Beer in the new era

3 Pabst Brewing Co. Woodridge IL

Woodridge?? I thought they were based in San Antonio, not a suburb I used to bike through when I was a kid.

oh yea i've heard of fat tire

New Belgium makes Fat Tire, which is showing up in a LOT of Midwest bars and stores. Their marketing must be killer, 'cause I don't think the beer is all that great.

Before 2005 or so, you couldn't get New Belgium east of the Mississippi, and I used to hear stories from a friend who lived in Boulder about people driving across state lines to buy cases of Fat Tire, so I was all excited about it when it finally arrived in Chicago. But yeah, I'm not really a fan.

speaking of beer guys i brewed my first ever batch of homebrew last week! buddy of mine who's been homebrewing for a while has all the equipment. so we bought of bunch of grain and hops and all and hung out for a few hours boiling and mixing it all up. was a total blast! not nearly as complicated as i thought it would be tho it definitely helped that he knew what he was doing

xp I do think that they were able to drum up a lot of interest through word-of-mouth, though. They rolled it out gradually -- at first just Fat Tire on taps, then 22s in stores, then six-packs of 1554 and other varieties.

How come Goose Island doesn't count as a craft brewery?

yea no idea

what did Sundar mean by THE NEW ERA?

xp I hadn't noticed no Goose island up there. That list seems odd in several places. Is tiny New Glarus really selling more than Rogue or Flying Dog?

Yeah, that seemed strange to me, too, since New Glarus isn't distributed outside Wisconsin.

other weird one was alaskan brewing co. out of juneau - are they big on the west coast or something? just seems weird that they're selling more than say, stone or DFH (who i see pretty much everywhere)

The definition of a craft brewer as stated by the Brewers Association: An
American craft brewer is small, independent, and traditional. Small: Annual
production of beer less than 2 million barrels. Beer production is attributed to
a brewer according to the rules of alternating proprietorships. Flavored malt
beverages are not considered beer for purposes of this definition. Independent:
Less than 25% of the craft brewery is owned or controlled (or equivalent
economic interest) by an alcoholic beverage industry member who is not
themselves a craft brewer. Traditional: A brewer who has either an all malt
flagship (the beer which represents the greatest volume among that brewers
brands) or has at least 50% of its volume in either all malt beers or in beers
which use adjuncts to enhance rather than lighten flavor.

Apparently Anheuser-Busch owns 39.5% of Widmer Bros., which in turns owns 35% of Goose Island.

Also:

Where can I purchase Alaskan Beer?
You're in luck if you live in Alaska, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, California, Nevada, Arizona or Colorado because Alaskan beer is both available and popular

These are the breweries that, to my knowledge, I have never heard of:

6 Deschutes Brewery Bend OR
7 Matt Brewing Co. Utica NY
9 Full Sail Brewing Co. Hood River OR
12 Harpoon Brewery Boston MA
14 Kona Brewing Co. Kailua-Kona HI
16 Shipyard Brewing Co. Portland ME
18 Stone Brewing Co. Escondido CA
23 Long Trail Brewing Co. Bridgewater Corners VT
24 Gordon Biersch Brewing Co. San Jose CA
28 Firestone Walker Brewing Co. Paso Robles CA
29 SweetWater Brewing Co. Atlanta GA
31 BJ's Restaurant & Brewery Huntington Beach CA
33 BridgePort Brewing Co. Portland OR
34 Odell Brewing Co. Fort Collins CO
36 Mac and Jack's Brewery Redmond WA
38 Gordon Biersch Brewery Restaurants Chattanooga TN
39 Karl Strauss Brewing Co. San Diego CA
40 Breckenridge Brewery Denver CO
41 Lost Coast Brewery and Cafe Eureka CA
42 Otter Creek Brewing Co. Middlebury VT
43 Utah Brewers Cooperative Salt Lake City UT
45 Blue Point Brewing Co. Patchogue NY
47 Pete's Brewing Co. San Antonio TX
48 McMenamins Breweries Portland OR
49 Anderson Valley Brewing Co. Boonville CA

where do u live jaymc?

I'm guessing not New Jersey, becuase some of those (Petes, Harpoon, Matt's, Long Trail) are ubiquitous around here.

Chicago

Oh wait, Pete's = Pete's Wicked Ale? OK, scratch that one off.

Full Sail, Bridgeport and Breckenridge have been west coast staples since I lived in Seattle in the early 90's, and I can get them in most Minneapolis liquor stores. Are those really not in Chicago? McMenamin's is a chain of brewpubs; no bottling.

big surprise for me is anderson valley from CA (also strange it doesn't seem to be available in chicago?) being as low as it is - i remember drinking it in cleveland quite a lot and now buy it pretty often in MA

xp I've never seen them, but it's possible they're at some of the larger beer/wine warehouses.

Anderson Valley is available in Chicago, though it is not common. Not sure about those other ones.

I like the regional nature of beer, when I went home to CT for XMas it was like a whole new beer world.

Anderson Valley is available in Chicago, though it is not common.

Yeah, I just did a GIS, and the label looks vaguely familiar. Never tried it, though.

I've only ever seen it here at Trader Joes, of all places.

what did Sundar mean by THE NEW ERA?

nu-ilx era.

i was glad to get some bell's hopslam over the weekend before it goes out of season.

This suggests that I should know Lost Coast and Otter Creek, too.

I like the regional nature of beer, when I went home to CT for XMas it was like a whole new beer world.

― Dr. Johnson (askance johnson), Tuesday, April 14, 2009 11:32 AM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark

yea, i love this. but i guess i also wish i could get my hometown favorites where i actually live (e.g. no great lakes or bell's in MA, which is a bummer)

also i think one of my favorite things about beer are the seasonal styles - been in spring mode lately drinking a lot of bocks and wheat beers, switching over from strong ales, scotch ales and stouts from the winter

i was glad to get some bell's hopslam over the weekend before it goes out of season.

Oh man, how is it? I almost tried it at Hopleaf last week.

Anderson Valley Hop Ottin IPA is great! It's findable in Minneapolis, but not common here either.

Hopslam is wicked expensive, but ya get what ya pay for. It's soooo good!

http://www.bigbossbrewing.com/images/header.gif

my new beer crush

Btw, this is what I did have at Hopleaf:

1. Two Brothers Cane and Ebel (love this beer so much)
2. Grimbergen Double (great Belgian, very drinkable)
3. Bell's Cherry Stout (a little too intense for me)

self-xpost: actually Bad Penny is not that good but I really like the other two, and I'm totally in love with their design sense

Oh I also tried the Dogfish Head Palo Santo, and that was a kick in the ass. And not necessarily in a good way, either. I usually steer clear of ABVs over 10%, though, so maybe I just wasn't used to it.

oh man Palo Santo is so good! but I would only ever drink it when I was stoned cuz I wanted to, like, really appreciate the flavor, man, y'know?

(other beers that fall into this category include Old Rasputin and, strangely enough, Rogue Chipotle Ale)

I had this crazy belgian sour beer a few weeks ago, it was amazing. Any recommendations for good sour beers, belgian or otherwise?

Rogue Chipotle Ale

OK, I need to try this.

it really exceeded my expectations -- I thought it was just gonna be some goofy novelty beer, but the flavor was surprisingly well-balanced. would definitely drink it again, preferably in late September with a slice of pumpkin pie close at hand.

yea the chipotle ale is actually pretty good, not just a gimmick

the palo santo would be awesome if you only had like 6 oz of it in a brandy snifter or something. a whole bottle is just too much

had this crazy belgian sour beer a few weeks ago, it was amazing. Any recommendations for good sour beers, belgian or otherwise?

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_LuIPHnbJaVQ/R9xHIhjcxNI/AAAAAAAAAHc/F_AAefeSbJU/s400/IMG_0852.JPG

still on the fence about sours but i think this one is supposed to be pretty good. ^^^

had it a few weeks ago and wasn't sure if it was my thing or not

if the image doesn't show it's monk's cafe flemish sour ale

awesome. wonder if it's available in IL?

dogfish head apricot beer = suck
stone vertical epic = fine, not really my favorite of theirs or even close.
stone old guardian barleywine = ah, my old friend

What is barleywine beer like?

yeah aprihop is not DFH's best. i like palo santo, but basically, im thinking "why am i not drinking 90min?" im very excited for the sah'tea, immort ale, fort, and world wide stout releases this year -- hope they hit the west coast...

barleywines are real big and malty, high alcohol content, heavy. not bad if you have one.

barleywine beer is good and strong and a little acrid tasting? definitely tastes like theres a lot of stuff going on in there (ie not crisp or clean like a german beer obv), and often tastes (at least has been made to taste) woody, like cask-fermented beer?

dogfish head's old school barleywine is great and kicks like a mule!

barleywine makes me think of brandywine which makes me think of hobbits so i like it for that reason as well.