The Beer Thread: Mach 2

[axeman90210]

haha, what bar were you en route to?

[bout to crash]

Just Jake's on Park.

Went there once to meet the Bottle King people and could not stay because it was obnoxiously packed so we went to see District 9 instead and I assumed I didn't like the place because of the crowd... this time we were supposed to meet friends who were doing trivia but my phone died and they were gone by the time we got there so we just stayed to have a beer... except they have a $10 credit minimum and it was $2 draft night 

It was cool because it was DEAD and it was a beautiful night so we just sat outside at a table with the two other people outside. The beer selection isn't great (besides the two Long Trails and the Victory that they were temporarily out of) but the outside is cool when it's not packed.

Weird clientele.
Fun story: I got hit on by a very drunk preppy dude at the bar who shook my hand for an uncomfortably long time and said "Hi, I'm Todd." He wanted to buy me a drink. I tried to explain to him that I needed to buy my own drink because there was a minimum, so he insisted on buying my NEXT drink. I told him I didn't want another because I was already drunk. He said if I changed my mind to let him know because "I think you're extremely beautiful and someone should buy you a drink and I want it to be me. I'm Todd."... followed by a second uncomfortably long hand shake. I thanked him and went on my way. On his way out, he came looking for me outside and asked if he could buy me breakfast (it was 1 AM), followed by "Your loss" when I said no

[MetalJunkie]

Any Shiner Bock appreciation?

[axeman90210]

BUMP

too lazy to type up recent drinking exploits (though myself and the shmeglands had a fairly epic afternoon of beer at Armsby Abbey before the DT show on Saturday). I had a bottle of Terrapin's Iron Tankard old stock ale tonight, fantastic. Gooey caramel and alcohol soaked dark fruits.

king, let me know what you think when you crack that bomber

[EPICVIEW]

I have been enjoying Modelo Especial ...

Its a nice Mexican beer.. its like a richer fuller Corona..

[Elsydeon]

I have been enjoying Modelo Especial ...

Its a nice Mexican beer.. its like a richer fuller Corona..

I went to New Jersey on Sunday to watch the world cup final and drink before the DT/IM show. Maloneys pub and grill in manarac,nj(some town like that). 26 beers on tap, I tried arrogant bastard (its normally 15 dollars for 6 pack in my town), quite delicious.

[King Postwhore]

BUMP

too lazy to type up recent drinking exploits (though myself and the shmeglands had a fairly epic afternoon of beer at Armsby Abbey before the DT show on Saturday). I had a bottle of Terrapin's Iron Tankard old stock ale tonight, fantastic. Gooey caramel and alcohol soaked dark fruits.

king, let me know what you think when you crack that bomber

I've wanted to save it for something worthy of it, but that just might be tuesday.

[axeman90210]

I finally trekked over to Sam Adams for the tour this afternoon. It wasn't bad, but I had to bite my tongue to not correct the tour guide once or twice At the end we all went in the tasting room where we got 7oz tasting glasses and samples of Boston Lager, the Summer Ale, and then we voted between the Brick Red (draft only, and Boston area bars only and a sour weizen (probably will never see the light of day outside the brewery) and there were a ton of wussies afraid of the sour weizen. It was a good tour overall though, the guide kept things pretty fun, and we got to meet the brewer in all the Sam Adams commercials who's bald and has that crazy beard Afterwards, out in their beer garden they were pouring small samples of two prototypes, an American Rye Ale and a Belgian IPA, and asking us to vote on which we liked better, with the winner over the course of the whole summer getting distributed this winter (I voted for the IPA). I stopped at Sunset on the way home and had a glass of Laguinitas Old Gnarlywine (just meh, but I'm not complaining since they only charged me $3.99 for it ) I just polished off a homebrew and after dinner I'll be cracking a bomber of Smuttynose Imperial Stout

[Elsydeon]

I did that tour last summer when I visited Boston. We sampled boston lager, summer ale, and the brick red. The brick red was delicious, I'm hoping I'll start seeing those at package stores some time soon. The tour lady we had at the time seemed to know what she was talking about, where was yours incorrect? Now I'm curious because I took a lot from that tour

[axeman90210]

just really minor stuff. The only one that immediately came to mind was saying that the Reinheitsgebot was enacted in 1516 and set forth barley, hops, water, and yeast as the only ingredients allowed in beer, when in 1516 it only made mention of barley, hops, and water because yeast hadn't been invented yet. I feel like there was one other that I can't remember right now.


