Beer in the new era

my girl friend brought me a 6 pack of Hitachino Nest White Ale. Pretty good stuff. nice floral aromas ,perfect for a hot summer day. i think it's kind of pricey though

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link, sorry: Canadian Beer

Apparently they have Aphrodisiaque in now. And I'm destitute poor and going away for the weekend! NOOOOO!

Recommend some beer. Not too heavy, not too wheaty, crisp and refreshing in the style of Tsing Tsao or similar.

Also recommend some beers like Paulaner or the white Kronenberg with the fruity taste whose name escapes me.

I am in the mood for trying different beers.

Dude, Zywiec

(re: light, crisp, refreshing, not wheaty)

I was at the nashville beer fest and the best thing there was a homebrewed bock that they ran out of by my second go-round. After a while though all you care about is that the beer is cold, because it's nearly august, and you're outdoors in nashville.

I think I might have talked my dad into getting a 30-gallon kit from Boot Lager. (ha ha, "boot lager")

I also finally made myself a michelada with a little kosher salt on top of a can of tecate with a lime in it. not half bad, if you don't mind a bit of foamy foam foam.

Sundar, have you tried Flying Bison? I can't quite remember which bars serve it (I think the Ulrich's, but they have closed, I think). I miss it dearly.

I swore by Aviator Red (which you can get at Wegman's) for a while. I still think it's good but have gone off it a bit. Are there other good FB beers?

I wanted to make it to Dieu du Ciel when I visited Mtl earlier in the month but couldn't make it. Drank a lot of St-Ambroise (and some nice micro wheats) instead.

They have seasonal beers (which I can remember the name of), that friends would bring me in growlers. I never managed to locate the brewery, which apparently is on the West Side (on Niagara, maybe?). Anyway, I remember enjoying the summer and winter ales quite a bit.

Available in Wegmans!? Ahh! This was not so when I lived there! I love you, Wegmans!

"Dude, Zywiec"

One of the benefits of my area of London filling up with large numbers of young eastern Europeans is the availablity in the cornershops of excellent Polish beers at ridiculously cheap prices.

Zywiec is one of the better ones, at about £1 a bottle. The dark lagers especailly are a revelation.

Ronan WTF?? This is truly a new era for you!

Saku from Estonia is pretty good

Saku or Saku Kuld, anyway. The dark variety has that soy saucey aftertaste I can't get with.

Ronan WTF?? This is truly a new era for you!

is this a joke? heh...I don't get it if so. is it that unusual that I ask about trying new beers?

I had a Saku Porter that had a weird aftertaste, that was probably the same one.

Wheats: Last night I was drinking Sprecher Hefe Weiss, which was all right.
Non-Wheats: Last night I was also drinking New Holland Mad Hatter, which was goddamn awesome.

I guess I am in the dark :/ I thought you were still teetotalling because of your stuffed-upedness-in-the-cabesa.

I was wondering if Tracer was assuming Ronan only drank Irish beers or something.

Zywiec is indeed a fine beer. love that red temperature indicator on the back too.

The dude who runs the Polish Sausage and Liquor emporium near my place warned my friends and I of the strength of Polish beer when we were there picking up samples of each variety. Then he gave us kielbasa with whole garlic cloves stuffed inside.

Zywiec in hand and Kielbasa on the grill = heaven

i want beer now!

i want kielbasa!

lets have a bar-b-q guys!

Recommend some beer. Not too heavy, not too wheaty, crisp and refreshing in the style of Tsing Tsao or similar.

This is kind of a lame answer; it's not a microbrew or particularly exotic...but as a pretty beer-snobby person, I have to say that Beck's is a really nice beer in that sense, especially considering its ubiquity and inexpensiveness. It's tastier than Heineken, at any rate. Also the Reinheitsgebot (I would say "German purity law", but that sounds a bit, er, y'know...) means that you are drinking barley, hops, yeast and water; not rice and corn or other shitty American craplager filler.

In general, and as far as the second part of your question goes, (the Paulaner, etc.) I would go to a pub with a deep selection, or else to a shop with great beer choices, and basically sample whatever German beers you have never heard of...there are so many amazing ones (off the top of my head, I'd unreservedly recommend anything from Weihenstephan,
Franziskaner, Hofbrau Munchen, Schneider Weisse). There are much "crazier" Belgians, American microbrews, and so forth...but it sounds like you are looking for crisp lagers, pilseners, and wheat beers...in which case I'd point ya towards the German stuff. (as well as the Eastern European recommendations that people have mentioned above)

Did you ever try the house Hefeweizen at the Pearl St Brewery, Molly? It's really wonderful, with a peculiar but very nice strong banana flavour.

