Beer in the new era

there's a craft beer place that me and buds ride to most saturdays, ten minutes

f0urf3rkins

it's awesome

what do you guys think of hitachino nest? i had their red rice ale last week and really liked it--nice and mellow, subtle without being boring. and terrific label design.

― max, Wednesday, March 24, 2010 5:54 AM (5 days ago)

yeah the white ale is the one to get, although yeah it's pricy. red rice one i wasn't too fond of and they had this sake-barrel aged one that outright sucked ass, highly not recommended. but yeah, the white ale (powder blue label) is my fave, but I honestly just bypass it for Allagash White which I think is cheaper and just as/if not more tasty imo.

xxp Me too. I just did a quick Google, and it looks like such places exist in the Twin Cities and Atlanta -- so maybe Chicago's just slow to get on board.

f0urf3rkins - do they have a website or anything?
was looking at this place in atlanta: http://www.hopcitybeer.com/
looks like they sell wine as well.

oh xpost

Whole Foods carries some common imports, but not domestic lites and stuff.

That Four Ferkins place makes me want to quit my job and open my own craft beer store. That looks great.

There's a wine store in LA that has good selection of beer without going for the Budmilloors of the world. It's called 55 Degrees, in the Atwater area. They may even hold beer tatings.

I get most of my beers either at the food co-op (which only carries regional and craft beers plus tallboys of PBR and Rainier) or at the wine and beer shop that carries a bigger range of stuff but only sells craft beers and wines, no big name beers. This is a small town too, but in the NW so most of the regional brewery beers (Rogue, Deschutes, Full Sail, etc) are available even at gas stations.

I may just have to ride out there tonight tbh.

they've been doing really well I think, and are planning to open a new/different, larger location closer to the city proper

jaymc, I got a growler of the Ginger Twin about a month ago and I really enjoyed it.

Also, Chicago people. I will be out at a ton of these Stone events, so let me know if you will be out and I will look for you. Going to Twisted Spoke tomorrow (Thurs), small bar(s) on Friday, Bavarian Lodge and Finnegan's on Saturday, Whole Foods/Map Room on Sunday, and Publican on Wednesday. Maybe somewhere on Monday too.

Todd, I was thinking about Long Room on Monday, since it's only a few blocks from me. Would've gone to Whole Foods on Sunday but, y'know, Easter.

Unfortunately I'm gonna have to miss most of the Stone events because my Mom is visiting this weekend. Though I'll still most likely be at the Long Room on Monday.

I'm just going to pick up a few 6 packs to see what the big deal is.

I can get behind a visit to Long Room on Monday.

ok so normally i hate anything that summit does that isnt the boring standby pale ale, but to my shock i had the new rye IPA and it was kind of fantastic.

fuuuuuuuuck this beer is delicious

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3554/3301982659_8a45cfb228_o.jpg

I haven't been so impressed with a beer in a loooong time

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3375/3245727597_08e7701970_m.jpg

normally blue bottles are kinda tacky but the silver and blue combo is really nice imo (its kind of a deep sapphire-ish blue in normal light)

just a nicely done hefeweizen that's really drinkable and balanced and I can't wait for summer to get here

Enjoyed some things on tap at the new German-style beer garden in Jersey City this past weekend. Noteworthy to me was the Leffe Brown (I usually have the Blonde), which I thought was pretty good with spicy notes and not as sweet as I feared.

Coors in the new era
http://assets.bizjournals.com/story_image/850471-0-0-1.jpg

RIP Goose Island Nut Brown and Oatmeal Stout. Sad.

http://www.facebook.com/notes/goose-island-beer-co/hex-nut-brown-ale-and-oatmeal-stout/109674202396880

dear bottle of belgian beer: is there a reason you keep on foaming 10 minutes after I have opened you? is it a sign you want me to pour you into a bottle?

into a glass you mean? yeah prob.

glass, yeah. I poured a little bit into a glass just now and it nearly tripled in volume -.-

I just used HEXNUT in a crossword puzzle, and probably the only reason I even knew it was a thing was b/c of Hex Nut Brown Ale.

there are some belgians that'll do that...just gotta wait to drink it, putting off sweet beer satisfaction

coming to the realisation that i massively prefer stout and porter over all other beer. Drinking Midnight Sun Porter, microbrewed in Alloa. Yum. Going to start frequenting the famous real ale pub that is a couple of hundred yards from my flat.

captain lawrence double IPA
six point diesel stout
(both good)

which pub is tht, jim?

The Bon Accord.

where i just had a pint of orkney dark island. om nom nom.

of local interest only i think, but the grainbelt nordeast is pretty much as expected, much better than premium, less banana taste and some sort of vague brown ale thing going on? worth a bottle or two, def wouldn't buy a 12 pack.

I will admit that "less banana taste" is very very very high on my list of desirable qualities in the flavor of my beer

suggest banana taste in your beer

obv you guys have never fallen victim to the trick where someone tells you to think about bananas when in the middle of a premium and then you can never ever drink the stuff again

once you taste it you cant ever untaste it is what i am saying here

hahaha I'm going to just start doing this at random, with random things

hopefully I will find someone with defective tastebuds for whom I can ruin sushi

I was at a bar in northeast Mpls last week where almost everyone was drinking Grainbelt Nordeast. Don't know if it was super cheap, if they all got curious to try it at the same time, or if it's actually that good. Didn't try.

whoah waht is it maed this GB NE? granted i live in the wrong part of mpls to imbibe it, i guess, btu still

also: i first noted the banana flavor thing in BUDWEISER---it's endemic to a lot of american "pilseners" imo

I read some blog reviewing the japanese beer I had upthread and it mentioned banana and bubblegum flavors which made it all the more delicious imo

surely the ultimate banana beers are hefeweizen and suchlike

how have I been blissfully unaware of this banana beer phenomenon

Yeah, Franziskaner Hefeweizen is very banana-y but in a good way.

There was some discussion of the banana/bubblegum/clove taste of most Hefeweizens way upthread. It's all about the esters.

banana/bubblegum/clove taste

lol, I didn't know Bobby Flay made beer

Dan (not HI DERE, the other one) I think the launch was last week and they did a bunch of promo stuff in NE MPLS, maybe at grumpys and a couple of other places, so that would prob explain that

this fine beer should be pretty freely available around town now i think, i can of course guarantee that it is in ready supply at my dear beloved BOOZE MART

lol "grumpys"

avoid the brownie surprise

on actual beer topics, I've noticed that I've been buying Harpoon assortment packs almost exclusively because I don't actually have one particular beer that I like drinking all the time

(xpost) I was at Shaw's. Yep, that's probably the reason.

Speaking of fruity beer, as in grapefruity, I've been drinking Widmer Deadlift Imperial IPA a bunch lately. Excellent.