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crazyfish posted:Thing is that ZD is a year-round Really? They bottle it year round? It seems to be available in Chicago only in early spring, so maybe they only do a large distributed batch once a year? I dunno. My wine/cheese/bottle shop had it in on Sunday. The woman behind the register said they got 20 (!) cases in that week and the 3 sixers on the floor was all that's left. She recommended I get some, to which I replied I'd rather spend my money on something else. Turns out, it was Abacus-backwards which my local Whole Foods had a half-case of! Huzzah!
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Mar 29, 2012 19:27
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VanSandman posted:I don't rarely ever post in GiS, so if this is old beer news, feel free to ignore/mock me at your leisure. Anyway... You in NC?
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Mar 29, 2012 19:51
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I think Zombie Dust is pretty dang good, but the locals are a bit overenthusiastic about it. Something about 3F invites such absurd devotion, I think, much like the Ann Arbor brewpubs were always stuffed even though their beer was horrendous. But for a local beer, I think Revolution's IPA might be better, and you can get that every day of the week. 
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Mar 29, 2012 19:56
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Hoppin' Frog is releasing their Imperial Black Ale next week, I'll probably pick up a bottle to give it a shot. Hopefully it's pretty good, their beers are too drat expensive! I just wish they'd put out a few affordable beers. Edit: I guess they could be a lot worse in price, but still... $6-$18 for bombers kinda sucks, especially when I don't like any of their beers below $9.
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Mar 29, 2012 20:02
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Half Acre is starting to pop up on draft around Philly and the surrounding suburbs. I've only been able to have Daisy Cutter so far, but drat does it kick rear end. If this made it out here in bottles and was priced well, it would be my go-to pale ale instead of Yard's Philly pale.
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Mar 29, 2012 20:13
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danbanana posted:Really? They bottle it year round? It seems to be available in Chicago only in early spring, so maybe they only do a large distributed batch once a year? I dunno. http://www.3floyds.com/our-beers-2/ it is now. I think the first bottling might have been limited, but it since has become a year round (their twitter account has said it's a year round repeatedly too).
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Mar 29, 2012 20:24
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Looking at that 3Floyds website, I'm wondering why here in SW Ohio I seem to find bombers of the seasonal 3Floyds brews and none of the year round stuff. I had heard that 3F had pulled out of Ohio, but I've seen both Behemoth AND Brian Boru in the past few weeks in bombers. I know they've never distributed 6-packs in Ohio, but I'd buy up every bomber in sight of Dreadnaught if I could....just never seen it.
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Mar 29, 2012 20:43
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Mahoning posted:Looking at that 3Floyds website, I'm wondering why here in SW Ohio I seem to find bombers of the seasonal 3Floyds brews and none of the year round stuff. They distribute Dreadnaught/Arctic Panzer Wolf sometimes, it's just usually a single case to a single store, and you have to know when they get it in... They also distribute their seasonals, so that is why you've seen Behemoth & Brian Boru. I wish we would get Dreadnaught more often, I'd also buy it up... The last time I saw some, I bought 2 bottles and it was sooooooooooo good. Edit: here's the label for the new black imperial black from HF 
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Mar 29, 2012 20:49
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WaffleStomp posted:Half Acre is starting to pop up on draft around Philly and the surrounding suburbs. I've only been able to have Daisy Cutter so far, but drat does it kick rear end. If this made it out here in bottles and was priced well, it would be my go-to pale ale instead of Yard's Philly pale. Half Acre does cans! Yeah I'm super pumped to get Daisy Cutter on draft now. One of the best places from my chicago trip was Half Acre
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Mar 29, 2012 21:15
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VanSandman posted:I don't rarely ever post in GiS, so if this is old beer news, feel free to ignore/mock me at your leisure. Anyway... Good stuff I am a huge whore for NC beer and Shotgun Betty is easily in my top 5 local brews. Hefeweizens are some of my favorites and that is such a great one.I started following the beerchat when the current version of this thread showed up, since the previous one was just far too long to dive into when I found it. Since I've popped out of lurker mode, I just want to thank everyone for sharing so much about their favorite beers and giving me things to look out for. I had a Great Lakes Eliot Ness last week after remembering someone's post about it and it was phenomenal. Plus I've finally decided to take baby steps toward braving the big hoppy menace that IPAs are to me- I prefer beers that are more on the sweeter or malty side and so I've always hand-waved off IPAs as "ew gross, too bitter". Tried a Bear Republic Racer Five last night (again, after remembering a post) and it was delicious! There's hope for me yet 
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Mar 29, 2012 22:17
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Half Acre has blown up and deservedly so. Good beer. But it's strange hearing about them distribute outside of the city. There's an amazing bottle shop/beer bar on the south side of Chicago called Maria's. Eighteen months ago, Half Acre wouldn't sell to them because they couldn't meet demand on the north side. Basically, if you were an independent liquor store or bar south of 290, you were SOL. Now they're in Philly? Weird...
