Beer in the new era

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%).

had my second taste of DFH red & white - split a bottle w/ a good friend on saturday. stuff is really really good. forgot that it was 10%, definitely does not taste like it.

also had the sierra nevada harvest ale. good but it came after a few mojitos so i can't say anything besides that.

also went to a beer tasting a couple weeks ago and had a great time - the theme was thirst-quenching beers for the summer. hefeweizens, all kinds of wheat beers, berliner weisse, pilsners, helles lagers.

the lagunitas czech pilsner was one of the beers. it was alright, definitely balanced but i didn't feel like there was that much there. we tasted it next to stoudt's munich helles lager (from PA) and the stoudt's was much better.

to anyone in l.a.

allagash week @ bottlerock

i drank too much last night e_e

had to get up and water myself heavily at 5am.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/24/dining/reviews/24pour.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2&src=twt&twt=nytimesdining

Had some Bear Republic Racer 5 IPA, followed by a DFH 90 Min. IPA

Two TOTALLY different, yet totally AWESOME beers.

Woo.

yeh racer 5 is one of my favorite ipas

racer 5 is great but bear republic labels are fucking terrible

http://www.accent-art.com/RACER5B.gif

ugh

I like both these beers.
Has anyone tried the Racer X that Bear Republic do? I haven't seen it around anywhere, but people on lolbeer blogs rave about it.

last night i had:
sixpoint righteous rye ale (great beer imo)
stone arrogant bastard (pretty good beer but i think i prefer their reg IPA)
and a green flash west coast IPA, which i was also drinking earlier this week, and is a good beer for sippin.

haven't tried the racer X. curious tho. i had the the bear republic end '08 last night tho, it was great. brown ale that looked really really dark but was pretty light-bodied, dry, refreshing even. really good.

stone AB is great but i haven't had the regular IPA in a long time. their levitation ale has impressed me the most, i think. it's a big deal to pull off that much flavor for a 4% ABV beer.

I dunno....I like Bear Republic's labels. They have sort of a hand painted sign at a fair or music festival type vibe to them.

the Racer X is pretty great, too.

I will be drinking beer tonight, and at a favorite local beer spot - Lucky Baldwin's in Pasadena. I will report back what I actually consume. Most likely an IPA.

Racer 5 is A+

yeah good ipa no doubt.

http://home1.dknet.dk/lap/smisjeb.JPG
been into a little Belgian territory lately. the clerk at the store i got this say it's the smallest producer that gets distribution in the US. it is some sublime du Belgique

also just quaffed Firestone-Walker Pale on hand pump @ toronado

http://thedailypint.net/files/2009/06/avery_maharaja_label.jpg
Good to know your beer is fresh: the label on the bottle I bought said "bottled June 2009." Really delicious, almost spicy, but also some pine and a sweet citrus. Got me tipsy on high ABV, but still easy to drink. Hoping to try their new anniversary ale on tap here, which they say has jasmine, peaches and honey.

oh man that looks good. nine point six!!!

admit it you just bought it for the crossed swords logo.

last night i drank bud (bottle) & newcastle at the bar. really unexciting but... satisfactory.
tonight i think i may end up at the same bar as on tuesday, but will try to avoid the higher ABV choices this time.

the new batch of maharaja is 10.24! i have an Ommegang Hennepin in the fridge, chillin'.

last night on tap:

allagash four
allagash victoria
allagash confluence

the four was pretty incredible, the victoria only slightly less so, but i thought the confluence was the best--slightly spicy and yeasty, strong but not overwhelmingly so.

drinking at work: great divide brewing co "titan ipa" and up next is green flash's "hop head red."

Hey if there are any Portlanders on this thread, don't forget to hit up the Organic Beer Festival this weekend in Overlook Park. My favorite outdoor beer festival of the year! A lot of good-looking stuff.
http://www.naobf.org/

Had a pint of this tonight, which was excellent:
http://www.sierranevada.com/beers/images/harvest-SOHEM_bottle.jpg

I was looking at a sixer of that earlier today... passed, though.

I drank tonight: Green Flash Hop Head Red, Stone Pale Ale, Green Flash IPA, Lagunitas Dog Town Ale (tastes like grapefruit--not bad, not great. Has the same problems as other Lagunitas blends.)

Just finishing a sixer of Sierra Nevada's new wheat beer, Kellerweis. This stuff is great, one the best hefeweizen's I've ever had. Easy drinkin but complex enough to keep things interesting. Apparently they use open fermentation or something. Also, apparently this and Torpedo are SN's first new year round beers in a decade!

classic brooklyn IPA's tonight.

rogue brutal bitter, one of the last sixers sold by the brooklyn beverage barn (r.i.p.)

you dudes had victory's hop wallop? yummy and good drinkin', but the only problem is it tastes so light and refreshing that i completely forgot that it was 8.5% and the next day i got walloped for sure! i was on my fifth beer and i suddenly realized that i was drunker than i'd been in a while.

http://www.fermentnation.com/pics/hop_wallop_label.jpg" class="noborder">