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Mahoning posted:I'm going to Michigan next month, then North Carolina in July. Can anyone throw out some good beers that are available in either state that might not be available in other places? I want to start making a list. NC effort post! Statewide - you should be able to find any of these beers at pretty much any decent bottleshop or bigbox beer (Total Wine) in the state. Foothills - People's Porter is available in bombers widely. 6 packs of their Endo IPA are too. Both are good. Olde Hickory - distribute pretty much in bombers only. Hickory Stick Stout and their Imperial Stout are both very good. I'm also partial to their Irish Walker barleywine and their Weizen-Bock. Death by Hops lives up to it's name. Mother Earth - six packs widely available. Their Dark Cloud dunkel is probably one of my favorite easy drinking beers, Sisters of the Moon is a drat good IPA. Duck Rabbit - the dark beer specialists. Six packs. The RIS may be getting scarce by July, and I know the Baltic Porter is now. The Milk Stout is available pretty much any time. I think the RIS and Baltic Porter are their best stuff, but all their beers are pretty good. Hoppy Bunny ABA is their new one and may still be available in July. Lonerider - six packs widely available, Peacemaker Pale Ale is great. Their other stuff is just ok. Natty Greene's - six packs, but their bottled stuff has never wowed me, their best stuff is at their pubs. Big Boss - Bad Penny is pretty good. Red Oak - their lager is everywhere, but normally only in 12 packs. They are widely available on tap, though. Very traditional lager, reminds me of Czech beers. Regional Western NC/Asheville This is where all the cool kids from CO and CA are setting up their East Coast shops. Asheville's a fantastic town to visit if you're in the area, and there are a couple of bottle shops that have a great supply of NC beer: Bruisin' Ales and Hops & Vines. A lot of NC breweries don't bottle much yet, however. Nantahala and Pisgah breweries are both outside of Asheville, but VERY much worth a visit if you can swing it. In Asheville: Visit: Wedge, Asheville Pizza, The Oyster House, French Broad, Green Man, Highland Skip: LaB Maybe: Craggie (this is a polarizing place) French Broad Rye Hopper, Oyster House Oyster Stout, Green Man Porter and Highland St. Teresa's are all great. The Thirsty Monk pub keeps a lot of NC beer on tap, and recently started making their own beer too. Hickory Olde Hickory and Loe's Brewery. Olde Hickory is established and awesome, Loe's is brand new and interesting. Last time I was there, Olde Hickory's sampler was 14 beers. Winston/Greensboro/High Point Foothills (WS) Really don't do a lot of pub only beer that's better than what they bottle. Natty Greenes (GSO) they also have a pub in Raleigh. ALL of their really good stuff is pub only, and they have a ton of it (8-12 taps of pub only). Liberty Steakhouse (HP) Don't bottle at all, the place feels like a chain restaurant, but their brewer knows his poo poo. Consistently win gold in NC competitions. Deep River Wit and their Kellerbier are fantastic. 1st Street Draught House in WS keeps a lot of NC stuff on tap. Triangle (Raleigh/Durham) RD gets less attention, but I think their brewers are actually better than Asheville's. Triangle Brewing - they can their Golden and White Ales, but limited distro. Habanero pale ale is the best pepper beer I've ever had. One of the few NC breweries doing sours, they sometimes have on a soured Abbey beer, and they did a lambic this year. Bull City Burgers & Brewery - beer is good, burgers are UNGODLY. Roth - Consecration and Sex Viking are both good. Fullsteam - awesome place to hang out, normally have interesting stuff on cask. Working Man's Lunch is tasty as all hell. Top of the Hill - only worth going when the Back Bar is open, they have the good stuff on tap there. Boylan Bridge - nothing that stood out to me, just solid across the board, they have a great view of downtown Raleigh. Aviator - Hop Rod Red and HogWyld IPA are the only two I've had, but they are really good. The Flying Saucer and the Pour House keep lots of NC beer on tap. Busy Bee Cafe keeps great stuff on tap and has awesome food. Charlotte NoDa - Ghost Hop and NodaRyez'd are good. Have not been to their pub yet, but hear good things. Olde Mecklenburg - Capt. Jack pilsner is EXCELLENT, I'd seriously compare it to Prima Pils. Another pub I haven't visited, but heard really good things about. rear end Clown - north of the city, very new, I haven't gotten any of their stuff yet. Flying Saucer also has a location in Charlotte. Outer Banks Weeping Radish - solid enough if you're in the area. Outer Banks Brewing Station - Vitis Reductus Sour Ale. Yummy. Okay...I think that's a pretty definitive tour of NC beer!