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Mar 29, 2012 22:18
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Is it that New Jersey gets a lot of Firestone Walker distribution, or is it that their 15 and Sucaba aren't that limited?
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Mar 29, 2012 22:45
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I see XV all over the drat place in Colorado, but I don't think I've ever seen Sucaba. They only entered our market last year. So there's a random data point.
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Mar 29, 2012 22:47
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I think it depends on the market. XV is hard to find by me except one shop that always seems to have it. Sucaba/Abacus has always been a buy-it-when-you-see-it item.
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Mar 29, 2012 23:09
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Just got back from a big alcohol joint across the river in Kentucky called the Party Source. I remember back when I was in college I used to go over there and marvel at the amount of beer they have. Today was the first day I've been there since I've kind of known a lot more about beer. I was thoroughly unimpressed. They still have a ton of different kinds of beer, but most of the rarer stuff they still don't have and that's pretty unforgivable considering my neighborhood grocery store carries stuff like Ballast Point and Nugget Nectar. I thought they would at least have more 3 Floyds than Ohio but they had Black Sun Stout and Brian Boru bombers. No thanks. I did find out from a guy there that I can drive a bit further to Lawrenceburg, IN and get Alpha King, Zombie Dust, and Dreadnaught which are the 3 I'm looking for. Anyways enough of that, I did buy a Hoptimum, a Burton Baton, a Hercules, and found a couple bottles of More Brown Than Black so it wasn't a totally wasted trip.
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Mar 29, 2012 23:23
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danbanana posted:I think it depends on the market. XV is hard to find by me except one shop that always seems to have it. Sucaba/Abacus has always been a buy-it-when-you-see-it item. New Jersey must be saturated then, most places I know got 2-3 cases of 15 and the two places yesterday have 2-3 cases of Sucaba.
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Mar 29, 2012 23:48
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Midorka posted:New Jersey must be saturated then, most places I know got 2-3 cases of 15 and the two places yesterday have 2-3 cases of Sucaba. In general, the Chicago beer scene has gotten stupid-popular. I never bought multiples at once a couple years ago because I always figured I'd be able to grab more of something good later. Even things like Bourbon County would sit on shelves for weeks. You could buy at leisure. Now you need to reserve bottles of just about anything "rare." So running into a half-case of something as good as Sucaba (at least Abacus was awesome last year...) is a rarity. I feel compelled to buy a couple just because I don't know if I'll see it again.
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Mar 30, 2012 00:23
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Had one of these tonight. Picked up a People's Pint Slippery Slope braggot on the recommendation of one of Wines & More's employees. I've never had anything in this style before. Not sure how I feel about it. Cold, it was pretty harsh and the apple characteristics were harsh and bitter. Got a bit sweeter as it warmed up, but also kind of cloying. Almost more of a wine than a beer, I barely tasted anything malty about it until the very last sip.
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Mar 30, 2012 01:26
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I picked up a bottle of Old Ruffian today, should I sit on it or is it worth drinking relatively fresh? It was brewed in January. For reference, I also enjoyed Bigfoot fresh but didn't mind age on it either. I actually went out looking for Bigfoot cause we usually run a bit slower on seasonals, and the douchey bartender at the place where I settled on Old Ruffian tried to explain how Bigfoot was a really limited seasonal that they only expected to get one shipment of and I missed it  . Good thing the Wegmans down the street had a whole display up for it.