I've been enjoying Franziskaner's brown ale and Spaten's Hefeweizen as well.

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Another vote for Zywiec! Polish beer generally seems to be on a level with German or Czech, but for less than half the price here in the UK.

Truth: I really dislike Hefeweizen. I do not like fruit in my beer, as a rule. I do, however, strongly approve of their Trainwreck, which is really dark and sturdy. (NB when I used to work across the street from Pearl Street, that was my choice of locations for the liquid lunch). Also, we're having the wedding reception there in a year! Microbrews all around!

i like okocim too tho it's a little more low-rent.

Some beers I've sampled lately:

Blue Moon - I found this to be not bad at all for a domestic version of "white beer" (in the style of Hoegaarden). It was a hot, humid New Jersey summer day, and a cold pint of this with a wedge of lime on top hit the spot in so many ways.

Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA - This is a nice, smooth, well-rounded IPA. I would consider this as an alternative to my usual standby, Sierra Nevada - though the flavor seemed a bit less intensely floral than the SN - almost a little too well-behaved.

Spaten Lager - This is a good straightforward German lager, in the style of Becks or Lowenbrau. Perhaps a bit more dignified and balanced than those two (esp. Lowenbrau, which can be a bit inconsistent). Goes well with subtler-flavored food, since it doesn't overpower it the way stronger ales and American-style lagers (like Brooklyn or Sam Adams) can.

and a cold pint of this with a wedge of lime on top

waht

Actually now that I think about it, it was probably an orange slice.

prob'ly

Another vote for Zywiec! Polish beer generally seems to be on a level with German or Czech, but for less than half the price here in the UK.

^^yesss.

I've found them cheap in Aus too. It's good stuff.

unofficial poll.

favorite ice beer:

natty ice
beast ice
bud ice
miller ice
ice house
ice house xtra cold
ice house dry

you forgot labatt ice.

i think there's a molson ice too

I've enjoyed all the house brews at Pearl St, esp the oatmeal stout.

Yeah, I was gonna say, Blue Moon is served with an orange slice. Your post made me wonder what it'd be like with a lime, though. I'm not usually a fan of orange slices on white ales or lemon slices on Hefeweizens, but I do like limes in Mexican beers.

blue moon is made by coors

tylski is the polish beer to buy.

blue moon is made by coors

True. One reason I don't drink it anymore. (The other being that I've found Belgian-style whites that I like better, including Hoegaarden and even Sam Adams White.)

Hey, just as a public service announcement, if you ever consider ordering a Summit Scandia? Don't.

Yeah, I was gonna say, Blue Moon is served with an orange slice. Your post made me wonder what it'd be like with a lime, though

I was typing too quickly without thinking - but yes, it was an orange slice. I think the orange would probably go a bit better with a white beer than lime, because the sweetness of the orange would balance the tartness of the beer a bit. I just found out about Blue Moon being made by Coors recently - but I don't think that would affect my decision to buy it either way.

I had something called Innis & Gunn last weekend, and it was really, really good.

Is there a boycott against Coors or something?

just saying, if you want real craft brewers to get more shelf and tap space, you may want to refrain from supporting the same old megabreweries as they jump from one seasonally popular style of import/craft beer to the next (this summer I have had to stop myself from buying Beach Bum Ale, made by anheuser busch)

the large breweries rarely know how to make a good seasonal brew anyway
http://z.about.com/d/beer/1/0/e/2/-/-/ABCask.JPG

fuck’s sake

Holy shit, that's bleak. But, I mean, probably the right move to keep getting international students.

international universities are happily hoovering up all the international students that can no longer get into the U.S.

And for something like brewing, makes sense to relocate to a place more welcoming to international students and international faculty and guests.

