Beer in the new era

Stillwater's Cellar Door is mostly weird. On the one hand it's a decent saison, on the other it's trying to be a sour, I think? Too much sage. The cans are neat looking though

I wish there was extra CBS around these parts, I'd just like to try it.

I have scored copious BBA beers from Insight and Bent Paddle lately though so the locals are coming thru.

I never really paid attention to any of the special Founders beers because I could never get them locally and didn’t care enough to have someone ship them to me. But I live an hour from the brewery now so I should probably look into this.

sounds like supply/demand for it is uneven throughout the usa

founders regular stuff is all pretty good imo, i've never had the special stuff. founders porter is one of the best porters i've ever had except it has possibly the worst tagline of any beer (and why the fuck does a beer have a tagline anyways?!) - "dark, rich, and sexy" uhh no

xp I kind of think that one factor here (MN) is that alcohol can't be sold in regular grocery stores, so there's no "four cases gathering dust at Whole Foods" out there to find. Everything is at a liquor store, and there are fewer of those plus they tend to be pretty obsessively stocked/picked over in the city. When I lived in Chicago finding random treasures at grocery or corner stores was more common.

one of the best things about chi town

might go early next year

xxp i've grown to find comfort in founder's kitschy graphic design and marketing. you are correct that it is all terrible, though.
xp to joygoat: i buy the grand rapids beer hype but i am selling the grand rapids coney dog scene hype

re: cbs/bcbs fatigue imo it's a bunch of factors; those beers are def more at parity with others now than they were 5 years ago. also around here ppl care more and more about what is new and local, like without all day idk what kind of shelf presence founders would have and i don't know anyone who considers goose's regular rotation to be even credible. i think i've somewhat lost my taste for barrel aged stouts and i've talked to other people who feel similarly.

― call all destroyer, Wednesday, December 6, 2017 10:52 AM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

founder's making backwoods bastard regular rotation seems to acknowledge this. too many barrel aged stouts. you need to put something else in the barrels and a scotch ale happens to be an even better thing that you can put in a bourbon barrel.

https://www.thrillist.com/drink/nation/every-state-in-the-usa-ranked-by-its-beer

Nice to see the UP's finest making an appearance in the Michigan roundup.

For point of Whole Foods comparison, cases of BCBS still sitting around today, but when I asked about CBS they told me it came and went last week in a flash.

xp list seems rong though

evacuation zone 4 blocks away. do I pound the cbs before evacuating?

Yes

only 2 pints. will simply explain we are evacuating in hurricane neanderthal style.

Thats horrible sufjan

Hope theyre able to control these fires soon

thanks, infinity. I hope so, too. From the evacuation orders, it looks like they anticipate the fire moving up the mountain from us and possibly further up the coast. Still keeping one hand on the CBS.

Hey priorities :-)

Have any Minnesotans itt had Bent Paddle's BA Double Shot Double Black? I just opened one and am trying to decide whether it's on par with BCBS Coffee or just a very good big BA beer. It's really surprisingly good, I like their standard lineup but it's not mindblowing in any way, unlike this.

…it may just be all adjunct flavors that I'm getting here, it is a really heavily coffee/vanilla'd beer.

I like the Stillwater Artisanal Micro (citra-focused pale ale). Hazy golden color, crisp, with that almost basil-like citra flavor.

Xpost, Dan never had it but it seems to have really good reviews on untapped. Also it’s a Belgian dark?

I don't get any Belgian-ness out of it, my understanding is the base beer is a simple black ale.

Also since I don't drink coffee I am wired as fuck now after having about half of the bottle. The brewery's website says it gets a big dose of cold press, hence the "double shot".

I just opened one and am trying to decide whether it's on par with BCBS Coffee or just a very good big BA beer.

The MidWest beer I consider a slept-on BCBCS killer is Cafe Deth by Revolution:

(age-gate):
https://revbrew.com/beer/deep-wood-series/cafe-deth

Comes in a can which is kinda novel for the style.

Oh yeah, that shits great—unfortunately I don't live in Chicago anymore

btw beer ppl I've met here speak of Revo in reverential tones which I find kind of lol

Yeah haha, during my last visit to Chicago (about a year ago) people were freaking about this kid brewer at one of the RAM locations.

I never found CBS anywhere in bottles sadly but did find two new beer stores that are both kind of amazing.

Revolution just started showing up here, only a couple IPAs at first but I’m starting to see more and haven’t had any yet.

revolution cans sit and sit and sit in mass now

I got a 6 pack of Sorachi Ace at Giant today for $11 - I think they forgot to update the price tag on "BKYN SSNL"

xxp my dad found it back home, they put a 1 per customer limit on it which is so funny

Yes, the entire rev deep wood series in cans this year is incredible.

Got a bottle of epic big bad baptista

whole foods bar has CBS on tap. set my soup supplies down and had a half-pour. I certainly enjoy the maple sweetness compared to KBS. hard to say if I like it more than backwoods in the founders lineup.

and no judgement here, but it always surprises me how a bar set in the middle of whole foods deli can actually transform into a "bar" bar. there are people there to drink beer, watch football, fuss over whether or not to get food, etc. I've gotten a beer there twice, and both times I was the only one with a basket of vegetables, grabbing a quick beer while grocery shopping.

I’ve had more beers at the Whole Foods bar in my new town than all other places combined. Hang out with kid, get him some pasta salad, have a beer.

that's a nice idea! A bit amazed by the whole foods bar selection.

The Whole Foods bar thing needs its own thread. It’s so weird to navigate.

I got La Chouffe tonight. Because Happy Holidays.

Anyone ITT near Philly?

a friend of mine bartends at the whole foods near me. he worked in regular bars for a like a decade and while he thinks the "whole foods bar scene" is ridiculous and absurd (what sufjan mentioned -- people actually going there to hang out vs getting a beer while shopping or getting a quick bite) he really loves the pace and the hours. he gets off work at 9:30pm as opposed to 3am or 4am.

xp Mordy iirc

ayo Mordy...

Yo what’s up?

i go to a whole foods very often

its convenient, has everything i need and the beer guy knows me and lets me buy more than the min of limited qty beers before theyre even out in the shelf

it beats driving to more than one place

xp: does your ILX mail work?

Sadly no - ill webmail you my email addy

Whole Foods are among the finest bars.

there are many reasons to hate on WF, but the stores are really well thought-out in my experience

you sure pay for that, though

BA Ten Fidy is very nice. One perk of being removed from the popular white whale beers of Chicago is that others have become seemingly easier to find? Never had this stuff there, it disappeared too fast.