Beer in the new era

Kellerbier definitely qualifies, I think

went to vermont to visit my gf this weekend, came back with 12 headys. mission accomplished

nice, been like a year since i picked up some heady, having withdrawal big time.

Oh hey it's default turns to Sierra Nevada celebration season again, the hap happiest time of the year

Had my first founders harvest of the season yesterday.

founders taproom was a wonderful place. i ignored redankulous until i tried it there and it turned out to be a fantastic beer.

Only beer I bought last week was Revolution Ryeway To Heaven, looking forward to sharing it with my dad in a couple weeks at tgiving.

Redankulous is everywhere in Chicago. I liked it bit wouldn't put it in the tip tier of Founders products.

*top

Had some buddies over to help me through my pile of stouts. Best received may have been the BA Narwal and some older BA Old Rasputin, plus a few Bourbon County bottles. Worst received was the Prairie Bomb!, which no one liked, and which I hated, too; I guess peppers in beer is not for me. My fave may have been Tweak. Most people agreed that they'd rather be drinking something more, well, drinkable, at least in terms of quantity, but they were all good sports.

I had this last night - 2015 version

http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/2210/46021/

kinda sucked? i was expecting it to be more robust but it was kinda thin. flavorful but more in a porter vein imo.

Fort Point Brewery is finally producing cans (may be hard to get outside of SF though). Both the Westfalia and KSA are great (Park=Good and IPA=I don't care because I don't drink IPAs). Sweet design too.

http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/34017/118094/
http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/34017/119220/

i like velvet merkin but it's def one you have to adjust your expectations for

it's backwoods bastard time again, gonna see if I can resist the temptation to open my last 2014 bottle to try it against this year's version

I think I have bottles going back to 2011?? I'll have to check. and then find a reason to drink them.

Just had a bomber of Lagunitas Imperial Pils, not bad for under $4.

Victory's got a new (ish?) IPA in cans, VITAL it says. The cans are a very pretty green that reminds me a little bit of Surge soda. It's good, even when it gets a little warm. It's no Hop Devil though.

Their Hop Devil has more maltiness to it which balances the I-just-ate-a-basket-of-flowers problem, and their Dirt Wolf has more greasy imperialness to it which balances everything out by just getting you more drunk. I feel like this falls in between. IPAs in cans are the friends-with-benefits of beers. They don't want to meet your parents. They really don't want to come to your work thing. But.

Was just reading a couple of beer nerd sites that came to the conclusion that Backwoods Bastard is better fresh than aged, though I doubt I'd be able to tell the difference. Anyone pick up the latest Deth's Tar? As usual, not a bad deal compared to all these $25 bottles. Though nothing is a better deal than those Lagunitas barrel aged coffee stouts last year.

backwoods bastard is ime one of the easiest beers to detect aging in

these guys didn't like it aged http://www.guysdrinkingbeer.com/founders-backwoods-bastard-2-year-vertical

this guy did http://allthesamebeer.com/2013/11/24/redux-review-0013-founders-backwoods-bastard-2012/

lol "it's more boozy!" "it's less boozy!"

second review rings very true to me tho.

http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2015/10/yes-the-future-of-craft-beer-is-in-question-dont-p.html

I really liked the Death By Coconut. Good dessert beer.

Happy Rare Day! Check out eBay and your trading spots if you want to overpay/compensate for some beer!

no thanks

So used to stupid hoops that it was nice to walk into a store yesterday (Tabb's - any locals been? Just down the street from the equally great/low-key Puerto Rico Food & Liquors) just as he was unloading Double Daisy Cutter and the new Firestone Walker anniversary beer. In fact, he brought them to my attention.

My places doesn't get the FSW anniversary beers. Or any of the barrel releases.

Hey! Got a surprise bottle of BCBS Rare 2015 today. Random local Twitter follower went to rare day and felt bad about buying $180 worth of beer so she DM'ed me offering to sell me one bottle of her allotment at face value. YOLO.

whoa nice.

Sell it on eBay to fun your child's education

Tempting, but I'll probably just drink it.

We've had a new bottle shop and tap room open up in Hereford and today I had a lovely lemon & pepper gueze and a coffee milk stout. Then I bought some bottles to take home.

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/603/23038711235_d346998c67_z.jpg

You're a brave man.

I'll force myself.

For reference l-r

Rogue Voodoo Donut IV
Thornbridge/Really Wild Beer Bakewell Tart Gueze
Alaskan Brewery Smoked Porter
Rogue Sriracha Stout
Weird Beard Black Christmas Cranberry Stout
Really Wild Beer Cucumber Saison

I was filling up a buy-4-get-20%-off order a while ago and settled on a Rogue Blueberry against my initial judgement. But I noticed it had honey as well as malt, and I've made mead a few times with fruit, so I picked it up. Was actually pretty decent - would drink again.

Just had the latest Stone collaboration, Sorry Not Sorry, a great IPA with peach in there somewhere.

I hadn't heard of the third in the Stone collab, but the second, Bale Breaker in Yakima, has been on my road-trip visit list for a while. Their Topcutter IPA is fantastic - on my personal top 10 along with Alesmith's IPA.

Constellation Brands just bought Ballast Point for $1 billion (I can't imagine anyone would turn down that many zeroes). So just this last year or so, Firestone Walker, Elysian, Lagunitas, Dogfish Head, and Ballast Point all took the cash, plus a few more. But factor in Goose Island a couple of years ago, or Stone's CEO stepping down, let alone AB InBev bidding for SabMiller, and the times they are a-changin'. More beer more places for everyone, I guess.

seconding the topcutter recommendation, they should distribute that more

these grimm 2xipas are AMAZING btw, if you can get your hands on them you should. afterimage was the best possible version of the juicy/fruity/citrus hop-candy flavor profile i've ever tasted, light in color and nearly perfect (if you like that type of thing). pulse wave was an excellent counterpoint too, probably the most cannabis flavor from a 2xipa that i can remember. excited for cans of tesseract to drop this week, the hype for these has been massive but they're all pretty special

Constellation Brands just bought Ballast Point for $1 billion

whaaaaat

i love the grapefruit sculpin as much as the next poster on this thread but how could that brand possibly be worth that much

my thoughts exactly

(except I think the grapefruit is over-flavored, prefer regular Sculpin)

As much as I hate to link a gbh article, this was an interesting read. http://goodbeerhunting.com/blog/2015/11/17/sightlines-feature

Anyone going to FOBAB?

costs too much

been enjoying mikkeller's peter pale and mary lately - become a go-to at my local bottle shop/bar.

What Dan said.