the death knell of Fair State Co-op in Minneapolis, of which I was a member

Dear Members of the Fair State Brewing Cooperative Community,
You just received a notice from the Fair State Board of Directors that the last day of service in the Fair
State Brewing Cooperative taproom will be this weekend. This may have come as a surprise, and I
acknowledge that my lack of transparency through these recent months has been frustrating. For that, I
sincerely apologize. Now that I am able, I wish to provide a more thorough explanation. Of note, I was
advised by the Fair State Board of Directors not to send an additional statement, but I believe I owe it to
my staff and this member community to provide more clarity.
When Fair State was navigating its planned closure of our Saint Paul production facility, Rancher’s
entered the picture as one of two potential acquirers, and the only one committed to retaining all Fair
State staff. We mutually agreed to move forward without laying off union staff while also providing
medium-term stability and support to stabilize the taproom business. Notably, while Fair State had initially
contemplated selling only the Saint Paul equipment, Rancher’s unexpectedly negotiated an agreement
with our senior bankruptcy creditor to purchase all of Fair State’s assets, including its taproom equipment
and brand.
This action led to additional trepidation in my public communications, as I had to coordinate with Rancher’s
while weighing the risk of jeopardizing the brand, our staff’s livelihood, and the cooperative’s long-term
viability in the bankruptcy process. Yesterday, just before 5 pm, Rancher’s notified me that their support
of the Fair State taproom would cease effective this Saturday. I quickly requested that support continue
over the holiday period to provide a more equitable transition for taproom staff as well as support for
severance and health insurance.
Without this support, the taproom does not have sufficient liquidity to remain open. Although I wish we
could, I refuse to be in a position where I may not be able to pay taproom staff for hours they work. Thus,
after we pour our last beer Sunday, the cooperative will close, and the taproom staff and I will no longer
be employed. I am working to find other ways to support our staff through this transition. I will also be
sending a separate communication to preferred share investors in Fair State, detailing what this means for
them.
I duly acknowledge that our taproom and cooperative business is not sustainable. That rests on my
shoulders. Chill State, as well as our partnership with (the amazing) Farina Rossa has been successful in
bringing in fresh faces. Our beer remains of the highest quality. Although it has stopped the bleeding, it
has not reignited enough growth. In the past eight months, I have not been able to forge an independent
path forward, and we do not have a reasonable hope of satisfying our obligations under our Chapter 11
plan. The capital required to sustain the taproom exceeds what I am willing to ask of members, of whom
we have already asked too much.
I also apologize that my lack of transparency may have negatively impacted member sentiment and
support. Please know that I was always focused on how to keep our doors open and keep our taproom
staff employed. This community has meant the world to me. It has been the honor of a lifetime to be part
of one of the nation’s first cooperative breweries and the first unionized microbrewery.

You’re likely wondering if you will still see Fair State beer on liquor store shelves and in distribution. The
answer is yes: Rancher’s is running the Saint Paul production facility and owns the Fair State brand and
beer recipes, meaning you are likely to see “Fair State Brewing” beer on shelves, albeit potentially with a
different look and without association to the cooperative. The unionized production staff also remains
employed by Rancher’s. This serves as a testament to the quality of the Fair State product, the dedication
and talent of the production staff, and the power of unionization.
I want to thank you for your unwavering support of our cooperative mission and the sense of community
you’ve built over the past 10+ years. During this generally crazy time to be in business – much less, this
crazy time to be alive – I am most proud of the community of people we were able to bring together.
Finally, I want to invite you to the taproom for the short time we have left. Our hours are 12-10 pm
today, Friday, December 5 and 12-10 pm tomorrow, Saturday, December 6, and 12-9 pm Sunday,
December 7. After reimbursing Fair State taproom and Farina Rossa, all proceeds after tips will go to
supporting our staff and paying off certain Fair State liabilities.
I hope to raise a glass to our staff and members, as well as the community (and beer) we made together.
With gratitude,

Evan Sallee (co-founder)
Fair State Brewing Cooperative

it's getting tough out there

a friend of mine wrote a book about Trappist beer from a theological perspective: https://wipfandstock.com/9798385237357/time-silence-and-yeast/

he's having a release party in Chicago next weekend: https://app.upserve.com/s/off-color-brewing-chicago

That looks neat, I'll have to see if I can make it work ...

the book sounds really interesting!

I really want to go but I already have plans to be in Madison :(

Hmm, so it's just a ... release party? He's not speaking?

It sounds like a more informal event than a lecture. he termed it "open forum" for questions and conversation about the beers, the monks, the book, etc. He said to me: "I want the release to be in tune with what the monks want their beer to be doing."

The event also gets you glassware and the entire Trappist lineup that he researched. He'll be doing formal lectures down the line, I guess.

I will be at the beer thing, sounds interesting.

Event was good, glad I went!

Glad to hear, I really wish I could have made it but it wasn't in the cards. Depending on which time slot you attended you might have been there with a sizeable chunk of my Chicago friend group.

I was at the 1-2:45 session. I would have passed on a hello to Marty but it would have been weird. "I don't know you, but hi from a guy you know that I interact with on the internet!"

I learned that the closest Trappist monk collective to Chicago is in Iowa. They make caskets.

https://trappistcaskets.com/

They need to turn those caskets into casks.

haven't really been following this but this dude seems like a piece of shit (unless someone tells me different)

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/mar/04/small-investors-turn-on-james-watt-after-brewdog-founder-admits-many-mistake

lol this guy is still around?