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May 24, 2012 02:33
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^^ So does Highland brewery basically suck? Honest question. I don't know much about NC breweries. internet celebrity posted:You take that back, My Antonia is delicious I'm not a big fan of Pilsners in general. I actually only bought it because I was dating a girl named Antonia at the time.
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May 24, 2012 02:33
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escape artist posted:^^ So does Highland brewery basically suck? Honest question. I don't know much about NC breweries. No, they are pretty good, but they are a bit more focused on making more widely accessible beer, I think. Their brewery is pretty cool though, and they give you a TON of beer on the tour. I drink their Oatmeal Stout on a regular basis.
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May 24, 2012 02:39
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Sirotan posted:Get the fire and smoke pizza, so goddamn delicious. Yeah I was there, dunno how I missed you. I managed to bring a co-worker to mule. Don't know when I'll open a bottle, it's a shame it isn't a plum bomb.
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May 24, 2012 02:42
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I stumbled upon a beer I've heard absolutely nothing about today, Victory's Otto in Oak. It's their Otto aged in bourbon barrels. I didn't care much for Otto, but Otto in Oak is one of the best beers I've had. You can see my review there under the name keanex for my thoughts on it. Yes, I truly think that highly of this. I had doubts about it when I bought it, but this is a bourbon barrel aged beer done right.
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May 24, 2012 03:02
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escape artist posted:I'm not a big fan of Pilsners in general. I actually only bought it because I was dating a girl named Antonia at the time. To be fair it's an "imperial pilsner" which just isn't a style I enjoy/respect. Locally Odell's makes a Double Pilsner and I don't like it either. It just tastes like a heavy, boozier pilsner which is the opposite of why I reach for that style. Docjowles fucked around with this message at 03:19 on May 24, 2012 |
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May 24, 2012 03:14
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internet celebrity posted:One thing I'll never understand is why dubbels and quads are dark and tripels are light. Also, if a tripel is light can someone explain why there is also a category for "Belgian Golden Strong Ale?" The only real difference I see in the descriptions are that Belgian golden strong ales are slightly drier and more citrusy. The singel/dubbel/tripel/quadrupel/etc thing was pretty much started by Westmalle, an old school Trappist abbey brewery. In the 1800s they made a dark, strongish brown ale and called it a Dubbel and later in the early 1900s they made the Tripel, both of which were basically "brand names" and not styles. They were probably picked as references to the strength of the beer They were both pretty unique and commonly recognized as first-of-style for their times, though Belgian culture is not so classification-obsessed that they really care about calling a beer by its (mostly American defined) style. In Belgium a beer is usually referred to by its color (blond, amber, bruin, donkel, etc) and sometimes by a general style like "trappist" or "special". If its high abv they might throw the word strong on it and if they are feeling particularly anal they might denote if one is sour or not. Check out this beer list from Cambrinus in Brugge and note the lack of excessive categorization. http://www.cambrinus.eu/bierkaart.htm Its really the American culture that is classification-anal, which carries forward into the beer world and the 88ish mostly bullshit categories that the GABF and WBC recognize for competition purposes. Go look at how many categories not-too-far-off-mainstream style IPAs medal it, its like a half dozen or more. Anyhow, modern beer categories more or less classify Dubbel/Tripel/Quadrupel categories as "Trappist" styles, which are traditionally quite dry, with mild/moderate bitterness (but next to no hoppiness) to balance the sweetness, fairly simple malt bills with a large amount of the beers character coming from special house yeasts. Dubbels are fairly simple with a bit of a dark fruit / light chocolate slant that is fairly easy drinking. The typification of the style is the Westmalle Dubbel, and most other examples are going to be pretty similar. Tripels are stronger and a bit richer in both malt character and bitterness and usually feature a more pronounced yeast character. A very simple recipe (pilsner malt, sugar, hops) means that this beer style is almost exclusively about the yeast. Spicey, estery, fruity, clovey is all from the yeast. Again Westmalle invented this style of beer but there are a lot of really excellent examples out there like the Allagash Tripel. Quadrupels are very big complex beers with lots of rich dark flavors like cocoa, fig, dates and so forth. So many good examples out there its hard to pick a favorite aside from the obligatory Westvleteren 12. So you might think that the category of Tripel makes the Belgian Golden Strong style kind of redundant, and you are partly right. There are enough differences between a Duvel (the typification of a BGS) and a Westmalle Tripel that a separate category emerged. A BGS is typically lighter in color/malt character, dryer, less bitter but fairly hoppy. Duvel and Damnation are two excellent examples and drat near the exact same recipe. This concludes this weeks edition of Masterpiece Beer Nerdery Classic.
