Beer in the new era

My wife noted that beer and wine pair really well with food, and it's hard to find a non-alcoholic alternative.

Not to be snarky but I find water usually pairs well with food when I don’t feel like having something alcoholic.

Water sommeliers exist, which I kind of don't have a strong opinion about.

xpost That was my reaction! just drink water.

They just opened an alcohol free bar in Greenpoint (Getaway). There are others around the world. I am all for there being more non-alcohol/non-coffee/non laser tag social settings to meet up.

They should open up a plain tag facility, for those who are trying to lay off the lasers.

Yeah I am hoping to get to Getaway soon

Hudson Valley just canned a Barrel Aged sparkling water:

https://www.instagram.com/p/By8l8a_BRqR/

that.... sounds good?

i wouldn't want to pay a lot for it but i like interesting non-sugary sparkling beverages

I would try this.

Switzerland update: for now, I'm drinking Feldschlösschen

I had some of this (hop water) at a tasting station in WF and it was pretty good, but $7/6-pack just seems like too much to pay for flavored water.

https://h2ops.com/

I feel like Deschutes is hardly a beer anyone covets/drinks/orders, but in this case, may I humbly request to never give them another dime:

A message to our fans: pic.twitter.com/c08YNC5cU8

— Deschutes Brewery (@DeschutesBeer) June 26, 2019

and nothing of value was lost

Hey @MattLaslo why couldn’t you stop this pic.twitter.com/pJRg08jG5d

— Dave Weigel (@daveweigel) August 10, 2019

New Glarus is usually pretty solid, even when they're getting weird, but ugh, the Break O’Day Juicy IPA was gross.

xp I noticed similar things at the MN state fair last year… for some reason the fairgoers really love their specially-flavored beers, many of which sounded absolutely disgusting

I've been seeing a lot of rosé-style beers lately, haven't tried any.

And cherry seems to be the current fruit of choice with many breweries. I tried the Almanac cherry beer and didn't like it at all, had hopes that they could do it well because they do great fruit sours, but this seems to be aiming for the wine cooler crowd.

Anybody had any Sybarite sour ales from Pretentious Barrel House in Columbus OH? My daughter and her friends are roadtripping and happen to be there right now, and she asked if I wanted her to bring me anything.

OK I see Sybarite is just one of their cutesy names, along with Truculent, Neophytic, Derisive, Magnanimous, etc

hmmph

https://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/2019/08/bells-brewery-will-release-low-calorie-light-hearted-ale-in-2020.html

tbh I'm still waiting to try the 2x version but I will likely buy the lite at least once

i'd be a lot more encouraged if this was coming in at like 4.2% instead of 3.7%. but most of the time with this style under 5% you just get hop water.

https://oct.co/articles/regular-beer

When everything is outlandish, when rebellious beers become the rule and not the exception, how is it possible to stand out? The answer, increasingly, is for breweries to stop going wild and start embracing their mild side. To cut through the double dry-hopped clutter, breweries are releasing mass-appeal lagers with humdrum names and often humble branding, harking back to the simpler days when beer was just beer—a one-size-inebriates-all lager sold good and cold.

leave it to those guys to write an entire article that doesn't say why this is actually happening (competition for shelf space and skus among craft brands)

I live in the SF bay area. Most of the regular people I know who drink beer drink local (craft?) beer and don't go in for the flavored stuff except maybe at beer tastings or whatever. Fort Point "KSA" (Kölsch Style Ale) and Export seems to be in every cooler these last two years. Their design might be partially to credit for the popularity - I don't know. It's good beer. I feel like I spread it around amongst my friends because it's fairly cheap at Trader Joe's and CostCo. If you get a chance, give some a try.

Speaking of design, I picked up a 4-pack of some random Pilsners and a "cloudy" lager the other day that I'm excited to try. I like the designs, especially the two on the left.

https://i.imgur.com/cPYUOmx.jpg

I enjoyed a Rainier Tallboy a week ago

faction makes tasty beers.

I like the designs of the two on the left too. Designs are getting too cheeseball that I start subconsciously thinking the beer is careless (shitty) and overpriced. I like drinking odd craft beer if it's on draft but when I am in the store I really just want a can of old speckled hen, guinness or boddingtons.

night shift's nite lite is the first local craft beer that really took a shot at macro shelf space and price points. it's done well and i think it's pretty tasty. one of their best labels too:

https://nightshiftfamily.com/wp-content/uploads/elementor/thumbs/nite-lite-o04spp70jx9evyz5qe3qow6eanasbz3lnsm96tbmd8.jpg

Any recommendations for LA breweries or beer centric bars?

Really like that Nite Lite label.

I go to sunset beer company every time I'm in the area. They have a handful of usu interesting things on tap and the entire world in refrigerated goodies that are very nicely priced and they don't charge to open bottles/cans or any such bullshit.
Xpost

Any recommendations for LA breweries or beer centric bars?

― calstars, Tuesday, August 20, 2019 4:11 PM (six minutes ago)

Highland Park Brewery (Chinatown) or The Hermosillo (Highland Park) are my favorites. Beachwood is good but it's pretty far unless you're way out on the west side.

Thanks bros

Trying Double Two hearted. Not as hot/boozy as Hopslam, more like a classic west coaster but still that traditional Midwest Centennial hop thing. Classic Bell's selling 11% abv beer in six pack bottles.

i'll have to find a single of that this weekend

I had two. It's strong shit for sure. Some sips tasted more boozy than others, but you can tell the two hearted is in there.

I'd gotten used to drinking all these DIPA monsters, but they're expensive so I've taken a break from buying big beers. But the great thing about going from big beers to little beers is that little beers go down eeeeeeeeeasy. Very refreshing.

I saw double two hearted in Chicago last weekend and was a little sad I hadn’t actually seen it anywhere in Michigan yet. But I haven’t looked at actual beer stores yet; Binnys selection beats every grocery store everywhere.

Also as an aside I think Chicago might be the best place for buying beer

wow the guy who runs Founders is a dickhead: https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/10/22/craft-brewery-manager-cant-confirm-black-employees-race-discrimination-lawsuit/

That's nuts. So the guy is such an asshole that, as a defense, he refuses to even acknowledge his former employee is black, as if that excuses saying and doing racist things?

Given the blowback I'm seeing on Twitter over the past few days, looks like those bottles of KBS that are still sitting on shelves are going to be sitting around even longer.

Man, those things sat around so long last year I'm not sure they ever left. They just stayed on the shelves.

yeah my local is still selling them for $6 a bottle and they're quite dusty

Detroit Metro Times coverage of the story is also worth reading

I rarely buy national brands anymore, but Founders was one I still respected and purchased. Not anymore.

Backwoods Bastard is my favorite not-too-expensive barrel aged stout, looks like I'm going to have to find another.

Central Waters has several big beers to gladly fill that niche... (although I don't think Backwoods Bastard is a stout, more an old ale/wee heavy?)

Scotch ale?

Yeah, I just guessed at stout.

I'm not sure CW is around here (L.A.). I've liked Boulevard's barrel aged beers, hope they're not racist.

Their website says Scotch Ale.