Beer in the new era

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">

http://www.fermentnation.com/pics/hop_wallop_label.jpg

jeeze, five beers at 8.5% is about two too many fer me.

man, if I had six hop wallops, I think I'd be dead.

huh, i never thought "light and refreshing" would describe a beer called "hop wallop." will check out for sure.

it's a very easy drinkin' beer. TOO EASY. oughta have a big warning on the front. i don't even think i looked at how strong it was when i bought it. it looked cute.

bah, beers all gone. should i drink one of my roommates hefeweizen? i don't really like them, but it is alcohol.

got any liquor?

what kind of hefeweizen?

smuttynose. i'm drinking it. it's okay.
i doubt i'll want anything after this, but there's tequila & gin around.

http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/141/22357/?ba=Jason

Have you NYCers seen any Russian River beers around? The guy at Bowery Whole Foods said they didn't have an East Coast distributor, but it turns out that they actually do...

I haven't, though I've heard great things about the Pliny The Elder IPA...

also, midway through the bottle this thing is starting to taste like budweiser.

i was not crazy abt the smuttynose hefe iirc.

it's far from my favorite style and i can't really think of an american one that's worth buying. the german ones can be pretty damn good if you're in the right mood tho.

I walked a couple miles to a bar in SF specifically to get a Pliny the Elder on tap. It was good, but didn't live up to my considerable expectations.

I realized recently that the Racer 5 IPA mentioned earlier has been at the local co-op forever and I kept passing it over because I thought the label looked really dumb, which was a mistake because it's actually really good. I like the Sierra Nevada Torpedo a lot too, which is like the first beer of theirs that I actually like. I haven't seen the Kellerweis yet.

i'm drinking a bomber of hop wallop right now and just want to report that our man scott was totally otm in his assessment.

[img[http://www.australianbeers.com/beers/james_squire_hopthief/htsmall.jpg[/img]

^^soo good. Other mongs onto this??!

hop thief is admittedly a terrible name for an ale tho

unggh

http://www.australianbeers.com/beers/james_squire_hopthief/htsmall.jpg

a six of racer 5 IPA in the fridge right now, that I picked up on the way home from my epic fried chicken lunch. i don't know if i'll even want to drink tonight--somehow got kinda smashed last night. that's what happens when you're at a bar when a thunderstorm begins, i guess. tried an Issaquah Frog Rye (draft @ Washington Commons) which was enjoyable, fruity and somewhat malty with a light hoppy rye flavor. not as strong a rye flavor as the sixpoint righteous rye, which i also enjoyed.

Just have to reiterate the love for the Green Flash Imperial IPA. Wonderful.

Having some Anderson Valley 20th Anniversary Imperial IPA - good, but I've had better. This brewery should have put more into this.

after searching high and low for it, i found the motherload of (limited release) hop thief up the road from where i live -- super stoked ^__^

Went to Wisconsin last week drank a bunch of Spotted Cow. Fruitier than I prefer, also couldn't taste any hops at all, nor could I detect the corn traces. Very drinkable though. Felt good about all the yeast particles floating around in the bottle, like I was drinking kombucha or something.

Half Acre Daisy Cutter Pale Ale: <3

Especially since I've been waiting for something from Half Acre, a newish brewery located literally a half-mile from my apartment, to wow me. Their lager is just OK (it's a lager), and their Over Ale (a bitter) is pretty decent and drinkable, but this did the trick.

AVOID AVOID AVOID the riverhorse summer blonde; tastes like peas.

oh god i've had that before and support ian's statement.

NYCers, get thee to DBGB, where the food is so-so, the decor worse, but there are twenty-something beers on tap and you can request draft tastings (the guy next to me got four ~6 oz pours for the price of 2 ~15 oz pours).

Had a really good (if not especially rare) Captain Lawrence Fresh Chester Pale Ale.

woah i just went to (lol)yelp to check what dbgb is and noticed the first review praising the $7 hot dog as cheap. wowsers. "spicy and gourmey." hmmmm.

last night i was at the internet radio station's anniversary party, which included free beer provided by the assosciated restaurant--little frankies pale ale by sixpoint. a nice IPA, really nice color--cloudy orange. mmm. i think my problem was that i drank the first three much too fast and got pretty hammered; didn't expect the beer to be as strong as it was.

had a couple bottles of Black Dog Ale tonight, by the Spanish Peaks Brewery. I liked it. I don't have anything compelling to say aside from that--an American amber ale with a nice malty nose, very drinkable. Now I am at my mom's house drinking Dogfish Head 60 min.

I am currently having stir-fry with my first can of Sapporo Reserve. Which tastes like a maltier version of Sapporo.

So, cold Japanese beer for me. Sumimasen!!!!!!!

yum that sounds good.

any other homebrewers up in this thread? We had a long day yesterday brewing one batch (rosemary red) and bottling two others (oatmeal stout, standard red).

I went to a party last weekend that had a bunch of that Trader Joe's lager, it was quite a nice surprise. Simpler Times, I think it's called?

I like the TJ brand! Pretty good!

lol, drinking a sam adams cherry wheat (last beer we had left from a party). Not as bad as I thought, but definitely would not drink another.