Also, fuck the Reinheitsgebot I won't get into a rant about it, but yeah.

[axeman90210]

I was reminded tonight why I *never* usually order bottles in a bar. I was at a not particularly beer geek friendly bar with some buddies after class tonight and ordered a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. They were out of it on draft but had some in bottles, and since I was already in the mood for a SNPA and the rest of the tap list wasn't exactly inspiring I said sure... fucking $5 for a bottle of SNPA, a beer that sells for $9 a six pick in liquor stores. I can't sit down comfortably after paying that. I'm trying to make the pain go away with a bottle of Southampton Abbot 12, a quad. It's not a bad beer, but a well made quad is one of the best beers on the planet imo and this just doesn't quite measure up

Glad to hear you liked Field Mouse's Farewell king, it's one of my favorite beers that I've had this year. To me the remarkable thing is that the grain bill has  barley, wheat, oats, and rye... normally a brewer might use one of those last three ingredients on it's own, or split the grain bill between one of them and barley, but Dann Paquette did a masterful job of incorporating all four into FMF. It really is a beautiful beer

[Elsydeon]

I was reminded tonight why I *never* usually order bottles in a bar. I was at a not particularly beer geek friendly bar with some buddies after class tonight and ordered a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. They were out of it on draft but had some in bottles, and since I was already in the mood for a SNPA and the rest of the tap list wasn't exactly inspiring I said sure... fucking $5 for a bottle of SNPA, a beer that sells for $9 a six pick in liquor stores. I can't sit down comfortably after paying that. I'm trying to make the pain go away with a bottle of Southampton Abbot 12, a quad. It's not a bad beer, but a well made quad is one of the best beers on the planet imo and this just doesn't quite measure up

Glad to hear you liked Field Mouse's Farewell king, it's one of my favorite beers that I've had this year. To me the remarkable thing is that the grain bill has  barley, wheat, oats, and rye... normally a brewer might use one of those last three ingredients on it's own, or split the grain bill between one of them and barley, but Dann Paquette did a masterful job of incorporating all four into FMF. It really is a beautiful beer

In Worcester me and my buddy did a shot of grey goose at Irish Times. 15 dollars for 2 shots. You could almost buy a whole bottle for that.

[carl320]

Shiner Bock is alright... not a huge fan.

I've tried some Northcoast Brewing recently (Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout, Brother Thelonius Abbey Ale and Pranqster).  I was afraid to spend the little bit to try the BT, but I"m glad I did... it was amazing 

[LudwigVan]

Just got back from 2 weeks in Europe and tried a buncha commercial beers.  Here's a running tally:


1664 (France)
Affligem (Belgium)
Carlsberg (Denmark)
Eichbaum (Germany)
Fuller's London Pride (UK)
Fuller's Chiswick Bitter (UK)
Jever (Germany)
Kronenbourg (France)
Maccabee (Israel)
Meteor (France)
Peroni (Italy)
Radeberger (Germany)
Sapporo (Japan)
Singha (Thailand)
Warsteiner (Germany)

I fell in love with Affligem, which unfortunately is not distributed in the US.  Meteor is surprisingly good...who knew the French can make a good brew?  Again, no US distribution for Meteor     And for some reason, Peroni seems hugely popular in the UK.

[axeman90210]

Shiner Bock is alright... not a huge fan.

