Beer in the new era

I'm going on vacation to Portland ME starting Thursday. Live blogging okay? No requests though.

aw portland is such a cool spot

i'm sure you have some spots lined up but lmk if you want any recs

We're staying in staggering distance of the Oxbow tasting room. Barrage me with suggestions, though!

nice.

novare res would be a really good bar even if it didn't specialize in beer, it's just a chill grungy place with no bullshit and a killer draft list.

it's a drive but allagash is worth it, absolutely the best brewery tour i've been on as far as information, atmosphere, and knowledge from the staff. huge respect to those guys. right across the street you can visit foundation, austin st., and maybe another place (things change a lot over there).

i don't really keep up on the current situation at bissell bros. but lots of people like going there.

as far as non-beer recs, visit portland hunt and alpine club for a cocktail or two and have dinner at vinland for a hilarious but charming take on locavore cuisine.

And here I was thinking you guys were talking about Oregon

Josh, I made it out to Noon Whistle this past weekend, had the Giggle Gummy and Gummy Vortex. Both were good, but all these NE IPA's are starting to run together for me. I'm not sure I could distinguish them in a blind tasting. Had their Hop Prism Turquoise With Grapefruit too, which was fantastic, it tasted like a Fresca.

Although it is always depressing to drink in a strip mall. All breweries in the burbs should move to the city.

Yeah, I forget why they're there. Iirc Oak Park was making it too hard to open here. Anyway, they seem to get on tap here and there, and their modest distro gets cans around. I agree the NEIPAs are hard to tell apart, though I know them when I see them!

I do like (for once) that Noon Whistle focuses largely on lower alcohol beers.

A friend brought me a couple of cans of Lawson's Sip of Sunshine (https://www.lawsonsfinest.com/beers/sip-sunshine/) from his visit to his Vermontian in-laws and it is kind of like remembering a dream I might have had about a perfect double IPA on a summer day where I worked hard and earned it and also it was 67F and clear outside.

Obviously both cans are in the recycling now, and the contents of the second one will shortly be part of my gut soup.

Great beer imho

Truly.

My friend's wife, who was there for the acquisition, said they showed up to the beer & wine place and waited, and when the truck rolled up, they didn't even bother to stock it properly - just put the cases down and they sold out in no time. Even the mom-in-law bought herself a 4-pack and she's not at all a beer person, she just figured "if it's this good I might as well see what this is all about"

It's the new Heady Topper

i have at time found sos to be a little lacking as far as having a distinctive personality but it makes up for it by being such an easy drinker.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/dining/ct-revolution-brewing-barrel-aged-beers-deep-wood-story,amp.html?platform=hootsuite

Oh man…

Man. The relative ease of finding revolution's barrel-aged offerings has at times become a storage problem for me.

Good on them for doing cans.

I could not care less about all these imperial stouts in barrels, to be absolutely honest. I appreciate that other people appreciate them.

We're going to lunch at a beer hall that has sip of sunshine on tap. I am not driving.

barrel aged beer is a novelty!

I was kind of a doubter of Northeast/New England/hazy IPAs because of my Northwest bias and I assumed they were just less-hoppy IPAs, so why not just call it a pale ale? But I've had a couple lately and really dig them - like some combo of fruity wheat beers that aren't really fruity, IPAs but not IPAs, etc.

Shorts Slurm Lord and Griffin Claw's NAWT A CAWP are both good and have gloriously stupid names and graphics that I simultaneously love and hate.

i'm sure i'm missing out on a lot of good beers but bad names and graphics have become kind of a deal breaker for me

a local brewery called "c4pt4in f4tty's" (probably unnecessary google protection) has otherwise modern looking tap handles, can designs, etc.

yea we have fat heads here in cleveland and they get all kinds of acclaim but fuck if i'm gonna buy this beer

http://cdn.phillymag.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/fat-heads-brewery-500.png
https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/craftbeerdotcom/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/26181544/GudenHoppyLogo.png
http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m0ffoeecns1r6w5eh.jpg

goofy, but still not nearly as objectionable as the Lagunitas "ladies, amirite?" beer names

head hunter was great back in the day tho it's probably been surpassed.