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May 24, 2012 03:15
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Docjowles posted:To be fair it's an "imperial pilsner" which just isn't a style I enjoy/respect. Locally Odell's makes a Double Pilsner and I don't like it either. It just tastes like a heavy, boozier pilsner which is the opposite of why I reach for a that style. Imperial Pilsner is kind of an oxymoron like a Strong Mild. The flavor (and whole point) of those styles is to be light on the palate. The only Imperial Pilsner I've had that was not grossly sweet and an abomination before all of beerdom was Port Panzer Pils and then mainly only the first batch.
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May 24, 2012 03:18
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rage-saq posted:Imperial Pilsner is kind of an oxymoron like a Strong Mild. The flavor (and whole point) of those styles is to be light on the palate. Yeah that's exactly my feeling on it. And thanks for the Belgian post, very interesting as usual.
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May 24, 2012 03:23
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You can always count on rage-saq for Ajaarg level knowledge without the lovely loving attitude. Really interesting post, I need to go back and read Brew Like a Monk
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May 24, 2012 03:25
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Indeed thanks for the information rage-saq. Update on the Otto in Oak, still loving delicious. One of the best BA beers I've had.
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May 24, 2012 03:35
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escape artist posted:^^ So does Highland brewery basically suck? Honest question. I don't know much about NC breweries. no, they don't suck, but they're nothing to get excited about, especially if you have a limited amount of time and space for looking/bringing back.
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May 24, 2012 03:44
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I had a Green Flash Double Stout last night: very good, but not a standout. Pretty light for the style, which was fine because I had it before 10pm, and featured the typical roasted malt, dark fruit, velvety feel. Very enjoyable, though there are more distinctive beers in same price range. Tonight, I had a Weyerbacher Heresy. This is a good barrel aged d-stout. The barrel isn't up front, but it's just a little oaky and oxidized, and the base beer does well with it. Again, a good example, but nothing terribly memorable like the can-aged Ten Fidy I had a while back. Overall two good stout experience, worth $5-6. For whatever reason, in Maine I can get a single of literally anything that's available in the store, even if it's stocked in 6 packs. Even in a 7-11 I can grab a single of a local brew and purchase it at 1/6th of the 6 pack price. Almost makes up for the "No Onsite Service" law.
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May 24, 2012 04:25
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Do you have to pay the "singles" tax? In New Jersey if I buy a single from a 6/4 pack I have to pay the bottle cost+20%, at least that's what most stores do. I'm glad to hear good things about Heresy though as most of Weyerbachers beer is a miss for me usually. Their high ABV beers tend to be really grainy.
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May 24, 2012 04:32
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danbanana posted:On the opposite spectrum, Black Tuesday was probably the most disappointing beer I've ever had. The one I tried had a year of age on it, but basically tasted like someone brewed a mediocre high-alcohol imperial stout and then just dropped a couple shots of whiskey in it. Gross, and this is coming from someone who adores great BA'd beers. This isn't one, in my opinion. Not even close. Kosher Man and I shared a bottle of Black Tuesday at Thanksgiving, and even between eight people the bottle never got finished. It's like drinking sweetened jet fuel and charcoal, and everybody who tried it agreed that it was totally loving disgusting. It's kind of insulting that a beer like this receives the level of hype it does. RiggenBlaque posted:You can always count on rage-saq for Ajaarg level knowledge without the lovely loving attitude. Dammit, don't say that name. All we need is for one goon to say his name three times looking at a mirror in the dark, and we're all doomed to endless angry lecturing about decoction mashing again. But yeah, to my knowledge rage-saq has the dubbel/tripel/quad info correct. The hilarious thing is that it's mostly the US beer community that's gotten tied up in those terms, while the Belgians honestly don't seem to give a gently caress what the beer's called as long as it's good and they can sell it. I'm kind of puzzled by the co-existence of "quadrupel" and "Belgian dark strong," since the two are functionally interchangeable terms. One of my friends - who doesn't drink but keeps beer around for her friends - recently came back from the liquor store with, among other things, Three Floyds Zombie Dust and Bell's Hopslam. It's been a while since I've had either one, but both were in good condition (even though the Hopslam is from January) and extremely delicious. Hopslam never fails to amaze me with how easy to drink it is for a 10% ABV beer, and has the kind of balance a lot of DIPAs - and even regular IPAs - fail to achieve. RobBorer posted:Alternatively, This is ultimately my philosophy on beer. It's good to be interested and invested in what's in your glass, but there's no need to be belligerent or snooty about it. Good beer comes from all places, in all forms, and getting too hung up on particulars alienates you from the community and deprives you of good beer you could have been drinking otherwise. Retemnav, when you mentioned Ashville Pizza, is that the same place as Asheville Brewing Company? I visited ABC when I passed through the area in January and enjoyed their stuff a lot, especially the Moog Filtered Ale and the amber ale with jalapeño. Their kölsch, unfortunately, was underattenuated and riddled with diacetyl, so I'd steer clear of it, but the rest of the beer was good and the food's not too shabby.
