Beer in the new era

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.

IPAs rated by Paste magazine (for what that's worth).

http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2015/04/blind-tasting-116-of-the-best-american-ipas-we-hav.html?a=1

boulevard is great imo xp

really? it is so run of the mill around here now that bars don't really have boulevard on tap anymore! not sure how far their distribution goes but central iowa has been inundated with boulevard product for years now

yea there is a lot of boulevard here in Boston too and I think most beers in their smokestack series are really good

boulevard just arrived in NYC in the last month or so

Rye-on-Rye is incredible, not sure if that's easy to find around here (NYC) but def my favorite Boulevard

Yeah, I'll rep for Rye on Rye too.

First time I had Boulevard a dude I know had jacked a few cases of the stuff from a party they were providing beer for, so I got to try like 3-4 different varieties all at once.

http://theconcourse.deadspin.com/the-beer-idiot-lucky-buddha-1693623595

Lol I"ve had lucky buddha beer in china

I've seen it in BevMo, but never bought it. Many, many years ago I bought an Italian white wine that came in a fish-shaped bottle, and still have the bottle.

Had some Chicago treats tonight: Pipeworks Citra (insanely dank nose, really juicy) and Dino S'mores (which I thought was a less refined Vanilla Rye), both nice surprises.

KC,MO has some good breweries, but I prefer Perennial and Side Project from STLouis.

That's good to know, off to St Louis this morning! Will keep my eyes peeled.

does it come in that bottle shape in china? xxp

Perennial really is great, tho definitely harder to come across on the coasts. They do surprisingly delicious things with ideas that sound kinda disgusting at first (ie: a mint chocolate imperial stout, a key lime cocktail-inspired sour, etc). Side project stuff I've tried is more straightforward / subtle wild yeast business, not as wacky and equally tasty

Side Project and Perennial are actually the same brewer (just different formats & financing partners iirc).

Side Project is actually pretty amazing, I think they could be one of the top sour beer producers in America. That said, Perennial's BA Abraxas is one of the best stouts I've ever had.

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.

― call all destroyer, Wednesday, April 8, 2015 10:10 PM (6 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

haha yea this beer is terrible, so bad. I bought a two roads mix 12-pack the other day and these are just brutal. I still tend to drink drainpour-deserving beers because I can't stand to waste them (I'm someone who eats leftover meals way after everyone else in the house has already given up) but rye 95 is is a drag

8 year vertical of KBS this past Sunday (plus a bottle of CBS). Kind of fun, but much like the bourbon county one, you just kind of lose your palette and are like eh, whatever, it's all good.

http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/32931/168260/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4ZkmgU32GU

haha yea this beer is terrible, so bad. I bought a two roads mix 12-pack the other day and these are just brutal. I still tend to drink drainpour-deserving beers because I can't stand to waste them (I'm someone who eats leftover meals way after everyone else in the house has already given up) but rye 95 is is a drag

― marcos, Tuesday, 14 April 2015 23:03 (Yesterday) Permalink

the brewmaster is supposed brewing great Phil Markowski from Southampton Brewery. Based on SH's regularly available beers it doesn't surprise me that any Two Roads beers would be garbage.

i think i've only had two, an ipa that had an off flavor and the aforementioned rye tripel nightmare (marcos thx for backing me up on this btw), it will be a long time before i have another one b/c i'm pretty sure they have no idea what they're doing. southampton brewed some pretty legendary belgians back in the day but i'll go ahead and assume there's no lineage to this current garbage.

Josh, there will be a live filming of Just Keep Tastin' at CCBW, http://chibeerweek.com/event/?eid=553

File under Beers You Thought You'd Hate:

Stone Chai-Spiced Russian Imperial Stout

Every one of my friends hated this and I couldn't get enough, it's spicy... hot ginger but lots of garam masala blend chai spice. Who knew?

But I also liked that Ballast Point indian food beer way more than anyone else as well.

Oh man. I'm finalizing plans to go to VT for my cousin's wedding in the fall, just realized that the place we're staying is only about 3 miles from The Alchemist and about a 40 minute drive from Hill Farmstead. CAD I'm gonna need some advice on visiting these places.

tbf everything in vermont is nearly within a 40 minute drive from every other point in vermont

xp no prob, get in touch when you have some idea of your plans!

dan m: ISO your post-wedding suitcase.

Xp we are staying in Duxbury, will have access to a car. Looks like a Friday-Monday visit.