Beer in the new era

LPK is the last cantillion I have left from my trip a couple of years ago. Will be a happy/sad day when I finally drink it.

noob reaction to lambic/geuze is the best

Drinking in Duluth, MN this weekend: Bent Paddle is new since the last time I was here and has raised the bar locally. Fitger's is still solid, they had a Mosaic-only pale ale that was super good and a blueberry/strawberry wheat that I didn't hate, which is saying something. Hoping to hit Thirsty Pagan tonight.

Also New Glarus is selling Berlinner Weisse right now. Since we're actually staying in Superior, WI I'm going to pick some of that up tomorrow. That and some Castle Danger.

dan m, NG is closed tomorrow! But would it be possible to see if they have any "R&D" or Experimental bottles for sale on Sunday?

ISO!

I was planning on just hitting up a beer store, we're about 5 hrs from the actual town of New Glarus. I'll see what I can find, though!

ah nm then...that's brewery only stuff.

Feel like I need to let u guys know that Shute's Bar in Calumet, MI has KBS on draft for $7 per PINT

danger!

xp imaging random locals thinking "christ this tastes like shit, and at seven bucks a glass"

I said the same thing

http://news.firestonebeer.com/

Huh. Don't see why a company should be forced to grow and grow until it can't handle it anymore and must seek outside help. Sometimes I think New Glarus had the right idea. Was it someone here that posted that awesome Paste piece on NG, basically about the company's decision to stick local and aim for quality over quantity?

http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2014/11/new-glarus-brewery-is-hell-bent-on-not-taking-over.html

so who owns Duvel? "family-operated" seems a bit evasive

I think they are their own thing? Anyway, now they own Firestone Walker, Boulevard, Ommegang ... is that it for American craft?

no one's forcing firestone to grow

so who owns Duvel? "family-operated" seems a bit evasive

― sleeve, Thursday, July 16, 2015 9:37 PM (57 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

the moortgat family

Agree/Disagree? A lot of Vermont.

http://www3.forbes.com/lifestyle/the-13-best-craft-beers-in-america/2/

that's an....odd list

like let's throw some really tough to get vt beers at the bottom, put an american-made ubiquitous quad at #3, and then finish back in vt, but with a gose

I guess it's just the favorite beers of some guy from Vermont?

prob

Some guy named Karla.

the idea of anyone making a definitive "best beers in america" or "best beers in the world" type of list is becoming more and more ridiculous

no one's forcing firestone to grow

I just meant the tone of that message. Very "we've been trying to keep up with demand and growth, but we just can't handle it." As if it is not in Firestone's power to control, limit and direct growth. Obviously they can do whatever they want to get as big as they want, whenever they want to.

if this deal gets Firestone Walker in CT then I am all for it

Huh, I had no idea they hadn't attained full shelf saturation yet. Expand away, Firestone!

yeah they've clearly wanted to have national distro for a while now

that "best beer in america" list is fucking weird. i have no doubt those are all good beers but... 10 of the best 13 beers in america are from vermont or maine? one beer from california? gose at number one when the rest of the list is dominated by IPAs?? "highly subjective list of my favorite beers" morelikely. forbes???

oh i came to this thread to thank CALL ALL DESTROYER for the beers! of course i could not hold out and drank one of the captain's daughter this evening. Really nice beer. more bitter than I was expecting, but certainly not too bitter. I've heard a lot about Treehouse so I'm excited to try those too! Might check out the lower ABV one with some dinner.

hey no prob! glad you liked captain's daughter, people are still moaning about batch variation but the one i sent you seems to be solid.

that low-abv treehouse is probably the best beer i've tried this year, like everyone trying to do a <5% "hoppy ale" or "session ipa" would kill to make a beer like it. they've got it again this week and i'm going to make the trip.

hey gang,

i'll shut up abt trading after this but if anyone is interested in a 4-pack of heady topper (aka beer advocate's #1 beer at the moment) in exchange for, like, a 6-pack of your favorite most delicious local pale ale/ipa, let me know, i have a couple extras.

love,

cad

― call all destroyer, Thursday, March 28, 2013 11:20 PM (2 years ago)

CAD, how does one ship heady topper? i visited friends recently and felt bad for drinking too much of theirs, and want to send some back. it's unpasteurized, so doesn't it need to stay cold?