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May 24, 2012 04:34
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Midorka posted:Do you have to pay the "singles" tax? In New Jersey if I buy a single from a 6/4 pack I have to pay the bottle cost+20%, at least that's what most stores do. I'm glad to hear good things about Heresy though as most of Weyerbachers beer is a miss for me usually. Their high ABV beers tend to be really grainy. Maine is a bottle deposit state, so the tax is pretty much sales + 5c/bottle. Singles are usually with little to no markup. Especially when it comes to big beers, it is a huge money saver. I rarely want a six pack of something like an imperial stout.
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May 24, 2012 04:53
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@-air French Broad is the name of the river near the brewery. But rear end clown is a stupid as hell name and I would never buy beer from them because of it.
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May 24, 2012 07:21
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Welp, the verdict is in on the Voodoo Doughnut Maple Bacon Ale It is, in fact, by far, the worst beer I have ever tasted in my entire life. I would drink Natty Light or Milwaukee's Best before this. The bomber I bought was $13.50. I took 3 sips of it. I tried to chug it just so I wouldn't waste so much money, but I nearly threw up. Poured at least a pint of it down the drain. Guys, do yourselves a favor, and do not buy this beer. You are better off throwing $14 into a wishing well. I seriously feel a great deal of shame and regret for buying that beer, in addition to the nausea. edit: An addendum: The beer smells fantastic. However, the taste is like someone took a burned ham, put it in a blender, doused it with maple syrup, and then turned the blender on. I didn't think it would be good, but I didn't think it would be the worst thing I've ever had. It really was. The worst beer I've ever drank. No hyperbole. Avoid like the loving plague. http://www.wweek.com/portland/blog-27665-rogues_voodoo_doughnut_maple_bacon_ale.html This beer has literally lowered my self-esteem. That's how bad it is. escape artist fucked around with this message at 13:50 on May 24, 2012 |
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May 24, 2012 13:40
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I talked to a Victory guy today about the Otto in Oak, apparently it's really limited and they don't intend to do it again. This is a shame, I hope it holds up well with aging. If anyone is interested in trying it I wouldn't be opposed to a trade.
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May 24, 2012 15:10
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escape artist posted:This beer has literally lowered my self-esteem. That's how bad it is. What I have had is one of my bottles of Alpine Chez Monieux. It's a drat good sour. If you deconstruct the initial vomit impression of the aroma, it's heavy on blue cheese and pecan notes. Flavorwise it's nicely tart, lots of lacto sourness and a decent amount of funk. Unfortunately for the Chez, I followed it with Cascade's Sang Noir. That was kind of unfair to Alpine, because I don't think an American sour can get any better than Sang Noir. It's simply perfect - not too sour, not too funky, not too grainy or fruity. Everything balances. We also cracked bottles of Bruery Coton, Cuir, and Fruet. The Fruet is 100% bourbon barrel aged and shows it, there's a lot of delicious barrel character but the beer's so huge it stands up. Cuir and Coton have both aged excellently. I think I liked the Cuir best, but I'd be happy drinking any of them.
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May 24, 2012 15:19
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A friend's parents offered to ship me some Alpine beer, as they live near the brewery. What do they usually have in their shop that I could ask them to get for me?
