Beer in the new era

https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2018/07/324-of-the-best-ipas-blind-tasted-and-ranked.html

Paste mag with another IPA blind tasting.

Love reading all the @‘s with people bemoaning the popularity of IPA’s.

Blood orange pales and IPAs have become my new summer obsession. I've been drinking a lot of the Lagunitas and 21st Amendment versions. Anyone else have recommendations for easily obtainable ones?

I can still remember when I lived in Seattle years ago a brewery did a Christmas ale that dispensed with the usual darker, heavy body and the spices, and basically brewed an orange IPA that I thought was the best thing ever (at the time.)

Had some great ones last week. A blueberry sour from upland (Indianapolis iirc). Was not cloying. it ruled. And a triple IPA from killer ipa-makers Novo Brazil (Chula Vista) which was like 9% and i couldn't even taste any alcohol. Oh! And one from de dolle, who are maybe my fave Belgian producers.

weird no ithaca flower power or neshaminy shape of hops to come or unicorn vs ninja or heady topper or any beers by victory on that paste list

Do you like flower power Mordy? Not a fan myself

i guess i'm going to have to try a ripe, i've read articles in two different mags touting it as one of the great ipas. i don't get why one of the best ne ipas would come from portland, but i guess that's portland for you, and if i'm gonna drink an ipa it's probably gonna be an ne.

Nb I probably haven’t had one for a year but I like it a lot

The theoretically limited Lagunitas blood orange IPA is one of my faves, and I noticed they produced a shit ton more of it this year than ever before.

I'm going to be road tripping from Portland down to San Francisco is a couple of weeks. Any suggestions for Oregon or California beers I can't get here to keep an eye out for? The only one on my radar right now, honestly, is Pliny. And now I've added the Ripe (from Great Notion, right?) to my mental list as well.

****heater allen****

Lemme look at my untappd

Russian river supplication cherry wild ale

Craftsmen el prieto sour black ale (effing amazing tbh)

Kern river river buddy

Alpine duet
Alpine mandarin nectar (delicious)

And others I wouldn’t go out of my way but are very decent:

Craftsmen peachy keen

Golden road point the way ipa (LAX brewery — again, dece)

Stone brewing wootstout
Stone merc machine

Also you might as well visit Modern Times brewery in downtown LA, they have vegan food as well — fruitlands passion fruit with guava is nice

Can you get a lot of sierra nevada in yr area? If not, hop bullet dipa is surprisingly decent

Novo brazil pool party haze

Arrow lodge guava berliner

Lemme kno what u think of em

Oh missed that you’re only going as south as san fran

Im sure u can still get a lot of those

Theres a modern times in portland, only been to the dtla loc tho, so not sure if its worth it

In Portland proper, Upright is one of my favorite breweries.

If you go the coastal route south, hit DeGarde & Pelican in Tillamook

Other breweries along the way:

Block 15 in Corvallis
Boneyard in Bend
Crux in Bend
Ale Apothecary in Bend (appt-only but amazing)
Sierra Nevada in Chico
Moonraker in Sacramento
Moksa in Sacramento
Moonlight in Santa Rosa (just opened a new spot)
Russian River in Santa Rosa
Beercraft in Rohnert Park (not a brewery, but one of the best bottleshop/taprooms in the North Bay)
Lagunitas in Petaluma

xp
I'll second the El Prieto, but I doubt Craftsman is available in SF.

also: Great Notion will be out of Ripe cans, they sell out they day they're released. I went to a lesser release and it was a total shitshow. The spot is all right and they'll have most everything on draft (Double Stack is great).

we need a can check thread

https://i.imgur.com/xf1nVh3_d.jpg?maxwidth=640&shape=thumb&fidelity=medium

I'm going to be road tripping from Portland down to San Francisco is a couple of weeks. Any suggestions for Oregon or California beers I can't get here to keep an eye out for? The only one on my radar right now, honestly, is Pliny. And now I've added the Ripe (from Great Notion, right?) to my mental list as well.

I'll be in Portland, Bend, Ashland, Eureka, Mendocino, Sonoma Valley (just a little too far from Santa Rosa, alas) and San Fran. Dunno if I'll have time for too much beer drinking, since my wife's favorite beers are dark beers and stouts and the weather may not be stout friendly, but if it's going to happen it'll happen in Portland or Bend, I think. Everywhere else I may be beholden to what's on tap at any given stop.

