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Bells Neptune is out, and either because of its massive number of adjuncts/spices or in spite of them, it's pretty goddamn tasty. It's pretty clear that most of the bonus ingredients are only present in small amounts, so instead of being a wretched mess (Stone Chai IRS), it tastes like a really nice stout with the regular flavors accentuated by the ingredients. If that makes any sense. At 9% it "should" be an imperial stout but it doesn't quite taste like one in terms of "roastiness" or whatever. Nice slight sweetness from the dates and raisins and the cayenne pepper adds the smallest bit of heat that slowly builds up on your tongue. What a tasty treat, I hope this one (and Mars) comes out again sometime under a new name or whatever. ALSO: is Evil Twin "Aun Mas a Jesus" worth anywhere close to $17 for a 12oz? Also has anyone had Omnipollo Agamemnon? Guy at the store said they only got one bottle and it was $20+ for a 12oz and was really excited about it because a guy he knew was the one who had bought it and he might get to try it.
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Aug 16, 2015 01:07
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krustster posted:ALSO: is Evil Twin "Aun Mas a Jesus" worth anywhere close to $17 for a 12oz? Also has anyone had Omnipollo Agamemnon? Guy at the store said they only got one bottle and it was $20+ for a 12oz and was really excited about it because a guy he knew was the one who had bought it and he might get to try it. It's $10 a bottle around here. 17 is pretty brutal. Gonna open one tonight most likely so I'll report back.
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Aug 16, 2015 01:24
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krustster posted:Bells Neptune is out, and either because of its massive number of adjuncts/spices or in spite of them, it's pretty goddamn tasty. It's pretty clear that most of the bonus ingredients are only present in small amounts, so instead of being a wretched mess (Stone Chai IRS), it tastes like a really nice stout with the regular flavors accentuated by the ingredients. If that makes any sense. At 9% it "should" be an imperial stout but it doesn't quite taste like one in terms of "roastiness" or whatever. Nice slight sweetness from the dates and raisins and the cayenne pepper adds the smallest bit of heat that slowly builds up on your tongue. What a tasty treat, I hope this one (and Mars) comes out again sometime under a new name or whatever. I totally forgot about the Planets series... so I'm assuming I missed the BA'd barleywine one? Was that any good? I had Agamemnon at Beer Temple's anniversary party this year. It was good but definitely not $20/12oz good. I find a lot of European imperial stouts come off as overly bitter, and this had that aspect as well. My wife and I went to the Oak Park Microbrew Review with some of her friends again this year. Nothing crazy good, but there were some highlights: - Marz's Nasal Cavity. A white milk stout with vanilla and... wasabi. If you didn't tell me the last ingredient, I don't think I would have picked it up. But it was there, a very mild horseradish flavor. Zero heat from it. This was almost unanimously the best beer everyone tried, which is weird considering no one there was a particularly big beer nerd. Marz's weird-rear end experimentation has been surprisingly worthwhile. Between this and pho beer and Jungle Boogie, they've established a niche as a culinary-like brewer. None of those have been mind-blowing but they've all been worth a try. - Likewise, Middle Brow continues to impress. Cobrastyle- hyped by yours truly just a few days ago- really brought them to my attention. Today I had their Hey Citrus, a lemongrass saison and Parklife, a lemon and mint saison. Both were wonderful summer beers that I would pound on a sunny day. Their regular releases (Robyn, Copacetic) weren't particularly noteworthy. But these small batch things have been pretty drat good. Also drank an Avery Liliko and... nice. Very fruit heavy, which I think hurts it's drinkability. Definitely wouldn't want more than a couple at a time.
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Aug 16, 2015 02:29
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krustster posted:ALSO: is Evil Twin "Aun Mas a Jesus" worth anywhere close to $17 for a 12oz? NO.
