Beer in the new era

Some of Six Point's beers can be a bit too syrupy or sweet, after a pint or two. The rye and 'sweet action' are the ones in particular i'm talking about. Great beers but not ones i'd wantto drink all night. the brooklyn IPA, i could drink all day. Kelso has a good pilsner and also a good brown ale.

I tried this last night and was shocked at how much I liked it:
http://thebeersessions.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/back-in-black-1.jpg

Perhaps the first "Cascadian Dark Ale" / "Black IPA" I've ever had. Started hoppy like an IPA and finished malty and rich like a stout. Quite delicious.
http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/735/46070

I've had the Grand Teton Trout Hop Black IPA. it was good.

I had a bomber of Stone Sublimely Self-Righteous Ale last night, which is a black ipa / cascadian dark ale. It was good. I guess this is a happening new beer style?

Yeah, I've enjoyed that one. When I was in Portland earlier this year, I had the Widmer W'10 Pitch Black IPA, which was great, too.

Not sure if I like the black IPAs or not but I've seen a lot of them around lately. I've got one of the Stone Self-Righteous 22s in my fridge right now but I haven't tasted it yet.

yeah it is definitely a new happening style - I like 'em cuz they have a lot of the dark notes but not the heavy maltiness and body of stouts. think of an overhopped version of 1554, New Belgium's "Black Ale" (and the only beer of theirs I like).

just scored some Norwegian Beers from O brewery over the weekend. Haven't tried them yet as I am taking them to my Norwegian in-laws for Christmas.

Every year I go on the hunt for norwegian beer for them for Christmas, this is the first time in 16 years i've found any. Not high on the import list in massachusetts.

http://www.nogne-o.com/

Dan M might remember the name of the Norwegian beer he had at Long Room in Chicago a few months ago. I want to say the brewery was HaandBryggeriet, but I could be wrong.

yes, i've also got one from there as well the hesjeol to try out. $12.99 for a bottle....

That was the stuff, J. Another I've had is Aass: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aass_Brewery

Tastes like...

had a session at the Southampton Arms on Saturday evening. was able to dry my socks in front of the fire whilst necking several pints of Tring's Mansion Mild and an obligatory Darkstar Hophead. both are great sessionable beers.

i also convinced my friends who were over from New York to sample a pickled egg. down in one!

yes i've has aass before, father in laws favorite.

so youve tasted your father in laws aass

hard.

IIRC I had Aass CLASSIC

is norwegian beer readily available in other states?

Minnesota, yo

well figured as much.

Wow, Brewdog Hardcore IPA (Explicit Imperial Ale) REALLY did not work for me. I love Imperial IPA's, double IPA's and the like, but this is much closer to a barleywine IMO, with a very malty sweetness and almost syrupy mouthfeel. (And I like barleywine a lot, too, but I found this unpleasant; it left a really bizarre aroma in my pint glass.)

beers i drank over the holidays
sierra nevada celebration / torpedo
st bernardus trippel
green flash barleywine ale
Alesmith Anvil ESB

Celebration is really a beer where I can only have one though.

i had more than one, but i know what you mean

Oh man, I've been trapped in Philly for two days due to snowshitstorm, but I turned it into a beercation. So many good beers from Monks Cafe that I won't even attempt to spell at this time.

drank a lot of harpoon over the past weekend. Munich Style Dark and Winter Warmers.

yeah i would be happy to get snowed in at monks. philly is about the best beer town ever, as long as you arent stuck buying it in their fucked up liquor stores. try the yards brawler if you get a chance xpost

Kind of curious to see how this bar fares:
http://www.mlive.com/entertainment/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2010/11/kalamazoo_beer_exchange_main_s.html

"Kalamazoo Beer Exchange allows the prices of beer to fluctuate based on patrons' buying trends."

The prices will change every 15 minutes and there will be, at random, a “stock market crash” — signified by air horns — when all 28 beers are sold at a low rate for five minutes.

Haha, awesome!

For a sec I was thinking that was actually in the wall street area, which led to me doing a near spittake at the "base" price for a beer being three dollars.

ps love this idea

don't know how available it is outside of new england but "our finest regards" by pretty things is the best barleywine i've ever had. that style usually gets kind of sick with malty sweetness to me; this is more like a steroidal brown ale or something.

my norwegian beers were a hit, the Saison was awesome.

Trader Joe's Vintage Ale time again. Still the best deal in beer.

I'm not fond of other New Belgium beers, but for a reasonably priced American IPA I like their new Ranger. Same IBU (70) as some of the double IPAs I love (like Widmer Deadlift) but 6.5 vs. 8.6 alcohol makes it a bit more sessionable. I like the bottle shape, too -- remeinds me of a retro root beer bottle.

http://www.examiner.com/images/blog/EXID383/images/NB_RangerIPA.jpg

I got a Harpoon Winter assortment and it was all good, but their UFO unfiltered hefeweitzen was GREAT. I got to find some more of that stuff. I bet it is even better on tap.

come to boston! it is in essentially every bar.

yes, everybody come visit

Kinda bummed out by the Harpoon chocolate stout. Seemed sort of thin? And the chocolate flavor was sorta artificial. I did really like the Sierra Nevada porter I had this week though.

New Belgium's all over the place here, now. I like theirs!

beer: it's still pretty good

Man, North Coast isn't fucking around with this Old Rasputin Imperial Stout, are they?

Deschutes hophenge ipa - pretty aok!

New Glarus dragons milk stout - heavy in a not entirely good way

Old Rasputin is great; I don't like a lot of stouts but that one is something different. It's pretty intense though.

I had a black IPA from 21st Amendment tonight and thought it was fucking vile - something about it was just wrong and unappealing. They're the assholes who made the watermelon wheat beer so I though I'd give one of their real beers a chance but it might have been worse because I wasn't expecting the watermelon one to actually be any good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPtMHSYtPc4&feature=player_embedded

oh, i like the 21st amendment black IPA.. thought it was kind of weird at first but it really grew on me. LOVE old ras too.

i hate everything ive ever had from 21st amendment but holy shit the watermelon is a standout in utter rankness

Bells hopslam tonight. I usually don't hesitate at buying expensive beer, but this was $17.99 a six pack. Kept me from buying 2 of them at least.

21st ammendment's IPA is stellar.
just bought at the specialty shoppe:

Dulle Teve (by De Dolle)- one of my fave Belgians

I Hardcore You (Mikkeler, Denmark) - i really love what i've tried by these guys

't Smisje Kerst (De Regennboog, Belg.)

Organic Pilsner (Lammsbrau, Germany)

Dark Force (Haand Bryggeriet, Norway) - says on bottle: Double Imperial Wheat Stout

Gonna crack open the Half Acre Double Daisy Cutter tonight.

I'd had it on NYE (courtesy of Jeff) but feel like I wasn't really savoring it. Drinking now, this is some p. good stuff!