day

also why do all the Plaid Pantries in Portland have Ballast Point 6-packs for under $10?

Green Flash acquires Alpine

Wow apparently my local beer store treats me right, celebration 6 packs are $8 and 12s are $12 all day every day.

Chicago sucks that way,

Green Flash acquires Alpine

― nickn, Tuesday, November 11, 2014 8:48 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

that ba thread is very lol

ba in general is pretty lol except when it's so annoying

though i will say i kind of appreciate the reference pages on the site that talk about specific beer styles http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/style/

celebration ale is out!

hey anyone try allagash confluence? it's pretty pricy and i don't like spending a lot of money but i'm headed home to cleveland for the holidays and want to share some interesting stuff w/ my brother. we've both been on a funky/sour kick recently and i don't know if confluence is a sour but i hear it is very funky and delicious

No, but I did have their Coolship Resurgam and it was a fantastic geuze. Would love to see how it performs in a blind taste test with the Belgians.

yeah i haven't had confluence either, but it's probably excellent. 750ml is just a tough format sometimes. anything allagash puts in a corked 375ml should be purchased without questioning.

this is kind of interesting: http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2014/11/14/state-investigating-pay-play-allegations-massachusetts-beer-industry/o4m3VbNmSVw8CdGzVXFoyJ/story.html

"Massachusetts regulators have launched an investigation into whether beer distributors, brewers, and retailers are violating state law by agreeing to promote certain beers at bars and liquor stores in exchange for payments that freeze out competitors.

Investigators for the state Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission said they have issued subpoenas to a number of breweries, beer distributors, and retailers for records to determine whether they are paying for, or demanding payments for, access to bar taps in pubs and restaurants and shelf space at stores.

The practice, known as pay-to-play, is illegal under state and federal liquor control laws, primarily to keep large national breweries from dominating beer markets. Though dating to the end of Prohibition, small breweries say the laws are especially relevant today because the surging popularity of craft beer has little and big companies alike competing for limited space at retailers."

been a common allegation in chicago for a while afaik

1-month-old Sierra Nevada Celebration ON SALE for $9 per six at my grocery store? Hell yes.

― dan m, Tuesday, November 11, 2014 7:04 PM (3 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Bought two six packs yesterday for $7.99 each. Brewed October 14, 2014

Saw 12-packs in the supermarket today for $13.99. It's normally priced like the PA and Torpedo around here.

FOBAB day! FOBAB day! FOBAB day!

Program for this year:

http://i.imgur.com/KwGFC0f.jpg

The Side Projects, GI Prop/Vanilla Rye, BA Abraxas will probably all kick before I get through the line.

jeff how was it?

drinking a year-old allagash merveilleux which is top notch, seriously need to start hoarding their one-offs (and a second job to afford doing so).

Heard FOBAB was nuts this year.

Did hear, specifically, that this year's Proprietors was great, the regular BCS was great, and that the Vanille Rye probably needs 6-months to take off the sweetness,

Hey people who know about these things, how does beer aging work? If the bottle is sealed, what is going on and how? And why?

http://draftmag.com/cellar/required-reading-the-chemistry-of-beer-aging/

a bit of this is beyond me but it's interesting

OK, that's cool

http://draftmag.com/new/wp-content/uploads/aging.jpg

That is cool, but that's decades before the advent of these super high ABV barrel aged stouts. Those are the ones people like to age, right? Not the sort of beer people were drinking (and aging? as opposed to just letting it get old?) in 1977. I always thought alcohol in essence served as a preservative. I know some people swear things like barrel aged stouts change radically over the years. Some folks say it is subtle. Others note that other flavoring agents - vanilla, or cocoa, or coffee - fade. I have no idea/opinion.

i've never aged a beer longer than a year and i think it was north coast old ale and it mellowed out a little but i didn't notice a huge difference.

also this brewmaster mike gerhart series from otter creek is pretty much uniformly good. picked up the kind ryed ipa and it's awesome. favorite is probably the overgrown pale ale but they are all good

FOBAB was fantastic, as usual. A bit crowded, but that is expected. Took a different approach and went with a lot of lighter stuff this year, sours, cider, mead. I didn't even feel that drunk at the end of the night. Didn't even go for any of the Goose stuff or other popular stouts. Standouts bolded below.