I've tried some Northcoast Brewing recently (Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout, Brother Thelonius Abbey Ale and Pranqster).  I was afraid to spend the little bit to try the BT, but I"m glad I did... it was amazing 

I've only had their Old Rasputin, which is pretty good. I have a four pack of their Old Stock Ale sitting in my cellar door, I should crack one of those soon

[King Postwhore]

So I picked up a Black and Blue from Dogfish Head and 5 others from the Berkshire Brewery.  It will be tipped when I see a friend and his family tommorow.  It's been 20 years so I can't wait.

[Bombardana]

probably already been posted 100 times
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Y39JehmZO4

[axeman90210]

it hasn't, but I like it Although, they're wrong about beer not tasting good when it's warm... real beer tastes just fine (sometimes better) warm, it's just shitty macro swill that tastes terrible (when beer's cold it numbs your tastebuds, so warm beer lets you actually taste what you're drinking).

Last night I had a bomber of Goose Island's Christmas Ale 2009, which was a bit of a miss for me. It was just way too spiced and it overwhelmed completely the base brown ale. Tonight was a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale with dinner (a classic, and it went great with my chicken tenderloins in a spicy garlic and white wine sauce ) and now a Guinness because we have one or two laying around randomly. Sunday hopefully starts a week of awesome beer from breweries that don't distribute to the northeast, as I'll be on vacation in the Outer Banks

[axeman90210]

I'm firmly entrenched in the vacation home and beer awesomeness starts tonight. Last night I ran through a six pack of Bell's Oberon because they were closing by the time I got there, but tonight I went back and got two mix six packs of beers from Bell's, New Belgium, Flying Dog, and Duck Rabbit among others. They also have a deal there where any glassware is 1/2 off if you buy two mix sixers, so I got a new Chimay goblet for $3

First up will be Flying Dog's In-Heat Wheat in a few minutes.

[Dr. SeaWolf]

To celebrate my recent employment, I cracked open a Victory Golden Monkey I had shelved since October.  Man, that was strong stuff!

[axeman90210]

To celebrate my recent employment, I cracked open a Victory Golden Monkey I had shelved since October.  Man, that was strong stuff!

That's on my "to try" list, love me a good tripel. I heard it was a bit on the spicy side, which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

In-Heat Wheat was a major letdown, it was like a macro version of a hefe (watered down nose/flavor and an abrasive, fizzy carbonation). It's gotten the lowest score of the 71 beers I reviewed so far. Time to find something good to drink with dinner

[King Postwhore]

I've got to saill that the Pretty Things Field Mouse's Farewell was quite bold for a Golden Ale. A Bold flavor with a big kick that surprised both Lisa and I.  we've never heard of this brand before and it just so happened that after we drank it I found 5 or 6 other beers from Pretty Things at my place in Haverhill.  Thanks you again for the gift. We loved it.

I also got Dogfish Head's Black and Blue. I was suprised at how smooth it was. When a beer is at 10 ABV's, it has a blod flavor and a buzz occurs damn fast.  This didn't have that strong alcohol flavor too it so it surprised me.

[axeman90210]

Glad it made an impression, and surprised you found them up by you (I thought they only distributed to the greater Boston and NYC areas). I can highly recommend anything of theirs you find. I've had each of their beers at least once and they've all been at least great, Pretty Things might be my favorite brewery right now.

I also had a Duck Rabbit Amber Ale tonight (decent), followed by a Bell's Kalamazoo Stout (very tasty, especially with some coffee chip ice cream) and a little bit of the bottle of Chimay Blue my aunt commandeered from my stash. Overall a very good beer night

[faemir]

After trekking for 121km (75miles) me and my friends went to the pub, and I had 4 local ales. Best aftertaste ever, it must have been because it was so fresh or something, but it was truely amazing

[Dr. SeaWolf]

To celebrate my recent employment, I cracked open a Victory Golden Monkey I had shelved since October.  Man, that was strong stuff!

