Beer in the new era

yeah those are pretty good. I got over the gose / berliner weisse / flemish sour thing pretty fast though. they're refreshing but they don't warm your belly like a good tripel or IPA or tripel IPA etc. I'm ruined for <4% beers now

jolly pumpkin in michigan has some good ones too

yea i agree xp

it is weird seeing so many of them released as winter seasonals too? goses and weisses are summer beers imo

did I post about HANSEL here? https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/33098/198299/
it was not very good but I did end up drinking all four cans, I think

everybody's tryna flip the script and put out low gravity beers in winter, saving the hard hitting imperial stuff for springtime. they all stole the scheme from Bell's (winter white / oberon)

"sour ipa" seems like such a dumb american novelty style, like the stupidly obvious next step in dumb craft beer trends, but man i fucking LOVE them

if we are still talking sours, I want to shout out Paradox's Skully Barrel line which I have found to be top to bottom amazing

I don't have access to or the budget for a lot of sours, but New Belgium La Folie is my favorite. Monk's Cafe Flemish, mentioned upthread, is good too.

Upland, Cascade, Desthil, Prairie, WeldWerks, Boulevard all do great sours.

I paid $28 for an Upland Peach the other day and it was absolutely worth it.

Boulevard does great at everything in my experience

lagunitas aunt sally is another dry-hopped sour (a cool style imo) that i think is really really good

along these lines, new belgium 'la folie' is one of the best beers i've ever had, def worth 14/15 for a bomber if you see one

cool i will give it a try. new belgium is generally good ime

though i confuse them with new holland which is also pretty good

A friend brought over a 1989 Bigfoot Barleywine a couple months ago, it held up pretty well. I think it was either the 2nd or 3rd batch that Sierra Nevada produced.

Also that same friend brought a 2003 Westvleteren XII to a share 2 weeks ago. He loves old beer.

Forgot about La Folie, I agree, it's very impressive. Haven't tried this year's though.

Never got around to trying Aunt Sally, though I meant to. I think it's not in stores now.

worth noting that new belgium pasteurizes their sours so there is no point or effect to aging also

the 2014 one was the best i thought

I just saw a bunch of Aunt Sally actually, at my favorite beer store when I visit Portland. Also had a bunch of Half Acre beers which I've never seen outside Chicago, I got four packs of regular and double Daisy Cutter.

Also I never think about New Belgium for some reason, I've never really liked much of what I'd had from them and they all seem to share some unique characteristic that I don't care for, same with Rogue. This was awesome in Las Vegas a couple years ago where there seemed to be only one decent beer bar, and when I drove there they had a New Belgium tap takeover.

Back to Ipas because sours are too sour and lagers and pilsners are too boring

haven't had a beer in a week bc of the flu :(

Had a good trip to LA last week: visited Bottle Logic (known for their BA stouts), Monkish (known for their IPAs), Highland Park Brewery*, The Bruery, Firestone Walker and also ducked into the new Mikkeller Bar and Barbara's (great pub). It's amazing how LA turned around it's beer culture from the last time I was there.

*Drive Like Jehu fans should note that it's located next to Mark Trombino's donut shop.

Shit man that sounds awesome
Just another reason to visit the promised land

how was highland park? my buddy lives near it and was talking it up last time i saw him.

Highland Park brewery is located in (behind) the Hermosillo restaurant on York, right? I like their beers.

Monkish are one of the better local breweries

I've been enjoying the slightly boring but stupidly fresh and high quality lagers from Chicago's Baderbrau lately. Aside from Marz it's the closest place making beer near where I live.

back on a sour tear recently, managing to have 4 kinds in the past several days. this one was my favorite but it was also $18 a bottle : (

https://apinthalffull.files.wordpress.com/2017/01/wp-image-128613897jpg.jpg

Threes neither way, hoppy lager, recommended

North Coast Le Merle is very delicious but then again it would be

Had a 2017 kbs yesterday for the first time ever

I truly don't understand the hype

I'm glad i just walked in and asked the beer guy what hard to get bottles he had and he just happened to have it

Otherwise i feel it's at the very least on par with Abita's bourbon st barrel aged coffee stout (haven't had it in a long while)

some of the KBS hype has to be due to its longevity, right? been brewed since 2003 according to the internet.

Had the Lost Nation Gose and was underwhelmed. Not sure what I was expecting, maybe something a bit more sour or with more oomph, but it was just strange. Maybe an acquired taste but at 8 bucks a pop not sure I'll be going back

xp

i'll keep an eye out for a vintage bottle when trading, that might be better?

i wouldn't trade for old kbs and trust some rando had it cellared correctly.

it's sort of a legacy beer at this point and i thought it tasted a touch thin this year but the guys i compare notes with loved it. i think it's a more measured take on barrel aging than a lot of examples with a more recent pedigree.

KBS is a fantastic Whole Foods pick up, not sure I'd rate it any higher than that. Last year's sat around almost a full year at my local spots.

I've always thought it was well balanced/solid. Not my favorite BBA stout, but always consistently good. I have a preference for more punch you in the face with bourbon BBA stouts.

origin story
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hIC7F-qe9Q

Sipping a glass now, gotta say that Lagunitas's The Waldos Special Ale - "the hoppiest, dankest beer we've ever brewed!" or something - is not an easy drinker. Super bitter and surprisingly strong at nearly 12% (which is more than I thought it be when I poured it), though given the alcohol level well balanced. I like double IPAs, but might not be my thing and might not be the best thing to drink while I'm getting dinner ready.

had this one the other night, it was a very solid Belgian style. for a SoCal brewer it's perhaps a tad bit distasteful depending on what you think the statute of limitations is for this kind of thing.

http://barleyforge.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/hero_the_black_dahlia.png

josh, you sound surprised that a 12% 3xIPA is not the best aperitif

Wow, that label is pretty ott.

xpost Ha, I honestly didn't even look at what it was before I bought it or even opened it! I just thought, huh, here's one of their one-offs, I'll pick up a six-pack. This was weeks ago, iirc. So I had put a couple in the fridge when I came back from a trip, then finally opened the first one tonight. It wasn't until I was a few sips in that I decided to investigate what I was drinking!

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/GD6qtc2_AQA/maxresdefault.jpg

lol fair

yesterday: ABI buys Wicked Weed
today: Heineken doubles down on Lagunitas to 100% ownership

tomorrow?

I'm for sale, buy me ABI!

OK, gave The Waldos Special Ale another chance, and ... just can't do it. Way too bitter for me, not fun to drink.

i've been enjoying ciders a lot lately

there are a lot of bad ciders through. most of the ones on the shelf are not good. but the good are ones are amazing