Dark Kriek - AC Golden Brewing Co.
The Jones Dog (Buffalo Trace Barrels) - Pipeworks Brewing Company
Grampappy - Rhinegeist
Sympathy for the Devil (Bourbon Barrel) - Sun King Brewing Company
Oskar The G'Rauch Double Date - Oskar Blues Brewing
Forest GINger - Finnriver Farm & Cidery
Yuzu Er'g Od Begravet - Off Color Brewing
MechaHugs - Half Acre Beer Company
Rambutan Lambic - Upland Brewing Company
Imperial Breakfast Magpie - New Day Meadery
Agrestic - Firestone Walker Brewing Company
Barrel Aged Neapolitan Milk Stout - Saugatuck Brewing Company
Big Bourbon Series Curse the Goat Doppelbock - Shoreline Brewing
Pappy's Ink - Rhinegeist
Swan Song - Bourbon With Cherry - Hailstorem Brewing Co.
Mastodon - Rhinegeist
Cheval Deux Barrel Aged - Horse Thief Hollow Brewing Co.
Dinos'mores (Wild Turkey Barrel) - Off Color Brewing
Absinthe Barrel-Aged Sales Guy Abbey Single - Spiteful Brewing

The Yuzu was my favorite of the whole show. Gin barrel aged Berliner Weissbier.

Gin barrel aged Berliner Weissbier.

sounds amazing!

I've liked the two off color beers I've had (a Berliner Weisse and an Altbier). Great labels too if you care (I do!)

I know some people swear things like barrel aged stouts change radically over the years. Some folks say it is subtle. Others note that other flavoring agents - vanilla, or cocoa, or coffee - fade. I have no idea/opinion.

― Josh in Chicago, Monday, November 17, 2014 10:20 AM (59 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

having done bourbon county verticals there is no question that the beer changes over time. outside flavors are delicate and will fade from their peak of freshness. malty high-abv beers like bigfoot or backwoods bastard taste pretty different a year or two on ime as well. in the case of bastard, it actually becomes drinkable.

i think my main takeaway from the link was that just because a bottle is sealed and alcohol is present does not mean that chemical changes aren't happening, it's just that spoilage isn't happening.

in the case of bastard, it actually becomes drinkable.

whaaaaa? Don't like it fresh?

I think I have enough BB for a four year vertical now. Who knows when I'll actually get a chance to have them though. Feels indulgent for just myself.

But because each year of BA beer is slightly different from the last - chemically, flavorings, ABV - won't each year's edition taste different from the next's anyway? I mean, each year's BCS, for example, tastes a little different from the last, so unless you could somehow have the same beer a year apart, and remember what the first one tasted like when you had the second a year later, it's not exactly an easy comparison, is it?

fresh bastard has historically been way too sweet for me. i bought a single yesterday to give it another shot. when i stashed one for a year i found it had mellowed out nicely.

josh all i can say is you have to trust your palette at some point--the difference between a 1-2 year old bcbs and a 4-5 y.o. bcbs is much greater than batch variation could account for, and the character of the difference is the "mellowing out" that shared experience suggests most people taste with aged high-abv beers.

I totally get that. But I also do commonly see takes like "this BA beer needs to mellow a year because right now it is so hot it's like drinking straight bourbon," which as a bourbon drinker I find sort of crazy. It does seem like the more distinctly flavored beers (cinnamon, cocoa, vanilla, coconut, et al.) are better the fresher they are, because the flavor does fade.

At the least I think *I* am mellowing with age, so who knows what affect that might have on my beer drinking/tasting.

yeah it's useful to remember a lot of beer ppl aren't bourbon drinkers, booziness doesn't bother me usually (provided the other flavors are there) so i find the "this needs to age" language a little annoying.

I spent large chunks of the weekend very jealous of FOBAB folks. Looks like a fun lineup.

I keep scanning it as FUBAR.

Ballast Point "Dorado" double IPA = delicious, deadly. at 10% i gotta watch myself around this. one at a time or else i'm gonna fall asleep.

I almost bought one of those yesterday, I will take that as a recommendation (to split w/Laurie)

xpost It's one of the few beer festivals that is still worth the money most are charging these days. So many special beers and one offs that you would never be able to try otherwise. In talking with local brewers, it along with the Great American Beer Festival are the ones they get the most excited about to showcase their creativity.

i tend to let my barrel aged beers sit, but it's not always a necessity. i haven't gotten any backwoods bastard yet this season. i'll probably get two; one to drink on a cold night when i want to get loopy and one to save until next year.
i've got a few things in my fridge now, like last year's KBS, last year's bourbon county coffee stout, and the bourbon county barleywine. note that i am also a fan of letting big ABV stouts and such sit around, even if they are not barrel aged. i have one of those evil twin "I love you with my stout" bottles, but I need to split it with someobody; 12% is tooooo much for meeee xposts

yeah it's useful to remember a lot of beer ppl aren't bourbon drinkers,

yea definitely, before i started drinking bourbon i often described a beer as "too boozy and hot" but now a bourbon presence never really overwhelms

now that i think about it, the bourbon county coffee was fucking delicious fresh, but i'm curious what aging will do.