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May 24, 2012 15:22
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Ubik posted:Retemnav, when you mentioned Ashville Pizza, is that the same place as Asheville Brewing Company? I visited ABC when I passed through the area in January and enjoyed their stuff a lot, especially the Moog Filtered Ale and the amber ale with jalapeño. Their kölsch, unfortunately, was underattenuated and riddled with diacetyl, so I'd steer clear of it, but the rest of the beer was good and the food's not too shabby. Yea, same place. I think the official name is Asheville Pizza & Brewing, or it may just be I'm old and remember when they were still only in their old building, which was just pizza and beer. Their new place downtown may actually be called Asheville Brewing Company. Same folks though. It's a good lunch place to start a tour of Asheville. It's beer week this week in Asheville. 11 days of awesome beer stuff, and I'm not going to be able to make it up for any of it. Very sad.
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May 24, 2012 16:25
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Munkaboo posted:A friend's parents offered to ship me some Alpine beer, as they live near the brewery. What do they usually have in their shop that I could ask them to get for me? Nelson is a Rye-PA which is easily my favorite one anywhere; they usually have that in bottles although its technically a seasonal, Pure Hoppiness is a Double IPA which is very good (although wattershed won't agree here). Duet is a very nice regular IPA which has a nice dry, pleasant finish to it. All three of those are probably worth a try, and if you can get a fresh bottle of Mandarin Nectar, its pretty drat rad as a hot day thirst quencher.
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May 24, 2012 17:07
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Munkaboo posted:A friend's parents offered to ship me some Alpine beer, as they live near the brewery. What do they usually have in their shop that I could ask them to get for me? Nelson and Exponential Hoppiness are both excellent. If you're willing to spend more, Chez Monieux is quite good and a nice foray into non-IBU territory. Some of their more unusual stuff is kind of cool as well. Willy Vanilly was a one-time purchase for me, but it's interesting. Mandarin Nectar is quite good, but Gouden Vallei would be my vote for the odd thing I liked best. It's hard to go wrong with Alpine.
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May 24, 2012 17:35
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escape artist posted:Can someone tell me which beers age well and which ones do not? Generally: don't age beer. Some styles change over time but there's not many that actually get better. The vast majority of beers you buy will get worse within a couple of months. Now, if you want to experiment and see how different beers change over time, by all means, it can be fun to do. IPAs lose their hop character but sometimes that can reveal a pretty interesting malt bill underneath (I think our Jai Alai is like this, for example). People like to age barrel-aged beers because they're special and cost 20 dollars a bottle and they want to save them for special events and whatnot but they're really not meant to be aged. They've already aged for a while and are (more often than not) not released until the brewers have decided it tastes good enough to bottle. Some beers are super boozy and get more mellow as they age. But to me, that just means they're lovely beers to begin with. Of course there are like guezes and lambics and brett bombs and all that poo poo but those are a whole different animal. To summarize: aging beer generally doesn't make a beer better, it just changes it, more often than not for the worst. escape artist posted:I tried to chug it just so I wouldn't waste so much money, but I nearly threw up. The money has already been wasted once you realize how much you hate it. I don't understand the mentality of "drinking it = not wasting the money." But luckily you realized this. If a beer is terrible, don't drink it. And yes, that beer is loving gross.
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May 24, 2012 17:55
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CYBER SLIMER posted:People like to age barrel-aged beers because they're special and cost 20 dollars a bottle and they want to save them for special events and whatnot but they're really not meant to be aged. They've already aged for a while and are (more often than not) not released until the brewers have decided it tastes good enough to bottle. I know you know more about beer than I ever will, but I do want to say that I've never, ever, ever heard anyone say this. The last line? Yeah, usually breweries want to prematurely bottle stuff (I mean, that's a general rule for beer right? Even homebrewers do this). But I find it conflicting with lots and lots of great breweries that do barrel-aging (and even non-BA'd brews) and openly state that the beers keep in bottles for X number of years, and some that even straight-up recommend you do this. These aren't fly-by-night places but established breweries and some, like GI, that actually introduced or perfected the method to American craft breweries. I'm just kind of surprised to hear this since, again, it's something I've never heard anyone express.
