Beer in the new era

i said caramel but it's really like HUGE fucking caramel. with raisins and dried fruit or something. tbh tho this is like one of the first craft beers i've bought since drinking no other beer but pabst for like a month. i just moved so all the moving expenses + being in between jobs for a couple weeks made for cheap 30 packs.

prob anything would taste delicious after cleaning out that pbr 30 pack tho, but still, i think this is a really good beer

but yea the abv is big on this one

also i bought some budweiser american ale 'out of curiosity'

it's not that good, but not bad. totally what you'd expect i guess - bit more flavor, super mild hop bitterness but still recognizable, bit more malty than the regular bod. gorgeous color tho i have to say

i think the label's cool too. props for doing a pry-cap too, i didn't expect it and ripped my hands apart trying to twist the fucker off

http://www.uncrate.com/men/images/2008/09/bud-american-ale.jpg

i did the american ale experiment when it came out--it definitely has its uses and i was expecting much worse.

you been to publick house yet btw?

ha no i haven't

just talking about it on the boston thread right now

I've enjoyed Surly Bender and Coffee Bender. I was actually trying to find if there's anywhere in Chicago that sells Surly in six-packs, since I am going to a (don't ask) Minnesota-themed party on Saturday. Guess I'll have to settle for Summit.

― jaymc, Wednesday, July 22, 2009 10:38 AM (2 months ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

two months late but vas foremost in logan sq sells it im pretty sure

surly comes in 4 packs btw

i finally tried founders breakfast stout over the weekend--god damn what a great beer.

Waaaay x-post:

...some weird overpowering something going on that gets in the way of what is in there that i might appreciate i guess. feel the same way about laguinitas... grass clipping vibe...

I bought a 6 of Lagunitas IPA over the weekend, which I've liked before, and yeah this has some hayloft taste/aroma going on that I'm really not finding all that pleasing.

https://www.fine-wine.com.au/image/cache/frame-product-large-cf478d3ef560755387c98afc945f5c8a.png

Working thru a carton of this^

it's pretty ace. also seems like its on tap more and more around these parts.

http://usera.imagecave.com/hbartlett/pumpkin.gif
heaven in a bottle.

cool! i should give it a try then.

i shouldn't discriminate but tbh w/ a name like 'shipyard' and the label looking the way it does, it looks like a lot of other pretty boring and unexceptional new england breweries that make up basically the whole craft beer section of my local liquor store. which is a pretty shitty liquor store btw, unfortunately - functions essentially as a place for BC students to buy cases of natty light

which reminds me - CAD what are some of the best beer/liquor stores in boston?

hahah i've never had shipyard for that reason tho i know people like it. should get over my boring label bias sometime.

OK, liquor store rundown:

since marty's allston is sadly departed, that leaves blanchard's allston as the best general-purpose store i know of in our area. it's big, not overpriced, and has expanded its warm bottle section to include some pretty weird/exotic stuff recently (see: $25 750ml beers from italy that i kind of want to investigate further).

for wine and if you ever suddenly become a fan of pricey scotch, brookline liquor mart on comm ave (not in brookline at all!) is the best. it's not cheap but their wine selection is enormous and the staff is really friendly and knowledgeable.

downtown liquors in davis sq. in somerville is a great little store with a surprisingly huge beer selection for its size. lots of good stuff cold which is really convenient.

charles st. liquors in beacon hill is maybe the place to go for weird belgians and stuff like that. some people swear by it. i have gotten referred there by a belgian beer distributor in the past when i was amped on the de dolle brewery.

i've never been to wine gallery on route 9 in brookline, but the small wine gallery in kenmore sq. was awesome for getting nicer stuff when i lived near there.

there is supposedly an enormous store in south boston with a crazy selection but i have only heard rumors of it....

the marty's in newton is a little bit out there but has a pretty deep selection of standard commercial beers and micro brews/belgian beers. they also have some weird sales where certain microbrews get sold for really cheap.

i've been told good things about liquor world in porter square but have yet to stop through it.

and as always julio's out in westborough but that's a trip all on its own.

MARTINGETTIS!

and yes Julios out my way is fantastic

yeah shitty label but a tasty brew.

chris v where u at (i work in marlboro)

Marty's Allston is closed? Crazy. When I live in Boston, that was the go-to place. I lived up Commonwealth, so it was very easy to get to. I'm in Colorado now, and am just a hop skip and a jump away from the Lefthand and Oskar Blues Breweries. Both have good stuff and not so good stuff -- just tried Left Hand's Oktoberfest brew last night and it was pretty good! Also around here, there's the new Upslope Brewery, which has a decent IPA.

yeah dude iirc they just didn't want to pay the rent anymore.

