Beer in the new era

i really liked the o'haras tonight at franklin park. better than the six point ipa i had. liked the porter @ washington park a lot. drinking hen's tooth at home now. ugh, beer.

washington COMMONS, franklin PARK. bars around here need to get more creative with their names.
i was talking to the woman opening ANOTHER bar on washington yesterday, and i suggested she name her bar "jazz cigarettes."

had the Ondineke Oilsjtersen Tripel in a bottle tonight. Man, what a good effin' tripel.

Have a growler of this:
http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/10607/23453

I've really been enjoying the Rogue Brutal Bitter recently. Very pleasant and refreshing. Also, Delirium Tremens is nice for a fruity, spicy strong Belgian ale.

i'm going to this on saturday:

http://www.lacabal.org/

yea tremens is pretty amazing. sooo expensive though, tho i guess not too bad compared to bottle of wine. i should get it more often. has anyone brought that up here at all? like how even pretty expensive beers are a good value for the quality of product ur getting compared w/ a similarly priced wine?

my friend and i bottled the homebrew i mentioned way upthread - sampled a little before bottling and it's awesome! (tho it was pre-carbonation - will be even better in 2 weeks)

i brought over a few different beers to drink w/ him while we were bottling. went 0-3 though, all misses:

1. dogfish head midas touch - did not dig at all. just kind of tasted like a crappy gold lager mixed w/ crappy white wine.

2. DFH aprihop - LOVED this on draft, kind of terrible in a bottle. i don't know if i've ever had a beer that varied that much between draft and bottle. maybe the keg was fresher? tho i also heard last year's batch was far better. but anyways the bottle was gross. wayyy too heavy upfront for whatever fruity character was supposed to brought by the apricots. not good guys

3. sierra nevada wheat - should say first that i'm pretty much a fan of any beer SN puts out. the pale ale imo is basically the standard for me wrt american pale ales, it's pretty much perfect, and everything else i've tried from them - stout, extra IPA, porter, summer, celebration, etc. has always been excellent. but this was just bad. totally lacked the smoothness of a classic wheat like say, franziskaner or hoegaarden or whatever, almost tangy. i was wondering if it was skunked or something b/c we could barely finish these.

hey just in case anyone gets the urge to try the new belgium tripple "belgian style ale", dont do it. this might be the worst garbage ive had in years - tastes like a chemical dump.

ouch.

tonight was a good night for beer...

started at work with a bottle of Green Flash's "Hop Head" red ale. Good, nothin' special.
Two summer ales after work--a bluepoint & a brooklyn. I give the edge to the Bluepoint, though the Brooklyn is very good. Seems to be a ligter version of their East India Pale Ale?

Now I drink Weiheinstephaner Hefeweizen. It's quite good. I got it cuz I hear it was more drinkable than a lot of other hefeweizen; something like Hoegaardgen gets sort of cloying for me really quick, usually before the end of a single bottle. There's less of a citrus/clove thing going on here, and it's a bit crisper. Much more to my preference, making me reconsider hefeweizen as a style of beer.

If I need anything after this, I have a brookyln East Indian Pale Ale in the fridge. I always forget it's a fairly strong beer, at 6.9% but is very drinkable. I wish more places had it on tap around here. I prefer it to the (also classic) Brooklyn Lager.

yea actually the east IPA is pretty good. despite its ubiquitousness on the east coast i actually think brooklyn puts out some really good beers. it gets ragged on, but really, they are a pretty solid brewery imo and garrett oliver knows exactly what he's doing. i actually decided on offering all brooklyn at my wedding (which is this saturday!!!), and i think both craft beer and regular beer drinkers will both be pretty happy. we're offering the lager, weisse, IPA, pennant ale, and pilsner (which is my favorite). i'm pretty exited about it

fuck i'm drunk as hell right now woooo homebrew + hennepin + some weird doppel bock + miller high life = some crazy shit

that is a great selection of brews for a wedding. the budweiser fans can really enjoy the pils, and the other guests can drink whatever-the-fuck they want. congrats on getting married dog!

congrats mark! both on getting married and on having quality beer at yr wedding.

thanks guys! i'm pretty excited about the brooklyn beers. yea the lager is pretty classic, and like i said the pilsner is prob my favorite. i like all of em really w/ the exception of maybe the pennant ale, which i'll still happily drink

i mentioned it way way upthread but i originally wanted to do all great lakes, but (as i think we've talked about on this thread) distribution issues are so weird and we couldn't get any in CT where the wedding is. still pretty happy w/ brooklyn tho.

i don't think i've ever had a great lakes beer!

oh man they're awesome. if you're ever in the cleveland/the midwest/great lakes region you have to try them (tho i can't remember if they're available in chicago?)

favorite brewery w/o a doubt. they don't do anything crazy - like they've got an IPA but they don't do a crazy west coast-style hop-bomb IPA or anything. they do a lot of traditional styles and they do them really, really well. like a classic dortmunder lager, vienna-style lager, an irish ale, english porter, etc. the 'burning river pale ale' is prob the best i've ever had

You guys wanna know what's a shitty beer? Drifter Pale Ale by Widmer Brothers. "Unique citrus flavor. Anything but pale." I took a chance on a 6 pack because it was on sale. Big mistake.