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Mar 30, 2012 01:34
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danbanana posted:In general, the Chicago beer scene has gotten stupid-popular. I never bought multiples at once a couple years ago because I always figured I'd be able to grab more of something good later. Even things like Bourbon County would sit on shelves for weeks. You could buy at leisure. Now you need to reserve bottles of just about anything "rare." So running into a half-case of something as good as Sucaba (at least Abacus was awesome last year...) is a rarity. I feel compelled to buy a couple just because I don't know if I'll see it again. Interesting, that's sort of how things are here, but for certain beers. Firestone is always readily available in big bottles, hell I can still buy 14, 2011 Abacus, and 2011 Parabola on the shelf if I go to the right stores. Sucaba and 15 I could buy a full case of if I wanted to. Now 120 Minute I can't find at all unless I go to the right stores. Certain beers in New Jersey fly off the shelves, some you wouldn't expect, while some highly praised ones sit for months. I have no doubts I will be able to get 15 when 16 comes around, but I couldn't get more than a 6 pack of Union Jack. It's weird. I read on some beer trading site that New Jersey has the largest, or second largest, amount of breweries that distribute here. That's pretty cool and whatever I can't find here is usually in Philly. I just don't know why we get a huge amount of Firestone considering the market isn't huge for it here, at least not enough to cause a huge enough demand to have bottles flying off the shelves. Now Dogfish Head is another story, but I think that's everywhere because of the show. Lastly am I wrong to think of black IPAs as a hop-forward porter? I generally think porter when drinking one, just a lot more hops. I drank Demo from the Magic Hat variety my friend brought me and it's a black IPA, but honestly I wouldn't consider it a terrible porter. Midorka fucked around with this message at 01:55 on Mar 30, 2012 |
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Mar 30, 2012 01:51
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I got off work early and it's ridiculously nice out, so I grabbed a Weihenstephaner hefeweizen to drink in the sun. You guys weren't kidding, one of the best hefeweizens I've ever had.
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Mar 30, 2012 02:01
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Honestly, I find myself caring less and less about the unicorn beers. I'm well on my way to fulfilling my NYE resolution of drinking a new beer each day and there's just so many year-rounds readily available that I haven't made a trade for a rarity yet, this year. Once I got past the whole BA-circlejerk factor of having a rare bottle, I realized there is a whole universe of accessible beer out there.
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Mar 30, 2012 02:08
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dumptruckzzz posted:I picked up a bottle of Old Ruffian today, should I sit on it or is it worth drinking relatively fresh? It was brewed in January. For reference, I also enjoyed Bigfoot fresh but didn't mind age on it either. Old Ruffian is great fresh and aged. If you like DIPAs you'll like Ruffian. There might be a[n expensive] barrel aged version still on some shelves. Buy two, save one for 2014. Docjowles posted:I got off work early and it's ridiculously nice out, so I grabbed a Weihenstephaner hefeweizen to drink in the sun. You guys weren't kidding, one of the best hefeweizens I've ever had. I like to save my Weihenstephaner Hefe experiences for the nicest days of the year, and always outdoors. CalvinDooglas fucked around with this message at 02:21 on Mar 30, 2012 |
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Mar 30, 2012 02:17
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Docjowles posted:I got off work early and it's ridiculously nice out, so I grabbed a Weihenstephaner hefeweizen to drink in the sun. You guys weren't kidding, one of the best hefeweizens I've ever had. Drank this tonight too and drat, was it good. Next time I'm buying 2.  I found Oksar Blues and most of the 4-packs were $18.99. Is it worth it? I'm not quite positive of the exact brews they had but I'm going to have to see which one is worth getting.
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Mar 30, 2012 04:31
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That's crazy. Ours are $7.99/4pk, except for Ten Fidy, which is $11.99. That said, get Ten Fidy. It's fantastic.