Used to work in Westboro, live in Auburn

I had a bomber of Three Floyds' Black Sun Stout last night. Not usually a big stout drinker but this one was incredibly good. I think most stouts go a bit overboard either on the Guinness-style "smooth" end or the typical "let's put everything in this beer and make it as dark and heavy as possible" front. This was nicely in the middle, good hop/malt balance, slight burned/chocolate flavor, not too heavy but not slick and smooth. Definitely worth seeking out if you like the style.

i wouldn't mind any other suggestions of regional new england brews to try when i'm in RI next week. i know i like harpoon and i know i dislike newport storm, but what else?

can't help ya there but I just wanted to say that I am drinking our homebrew made with fresh hops from the backyard and it is really quite good.

maybe I should start a homebrewing thread? I asked before but are there any other brewers here?

i've homebrewed a little, but it was mostly with a buddy who moved back to colorado (who also had all the brewing equipment) :(

you'd prob get more responses keeping it in this thread tbh

I brewed quite a bit back in the day when I had the time/gear/help from roomies. I've been thinking about getting back into it, but I don't know if I or my neighbors are ready for the entire building to smell like wort. :/

thinking about making CIDER

cider seems to be getting pretty popular in aust. these days

it's definitely cider season. don't you need some insane amount of apples to produce even a little cider?

I went to a cidery(?) the other day in the midst of all the wineries around Walla Walla and tasted a bunch of them which I had never really done before. I really liked the drier ones a lot and actually bought a bottle.

I'm also thinking about homebrewing again this weekend - my friend with all the gear wants to get another batch going before winter. I'd only done it once before and was surprised at how well it turned out. We did an IPA last time that was pretty good if not my favorite beer ever, and we're shooting for a pale ale this time around.

How hard is it to make your own cider? There's an orchard around here where you can press your own apples and as wholesome and cheerful as that is I would not be opposed to turning it into booze.

I've had a couple homemade ciders and both makers admitted they used store-bought apple juice. Both were pretty good, it might be a good way to start, espcially if you can get some good juice.

I've made a few batches of beer, though none recently, but I'm about to get back into it with a mead this fall.

http://www.foodgps.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/the-bruery-trade-winds-tripel.jpg

belgian style with an asian flavor: fresh thai basil. really good, had it with some thai food tonight.

(the bruery trade winds)

enjoying the hell out of some of this 2nite:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3200/2413364985_594e676023.jpg

1) Man, I love Goose Island Honker's Ale - I could easily drink a 6 of this in a sitting, I'm afraid.

2) Does anyone know where to find Augustiner in NYC?

Had a few of Sierra's Celebration Ale last night. Heavier than I remember it being in years past, but very drinkable. Not a quaffing beer. Nice spice flavors on top of the normal Sierra West Coast style IPAness.

Man, I love Goose Island Honker's Ale

This one has been a recent pleasant discovery for me. It's showing up at more and more places around NYC, and I think I prefer it to the usual Sierra Nevada/Brooklyn Lager options.

Had a few of Sierra's Celebration Ale last night

I tasted this recently and didn't like it - too spicy and bitter.

I got to try the Zatec Bright Lager from Czech Republic last night. Somewhat hoppier than the usual Czech lager style, which I guess is appropriate since Zatec, the hometown of the brewery, means "Saaz" as in Saaz hops. Very good.

in some sort of inadvertant tour of the eastern bloc of beer, I ended up with a couple of interesting things. The standout was probably Svyturys White, which is a super drinkable unfiltered wheat from Lithuania. Coming in second was the Zamkowe 1321 "beer" (not a lot of marketing in Poland I guess), which was pretty decent, although its brother the Zamkowe Extra was pretty dire, really sweet and overbearing.

Been making my way through the lucky hat winter sampler and so far i like all of it.

i think it is interesting how you guys in nyc are getting excited about goose island being distributed in your area while i am in chicago and excited about brooklyn finally widely available here.

really excited about lagunitas brown shugga being released again.

goose island is a good beer, first time i enjoyed it was at the Sycamore bar in brooklyn.

i drank some microbrew IPA tonight. i didn't really hear the server except that she said it was good & $3. it was fine. very drinkable!

if i decide to drink more later it will be the BECK'S left at the radio station last week by the guys who have the show before me.

(they usually leave corona so i see this as a slight step up.)

Becka is totally a good beer and a serious step up from Corona in my opinion.

a couple of my buddies continually buy all of the available Becks tallboys in their area.

It's a German lager - so it can't be that bad. Not as good as an HB Original, but few beers are.

every German I've ever met thinks it's bad (maybe just cause it is the most well known german beer among americans), I probably couldn't tell the difference between it and a lot of other German pilseners, though.

For mass-distributed Germans, it's not my favorite, but I'd still take it over Corona, or pretty much any American domestic brand. Of the mass-distributed Germans, my order of preference goes St Pauli Girl >>> Lowenbrau > Becks.

Svyturys White, which is a super drinkable unfiltered wheat from Lithuania.

Just saw this in the grocery store near my office, might try it. it has pull tab tops, I think.