Getting an urge to send someone some beer.

I've been in Chicago for the past couple days and man did it impress / depress me. So much good beer - like most of the standard west coast stuff I take for granted, plus tons of east coast and midwest stuff I never encounter. It's like the ultimate beer nexus.

hey kev, all beers will survive a trip up to room temperature and back, i've stored heady at cellar temp or higher for ~4 weeks or so with minimal ill effect. hop flavors do fade within that timeframe, but imo it happens within tolerable limits for all but advanced-level tasting nerds. the good thing about heady is you know how fresh it is when you buy it (since all retail outlets sell out weekly afaik), so a quick turnaround via fedex means your friends will get their cans within 10-14 days of production and the beer is still going to be reasonably fresh. i'm not like a super-advanced shipper dude but i've sent and received hoppy beers to/from the midwest and west coast and never felt like anything was overly faded (and have never gotten feedback to that effect).

also jeff, e-mail me if you want to do a thing sometime

cosign basically any heady being traded for is fresh. that being said, a can of heady being kept at room temp for 3+ weeks is noticeable taste-wise.

tbh, wouldn't do any hoppy/fresh beer trading during the summer months due to unknown temps at shipping facilities. high ABV/lambic-type beers more tolerant to temperature changes, sure.

yeah i mean i am gonna buy some at the store tomorrow when it's delivered, then put it in the mail that day or the next. it should be a pretty quick turnaround

so do i just get a box and a bunch of bubble wrap?

yeah pretty much, if you're only shipping cans your packing job is easier but in general you need a lot of packing material and a large-ish box (the only time i had a shipping issue i got greedy and used a small box). also scheduling a fedex pickup is a little more money but saves you the trouble of explaining what you're shipping ("gourmet olive oil").

this is prob overkill but still a solid post: http://alewatcher.blogspot.com/2010/11/new-trader-tips.html

oh is shipping beer illegal? heh

thanks for the info bro

whoa that blog is intense.

if I just drop the box off at fedex, they're going to ask me what I'm shipping?

they may or may not is my understanding, basically good to have made something up in case they happen to hear liquid sloshing.

lmao @ "gourmet olive oil"

Snow globes

I always say "vinegar"

Jeff, getting back to you from before, there's a new brewery the just opened out here called Exit Strategy, then I just read about a new one in Tinley Park called 350 ... I dunno, it's exploding! This map cites 63 breweries in the city and 81 in the burbs and this was back in the fall: http://thehopreview.com/blog/chicago-brewery-list

Factor in beers getting distributed to Chicago and it gets pretty nuts, especially when you can get such good stuff from Half Acre or Revolution of Lagunitas pretty much anywhere, anytime.

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

I just want them all.

nice bucket list there

Of the top 25, I've only had 11:
#23 Alesmith IPA
#20 Sculpin
#18 Hermitage Citra (that this is #18 and Blind Pig isn't in the top 50 boggles my mind)
#17 Boneyard RPM (top 5 for me, maybe top 3?)
#15 Bell's Two-Hearted (all-time classic)
#10 Jai Alai
#9 Union Jack (wayyy too malty for my tastes)
#6 Stone Delicious IPA (also wayyy too malty for me, normal basic Stone IPA blows this away imho)
#5 Maine BC Another One (super juicy... MBC makes the juiciest IPAs)
#3 Grapefruit Sculpin
#2 Maine Lunch (see #5)

I just had the Grapefruit Sculpin for the first time this weekend. Kind of interesting, but not really my thing.