Can anyone recommend a brewery in Pennsylvania that's good to visit?

Tired Hands
Voodoo
Brew Gentlemen

Thanks Al!

It's a big state though, are you headed anywhere specifically.

Eh, I don't know it well. Probably somewhere near the poconos.

That's Yuengling country haha

Yeah, will pass on dat

this is really long but if you stick with it it's a great read--http://www.ctmq.org/part-2-pioneer-trailblazer-neipa/

basically, the semi-informed story of how a connecticut brewer used untappd hype and the neipa craze to get people to line up for a beer that has serious quality control probs.

I'd give up a palace
If I were a king
It's more than a palace
It's my everything
There's a queen waiting there
With a silvery crown
drinking a shandy in old Shandy Town

Great read, CAD. Thx 4 posting

(xpost)

i only live like an hour away from these guys now; developing a morbid curiosity to try trailblazer

Another good deed I participated in behind the scenes today:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/taranurin/2017/08/16/after-outing-a-nazi-sympathizer-michigans-craft-beer-community-tries-to-close-down-his-bar/#74bd6853c5cd

Re: the trailblazer article, it was interesting but ultimately... I don't care? I find the whole scene a combination of fun/hilarious/fascinating and it is fun to participate, at least at certain levels. If you need to step back, by all means, go ahead. I've certainly had varying levels of participation myself. But I don't really care how you hype your beer, if you can get people in line to by it, more power to you.

i don't *care* in that it doesn't really affect me but the sociology is fascinating and i do think about stuff like this in the context of where can the scene possibly go next

also--those sludge pics!

agree with the sociology aspect. Also I missed the sludge pic.. yeah that's pretty bad.

NEIPA's are beers built for instagramming, they photograph really well. Just the sight of them sends people into a frenzy around here.

Lead Brewer @aeriicc's 1st DHB recipe debuts tomorrow (8/17) night! For Hops & Giggles is a Double Dry Hopped (DDH) IPA! #hazyipa #hazybeer pic.twitter.com/NO7ruk89tl

— Dryhop Brewers (@Dryhopchicago) August 16, 2017

Really, you don't even have to say anything, they can just post that picture and wait for people to line up at the door today.

Yeah, that shit is sub-homebrew with the particulate and residue making their way into the final product.

I recently got a couple huge boxes of Tree House and Trillium that I've been making my way through and as much as I try to roll my eyes the NEIPA as a style, these two brewers have their product so dialed in it's remarkable.

Also CAD: I finally got to try Fuzzy Baby Ducks after being ISO for several years (4?)... lol

lol i got it in may after probably the same amount of time ISO. nice beer! i was prepared to be unimpressed but it holds up reasonably well.

Founders DKML... weird! Good, too, but big booze flavor (14+%). Really makes me wonder if aging will improve it at all. Good thing I got a 4pk, it's not something I can see drinking more than one of at a time.

I am trying it tomorrow. The reviews are fairly bad for a Founder's barrel aged, but I'm hoping it will reward open hearts and minds.

I can see that if people are expecting a KBS or Backwoods Bastard, but it isn't bad, just sort of... The barrel is basically all you taste, plus a little boozy Mickey's? I'm still working my way through a bottle.

I like it better than Frootwood or Lizard of Koz, that's for sure.

I had Lizard of Koz on tap and absolutely loved it (it was less good in the bottle). I can see why it'd not be for everyone, though. Did you have Doom? I didn't love Doom, and I feel like DKML might amplify the bits I didn't love about Doom. Would love to be wrong!

Backwoods on tap was also outrageous and may have partly ruined the old 4 packs I buy at Grocery Outlet.