Cascade Barrel House in Portland has some great sours.

Cellar maker in SF makes good IPAs.

I had Elysian's Super Fuzz Blood Orange Pale on tap when I was in Seattle and liked it, but just bought a sixpack locally and thought it was not as good. The orange search continues...

In Portland go to these shops if you can:
Belmont Station
Beermongers
The Brass Rail

Bend: I've got some good recommendations upthread, it's pretty much great beer everywhere, one of the raddest towns on the west coast.

Eureka: I went to a great restaurant a few years back that had bottles of Cantillon on their list, it was pretty odd as that doesn't happen much outside of Brussels for the past 5+ years nonetheless in California. Problem is, I can't remember the restaurant based on some googlin'... gah.

Sonoma has some great spots but I'm not sure what you mean by Sonoma Valley (the entire Sonoma Valley is like 35+ miles long from Sears Pt to Santa Rosa)... Are you staying in the town of Sonoma? There are some gems all over Sonoma.

We are staying in Petaluma.

I take it you’re gonna be drinking mostly wine while in sonoma tho?

I’ll second Cascade Barrel House and Belmont station in Portland, I love both of those places. Not beer related but Cascade is right by Katchka which is one of my favorite restaurants anywhere - Russian focused on drinking snacks and lots of vodka.

Lagunitas is based out in Petaluma and they are a extremely family friendly large brewery that's worth stopping by... food, activities, things on tap that don't see distro. Good spot for lunch imho. Henhouse is also out of Petaluma, they can a lot of good to great beer, definitely also worth swinging by if you can.

i like john's marketplace in portland, really good selection

as far as pubs the horse brass is a venerable institution with a good selection

at least in Portland and Bend we will be with beer drinking friends who can help guide me.

Redwood Curtain is in Arcata, just north of Eureka, and they make good hoppy beers and some wild stuff I think. Lost Coast is in Eureka; I like their dark beers. The 8 Ball stout is especially nice. North Coast is in Fort Bragg (north of Mendocino) and makes some excellent stouts, Old #38 Irish and Old Rasputin imperial Russian. The Russian River brewer once said he wouldn't make an imperial Russian stout while Old Rasputin was available. In the Bay Area, I'd look for these breweries on tap: Cellarmaker, Fieldwork, Alvarado Street, Faction, Barebottle, Laughing Monk, Henhouse.

also Revision and Altamont.

I've liked Almanac sours, who are Bay Area but I don't know if they have a tasting room or anything.

almanac's a good one. they have tasting rooms in the mission and in alameda.

Almanac is a hard pass from me, all their beers taste the same.

I like the Farmer's Reserve series from them (but haven't had one in an age). An IPA I had at the taproom was good but not great.

East coast vs West coast FIGHT!

I know I've talked about Blue Owl sour beers a lot, but today I got to visit the brewery and stock up on a whole assortment of sour beers. Was impressed with how busy they were on a Saturday afternoon. Hopefully someday they'll be able to extend their reach beyond Austin because their beer is fantastic.

https://dl.dropbox.com/s/od1ssvofhqtz7ib/20180714_162524.jpg?dl=0

Huh, never even heard of them, will keep an eye out. When I was in Austin, I was loving fresh cans of Live Oak Hefe/Pils everywhere, and Jester King for the more serious beer nerd adventure.

love the logo.

The range of sour beer varieties these guys brew up is kind of crazy. There was a bunch of stuff I decided not to buy today because it was feeling like too much.

Got the rhubarb compote sour from evil twin, like an alcoholic version of the rhubarb compote my grandmother used to make

Mmm, that sounds like my jam

Drinking this tonight. What a beer world we live in.

http://a67.tinypic.com/2igygyw.jpg

Is it good? Sounds a little nutso.

My wife has had two (2) pickle beers out west. Tastes like ... pickle beer.

Even Cel-Rey is tough to stomach. Not sure about pickles ... though it would probably go well with potato products

Bartender at Deschutes said most don't make it past trying a sample. But my weird wife went back for more!