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Mar 30, 2012 04:36
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Mahoning posted:Just got back from a big alcohol joint across the river in Kentucky called the Party Source. I remember back when I was in college I used to go over there and marvel at the amount of beer they have. Today was the first day I've been there since I've kind of known a lot more about beer. I was thoroughly unimpressed. If you're anywhere near Louisville, you absolutely loving need to go to Sergio's World Beers. Picture your favorite used bookstore - the one with plywood wooden shelves bending and creaking under the weight of too many books, packed to the gills with every spare inch dedicated to as many books as possible. Now imagine that with beer. Sergio's has numerous fridges crammed with everything from your average releases to things I've never ever seen in the US elsewhere - including beers I thought were only available in Denmark (e.g. certain Beer Here and Søgaards releases). Every square inch of wall is packed with beer signs and posters. Every square inch of shelf space is packed with bottles or glasses. And the owner can be a bit of a snot, but he knows his stuff and is super-generous. I had my first taste of Sam Adams Utopias from Sergio's, and while I didn't get a taste he also has the port-barrel aged Uerige Stickum Plus bierbrand whiskey, which is SUPER-difficult to find. If he has a bottle you want, he'll open it for you - if there's something you want, he'll try to find it for you. Plus the Mexican food from the kitchen is pretty delicious, if slightly pricey. FreelanceSocialist posted:Honestly, I find myself caring less and less about the unicorn beers. I'm well on my way to fulfilling my NYE resolution of drinking a new beer each day and there's just so many year-rounds readily available that I haven't made a trade for a rarity yet, this year. Once I got past the whole BA-circlejerk factor of having a rare bottle, I realized there is a whole universe of accessible beer out there. I've already said this, but I just have to say another "amen" to this sentiment. The number of year-round, readily-available releases that are excellent is already so overwhelming that I tend not to seek out special beers much. I took my brother-in-law out to Haymarket Pub for dinner tonight, since he hadn't been there yet, and they continue to put out solid beers. The dry-hopped version of Oscar's Pardon is an excellent session beer and Last Chance Belgian IPA is one of the few good examples of the style, but I was most impressed by Lizzie's Simcoe IPA (a nicely-balanced all-Simcoe IPA) and the Indignant Templeton Rye Imperial Stout (a 12% ABV imperial stout aged in rye whiskey barrels, super-smooth and drinkable with a nice touch of spice from the rye whiskey). The Defender dry-hopped stout also proved really tasty. One of my old Siebel classmates is doing a bunch of the brewing, so it's really cool to see him putting out excellent beer. And dumptruckzzz, Old Ruffian is an excellent barleywine no matter what its vintage. It tends to be very hop-forward up front, but with a bit of age it exhibits a very fruity, caramel-y character.
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Mar 30, 2012 04:37
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TenaciousTomato posted:Drank this tonight too and drat, was it good. Next time I'm buying 2. That glass is baller as hell. I'm not a huge sperg about having the "right" glass for every beer but a nice weizen glass seems like a solid investment. Oskar Blues is marginally cheaper at home in Colorado, $13-14 for their specialty four packs. I'm probably the wrong person to answer this since I'm an established tightwad, but my 2 cents is that Ten Fidy is easily worth it. Deviant Dale's is an ok buy too given that they are tall boys. Everything else... ehhhhh. They're good but I'd rather pay less money for more equally great beer by getting a sixer of Union Jack or something.
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Mar 30, 2012 04:40
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crazyfish posted:Thing is that ZD is a year-round, though with the insane hype over it you wouldn't believe it. Don't get me wrong, it's a very good beer (I even bought 10oz of citra hops to try and clone it soon) but it (in my opinion) is not 99 on BA good. Are there year-round releases anywhere else that get this much hype? Without having had Zombie Dust, I made a clone of it and it was drat good. drat Good. And hey, at most it'll cost you 50 bux in ingredients for 5 gallons. What I'm trying to say is everyone should brew their own beer. Here is a great starting point for the recipe http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/3-floyds-zombie-dust-attempt-help-info-requested-245456/
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Mar 30, 2012 04:44
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TenaciousTomato posted:Drank this tonight too and drat, was it good. Next time I'm buying 2. Sup fellow kickass glass haver.  I have two in case anyone ever wants to join in my enjoyment of amazing beer. Edit: Just realized my glass is different. It's the .5 liter. Edit 2: Man I wish a had a Hefe to put in it right now. Picture of empty glassware is kinda sad. 
beetlo fucked around with this message at 06:18 on Mar 30, 2012 |
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Mar 30, 2012 05:37
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Ubik posted:I took my brother-in-law out to Haymarket Pub for dinner tonight I think Defender is great. And their barrel-aged black belgian (I forget the name) is amazing as well. But other than that, I've never been super-impressed with their stuff. If you're in the Chicago area (it sounds like you are), make a trip out to Villa Park one day to hit Lunar Brewing. They recently got bought out by Rock Bottom, but nothing in their bar seems to have changed because of it. Great selection and most of their brews are good, especially their dry stout, which is my favorite of that style ever. It's Defender, only better.
