Beer in the new era

I'm in Capitola, CA currently, headed to Sante Adarius Rustic Ales with my brother in law very soon. Thanks to Al B for the recommendation!

jealous!

No bottles to go. :(

Fuck me, this thread's American now

Halfway through a Hanssens Oude Gueuze and let's just say it made me post to this thread despite enormous reservations - possibly the best lambic I've ever quaffed (hi nakho!)

my gf is midway through imbibing (hi!) the st bernardus tripel, which is exceptionally elegant and summery of execution

have moved onto the liefmans goudenband, which is a fine dark red lambic, perhaps not as intense as rodenbach grand cru but highly drinkable and full-bodied

gf is onto liefmans kriek which gives a far above-average fruit beer sip & comes recommended

On the Montmorency vs Balaton Blend 2 Release

We managed to stop several people throughout the course of the weekend who attempted to go through the Montmorency vs Balaton line multiple times. However, other people were successful in breaking the limit. Certain individuals managed to go through the line more than once by removing the ink stamp applied to each customer’s hand upon purchasing a bottle and/or by using disguises to fool our staff.

lol

So Sante Adarius was badass despite the lack of bottles. Had their house saison, Anaïs, a berlinner weiss called MF Choom, and some of my BiL's IPA. All were tasty. Serious indie nerds working at that place with MF Choom + "I See A Darkness" as beer names. Fun joint, and only a mile from the ridic beach house we were staying at. Wish I'd had more time there.

Scored a grip of Russian River at a store in SJ that Al B suggested, too. They had a bottle of Abacus (not Sucaba) in there for $100 and a bunch of Cantillon behind the counter because people try to rip it off, I guess.

berlinner weiss is such a tasty style

dan m: you did NOT get to try any West Ashley at SARA????

i'm really into bocks now

xp nope :(

When I win the beer lottery, I will send you a case.

http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m134/johnjusten/Mobile%20Uploads/2015-03/94C7C563-9446-482C-82F2-88C8EBF07A50.png

Welcome your teeth peeling sour overlord, fyi

damn just saw that today but didn't buy, I should have

sour bikini sounds... wrong

is it brewed with crotch yeast?

lol yes th name is godawful, which is basically why I didn't buy it

And at $12 it's also 2.7%ABV putting it somewhere between kombucha, vanilla extract, non-alcohol beer & a watery berlinerweiße.

lol

haha, tbf though i've had 3-4% beers that are very complex and tasty

Even if I like a beer, paying full price for something in the 2-3% range just seems wrong.

I've been going all-in at Holy Mountain here in Seattle. Great crew of dudes, great taste in music, incredible mix of classic styles and some fancier sour/brett fermented offerings. Their Celestial Lineage Imperial Milk Stout tasted better than any adjunct heavy cocoa-cream-vanilla-chile stout I've had all year.

Seattle's also getting Alpine and E. House no. 9 kegs now too. Going to be a good summer.

I drank some of those refreshing Stiegl Radler beer-based beverages last summer and went through four tall cans with no discernible buzz, but a sugar high

watery berlinerweiße

I somehow read this as weiner water!

^ tbh i've tried a few rauchbiers that fit that description

Just went to Holy Mountain yesterday for the 2nd time, that Celestial Lineage was great. Haven't tried everything but haven't been disappointed yet.

Well, I've acquired 4 Parabolas over the past week, so I'm happy.

Got a couple this year as well. Might have gotten more if I really tried, but those I did get were relatively easy to come by, thank goodness. Though I must reiterate, barrel aged Lagunitas coffee stout is right up there for me, at a fraction the price. And it was everywhere. As was/is Coffee Dino S'Mores, mysteriously, which I thought would be nowhere but has been a few places I've looked, in plain sight. Cold it's super coffee-y, almost like iced coffee. Warm, like the base Dino S'Mores, it's a lot better and tastier.

I haven't seen that Lagunitas coffee stout anywhere, does it say barrel aged on the label?

looks like this:

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8_cN36RLSd8/Uhs1NTyiASI/AAAAAAAAEPA/94Si7OaYJNk/s400/LAg-highwest.jpg

It's good, but nowhere in the same league as Parabola or BCBCS in my opinion.

OK, too rare for my BevMo and Whole Foods stores, I guess. I've had their regular Cap Stout and liked it well enough.

On a different note, I finally had the Anderson Valley orange gose, and while it's not subtle at all (high orange flavor and carbonation), I still like it. The other one is better, but this looks to be a solid summer beer when I'm in the mood for it.

Wait, that's not the one I have! I have:

http://www.craftbeerkings.com/image/cache/data/SAM_0896-500x500.JPG

Anyway, it's not as good as BCBCS or Parabola, but it's pretty darn close, imo, and for the price ($8 a bomber, which is 50% a Parabola) it really can't be beat.

I had a taster of that at the taproom in Chicago a couple weekends ago, I liked it a lot.

Is anyone on this thread from Austin, TX (or have a Jester King hookup)?

Green Flash Le Freak is pretty damn good

http://dontdrinkbeer.com/2015/03/31/21-pics-that-only-rare-bottle-releases-attendees-will-understand-18-may-shock-you/

lol #9

related to that... is today KBS day in Chicago?

I think it started hitting on Monday? I'm not even going to look, I'll just get my guaranteed allotment from Beermisc and be done with it.

In Knoxville this past weekend they had Monk's Cafe Flemish Sour on tap at the Casual Pint. Yesterday I made one last trip there to get a growler of it before coming home, but it was already gone. ;_; (settled for a 4-pack of it instead)

that's a good one!

I'm cool with drinking awesome beers that taste great and are low abv because I'm not an alcoholic.

Kidding kidding but honestly, if you are down with sours you often have to give up the abv race - I'm probably on the other side wrt to a lot of this because most high abv stuff now tastes like shit to me. It's rare that a dipa or barley wine (esp bottled) hits me in a good way taste wise - if I want to get hammered in the skull with booze, I've got bourbon.

otm

lol saying "2-3% doesn't do it for me" is not the same as looking for first place in the abv race

xps true for the most part but last night I gargled down one of the bottles of Russian River Consecration that I brought back from CA and that shit's 10% abv, fuckin fantastic too

Found you a new brew bro (way less than $12 too!):
http://topclassactions.com/lawsuit-settlements/lawsuit-news/1443-honest-kombucha-alcohol-content-class-action-settlement/

Found a Bourbon County stout today at Whole Foods, I've never seen it before in bottles here in SoCal. $6.50 for the 12 oz bottle, hope it meets expectations.

That's a great price for a single; they're $30/4-pack around me! It's a real tasty beer, although like a lot of hyped beers it's probably less mindblowing today than it was a few years ago when it was one of the few of its kind on the market (see the Pliny discussion upthread). I find it a bit bourbon-forward when fresh, so if that's not your thing might encourage you to sit on it 6 mos or so.

drainpoured a beer for the first time in recent memory tonight. background: i've been drinking less beer (not less overall, just less beer) so i've been buying more singles just to try stuff without the risk of commitment. i guess this approach can lead to carelessness.

anyway, this was a "9.5% rye tripel" from two roads brewing and it was awful.

I went out with coworkers yesterday and everyone else was drinking the most generic bottled beer, so I followed suit. Except for the coworker who was drinking PBR -- it turns out they did not have Busch Light so it was her second pick :)

I am in Kansas City MO and have been moderately (but not excessively) enjoying the work of Torn Label and Boulevard. Exciting times.