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Aug 16, 2015 04:16
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Went by Firestone Walker today. Helldorado is tasting pretty great, just the right amount of sweetness for the booze and barrel flavor, but I'd always pick Sucaba over it (especially when tasting side-by-side). Not really a fair comparison, though, since Sucaba is created by divine intervention. I also got a chance to compare their taproom "Hammersmith IPA" to the Union Jack, which was interesting - Hammersmith seemed to be a bit more straightforward West Coast hop assault without as much of the English side to it. Pretty interesting how they price their library beers - a current anniversary beer is about $18, one year old is about $35, then it's $45, then it's $90, then it's $110. $110 freaking dollars for a Firestone XV.
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Aug 16, 2015 04:18
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Daunte Vicknabb posted:I was 186. I got in after about an hour of doing literal nothing in line. Apparently you could walk up and get beer and walk back to the line. Oops. It was fine ultimately and I got bottles on a day where I didn't realize it was possible. Cool I guess. I just wanted to see a friend and maybe have some cool beer on tap and I walked out with Waelz so uhhhhh success I guess? Sorry I'm loving dying of heat stroke. To be fair its not a real Florida beer event if an ambulance isn't called due to weather related conditions. Its also not a real beer event if a participant doesn't end up as a "Florida man" entry. Also, danbanana the BBA BW for the planets series was spectacular, at least in terms of value. 14 bucks for a 6er, and a really solid offering. Definitely worth picking it up if you see it around still.
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Aug 16, 2015 05:27
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krustster posted:Bells Neptune is out, and either because of its massive number of adjuncts/spices or in spite of them, it's pretty goddamn tasty. It's pretty clear that most of the bonus ingredients are only present in small amounts, so instead of being a wretched mess (Stone Chai IRS), it tastes like a really nice stout with the regular flavors accentuated by the ingredients. If that makes any sense. At 9% it "should" be an imperial stout but it doesn't quite taste like one in terms of "roastiness" or whatever. Nice slight sweetness from the dates and raisins and the cayenne pepper adds the smallest bit of heat that slowly builds up on your tongue. What a tasty treat, I hope this one (and Mars) comes out again sometime under a new name or whatever. Neptune has been out for a few weeks in Metro Detroit. I had a bottle a couple weekends ago and enjoyed it. I was expecting something closer to eccentric ale, since I heard a rumor Neptune and Eccentric were based on the same homebrew-era recipe. It was not. The heat was nice. danbanana posted:I totally forgot about the Planets series... so I'm assuming I missed the BA'd barleywine one? Was that any good? I split a bottle four ways and that was the way to do it. It was tasty but very sweet. I put 5 bottles in my basement.
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Aug 16, 2015 06:39
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krustster posted:ALSO: is Evil Twin/Mikkeller _________ worth anywhere close to whatever they are charging for it?
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Aug 16, 2015 07:30
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danbanana posted:I had Agamemnon at Beer Temple's anniversary party this year. It was good but definitely not $20/12oz good. I find a lot of European imperial stouts come off as overly bitter, and this had that aspect as well. There definitely is a trend in European craft beer to make super dry styles. I'd argue that a specific style of IPA is emerging, where brewers, knowing that US-style IPAs were sweet and weird by the time they reached to Europe, would brew the driest, crispest IPAs they could to emulate fresh US-made IPAs. Ditch the crystal malt, dry it out with sugar additions even in sub-7% beers, etc. Stouts are from that same tree. While I prefer the insanely sweet, chocolatey thing you get in US impy stouts (mmm, BORIS the Crusher) for an after dinner thing, that dry, raw cacao nib bitterness is definitely a thing in the stuff we make over here. Perfectly Cromulent posted:Mikkeller/Evil Twin Yep, I find both are hugely expensive, especially considering that I can get amazing To Ol beers, also brewed at de Proef, for half to two-thirds of the price Mikkel charges for his stuff.
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Aug 16, 2015 16:37
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That was my first instinct, glad I went with it. $17 sounded high even for an Evil Twin bottle so I thought maaaaaybe it was something special. Guess not!!! Also in other Michigan beer news, Shorts Spruce Pilsner is an absolute nightmare. I was expecting a lot of spruce/pine and thought it sounded neat. There was approximately 50 times more spruce in it than I anticipated. If you like the taste of raw pine trees, this is for you. Or perhaps if you use the phrase "pine resin" as a positive descriptor when talking about IPAs, you may be interested to know what pure resin from a pine tree tastes like. I threw it out after the second sip and I never do that. It's almost worth trying just to experience the sheer  of it.
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Aug 16, 2015 18:04
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Looks like a local bar is having a Jester King event shortly. Between that, the Great Lakes tap takeover next weekend, and Zwanze day in a couple weeks they're making me want to actually go despite their usual prices.
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Aug 16, 2015 20:04
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krustster posted:That was my first instinct, glad I went with it. $17 sounded high even for an Evil Twin bottle so I thought maaaaaybe it was something special. Guess not!!!
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Aug 16, 2015 21:07
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Picked up a Siason de Banc Noir from Green Bench because why not? It turns out why I shouldn't have is because this is a mess of a beer. Sweet then acetic then bitter. This is pretty loving gross.
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Aug 16, 2015 22:04
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danbanana posted:Picked up a Siason de Banc Noir from Green Bench because why not? I'm sorry your palate isn't refined enough to appreciate it.
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Aug 17, 2015 00:02
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danbanana posted:Picked up a Siason de Banc Noir from Green Bench because why not? it's pretty bad
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Aug 17, 2015 00:04
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Drinking one of Wicked Weed's canvas series, Montmaretto, which is barrel aged on cherries and almonds. Cherry candy dominates the nose and the first sip, without getting into cherry cough syrup terriotory. The almond lend a nice smoothness to the finish and balances with the sourness. Which is good because this has a lot of acetic. Overall a pretty decent one from WW, although it's not worth the $16/500mL it's being sold for.
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Aug 17, 2015 00:18
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Spanish Manlove posted:I'm sorry your palate isn't refined enough to appreciate it. homerism ITT
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Aug 17, 2015 00:18
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funkybottoms posted:homerism ITT actually it's a local joke I like the banc verte but noir is kinda a mess of a beer, as all dark saisons tend to be
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Aug 17, 2015 00:24
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7venth Sun event today was OK, I guess. Not substantially less crowded than Cycle was yesterday. I had already had the Cucumber Gose at Zwanze Day a year or two ago, so I skipped that and tried the 7 various berliners that were on. Red and White Dragonfruit: Pinkish. Flavors just kinda an ok berry mix sorta thing, not too exciting, but light and drinkable. PFDF: This is where things got hairy. A darker, deeper purple. Has the passionfruit decently noticeable, way less abrasively sour than John's PFDF, but had a mediumish hint of cucumber...uh-oh. Rhubarb/Strawberry: Lighter in color and flavor than expected, but like the R/W dragonfruit it was pretty tasty. Cactus Pear, Raspberry, Guava: Has another hint of cucumber like PFDF. Didn't get much guava but the pear/raspberry element worked decently. Raspberry Lemon: Light pink, easy drinking, basically pink lemonade. Probably the second most sour of the offerings. Mango Key Lime Pie: The most sour, somewhat unsurprisingly, and the Mango didn't come through all that much. Watermelon: Has a nice light agua fresca character, but then also has a hint of the cucumber. I'm not sure how so many of the beers got that hint of cucumber flavor, but it was definitely extremely noticeable. Sadly I only knew about two people there and neither are people whose palates I hold in particularly high regard, and the third person I knew was the brewer himself and I didn't want to be a party pooper and bring it up on a day that seemed so fun for him. An ok weekend of beering, though I kinda wish I had gone to Cycle instead and had some of the cool-sounding variants on today.
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Aug 17, 2015 00:53
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cryme posted:it's pretty bad I very rarely drain pour... but that poo poo went down it. The more I tasted it, the more I was convinced it was an infected amber ale that they decided to pass off as something good sounding. E: In good saison news, tonight's dinner in the Banana household was grilled boar chop with grilled white asparagus tossed in garlic, shallots, and olive oil, and a simple baked potato. Paired perfectly with a one year old Transient Biere Du Ruche. The sweetness in the saison was just right with the heavily black peppered boar. danbanana fucked around with this message at 01:05 on Aug 17, 2015 |
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Aug 17, 2015 01:02
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tree house's haze is very good. dont be an idiot and trade the farm for it. but it's good. source: last two weekends i have had probably 128oz of this stuff
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Aug 17, 2015 01:20
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deadwing posted:actually it's a local joke Someone gets it. But yeah dark saisons sound good in theory but don't really work. Banc Vert and Blend#1 were enjoyable, noir and #3 were difficult. While I'm here I just want to mention that I got to have a glass of hazelnut nooner 8 without waiting in line or dealing with a crowd. That ones going on the list of personal faves I wish I could get again but know I'm never going to get to experience it again.
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Aug 17, 2015 02:09
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Spanish Manlove posted:Someone gets it. But yeah dark saisons sound good in theory but don't really work. Banc Vert and Blend#1 were enjoyable, noir and #3 were difficult. yeah, i was fairly certain you were joking and had shitted on that beer before. drinking my favorite "quad," Stickee Monkee, right now, which is totally refreshing after taking my dog for a long walk.
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Aug 17, 2015 02:17
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Just opened a bottle of this year's Alewerks Cafe Royale and this beer pretty much rules. I rarely find coffee/BBA beers to be that great (note: have not had most of the famous ones) but this one is blowing me away. The interplay between coffee and bourbon is rather nice, not acerbic as I've seen it turn in the past. Very mellow and low abv for style, but I think that helps round out the flavor a little. I did, however, almost drain pour their berliner. It tasted like someone threw up in my mouth. Why. why would you keg that. and sell it. why? In other beer news, the Avery Lilisomehawaiianwords is delicious and I would drink a keg of it, Aun Mas Jesus is merely ok as everyone here has attested to and not worth the $11 I paid for it. I also recently had an Evil Twin IBB and it was not nearly as good as I remember. This was very acidic and very fruity, to the point where I really didn't care too much for it. Then you spend a weekend at OBX and all beer culture goes to hell because your family wants to just drink clean german and czech lagers 
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Aug 17, 2015 04:09
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the yellow dart posted:Just opened a bottle of this year's Alewerks Cafe Royale and this beer pretty much rules. I rarely find coffee/BBA beers to be that great (note: have not had most of the famous ones) but this one is blowing me away. The interplay between coffee and bourbon is rather nice, not acerbic as I've seen it turn in the past. Very mellow and low abv for style, but I think that helps round out the flavor a little. I did, however, almost drain pour their berliner. It tasted like someone threw up in my mouth. Why. why would you keg that. and sell it. why? Had a bottle this weekend as well. It's so drat good and well balanced. And it's  
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Aug 17, 2015 04:51
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In Seattle right now. Made it to two new breweries for me: Outlander and Holy Mountain. I sampled almost everything Outlander had on and the best were the basil pale ale and the nitro imperial oatmeal stout. Nice nutty toasted oat flavour on the latter. Weird setup too, they are literally brewing out of a house, but legally. Brewers were friendly too. Would recommend. Holy Mountain was a bit disappointing because they only had two beers on due to chiller issues. The grapefruit saison and witbier were both decent, but the hoppy brett saison i had at brouwers a couple days ago easily bested both.
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Aug 17, 2015 04:58
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Spanish Manlove posted:Someone gets it. But yeah dark saisons sound good in theory but don't really work. Banc Vert and Blend#1 were enjoyable, noir and #3 were difficult. The Firestone one they did for FWIBF this year was pretty on point, but normally I agree with you. crazyfish posted:In Seattle right now. Made it to two new breweries for me: Outlander and Holy Mountain. When I was up there I really liked Gastropod, which had interesting gastropub food and served beers from Epic brewery (the Seattle one, not the Utah one or the NZ one) that were all weird and challenging and interesting. If you're up for trying something different they're worth checking out, it's in the Georgetown area/near the stadiums IIRC. While you're down there hit up Two Beers
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Aug 17, 2015 05:13
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cryme posted:tree house's haze is very good. dont be an idiot and trade the farm for it. but it's good. I was 143 in line for Good Morning on Friday. I got there at 5 and they open at 5. They had plenty of cans of Eureka and Green when I got there, but ran out within an hour or so. Good Morning is so loving good.
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Aug 17, 2015 05:25
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I have a trade buddy who lives very near Tree House, it's looking like he'll very likely be able to get me some Good Morning. And my beer nerd friends have promised to share some cool stuff if I get some. Quick question: found a guy willing to trade growlers of Tired Hands stuff. He's offering Mago Tago, Excommunication is the Key Lime Pie, and Freedom From the Known. What's worth trying, what isn't?
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Aug 17, 2015 07:55
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the yellow dart posted:
Nonsense! Chips in OBX has pretty decent stuff, also OBX brewing station makes a couple excellent beers and a few decent ones. Their lemongrass wheat is very tasty. If you are there again, grab some Weeping Radish Kolsh. Your family may even drink it. It's pretty awesome most of the time. I did have one off batch this summer, but it can happen. For that matter, I'm glad to see Berliner weisses becoming more prominent, but why are kolsh's and other similar styles looked upon with so much lack of interest. It seems like everyone is raging about the next big BA stout or AWA, but honestly one of the best beers I've recently had lately was an elder flower Maibock that Schlafly churned out. Are those kinds of beers hindered by their drinkability?
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Aug 17, 2015 08:08
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poop dood posted:I have a trade buddy who lives very near Tree House, it's looking like he'll very likely be able to get me some Good Morning. And my beer nerd friends have promised to share some cool stuff if I get some. Are TH growlers still as notoriously unreliable as I remember hearing? If they are still up to that reputation, it's not worth trading for any of them due to massive inconsistecy.
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Aug 17, 2015 08:59
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crazyfish posted:Are TH growlers still as notoriously unreliable as I remember hearing? If they are still up to that reputation, it's not worth trading for any of them due to massive inconsistecy. They no longer have the problem of going flat seconds after filling. Now they explode from a bad batch of glass! (They should be fine now, the bad batch got dealt with) poop dood posted:Mago Tago, Excommunication is the Key Lime Pie, and Freedom From the Known. What's worth trying, what isn't? People are raving about Freedom. MagoTago is the beer that started their 1-per-person growler policy from selling out so hard. Key Lime Pie is also tasty. Get all 3 if you can, IMO. lament.cfg fucked around with this message at 13:38 on Aug 17, 2015 |
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Aug 17, 2015 12:49
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a worthy uhh posted:They no longer have the problem of going flat seconds after filling. what about tasting like butter? V one of the saisons, don't recall which funkybottoms fucked around with this message at 13:39 on Aug 17, 2015 |
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Aug 17, 2015 13:35
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funkybottoms posted:what about tasting like butter? I don't recall which beer you said that was, but no diacetyl complaints locally. I think most of the 'off' beers have been the existing recipes getting rebrewed on the new system -- I've had HopHands out of kegs they distro'd and it absolutely was not HopHands. They're still having some growing pains on the new brewhouse, but any new recipe is just fine. Lots of great stuff coming out of the Fermentaria at the moment. lament.cfg fucked around with this message at 13:39 on Aug 17, 2015 |
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Aug 17, 2015 13:36
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If I recall correctly, someone in here (cryme?) had something pretty buttery on tap when they started distributing outside of the Fermentaria. There were some issues with early growlers as well, but lately it's been all good. I still don't think HopHands is where it should be, but all of the rest are more than making up for it. The last batch of Alien Church was amazing and the Coffee/Cherry Only Void was pretty great too. Also, because everyone cares, my trip report from Naked Brewing: Along a pothole laden road in Northeast Philadelphia, sandwiched between a cemetery and a place called Beat Street (which I was assured is the hottest place to host a Bar Mitzvah), is a little place called Naked Brewing. People often poo poo on the newer Philadelphia area breweries, and not without good reason: most of them are pretty bad. But much like the way we boo our professional sports teams, it's coming from a place of love. We want our local heroes to succeed and we're not going to sugar-coat it when they under-perform. With that in mind, and a vague recollection of mediocre Naked beer I'd sampled in the past, I set out on a beautiful Saturday afternoon adventure which would hopefully result in very little booing. Naked is located in the back end of an industrial complex almost directly behind an auto body shop. Vehicles in various states of disrepair line the parking lot on both sides of the brewery entrance, which is nothing more than a single screen door flanked by two picnic tables. Directly across the parking lot from the brewery entrance is an overgrown field full of weeds; the only reprieve from a view burdened with industrial detritus. I'm not really sure what type of person would choose to sit outside given that view. In any case, the screen door opens up into the tasting room, which is just one long bar and no tables. Past the bar are a few windows into the brewing room. Opposite that is a small room with a couch and dart board. It's not a particularly nice looking place but I wasn't expecting much given the view on the way in. We have a seat at the bar and are greeted by a very nice woman who offers us sample pours before we order. I choose to just start with the flight. At this point that I'll stop being so descriptive because the beer is certainly not worth the extra effort. None of it was actually bad, it was just all intensely mediocre. My previously beer-hazed thoughts from the first time I visited a few months ago are validated. Nothing was bad, it's just that nothing was very good, excepting the pomegranate wheat beer which was loaded with pomegranate flavor and incredibly refreshing (I actually bought a 64oz growler to take home with me). It is good to see that they have what seems to be a very loyal local following though. In an area that would normally be dominated by macros, the tap room had a pretty steady stream of customers coming in to have growlers filled. So that's cool. My overall rating: meh+ Pro-tip: If you do decide to go to Naked Brewing for some reason, it behooves you to venture up County Line Rd a bit further to eat at Ben & Irv's, a Jewish diner and deli with a wait staff whose median age is probably 75. The whitefish salad is great. deedee megadoodoo fucked around with this message at 16:18 on Aug 17, 2015 |
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Aug 17, 2015 15:52
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HatfulOfHollow posted:
I was hoping you'd post about your trip! Your description of the place and its surroundings are completely spot on. That area where they're located isn't bad, but it really isn't that visually appealing either. I haven't been to the brewery since they started selling pints, but it's good to know that it looks a tad bit better than before. Props on giving Ben and Irv's a thumbs up mention - I live near by both Naked and this spot, and their food is pretty great for being a pretty nondescript deli restaurant. When are you making a trip to Crooked Eye, the newest brewery to grace our lands up this way?
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Aug 17, 2015 16:03
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Anyone have Pipeworks Ninja Vs Unicorn in cans yet? Opinions?
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Aug 17, 2015 18:36
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Vertigo posted:Anyone have Pipeworks Ninja Vs Unicorn in cans yet? Opinions? Traded for some last month. Pretty tasty, but it still had that weird sweet florality that Pipeworks IPAs always have for me. Square Grouper is the best of theirs that I've had.
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Aug 17, 2015 20:01
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Vertigo posted:Anyone have Pipeworks Ninja Vs Unicorn in cans yet? Opinions? I had no problems but a couple people I spoke to said they tasted diacetyl as it warmed.
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Aug 17, 2015 21:01
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Compusaurus posted:I had no problems but a couple people I spoke to said they tasted diacetyl as it warmed. I haven't had that either. I also tend to drink about 1/3 of a can 'warm' because I can't down a 8% DIPA tall boy fast enough.
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Aug 17, 2015 21:25
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