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broom posted:Not sure what to tell you, I think it has a great hop fruit balance, little malt. To me it is very smooth for 10% abv. Hey, to each her/his own, y'know? It's not like the world is short of other IIPA/DIPAs for me to enjoy.
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Jul 2, 2012 19:09
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| # ? May 11, 2024 14:57 |
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It's looking a little like we'll be taking another US sojourn this coming fall. The past two years, we've travelled down the East Coast from NYC to Atlanta (2010) and West Coast from Seattle to San Francisco (2011) and beer has figured into the sightseeing heavily. I would quite happily do Southern California (Stone Brewing, driving through Death Valley to Vegas, etc) but the girlfriend said we should do the middle of the country instead. We'd be flying from London so are pretty flexible with destinations. The idea would probably be to land somewhere, do a road trip loop taking in breweries and natural beauty and then fly out to save on drop-off charges. The currently-floated idea is to explore the Colorado craft beer scene. Obviously, New Belgium and Odell would be on the list but I have to admit being kind of ignorant about the other quality brewers of the state that claims so many craft breweries. Would this be feasible? Would it make sense to drive out of state? Somehow Wyoming and Utah don't strike me as the most crafty beer states. I guess I'm looking for feedback on the plan. It's still up in the air so very malleable. We'd probably have a couple of weeks for this beer and national park pilgrimage.
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Jul 2, 2012 19:43
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Kaiho posted:Utah Because of their weird liquor laws, Utah has a huge craft brew scene. Unfortunately, those same laws mean things like limited ABV for stuff on tap (4% or something) and there's also a limit on ABV for bottles. But there's good stuff there, and some that are starting to spread around the US.
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Jul 2, 2012 19:52
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You could fly into Chicago, then head around Lake Michigan hitting places like, Goose Island, Revolution, Half Acre, Metropolitan, Central Waters, Lakefront, New Glarus, Tyranena, Capital, Surly, Summit, Short's, New Holland, Bells, Jolly Pumpkin, Founder's, Arcadia, Three Floyds. Just an idea.
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Jul 2, 2012 19:58
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Colorado easily has enough stuff to keep you occupied for a couple of weeks, and the Rockies are impressive and beautiful. I was there last fall for just 4 days (did Denver -> Aspen -> Fort Collins -> Denver), and if I was taking a 2 week trip anywhere in the US this year, it'd be going back to Colorado. Additionally, depending on when exactly in the fall you came, you could possibly hit the GABF. http://www.greatamericanbeerfestival.com/
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Jul 2, 2012 20:45
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Wyoming is a gorgeous state but yeah I wouldn't drive up there as part of a beer-focused trip. I suppose you could buy a bunch of stuff you can't get at home and spend a night or two camping, though. Just along the corridor from Colorado Springs through Fort Collins there's a poo poo-ton of good breweries. To name a few: New Belgium, Odell, Funkwerks, Oskar Blues, Avery, Left Hand, Great Divide, Dry Dock, Trinity, Mountain Sun / Vine St Pub, Boulder Beer, Grimm Brothers... you get the idea. If you want to venture further west, the Glenwood Canyon Brewing Company in Glenwood Springs is an outstanding brewpub and Steamworks in Durango is also an awesome spot to visit. Durango is a million miles from aaaaaaanything but it's great once you get there 
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Jul 2, 2012 20:58
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Kaiho posted:It's looking a little like we'll be taking another US sojourn this coming fall. Oh man, you could definitely do this. Off the top of my head, you've got Wit's End, Oskar Blues, Left Hand, Avery, Great Divide, Breckenridge Brew, Crooked Stave, Funkwerks, Wynkoop, and Strange on top of Odell and New Belgium. Plus there are others, but that's like all I could initially think of. There are tour companies that you could look into if you wanted to tour Denver / the front range for beer. There are also great little breweries tucked into various mountain towns like Aspen and Glenwood Springs or Kannah Creek out by Grand Junction if you want to tour the whole state. I am moving to the Denver area in a little over two weeks and I am most looking forward to taking full advantage of the craft brew scene, until winter when skiing will cause me to lose all ability to reason. So tl;dr is that yes, doing the front range in Colorado, or even CO in general would be worth it. If you have a lot of time on your hands, I would definitely encourage you to tour outside of CO as well. You have lots of options based on time, but as danbanana pointed out, there actually is an active craft brew scene in the less populated states. Utah is more arid than Wyoming, but still has gorgeous scenery. Salt Lake City is fairly pretty and where most of the brewing occurs, but to the south you have Arches, Zion, Bryce, etc. Breweries in Utah are Salt Lake Brewing Company / Squatters, Epic, Uinta and Red Rock (with Red Rock being a little meh, but having a fun brewpub). If you do Utah, make sure to hit High West distillery in Park City. I personally love Wyoming. Jackson Hole and Grand Teton National Park are my favorite places in the whole country because of how beautiful they are. In Wyoming you've got Snake River Brewery with pretty good product and right across the border into Idaho is Grand Teton Brewing. Both are pretty good, Snake River's brewpub is pretty fun. There's boatloads of stuff to do in Jackson if you're outdoorsy. Sadly it's not a great leg on a local brew-focused trip, but if you spent a week or so up there after putzing around Denver, it's really an amazing place. Hell, PM me if you go there and I can give you the full scoop. Both SLC and Jackson Hole are about an 8 hr drive from Denver. The parks and such in Utah are a few hours south of SLC; GTNP and Yellowstone in Wyoming are an hour and 2.5 hours north of Jackson, respectively. BoredByThis posted:You could fly into Chicago, then head around Lake Michigan hitting places like, Goose Island, Revolution, Half Acre, Metropolitan, Central Waters, Lakefront, New Glarus, Tyranena, Capital, Surly, Summit, Short's, New Holland, Bells, Jolly Pumpkin, Founder's, Arcadia, Three Floyds. This is a good idea, because Chicago is a cool city and offers lots to do in addition to beer-drinkin'. And they have some cool beer bars (Map Room, Hopleaf, Quenchers, Sheffield's) in addition to local brewpubs. Don't forget Two Brothers in terms of breweries, Piece as a brewpub (well brew-pizzeria), or places like Longman and Eagle, Publican, or Owen and Engine in the gastropub scene, either. I feel like more Americans are catching on, but Chicago is becoming a great city for beer and food enthusiasts. I would say you can probably safely ignore Wisconsin, but if you have time, why not. Probably not worth the effort to go much farther than Milwaukee or Madison though. In terms of natural beauty, while you could spend a while exploring Chicago, Michigan is really beautiful in summer. Hell, this sounds like a trip I would be interested in and I live here.
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Jul 2, 2012 21:09
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Check it out guys, we can start to talk about how terrible pumpkin beers are even earlier this year!! http://beerpulse.com/2012/07/pumpkin-ales-arrived-last-week/quote:Pumpkin ales have already hit shelves in some markets according to various reports on Twitter.
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Jul 2, 2012 23:34
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Victory posted this video of their new location, and I just cannot believe how loving huge it's going to be. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIGDHSTrsV4
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Jul 2, 2012 23:42
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God drat. When it is literally over 100 outside, a syrupy rear end pumpkin beer is about the last thing on my mind. Save that for October.
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Jul 2, 2012 23:43
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Air-, I noticed Blue Mountain has started shipping their specialty stuff up here. If you grab a Dark Hollow, I've got one bottled in 2009 we could do a vertical.
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Jul 2, 2012 23:59
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Docjowles posted:God drat. When it is literally over 100 outside, a syrupy rear end pumpkin beer is about the last thing on my mind. Save that for October. Seriously. Does anyone make a pumpkin beer that isn't a cloying mess?
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Jul 3, 2012 00:08
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Man, Florida is actually pumping out some solid berliner weisses. Theyre usually only available on draft but i've had a passion/mango/tangerine BW all from florida breweries and they've been great. Big ups to Seventh Sun, Funky Buddha, & CCB for delving into an awesome style of beer.
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Jul 3, 2012 00:11
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crazyfish posted:Seriously. Does anyone make a pumpkin beer that isn't a cloying mess? Southern Tier Pumking. Corb3t fucked around with this message at 00:34 on Jul 3, 2012 |
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Jul 3, 2012 00:32
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Corbet posted:Southern Tier Pumking. I'm going to have to disagree. "Cloying mess" was pretty much how I'd describe it. I keep an eye out for Punk'n when its pumpkin beer season. Elysian here in Seattle does a couple of pretty good ones as well. I had The Great Pumpkin out of a big rear end pumpkin last year and it was delicious.
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Jul 3, 2012 00:53
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MalleusDei posted:I'm going to have to disagree. "Cloying mess" was pretty much how I'd describe it. <sarcasm> Honestly though, I've always liked Dogfish's Punkin. Corb3t fucked around with this message at 00:59 on Jul 3, 2012 |
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Jul 3, 2012 00:55
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I like Pumking and if you don't then I'm not inviting you to any of my cool kid parties  Even I must draw the line at the Creme Brulee Stout tho. Ps. I have little further to add about CO's beer scene, except to recommend two small ones. Crazy Mountain is in Vail and is about the most authentic "brewery run by mountain man stoner bums" place I can think of. