Beer in the new era

drinking my first sierra nevada celebration of the year which is as good a reset beer as i can think of

moving to a new city last year was a big help in rekindling my interest in beer, but I am drinking a lot less overall because of work

craft pilsners (& other lagers) otm, but I still drink APAs & IPAs most frequently

I think what I really lost interest in was the hunt for white whalez etc

Still crave it, drink a wide variety, but it’s all low effort.

I still usually take 1 to 2 months off a year from drinking though. Usually a reset after the holidays. I didn’t drink for 97 days straight this year.

I did not love Celebration this year compared to other fresh hop releases....

...that said, I'm super stoked on the upcoming Resilience IPA that 1,800 (!!!) other breweries will be brewing with Sierra Nevada, all proceeds going to benefit victims of the Camp Fire.

that is a very cool thing

Currently nursing a BCS regular because it's been a long day

I don't feel caught up in pursuing new things all the time, and have gotten kind of burnt out on IPAs (so I only have them like half the time now instead of 80%). Also way more into barrel aged anything (Founder's scotch and old ales for example), and much more likely to buy and enjoy pilsners and lagers, either american craft ones or German imports.

Done running around and waiting in line for beers, not that I really did much of it, because there are sooooo many good beers I can find on even regular grocery store shelves these days.

I've found my tastes in the last several months to be veering away from the strong stuff, like double IPAs and barrel aged anything. It's just too much: too bitter, too sweet, too strong, too rich. Sometimes it's a struggle to finish a glass. I'd rather drink bourbon, especially in the colder weather. But when in doubt when I'm out and about I'm almost always OK with a pale ale or IPAs, interesting enough to stand up to most food but not total pallet wreckers, and rarely terrible.

I had a taster of a scotch barrel aged (Laphroaig) stout at MacLoud's that I didn't really like, just that that peaty a scotch has no business housing a beer, I guess. They had a bourbon barrel stout many months ago that was excellent, but that doesn't happen very often.

And I've never waited in line for a beer, but even having to ask at a counter seems like too much effort now. That said, I'll probably ask at Bevmo and Total Wine for the BCBS Reserve tomorrow to see if they have any.

I've felt a bit jaded recently. I sought out a lovely beer shop (Beer Merchant, natch) in Sussex recently and spent the requisite £30 on 8 beers and felt a bit stiffed. It's like vinyl in that the prices are visibly creeping up as more beards come on board. I'm glad the market is doing so well, I just find myself increasingly underwhelmed at the beer and irritated at the pricing.

Yeah, pricing is fuckin' wacky. The other day I noticed a craft beer that I have seen for $5 at one store listed at $10 at another. No difference in freshness or anything else.

I think I've posted before but freshness is what drives most of my purchases these days, insomuch as most breweries are putting packaging date stamps on their products these days. The difference between two weeks and six weeks, depending on the style, has been a dealmaker/breaker.

Yeah for ipa’s/dipa’s freshness is definitely a factor

My local has BBA Expedition Stout on draft, it's a very nice alternative to Bourbon County. Actually quite hoppy!

god damn I wish I still lived in the UP

http://www.upperhandbrewery.com/sisu-stout-series/

I've shared & traded beers with this guy:

https://oct.co/essays/having-beer-with-will-oldham-interview

happy 85th birthday, 21st amendment!

The numbers have been crunched and there's a new city atop the list of "most breweries in the United States."

Chicago. https://t.co/T6Q2ktB0yu pic.twitter.com/7GoKSzpBbx

— Josh Noel (@hopnotes) December 11, 2018

I can believe it!

I remember reading somewhere that Wisconsin is home to something like 7 of the 10 biggest (most) drinking cities in America.

I really wanted to respond to that tweet with "OK, now how many of them are 'good'?" but I figured it was too snarky.

pipeworks just started distributing in philly!

“I don’t think Chicago is thought of with places like Seattle or Portland,” Watson said.

I don't think Seattle is frankly that impressive (but that's changing very rapidly of late), but Portland is an absolute mind-fuck how much good to great beer is everywhere.

Also, agreed on needing to see a "quality versus quantity" study, rural Vermont would probably walk this.

b-b-b-but that said, I had an amazing time in Chicago... although if John Laffler ever asks if you want to see his bourbon library, you're probably better off declining and taking a taxi home.

my take on chicago is that people there really like drinking

I cannot believe that BCBS release keeps growing and growing. Every Thanksgiving I'm out at my mom's house, a few hours outside the Chicago limits. For the past three or four years, I usually roll into the liquor store in the nearby town of 7000 tat opening and walk out in five minutes with a handful of variants. This year I did the same, but there was already 75 people in line, 20 of which had camped out overnight in the store parking lot. I still only had to wait in line like 45 minutes and got every single variant but Prop's, but I think I'm done with these release day things. Just too much.

This year's Prop is great. Vanilla is fine, but a step down from Vanilla Rye. The Wheat Wine was nice (and still sitting on shelves).

Wheat Wine being $24.95 at my local is the only reason it's still sitting on shelves, because I can't justify buying it all.

I think I like the barley/wheat wine variants better than the stouts tbh. That goes for most BBA beers.

Yeah, it was an expensive day.

Forgotten context in my last post - in 2017 when I showed up five minutes after opening, there were 4 people there buying BCBS. So jumping to 75 people in line with camping out in one year that far out from the city seems particularly crazy.

That's crazy, I've seen Wheat Wine for $14.99 at Whole Foods.

Here's a story for you Chicagolanders. I spend Thanksgiving in a picturesque ski resort town a bit off the grid but is most definitely a huge ABInbev hotspot (roughly 2000 miles from Chicago). On Black Friday I was finally able to sneak out to a big box store around 6:30pm and walked in to see a bunch of cases of BC and variants. I picked up a few Vanilla bottles plus a Bramble & Orange and while checking out I asked the guy how much they've sold and he told me I'm only the 3rd person to buy BC there this year (6:30pm mind you!). So I asked how the first 2 customers made out and the cashier said they lined up an hour before open (the only 2 people) and each bought a case of Vanilla (~$300). I laughed and he said "They were from Chicago, they couldn't believe it!"

yeah the pricing is weird here, the regular stuff is the regular price but all variants are ~$25

haha xpost

I haven't been to many breweries there but Chicago is the best place ever to buy beer, as it seems like they get most everything from everywhere. In Washington I could never get anything from the Midwest or East Coast, and I never really loved anything from Seattle or Portland that much - all my favorite beers were from California and Colorado.

I remember reading somewhere that Wisconsin is home to something like 7 of the 10 biggest (most) drinking cities in America.

The Milwaukee airport is the only one that I've ever been to that has a sign warning against drunk driving on your way to the rental cars, like it's assumed you got drunk on the plane or got fucked up at an airport bar after you landed.

There's also this map:
https://img.washingtonpost.com/blogs/govbeat/files/2014/06/us.png
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/govbeat/wp/2014/06/03/bars-vs-grocery-stores-mapping-americas-beer-belly/

I don't think Seattle is frankly that impressive (but that's changing very rapidly of late)

Portland may well be ahead, but there are 15 breweries and at least 3 50+ taprooms within half an hour's walk of me rn, and there are more-brewery-dense neighbourhoods half an hour's bus ride north or south.

I haven't been to Seattle since Holy Mountain & now Floodland have taken over, the Fremont BA stuff was kind of elusive and Elysian was better than expected but pretty forgettable. The bars were great though, drinking 15 year old lambic at Brouwers, verticals of bordeaux barrel aged saisons at Stumbling Monk... didn't get to the Toronado as that was a bit further north than we planned on going.

Outside of Seattle (Skagit Valley), I've been keeping my eye on Garden Path: https://gardenpathwa.com/

Seems like they are in a position to make some waves.

I will never forget this moment, February 1996.... Seeking refuge from the merciless icy wind coming off the Sound that penetrated every layer I was wearing, walking into a dark old wooden bar in/under Pike's Place, grabbing a booth and drinking a Black Butte Porter. #beerintheoldera

https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/12/11/lg_craft_beer_brew/

americans will appreciate the first comment on this new all-in-one home brewing machine:

Does it despense vast amounts of bog rool??
Because if its anything like any of my homebrewing disasters efforts you need will need it to clean up the seemingly inevitable tsunami of arse gravy.

That's crazy, I've seen Wheat Wine for $14.99 at Whole Foods.

I could have sworn Goose said only 4 Whole Foods locations in the state were getting BCS this year. Maybe this was one of them? Anyway, last year was the first years I've seen some once totally elusive barrel aged stouts, like Goose and KBS, sitting on shelves. They must be cranking it out. I personally think Revolution has been killing it with Deth's Tar and varieties. Revolution has been killing across the board, for that matter. Pipeworks has been super-awesome, too, but they're sort of getting lost in the, er, weeds with all the weird one-off bombers.

Had the Vanilla BCS on tap somewhere and it was good but what I assume drinking a glass of vanilla paste must taste like. Super sweet, too. I shared a bottle of orange with a couple of friends over the weekend and that one tasted like (no surprise) chocolate covered orange peel, which makes it a true ... sometimes beer. May fave seasonal winter stout remains Stone's Xocoveza.

because craft beer is never not funny, the beer retail "franchisor" that is local to me is crowdfunding legal fees for the shitty, baseless lawsuit they filed against glassdoor over negative reviews of their horrible franchise offering:

https://www.brewbound.com/news/2018/to-fund-ongoing-legal-disputes-craft-beer-cellar-turns-to-crowdsourcing

brew dog's new session ipa "cybernaut" is excellent. and i can get it in the fastnesses of leyton.

Inevitable, but Chicago beers have been increasingly going full NEIPA. I like Noon Whistle a lot, but Pipeworks is in on it now, too, and Marz, Hubbard's Cave, Maplewood, etc, plus the usual hyped upstarts like Hop Butcher and Alarmist. (And nearby Michigan's Old Nation has apparently fully embraced the style, too, though I have yet to try their flagship M-43.) I was drinking the latest from Hop Butcher, "Neon Green Relish," which was good. After I poured it my daughter walked by and asked if I was drinking orange juice, so ... mission accomplished?

a limited amount of hop butcher has made it to boston...dude i know has been going nuts about it but i haven't found any yet. the name is really brutal.

most brewery names are brutal imo

xpost Boston? Really? It barely makes it around Chicago.

yeah...i assumed it was pretty official since i know of one store that's had it multiple times. i guess it could be an "unofficial" distro.

I was admittedly nonplussed with Finback for years, but they must've hired a new brewer because I had a wide sampling of their new stuff at an event and all were good to great. Def on my radar now.

Man my local had Avery Tweak on draft the other night, holy shit what an eye-opener.

Haha, yeah that has about as much alcohol and caffeine as legally possible in a beer. FWIW it was originally called Meph Addict (the base is Mephistopheles).

https://thethirstywench.com/2019/02/12/the-hell-the-sexist-asinine-ramblings-in-great-lakes-brewing-news/

This sucks because I have a friend who writes for GLBN and "#notallbeerwriters" and all (he didn't write the piece in question, which is garbage) but everyone's having a hard time processing this. There is an fb "apology" that only makes it worse due to predictable reasons.