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May 24, 2012 18:08
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Picked up a variety pack of Widmer Brothers' offerings yesterday which consisted of their: Hefeweizen, Drifter Pale Ale, Rotator IPA, and '12 Dark Saison. The hefe was alright, had a pretty decent smell going for it, got a whiff of banana on top of the yeast/citrus but the taste of it was lacking, and is just too light to be considered a hefeweizen. Next, was the Drifter PA which was a good light pale ale, had a nice balance of malt and hops but nothing to write home about. Rotator IPA, light bodied as most of their brews are, wasn't a favorite IPA by any means, but wasn't horrible either. Being a 'spiced' IPA I guess you notice it after a while but didn't do much for me. Finally the dark saison for spring is pretty much your average saison, dark fruity taste and smell, again too light of a beer for me, but at 9% I could drink at least a few of these if I wanted. Galaxy Hopped Barleywine was their best I have tried, not completely satisfied by any of the others except the pale ale, maybe. Also scooped a Lagunitas Lucky 13 Imperial Amber, will update on that. TenaciousTomato fucked around with this message at 18:14 on May 24, 2012 |
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May 24, 2012 18:11
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CYBER SLIMER posted:The money has already been wasted once you realize how much you hate it. I don't understand the mentality of "drinking it = not wasting the money." But luckily you realized this. If a beer is terrible, don't drink it. And yes, that beer is loving gross. I think everyone here knows I agree with this whole-heartedly. Too many people think pouring a beer is a sacrilege or something, but really if you can not stomach a beer and no one is around to take it off of your hands then you shouldn't force yourself to finish something. This doesn't mean I agree with pouring out beers simply because they're mediocre. On the aging topic, I find it interesting your opinion on it considering your brewery partakes in barrel-aging itself. Also if aging a beer changes a beer, by your admission, than it can become better, worse, or simply different. When something changes I'm going to have a different opinion on it, but really that's left to the discretion of whoever is drinking. I think Dogfish Head 120 Minute sucks fresh, but I do love it aged, same with World Wide Stout. World Wide Stout is actually my favorite stout in the world, once it's had a year to age. You might simply think they're crappy beers then, which is fine, but I think they mature very nicely. Midorka fucked around with this message at 18:25 on May 24, 2012 |
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May 24, 2012 18:18
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CYBER SLIMER posted:People like to age barrel-aged beers because they're special and cost 20 dollars a bottle and they want to save them for special events and whatnot but they're really not meant to be aged. They've already aged for a while and are (more often than not) not released until the brewers have decided it tastes good enough to bottle. Man, you should really talk to the brewers over at Deschutes and tell them they're doing it wrong with that whole "Best AFTER" dating they put on their bottles.
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May 24, 2012 18:34
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bartolimu posted:Nelson and Exponential Hoppiness are both excellent. If you're willing to spend more, Chez Monieux is quite good and a nice foray into non-IBU territory. Some of their more unusual stuff is kind of cool as well. Willy Vanilly was a one-time purchase for me, but it's interesting. Mandarin Nectar is quite good, but Gouden Vallei would be my vote for the odd thing I liked best. It's hard to go wrong with Alpine.
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May 24, 2012 18:48
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Retemnav posted:NC effort post! Just wanna say thanks a ton for this. I'll be in the Outer Banks specifically but may be in Pinehurst for a day or two beforehand.
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May 24, 2012 18:53
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danbanana posted:I know you know more about beer than I ever will, but I do want to say that I've never, ever, ever heard anyone say this. The last line? Yeah, usually breweries want to prematurely bottle stuff (I mean, that's a general rule for beer right? Even homebrewers do this). But I find it conflicting with lots and lots of great breweries that do barrel-aging (and even non-BA'd brews) and openly state that the beers keep in bottles for X number of years, and some that even straight-up recommend you do this. Aging poo poo is *expensive* if you want to do it on any significant scale. Straight bourbon's got to sit in a barrel for at least two years, that's a *lot* of storage space if you're producing significant quantities, and there's a reason why the distilleries are all bottling and selling an unaged unbarreled corn liquor now. "Good enough to go in the bottle and ship for sale" isn't the same thing as "as good as it's ever going to get" is what I'm trying to say, and brewers have very good reasons for bottling beer at a point where it would still benefit from age. Specific example: 5-year-old Chimay Blue is better than fresh, but there's no way Chimay could afford to age all their Blue for five years before bottling it.
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May 24, 2012 18:54
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Angry Grimace posted:I'm assuming you mean Pure Hop as opposed to Expo, since Expo is one-day only release.
