Beer in the new era

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.

I love GFS.

prob have had around half of the top 50. Wonder how I would rank them blind.

I've had the habanero and grapefruit Sculpin, neither is as good as regular Sculpin, imo. The habanero is just too spicy, and the grapefruit just doesn't "marry" with the beer as well as it should.

Also had the Humboldt Nectar IPA, $7/6-pack, and surprisingly good as a low hop IPA.

check it https://instagram.com/gooseislandbeer/

Can't wait to pay $30+ for a 16.9 oz bottle.

those are ugly

Yeah. Also, Rare loses some allure minus the hype of Pappy barrels, plus the Proprietors blend scans pretty unappealing to me, compared to the flavor profiles of previous iterations. Doubt I'll jump through hoops for these this fall.

From the Trib piece:

"A Goose Island spokeswoman said the suggested retail price for Bourbon County Stout will be $9.99, which would approximate the same suggested price-per-ounce cost as last year. However, retailers are free to price the beer as they wish. (I paid almost double what I should have at a downtown Walgreens last year for a four-pack.) She declined to comment on the suggested cost of the other Bourbon County beers."

not a fan of any of the sculpins tbh

stone delicious ipa is really really good imo

Outside of the big box retailers that will be close to MSRP, I'm sure we'll find regular priced at $15-$20 each. Coffee/Barley wine probably $20-$30. Variants $30-$40 and beyond. Rare, who knows.

The prop sounds good to me, I like barrel aged stouts with peppers.

Shit's not worth it IMO.

for sure

I thinks it's worth MSRP. But the gouging that will occur makes it not worth it.

Did you try any of the Dragon's Milk with peppers from last year?

It was good.

I think I still have a bottle of that and the raspberry one. Bargains, really.

i do not have positive memories of the captain lawrence ipa. nice to see breakside and gigantic on there, but i have a soft spot for two hearted and rpm.

also jai alai really is amazing. at first i was pissed that they charged me $17 for a 6-pack at the bodega, but when i tasted it again all was forgotten. so much mango.

I drank way too much Upper Hand and Bells Oracle tonight.

Speaking of Bells, picked up a couple of Neptune's last night. Haven't tried yet.

The prop sounds good to me, I like barrel aged stouts with peppers.

― Jeff, Thursday, July 30, 2015 8:33 AM (Yesterday)

I do not know of many of these, but Barrel Aged Abraxas was truly spectacular. I've had many more non-BA chili stouts (Bomb!, Hunaphu, regular Abraxas, Xocoveza, etc.)

Speaking of Xocoveza, has anyone tried the tequila barrel-aged variants that have been showing up this week?

I guess I don't either, and more meant stouts with peppers, like the ones you mentioned.

I opened last year's prop last weekend, didn't get to drink a lot of it since I was sharing with 4 other people, but it was delicious, liked it more than the 2013 variant. Drank a lot of other good stuff, really liked Forces Unseen (Batch 3) by The Rare Barrel.

Lexington, KY over the past few years is starting to get a bit of a local beer brewing industry going. Kentucky Ale has been going for a while their main beer being the bourbon barrel beer they make. I like their regular ale on tap, but it seems to lose something when bottled. Country Boy and West 6th have some good beers. Country Boy's Cougar Bait Blonde is quite good. They got a beer called Amos Moses too, but I haven't tried it yet. Haven't tried all their dark beers. West 6th's Amber Ale is great probably my favorite of the local beers. West 6th's IPA seems to be their 'popular' beer. It's pretty good but to me it's not that different (or as good) as Sierra Nevada's pale ale.

Just had my first sighting of pumpkin ale this year. Wtf who's gonna drink pumpkin ale in august?

I would shut up.

Unless it is pumking, because that Shit is horrible.

Very touchy about this, I see.

I'll certainly be drinking the 1st Stevens point whole hog pumpkin ale I see. Hopefully sooner rather than later.

Even though it's 80+ outside I'm drinking an Expedition Stout. This used to be the stuff of legend for my friends and I 10-15 years ago, now it's relatively easy to find, but still a treat.

I also like how the Bell's website lists its shelf life as "unlimited". The bottle I'm drinking is a year and a half old.

Solid

Really digging this Sam Smith Yorkshire Stingo.

Working my way through more American craft beer renditions of Mitteleuropa style pilsners:

Firestone Walker Pivo - This one is very nice. Complex hops flavor, crisp, well balanced. Will buy again.

Neshaminy Creek Traguer Pilsner - Disappointing. Not much hops flavor other than bitterness. Will finish the six-pack but would not buy again.