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Mar 30, 2012 12:41
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TenaciousTomato posted:I found Oksar Blues and most of the 4-packs were $18.99. Is it worth it? I'm not quite positive of the exact brews they had but I'm going to have to see which one is worth getting. Are you buying beer IN Boston or something? I feel like if you are, you could drive 20 minutes to a suburb and get beer much cheaper. If you aren't, have you tried other beer stores? I feel like some of the prices you pay seem crazy, although you seem to get fair prices on some stuff (12 pack of Racer 5 for $20 is pretty reasonable) Kudosx fucked around with this message at 14:48 on Mar 30, 2012 |
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Mar 30, 2012 14:41
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$18 is overpriced, but beer is just plain expensive in MA, plus the long-distance markup on Oskar Blues. I visited a Kappy's (a big liquor store) in the exurb of Ipswich and Dale's was still like $11. Great Divide Bombers were about $10. If Gubna or Ten Fidy are $13 in CO, I wouldn't expect to find them under $16 in MA.
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Mar 30, 2012 14:49
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We have a ton of great brewpubs outside of the city (Chicago) that no-one ever talks about. Lunar is excellent (and would make a great long ride on a weekend day), Mickey Finn's in Libertyville is actually worth the trip, especially on the way back from Great America, Two Brothers just bought the brewpub at the Roundhouse in Aurora. Flossmoor Station has gone a little downhill beer-wise, but is still producing excellent beer and is literally a short train ride away. Not to mention that the established brewpubs are phenomenal and there is a new one on the horizon. I don't know much about it, but Dryhop Bistro and Microbrewery is on it's way this fall.
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Mar 30, 2012 14:50
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CalvinDooglas posted:$18 is overpriced, but beer is just plain expensive in MA, plus the long-distance markup on Oskar Blues. I visited a Kappy's (a big liquor store) in the exurb of Ipswich and Dale's was still like $11. Great Divide Bombers were about $10. If Gubna or Ten Fidy are $13 in CO, I wouldn't expect to find them under $16 in MA. Ah, good point. I just felt like $18/4 pack seemed absurd... it would probably be a similar price in OH if it ever comes here, although maybe a little less cause we're poor 'round here.
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Mar 30, 2012 15:13
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BoredByThis posted:Two Brothers just bought the brewpub at the Roundhouse in Aurora. I haven't been to the new Two Bros. location (at the old Roundhouse, which did some brewing back in the Payton days but was always bad...) but the old one wasn't mind-blowing. The couple times I was there, they had their standard stuff on tap and the food was mediocre. Hopefully the new location means more small-batch stuff. That said, Domaine Dupage is one of my favorite year-round beers ever. Absolutely drinkable in any weather, malty and just a little sweet, full-bodied but not heavy. And I'm not sure if I've ever had a beer that tastes exactly like it.
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Mar 30, 2012 15:26
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Anyone know if Long Trail built the Bridgewater Corners brewery in VT or if they bought it and renovated? If so, who was the original owner?
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Mar 30, 2012 15:41
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Does anyone know if Boulevard's Rye on Rye is being bottled this year? I got an e-mail from my beer store saying they have it on tap at their restaurant but nothing about it being in bottles... I remember liking it a lot so I'll be bummed if I can't get a bottle of it.
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Mar 30, 2012 15:43
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Seaniqua posted:Does anyone know if Boulevard's Rye on Rye is being bottled this year? I got an e-mail from my beer store saying they have it on tap at their restaurant but nothing about it being in bottles... I remember liking it a lot so I'll be bummed if I can't get a bottle of it. Yes. 2012 bottling started in Feb I think.
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Mar 30, 2012 15:54
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I just wish they would make Imperial Cane & Ebel. They made the mistake of double malting a batch of Cane & Ebel one year and just went with it, and it was the best beers they've made. Also, Domaine DuPage is a Gluten Free beer. Certified. Kinda cool for those people who have celiac issues.
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Mar 30, 2012 15:56
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Laughing Dog's Sneaky Pete DIPA just showed up in NC, and that's a really solid beer. I'd passed over their stuff before, honestly because of the corny labels (The Dogfather??), but I ended up having a barrel-aged Dogfather on draft and liking it, so I thought I'd give the DIPA a chance. Glad I did. Also got 2 bottles of Weihenstephaner hefeweizen, one regular and one dark. If it's nice tomorrow, planning on sitting on my balcony and drinking one in the sun. Lots of NC chat! I like it. We have 13 new breweries/brewpubs in the planning/opening stages right now. The NC brewer's guild just announced that their new shirts wouldn't feature the member breweries on the back any more because the list was changing too often. Pretty awesome time to be a beer drinker here. If you're in NC, you owe it to yourself to get some of Olde Hickory's stuff. Irish Walker, Weizen-Bock, Death by Hops, Seven Devils -- they are making some seriously good stuff.
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Mar 30, 2012 16:30
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