I have to say, I don't mind Drifter (better on tap than bottled) and actually kind of like New Belgium's Trippel. It's actually the only New Belgium beer that I like.

<3 the dortmunder

Its official, you all:

I cannot drink the hop-bombs anymore. They lead to hangovers, without fail.

I've recently turned to drinking Coors' light to remind me of cherished junior high memories. Yes, it is shameful, but beautiful as well.

Coors light is def. a summer brew.

Right now I'm drinking the Red Rocket Ale by Bear Republic; it's fine. Very hoppy, somewhat bitter. It's fine.

oh god red rocket? Do people google things before naming them? ;_;

even better: "RICHARDO'S Red Rockt Ale"

montreal beer fest starts tomorrow: http://festivalmondialbiere.qc.ca/en/festivals/mondial_de_la_biere_montreal_2009/

pdfs at the bottom with all of the beers. let's say i never tried any of those: what can i absolutely not miss?

Tried this last night -- pretty good.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3575/3502902144_a9ef9a99aa.jpg?v=0

Not sure if the nice hint of bitterness (compared to most Belgians) is due to the herbs or just generally endemic to saisons, which I'm not that familiar with.

drinking this guy right now thanks to coinstar money:

http://www.sierranevada.com/beers/images/harvest-SOHEM_bottle.jpg

it's tasty! smells incredible actually.

had this last night:

http://i239.photobucket.com/albums/ff212/brewedforthought/Beers/CIMG0366.jpg

a little too IPA and not enough belgique for my tastes but it was still good.

had stone's levitation ale this weekend -- which is AWESOME -- basically stone's only session ale - 4.4% abv or something. i love beers like this - totally well-rounded, tons of flavor, richly layered and all that, but you can drink many of them. all the 'big beer' series of beers coming out lately are great and all, but i don't always feel like drinking 750 ml of some 9% abv imperial IPA or whatever. the levitation ale is pretty much just a perfect drinkable ale.

that great lakes saison sounds awesome - will definitely try this summer. i should ask my siblings to bring some from cleveland when i see them in a month or so. saisons are awesome (when they're done right i suppose), probably the best kind of summer beer i can think of. ommegang's hennepin so far is the best one i've tried (tho the dupont one is good too - a little pricey tho).

heavy seas does a saison but it's not that good imo, a little too syrupy. supposed to be a very light, refreshing warm weather style of beer but heavy seas was just too sweet, didn't have any of the 'fluffiness'(?) of a good saison. dunno why but i think of them as light and fluffy - they've got that big fluffy head usually and the heavy seas one was actually kind of flat.

So, I went to Mondiale Biere yesterday and today at lunch: my shitty reviews follow.

Dogfish Head 90-Minute IPA - Considering how much I was hyping myself up to try this over the past few years I was left a little disappointed. I guess I wanted to try the 60-min more, but still. It was the first thing I tasted and I couldn't really pick anything out behind the hops. I ended up having it again later, though, and I appreciated it a lot more.

Rogue Ales Chipotle Ale - Yo, what the hell is a novelty beer doing BEING SO DELICIOUS? Honestly. I did not expect to enjoy this THIS MUCH but GOOD LORD this reinforced a fact for me: chipotle makes everything better. See also: chipotle brownies at Snack Dragon in LES.

Unibroue Ephemere Cassis - Unibroue makes these Ephemere drinks every once in a while with a fruit in them. It was raspberry (meh), then apple (yuck), then it was... black currant. One of the best "fruity" beers I've ever had; cloudy, tough, sweet but far from cloying.

Left Hand Breweries Milk Stout - Apparently they can make sugar out of MILK now? Seems like a tragic waste fo farmland but goddamn if this wasn't one of the most refreshing stouts I've ever had. I wanted to dip cookies in it.

Harvestmoon Yuzu Ale - A Yuzu is, I guess, a Japanese citrus. It ends up making a nice crisp ale that tastes like it has some sort of frankenstein monster of apricot, grapefruit and lemon in it. In the best possible way.

Nils Oscar India Ale - I was pretty IPA'd out when I had this but it may actually have been the best IPA I had so far! Very tasty. Good job Sweden!

Rogue Ales Yellow Snow IPA - The thing about this name is that it tells you everything you need to know: bitter hopness from the IPA, and finishes with a distinct piss flavour. Avoid.