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May 24, 2012 18:57
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bartolimu posted:Nelson and Exponential Hoppiness are both excellent. If you're willing to spend more, Chez Monieux is quite good and a nice foray into non-IBU territory. Some of their more unusual stuff is kind of cool as well. Willy Vanilly was a one-time purchase for me, but it's interesting. Mandarin Nectar is quite good, but Gouden Vallei would be my vote for the odd thing I liked best. It's hard to go wrong with Alpine. I'm pretty familiar with what's good there, but are those things usually at the shop? My question was more along the lines of 'what's always there' edit: ^ ah gotcha.
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May 24, 2012 18:57
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Corbet posted:Man, you should really talk to the brewers over at Deschutes and tell them they're doing it wrong with that whole "Best AFTER" dating they put on their bottles. Having recently had Black Butte XXI with 2 years of age and verticals of Abyss, I don't even want to drink those beers with less than a year on them. They are almost undrinkably intense fresh.
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May 24, 2012 19:18
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Perfectly Cromulent posted:Having recently had Black Butte XXI with 2 years of age and verticals of Abyss, I don't even want to drink those beers with less than a year on them. They are almost undrinkably intense fresh. Also Hair of the Dog. All of their beers are lovely to begin with because they encourage aging them.
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May 24, 2012 19:22
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Phanatic posted:"Good enough to go in the bottle and ship for sale" isn't the same thing as "as good as it's ever going to get" is what I'm trying to say, and brewers have very good reasons for bottling beer at a point where it would still benefit from age. Specific example: 5-year-old Chimay Blue is better than fresh, but there's no way Chimay could afford to age all their Blue for five years before bottling it. I agree with this, but in general I think most breweries aren't going to bottle something that isn't past a point of "This is drinkable." The high-booze stuff that mellows with age might be like that (I wonder if a long time in bottle for the aforementioned Black Tuesday might actually make it drinkable), but not most. Obviously my point was: there's plenty of breweries that encourage aging, and I'm going to assume they do it for a reason.
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May 24, 2012 19:30
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danbanana posted:Obviously my point was: there's plenty of breweries that encourage aging, and I'm going to assume they do it for a reason. Probably to encourage the consumer to buy large amounts at one time. EDIT: Someone needs to open a bulk aging center service for breweries that want to age their beer but need to move it out of the actual brewery lazerwolf fucked around with this message at 19:49 on May 24, 2012 |
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May 24, 2012 19:43
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CYBER SLIMER posted:People like to age barrel-aged beers because they're special and cost 20 dollars a bottle and they want to save them for special events and whatnot but they're really not meant to be aged. They've already aged for a while and are (more often than not) not released until the brewers have decided it tastes good enough to bottle. The same goes for huge (non-sweet) red wines - drink them young and they're tannic and horrible, but give them ten years to open up and they present flavors no other wines can. Are those winemakers terrible at their jobs for bottling before the wine is ready to drink? Nope. Again, many of those wines are coming from some of the most respected vineyards in the world. They're not loving up. They're opening up storage space for another vintage and getting some cash flow so they can stay in business. Why should the beer industry operate differently? Fuckoff big stouts come into their own after a year or three of aging, and that's fine. Why should the brewers be required to store the beer - keeping an enormous amount of capital and floor space tied up in unsold product, reducing their ability to produce new both from an economic and storage aspect - just because you think a beer that needs aging after release is automatically a lovely beer? You have a wrong opinion. Some beers don't age well, yes. It's dumb (with a tiny number of exceptions) to age a rosé, they're meant to be drunk young. That doesn't make those young beers or young rosés any less good than beers that need aging. They're just a different style. Don't serve every style in the same kind of glassware. Don't serve every style at the same temperature. Don't serve every style at the same age. None of that is bad advice.
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May 24, 2012 19:44
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Besides being gimmicky and overpriced, I've heard a lot of negative comments about Rogue- that they are union busters, they treat employees like poo poo, they have a terrible health plan, workers are emotionally abused on the job, etc. Even that the brewery itself is really grimy and they are really lax on quality control. These comments are widespread enough that I imagine there has to be some base to them, but I haven't seen much press about it other than an interview with the CEO (that made him sound like a big rear end in a top hat who had a lot of contempt for the customer), and then like a press release in a union paper. Anybody know more about this? More than just gossip, because that's what I've seen on beer boards and the like.
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May 24, 2012 19:57
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