Beer in the new era

This year's Prop is great. Vanilla is fine, but a step down from Vanilla Rye. The Wheat Wine was nice (and still sitting on shelves).

Wheat Wine being $24.95 at my local is the only reason it's still sitting on shelves, because I can't justify buying it all.

I think I like the barley/wheat wine variants better than the stouts tbh. That goes for most BBA beers.

Yeah, it was an expensive day.

Forgotten context in my last post - in 2017 when I showed up five minutes after opening, there were 4 people there buying BCBS. So jumping to 75 people in line with camping out in one year that far out from the city seems particularly crazy.

That's crazy, I've seen Wheat Wine for $14.99 at Whole Foods.

Here's a story for you Chicagolanders. I spend Thanksgiving in a picturesque ski resort town a bit off the grid but is most definitely a huge ABInbev hotspot (roughly 2000 miles from Chicago). On Black Friday I was finally able to sneak out to a big box store around 6:30pm and walked in to see a bunch of cases of BC and variants. I picked up a few Vanilla bottles plus a Bramble & Orange and while checking out I asked the guy how much they've sold and he told me I'm only the 3rd person to buy BC there this year (6:30pm mind you!). So I asked how the first 2 customers made out and the cashier said they lined up an hour before open (the only 2 people) and each bought a case of Vanilla (~$300). I laughed and he said "They were from Chicago, they couldn't believe it!"

yeah the pricing is weird here, the regular stuff is the regular price but all variants are ~$25

haha xpost

I haven't been to many breweries there but Chicago is the best place ever to buy beer, as it seems like they get most everything from everywhere. In Washington I could never get anything from the Midwest or East Coast, and I never really loved anything from Seattle or Portland that much - all my favorite beers were from California and Colorado.

I remember reading somewhere that Wisconsin is home to something like 7 of the 10 biggest (most) drinking cities in America.

The Milwaukee airport is the only one that I've ever been to that has a sign warning against drunk driving on your way to the rental cars, like it's assumed you got drunk on the plane or got fucked up at an airport bar after you landed.

There's also this map:
https://img.washingtonpost.com/blogs/govbeat/files/2014/06/us.png
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/govbeat/wp/2014/06/03/bars-vs-grocery-stores-mapping-americas-beer-belly/

I don't think Seattle is frankly that impressive (but that's changing very rapidly of late)

Portland may well be ahead, but there are 15 breweries and at least 3 50+ taprooms within half an hour's walk of me rn, and there are more-brewery-dense neighbourhoods half an hour's bus ride north or south.

I haven't been to Seattle since Holy Mountain & now Floodland have taken over, the Fremont BA stuff was kind of elusive and Elysian was better than expected but pretty forgettable. The bars were great though, drinking 15 year old lambic at Brouwers, verticals of bordeaux barrel aged saisons at Stumbling Monk... didn't get to the Toronado as that was a bit further north than we planned on going.

Outside of Seattle (Skagit Valley), I've been keeping my eye on Garden Path: https://gardenpathwa.com/

Seems like they are in a position to make some waves.

I will never forget this moment, February 1996.... Seeking refuge from the merciless icy wind coming off the Sound that penetrated every layer I was wearing, walking into a dark old wooden bar in/under Pike's Place, grabbing a booth and drinking a Black Butte Porter. #beerintheoldera

https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/12/11/lg_craft_beer_brew/

americans will appreciate the first comment on this new all-in-one home brewing machine:

Does it despense vast amounts of bog rool??
Because if its anything like any of my homebrewing disasters efforts you need will need it to clean up the seemingly inevitable tsunami of arse gravy.

That's crazy, I've seen Wheat Wine for $14.99 at Whole Foods.

I could have sworn Goose said only 4 Whole Foods locations in the state were getting BCS this year. Maybe this was one of them? Anyway, last year was the first years I've seen some once totally elusive barrel aged stouts, like Goose and KBS, sitting on shelves. They must be cranking it out. I personally think Revolution has been killing it with Deth's Tar and varieties. Revolution has been killing across the board, for that matter. Pipeworks has been super-awesome, too, but they're sort of getting lost in the, er, weeds with all the weird one-off bombers.

Had the Vanilla BCS on tap somewhere and it was good but what I assume drinking a glass of vanilla paste must taste like. Super sweet, too. I shared a bottle of orange with a couple of friends over the weekend and that one tasted like (no surprise) chocolate covered orange peel, which makes it a true ... sometimes beer. May fave seasonal winter stout remains Stone's Xocoveza.

because craft beer is never not funny, the beer retail "franchisor" that is local to me is crowdfunding legal fees for the shitty, baseless lawsuit they filed against glassdoor over negative reviews of their horrible franchise offering:

https://www.brewbound.com/news/2018/to-fund-ongoing-legal-disputes-craft-beer-cellar-turns-to-crowdsourcing

brew dog's new session ipa "cybernaut" is excellent. and i can get it in the fastnesses of leyton.