Dogfish Head Raison D'Etre - This. Was. Awesome. I wish I'd had more than 4oz because, seriously, I needed time to fucking _ponder_ that stuff. I need to go to Delaware, it seems.

Black Oak Nut Brown Ale - I just don't think I like Nut Browns that much but this seemed alright enough, I suppose. I'll have to try their Pale Ale this weekend.

I like the Unibroue Ephemere appley one, which completely shocked me.

I like the apple one too, it was a nice summer beer post-bike ride last year. I didn't know the shuffled the flavors around.

Dogfish Head Raison D'Etre - This. Was. Awesome. I wish I'd had more than 4oz because, seriously, I needed time to fucking _ponder_ that stuff. I need to go to Delaware, it seems.

The Raison d'Etre is actually my least favorite of the Dogfish Heads I've had, which is um, a lot of them. It seems too sweet to me, and the raisin flavor too pronounced but not in a good way. Also not a huge fan of the Aprihop, as noted upthread. I have been drinking though the "Burton Baton" ale they did, which I think it's just an oak-aged variation on their 90 minute IPA. It's good but it's also a bit too rich to drink more than one or two.

Also drinking laterly: brooklyn brown ale, an old favorite. i had a bass and a miller high life last night.

i admire DFH so much in spirit, and but actually a lot of their beers aren't that good imo. i've talked to a few different brewers who say they're the most exciting brewery around, and i def get excited when i read about their ideas and ingredients. but i've been burned so many times by them.

aprihop - mentioned way upthread - not that good (tho on tap it was remarkably different and really good - exactly like a really fresh, hoppy ale with delicious apricot finish)

midas touch - also mentioned way upthread - not that good. tasted like shitty white wine crossed with shitty golden ale.

palo santo marron - i WANTED to like this so bad but it was way too boozy, too much vanilla flavor, too rich in the way cough syrup is. in like a 7 oz snifter it would be perfect just to sip on a little all night. but 12 oz is overkill. i did set it down to age tho so it might chill out a bit and be really tasty in a year.

90 minute - same thing - 7 oz snifter would be nice, but i could barely finish it. should try again tho but haha as garrett oliver of brooklyn said it's "unbalanced and shrieking" (tho was he talking about the 120 min?)

120 minute / world wide stout - want to try but am currently unwilling to spend 9 bucks on a 12 oz bottle

festina peche - the berlin weisse brewed w/ peach juice - can't decide if i like it or not. very tart and sour. 1st bottle i was not looking for that and thought it was another dud. 2nd bottle i was in the mood and thought it was pretty nice. tho are berliner weisses supposed to be tart and sour???

indian brown ale - meh. should try again tho

60 minute pale ale - pretty much a perfect IPA. one of the best around

raison d'etre - really liked this too

cool story behind the palo santo tho - w/ the wood barrels and all

mark it's pricey but you MUST try dfh the red and white.

this stuff is beautiful, crate pls http://www.bavariaimports.com/beers/stgeorgenkeller.html

One of the best ways to enjoy a St. Georgen Bräu Kellerbier is under shady chestnut trees on a lazy summer afternoon in the brewery’s beer garden. - k thanks

wish you could get dogfish head in the UK

xp - i forgot about the red & white!! that was AMAZING! had no idea what to expect and tbh wasn't totally thinking i would love it, but yea it's pretty awesome

do enjoy this:

http://www.thebarleyblog.com/images/label_lefthand_milk.png

my grandfather would approve, tastes like Mackesons

my wife and I were at the Rogue Brewery in Newport Oregon last weekend, they always have crazy stuff on tap. she had a juniper pale (delicate, excellent) and I had a dry hop red (superb, fresh, delicious hop flavor but not overpoweringly bitter like some of those "big beers" discussed upthread).

right now Pyramid's Thunderhead IPA has been on sale at a local grocery store for 2 bucks per 22 oz bottle, so I have been drinking that almost exclusively for the last 3 weeks. Must be an overstock at the distributor or something.

Later today I am going to bottle a batch of light ale that I have in the carboy, also gonna brew up a second one. Time to get in gear for summer beer stashing.

I had a couple of Southern Tier pints the other night that (I think ?)were called Celebration Ale. I can't find it on their site. Sort of a mild ale that managed to get the flowery hop finish of a beer that nowadays would probably be a lot more bitter.

Badger have released another great beer:
http://www.hall-woodhouse.co.uk/images/beer_headers/i_dandelion.jpg

so tasty, it says it's sweet on the label but there's a really smooth almost savoury finish to it.

I had one of these the other night

http://www.heritageliquoronline.com/images/april/lagunitas-little-sumpin.png

It was a pretty good beer, however it fell victim to an overly-boozy sweet flavor that I couldn't get past and I didn't want to order another. Thankfully, I got it for free.

mmmm gooseberry honey ale is blowing off in the carboy right now, gonna be so good.

I worship anything Sierra Nevada makes