Beer in the new era

ok actually this is like way better than I thought it would be

xp holy shit a 100 from Beer Advocate. Did it live up to the rating?

i haven't had it yet - it's in my fridge atm

Was at some sad Chicago suburb hotel bar this week for work and they had Sculpin on tap. Made my night.

Should say the hotel and area were sad, but the bar was happening and the bartenders ruled. Think I had four and I got a 14 dollar bill. Healthy tip.

I don't want to be that guy, but I think the russian river stuff is solid but not the holy fuck experience a lot of peeps seem to think it is.

i gotta be honest - when i finally got a chance to taste pliny the younger it blew my mind out of my brain carriage

I think I've only had one of their beers when I was at Toronado in SF so it was a good time all around

individual rr beers may/may not be to one's taste, but as a whole they're way better than solid.

Never had any. Some bring me a sampler.

I have one bottle left of SN Flipside; I am saving it for EMERGENCY DRINKING ONLY, because I am broke. Next time I buy beer though I need to branch out of my SN comfort zone. If only most other craft brands weren't so fucking expensive.

By the way, do we have a homebrew thread?

This one, but very inactive.

Brewing your own beer

I've made beer a few times, and mead the last two times I've brewed.

i have plans to brew a sour soon

We've had a sour in the secondary for a year now

that temptation is a great beer. definitely the best of their sours in my opinion.

just had my first bottle of mad elf for the season and it is super cherry tasting this year

Drank my 2009 bourbon county bomber tonight. Was delicious.

Total shocker tonight from a Grand Teton (eh) 5 o'clock shadow (ehh) double black lager (ehhhhhhhhh) from 2012. Totally outstanding. Dark chocolate and coffee stoutly awesomeness with some licorice mixed in there on the tailing end. Of course, they ceased production on this this year. Jerks.

apparently i won a raffle at my local beer shop and got a free keg of bell's brown ale :D

whoa rad

Like, a barrel or one of their minikegs? Because while awesome, lol at having a quarter or half barrel around the house.

OTOH I guess it's pretty easy to build a kegerator

ok, it's just 1.32 gallons :) still!

I'd see if I could exchange for equal value bottles. Any size keg is pretty pointless for my purposes.

Sounds like a good evening at home

I guess you could invite a friend

Once upon a time a store in my neighborhood in Chicago was selling those minikegs of Best Brown and Two Hearted for $18 each. Fun weekends back then.

THINGS I HAVE DRANK OF LATE --

Westbrook Gose -- liked this more than I expected. A touch salty, nice & sour. Can see myself drinking a lot of it in hotter weather.
Westbrook Ninja - delicious citrusy double IPA made with lots of fruits. Very drinkable for the ABV (9%ish)
Barrier Dunegrass Double IPA - Nice, not too syrupy like a lot of double IPAs. Not quite at the level of Stone's ENJOY BY but really quite good.
tried some framboise; didn't like it.

other less exciting recent drinkin --
Radeberger
Augustiner Helles, nice drinkable German lager.
Konrad czech pils, crisp & refreshing
Sierra Nevada Harvest Ale -- really nice hop flavor, great for the price ($5ish for a 22)

I've been on a Two Hearted kick for a few weeks, there's just something about that stuff in the fall.

I had that Sierra Nevada recently too, seemed perfectly serviceable just like most all their other products.

Is Sierra Nevada Celebration out yet? Such a good beer.

i think it is just coming out, yes

saw it in the stores today!

Drank a 12 pack already. It's really good this year.

Founders Harvest is pretty choice.

harvest tastes real weird this year imo.

orly? what was off abt it? i didn't notice anything strange with the bottle i drank.

i don't think it's a flaw or anything, just this year's wet hops have an odd flavor profile to me. it's almost vegetal or something. i thought last year's was outstanding.

I had the same impression

i think there was a sort of earthy/leafy flavor in there but i dig it.

ho snap party at Mordy's xp

that evil twin biscotti is tremendous

xp open invitation to all ilxors next time yr in philly i will take u out to my fave bars and also tired hands brewpub

Victory's new DIPA "Dirt Wolf" seems to be making waves on the beer sites lately. Bought a 4 pack last night and was not let down.

dirt wolf is okay, but i'm coming to realize that in general i just can't handle the syrupy flavor/hot booziness of most double IPAs. there are exceptions, like Stone's Enjoy By and the aforementioned Westbrook Ninja, but a lot of them are just alcohol delivery devices and why not just drink whiskey? dirt wolf is good tho, don't get be wrong, it's not total crap.

one thing i really like about dirt wolf is that it doesn't taste so syrupy to me. also i really love the smell/taste of those mosaic hops

i liked dirt wolf quite a bit, impressed by victory for the first time in a while.

victory's braumeister pils was TOPS imo. sessionable, crisp, well-hopped pilsner.
i also really enjoy their storm king stout, and their regular pilz. i haven't had many of their one-off or seasonals.

Stopped by the new beer store in Rego Park Queens again on the way back from Costco and bought a few singles -- Delerium Nocturnum, Guillotin, and a Hitachino Nest Sweet Stout (the last of which I kind of already regret -- their beers seem overpriced as fuck). The beer store dude hooked me up with a free can of Cigar City Jai Alai, which you really never see around here. Stamped October 22, 2013, so super fresh. It's pretty nice. I'm really not big on IPAs, but this one is not overbearing or bitter for bitterness's sake. Also has a cool can:

http://imageshack.us/a/img189/8480/webjaialai.png

i love jai alai

I enjoyed it but wouldn't get again. I think I just don't really like IPAs. They make me feel tired and leave a weird taste in my mouth.

Don't think I'm going to open anything else right now though - a belgian ale or a stout wouldn't really taste right after this.