Beer in the new era

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

Got a bomber of the Lagunitas Coffee stout and also a six of the Green Flash IPA. Almost got a four pack of the Dogfish "Olde School" which is a 15%abv barleywine, but the combination of A) $4/bottle, and B) the knowledge i'd probably pass out after one & a half was what deterred me.

not really feeling this stout.

sorry abt the stout. my friend was drinking the green flash when we were out on friday; curious how that one is. i'm drinking troegs seasonal pilsner which is real good actually.

i like green flash. one of the bars in the 'hood has it on tap and that's where i first had it. it's a pretty serious bitter/hoppy IPA.

i am just in general not a fan of the laguinitas stuff. one of them (cant remember the name) tastes like freshly clipped lawn.

i think I'm in the same camp. I just bough this to try it, really. I don't enjoy the Lagunitas IPAs (the regular or the imperial) very much--too flowery & perfumey.

wow interesting, I think they make one of the better IPAs and they are one of my fave west coast breweries, top ten at least. different tastes...

That coffee stout is not so good though, yeah.

Lagunitas IPA, for me:

first beer: hey, this is a really good beer!
second beer: mmm, this stuff is a little too fruity & rich for me...
third beer: headache.

I've got a Lagunitas IPA in the fridge now but haven't had one yet.

I haven't seen the Dogfish barleywine yet, but a friend bought a 120 Minute IPA the other day (20% ABV, $9(!!) per 12oz bottle) and I kind of hope he fires it up in my presence. I don't know if I could deal with a whole one of those.

Also, I've never really liked any Sierra Nevada stuff before but I had a Torpedo IPA last saturday from them and liked it a lot.

as a dogwarming gift a friend of hours gave us an assortment of his homebrews, which (in the past) have been stunningly good, so I am trying to pick a good time to fully indulge

I have the Lagunitas IPA in the fridge, too. What sold me on Lagunitas as a brewery was their pilsner -- I don't ordinarily like pilsners, but it was really well-balanced.

if you are looking for another nice pilsner, you could do worse than north coast skrimshaw pils, from the same brewery that does red seal. picked a six pack up at tj's for $7 something. surprisingly full and hoppy for a pils.

the last thing i had that knocked my socks off was deschute's mirror mirror barleywine (11%).