That's on my "to try" list, love me a good tripel. I heard it was a bit on the spicy side, which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

It's not my favorite tripel... that crown goes to Westmalle Abbey Ale

It's still great though, and certainly one of my favorites.  It was even better after being shelved for 9 or 10 months.

[orcus116]

Anyone seen the movie Beer Wars? It's made by the woman who started Mike's Hard Lemonade and it chronicles the rise of craft breweries and how the larger companies are adapting/trying to shut them down. The Dogfish Head guy is in most of the movie too.

[axeman90210]

yeah, I saw it. It's not a bad movie, but the funny thing is that it follows that woman trying to get Moonshot off the ground and Moonshot is a terrible, terrible  beer.

I had a Bell's Pale Ale with lunch; it's a beer with something of an identity crisis as the front of the label says it's a pale ale but the back describes it as a blonde ale, but the taste ends up being somewhere in the middle. Pretty good though. The beer store down here has a free wine and beer tasting Tuesdays at 4:30, so I think I'm gonna catch that in a little bit

[orcus116]

Yeah the Moonshot lady had some bad marketing skills. There's probably a reason that was the first time I'd ever heard of that beer.

[axeman90210]

I went on to have a Mother Ship Dark Cloud Dunkel on tap at the local beer store down here during a ribbon cutting ceremony to celebrate a change in ownership. After coming home I had a Flying Dog Snake Bite IPA and a New Belgium Ranger IPA, neither of which was overly impressive. I capped the night with a Terrapin Gamma Ray Wheatwine, which was delicious

[axeman90210]

BUMP

yesterday I started off with a bottle each of Bell's Pale Ale and Snake Dog IPA in the afternoon poolside. I cracked my bottle of Brother Thelonious while I hung out inside before dinner (it was quite good, pretty big for a dubbel). After dinner I had a bottle of Duck Rabbit's Milk Stout (not bad, but the bitter roasted coffee flavor was a bit much, it became a little bit astringent). I was relaxing in the hot tub before lunch today when me and my cousin decided "Fuck it, we're on vacation, why not have a beer". My aunt was going to grab them for us and I told her to bring me down whatever, figuring she would grab me one of the many Beck's or Coronas in the cooler. Well, she managed to bring down the very last of my beers, Flying Dog Double Pale Ale, an 11.5% double IPA That was a lot of fun trying to drink at noon before I had lunch. Another beer store run was made tonight and I mixed two more six packs to last me through the rest of vacation. I love the deal this place offers, 50% off glassware with two mix six packs. So far this week I've gotten a Chimay goblet and a 16oz Allagash chalice for $6 total. Just finishing a Bell's Lager right now, tasty straightforward beer

[King Postwhore]

Nothing fancy for me right now. Just having a Smuttynose Summer Weizen.  It's ok.

[axeman90210]

Yeah, I didn't think much of that one myself. Not much going on there besides the distinct wheat sweetness (makes me think of vanilla every time) which is not enough to carry a beer, and it was a very forgettable beer

[bout to crash]

Last beer I had was Long Trail coffee stout 

Got some new ones to try at BK the other day but haven't cracked 'em yet.

Totally going to at least Magic Hat factory this weekend (Vermont trip to visit family and celebrate Tony's birthday) 

[bout to crash]

Okay, I just looked at a map and Long Trail is 45 minutes directly beneath my aunt's so we're defnitely stopping there on the way and at Otter Creek on the way back from Magic Hat 

[axeman90210]

so tonight I had a Duck Rabbit Brown Ale (excellent), New Belgium Mothership Wit (solid), Duck Rabbit Porter (very good), and New Holland Imperial Hatter Double IPA (less than great, way too much hop bitterness vs not enough hop flavor). Duck Rabbit's really impressed me the last month or so, I had a few of their big beers at the American Craft Beer Fest and they were all very good, and I've sampled all of their year round lineup in the last few days  and that's been quality as well