Inevitable, but Chicago beers have been increasingly going full NEIPA. I like Noon Whistle a lot, but Pipeworks is in on it now, too, and Marz, Hubbard's Cave, Maplewood, etc, plus the usual hyped upstarts like Hop Butcher and Alarmist. (And nearby Michigan's Old Nation has apparently fully embraced the style, too, though I have yet to try their flagship M-43.) I was drinking the latest from Hop Butcher, "Neon Green Relish," which was good. After I poured it my daughter walked by and asked if I was drinking orange juice, so ... mission accomplished?

a limited amount of hop butcher has made it to boston...dude i know has been going nuts about it but i haven't found any yet. the name is really brutal.

most brewery names are brutal imo

xpost Boston? Really? It barely makes it around Chicago.

yeah...i assumed it was pretty official since i know of one store that's had it multiple times. i guess it could be an "unofficial" distro.

I was admittedly nonplussed with Finback for years, but they must've hired a new brewer because I had a wide sampling of their new stuff at an event and all were good to great. Def on my radar now.

Man my local had Avery Tweak on draft the other night, holy shit what an eye-opener.

Haha, yeah that has about as much alcohol and caffeine as legally possible in a beer. FWIW it was originally called Meph Addict (the base is Mephistopheles).

https://thethirstywench.com/2019/02/12/the-hell-the-sexist-asinine-ramblings-in-great-lakes-brewing-news/

This sucks because I have a friend who writes for GLBN and "#notallbeerwriters" and all (he didn't write the piece in question, which is garbage) but everyone's having a hard time processing this. There is an fb "apology" that only makes it worse due to predictable reasons.

i went to the hillstead farm brewery and i think im a bear nerd now

i love this update

bear nerd say hi to me

lmao

srsly tho i think that was the best beer ive ever had theyre on to something up there

i had it the night before at my fave in the middle of the nowhere down some dirt road vermont pizza place too

the brewery too same deal

shaun's an actual genius. they've been doing some killer lagers recently which would totally be in your wheelhouse.

like all the types i tried even stuff i dont like like they only have one type of beer in cans at time and i just got the ipa to take home with me cause thats what they had and its really good

it's the good stuff. if i go through my favorite memorable individual beers they've made more of them than anybody else and it isn't close.

Did you get any Samuel? That bottle is trading at $600-800 on the secondary market.

CAD hooked me up about 5 years ago with a ton of Hill Farmstead and he made me a fanboy.

i had it the night before at my fave in the middle of the nowhere down some dirt road vermont pizza place too

Parker Pie?

yup thats the place

id had it before but going to the brewery just really blew my socks off, the place just had the strong doing good things vibe which i value highly, and the beer was so good i felt high

Yeah, I've still never been but it's been on my mind for a while...

Beer in the new era

I have 3 buddies who are Collective Works members so I'm hoping to try some of those soon.

haven't been up in almost a year and definitely have the itch. i do live 10 mins away from the only bar outside of vermont with regular access to hill so that helps.

I was confusing that with Collective Arts out of Toronto, which makes some pretty good beer (and has great can art!).

i went to the hillstead farm brewery and i think im a bear nerd now

Neckbear-d.

Walked by a pair of maybe 11-year-old boys yesterday and just overheard a snippet:

Boy One: The what?
Boy Two: The hop harvest! You know, hops.

Do you live in Oregon or New Zealand?

Hop Butcher, my favorite young local brewery, focuses mostly on NEIPAs, which I like, but they seem to be cranking out a new beer every week or so, and it's hard to keep up. But they just released a beer for St. Patrick's Day that seems so gross: a double milkshake IPA with mint and dyed green. No thanks. Kind of like the New Yorker fiction issue, it's nice when something you like more or less gives you the week off.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/lifestyle/food-dining/2019/03/18/bell-two-hearted-ale-standout-crowded-field/ocwIllq6sqvt61dRBezCsI/story.html?utm_campaign=coschedule&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=BellsBrewery

otm otm otm

for me it’s like the IPA equivalent of the metal rod in Paris that was the official meter

Not a huge fan of Two Hearted ...

I did have a Heady Topper last night. That's NEIPA ground zero, right? When did that acronym make its first appearance? What was the first beer to try and ape Heady Topper?

I’ve gotten burned lately by a couple of NE IPAs that have not been labeled as such. Not that I hate them but to me they’re not even close to the same thing as your standard IPA and it sucks to pour a can of some hazy shit when you aren’t in the mood.