Beer in the new era

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!

I like it a lot. Much better than regular daisy cutter. Which I still like a lot.

why does all the beer I want to drink cost so much :(

my friend todd from high school is the head brewer at harpoon.

anyways, its NOBLE PILS times for me.

granted there is 4 feet of snow on the ground, im just thinking spring.

The Mikkeler "Beer Geek Brunch" is fantastic, and how its made is ummm interesting.

Started to find IPAs sort of sickening -- is that weird? Like they actually kind of give me a headache and a bad hangover. Something about the hops?

Totally weird. I think you are not human anymore.

^^^^ this.

I dunno, I had to stop drinking porters for a while cause they started doing the same to me

My wife won't drink anything that describes itself as an "amber" because more often than not she gets hives. I don't know what consistent thing would be in ambers over other beers which she's usually fine with.

Three really good beers last night:

Stone, Sublimely Self-Righteous Ale
Goose Island, Dominique
Brouwerij, Bourgogne des Flandres

don't know what gansett's distribution is like these days but grab this if you see it:

http://www.projo.com/photos/20101215/FOOD1215_narragansett_porter_adj_12-15-10_OPLF31Q.jpg

8 bucks for 6 tallboys of a very nice porter. i guess it was their winter seasonal. spring is going to be a bock and i've already heard good stuff about that too.

i'd love to see more brewers working in this space--excellently priced, accessible versions of classic styles.

had an aussie ipa called "little creatures" at the rake, good beer pub in south london, it was incredibly expensive but fucking great.

i have been on a pilsener kick lately--digging victory prima pils and sam adams noble pils in particular

My Antonia. Imperial pilsner. Dfh.

I did that porter recently -- they had it at Trader Joes. Very good.

how can this Pyramid Imperial IPA be $6.99 at the store and 8.5%? I can't imagine how they make money, maybe it's like a loss leader thing?

I just bought a six of that last night for $5.99. Same price as a six of the seasonal Widmer imperial stout that's also like 9%.

CAD, that Gansett porter is good stuff, bock isn't bad either.

great selection at the Rake. new place called the Euston Tap is supposed to have a huge selection of American craft beers, but the time i tried to visit they'd had a sewage system malfunction. not the brew i was looking for.

That would be the IPOO (I'll get my coat).

And I think Pyramid and Widmer can be that cheap because both companies are fairly large operations. Beer is cheap to make regardless of alcohol content. Also it may be that now we're going into Spring they're clearing out their "Winter" styles.

tried the dogfish aprihop last night -- pretty delish. pricey though ...

Had New Belgium's Le Terroir yesterday, which was great. Sour and sweet and bitter all in one beer!

xposts - I haven't seen Pyramid Imperial IPA, is it this?

http://brewpublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Pyramid-Outburst.jpg

$6.99 (or yipes $5.99!!) is insanely cheap, I can't get anything decent in my area for that price. It's only supposed to be available for February and March, so it seems too early to be blowing out remaining stock. No idea... how is it?

I like the Le Terrior.

Have I mentioned the Firestone Walker Double Jack in here yet? That has become my new favorite Double IPA. Other double (or triple) IPA's I've had recently:

Emelisse Triple (delicious)
Imperial Hatter (cask)
Avery DuganA IPA (sort of blah, I've never liked Avery brews
Founder's Double Trouble (good, but lacked the nuance of a Double Jack).

Also tried DFH's My Antonia, which is their new imperial pilsner. Reminded me a lot of the Golden Revolution that they released several years ago, which I loved.

What else? Half Acre Over Ale in a can. Good, but not a style of beer I drink very much at all, so not my favorite.

Is anyone else on Untappd? Be my friend. http://untappd.com/home

Yeah that's the Pyramid. I've only had one of them and it was after a few other beers so I can't really judge it on its own yet.

Pyramid and Widmer are big enough that they almost feel like Bud or Miller to me. There are so many other craft beers here in the PNW that I kind of pass these guys over in favor of new or different things, or stuff I really love but can't get in six packs for whatever reason. But $6 for six packs of imperial IPAs or stouts is something I can't pass up.

Drinking that Brooklyn Local One stuff now. It's slightly disappointing after those Unibroues -- it tastes a little bit pizza crusty or something.

had an aussie ipa called "little creatures" at the rake, good beer pub in south london, it was incredibly expensive but fucking great.

this stuff is ridiculously overrated imo, but then i have drunk a lot of it

Have I mentioned the Firestone Walker Double Jack in here yet?

Reviewed in this week's Reader, in fact. Looking forward to trying it. I'm pretty sure I had a Firestone Walker in Portland last year (not the Double Jack) and liked it quite a bit.

The Reader reviews beer??? Bizarre.

I wish I had a double ipa right now. And I'm in bed.

It's not a regular feature or anything -- one of their editors (Philip Montoro) is a beer geek, so he just writes about stuff randomly. This was in the "One Sip/Bite" feature that's sometimes in the Food/Drink section.

He also tipped me off to one of the best beer stores in the city.

Went there a few times when I lived closer to Addison. Now my main store is Armanetti's.

How do I find you on Untappd, Jeff? I just joined, though I'm not sure how useful it will be for me, since I don't have a smartphone.

I found you.

Prob won't be that useful as it is primarily for mobile check ins. Get a new phone!

Eh.

Right, then you'd have 100000000 ilx posts. But think of your friends. That need to know what beer you are drinking at every moment.

FWIW I had some majorly fucked up dreams after drinkiing Local One. My mom asked what I was doing this weekend and said that she needed me to slay the antichrist. When I woke up I thought I was in "the realm of evil" for like 2 or 3 minutes.