Beer in the new era

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.

shitll put fur on your feet

OK, you just ruined it.

hobbits have never ruined anything in their sweet, innocent little lives.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barleywine

yea barleywines are delicious

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

awesome. so bell's is officially back in chicago now, huh?

so has anyone tried aging beer? i bought some north coast old ale a few months ago that was just too hot, too boozy. i set it down along w/ some palo santo in my parent's basement (my apartment is far too temperature-variable, gets way too hot in the summer), will try it next year

may xps - i thought DFH aprihop was great, tbh. tho i tried only a small sample at a bar. thought it would be a good spring beer

has anyone besides mr que tried GUMBALLHEAD? its an IPA, not of extreme hoppiness or anything, but SO SO tasty and fresh. def one of my favorite rare beer finds.

Yeah, Jordan, it's been back for about 6 months now.

i've always been kind of curious abt aging but def do not have the infrastructure to try it.

Yeah, Gumballhead is good. Doesn't seem that rare here, because the brewery is in northwest Indiana. I downed three of them pretty easily a week ago at pub quiz.

science experiments

loving this thread today

btw jaymc: Full Sail is available around town

Huh. It doesn't even look remotely familiar to me.

so we didn't take any photos, but our homebrew the other night ended up looking pretty similar to this (from GIS):

http://greenpreferred.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/11/dsc02948.JPG

we did the all-american thing to do and brewed an strong IPA

Thanks for the Gumballhead tip! Hadn't heard about that one, but <3 <3 <3 Three Floyds Brewing.

v v good

did you use your bathroom as the brewing space?

ha, no, that's not my photo

just found on GIS, used it b/c the color was pretty similar to ours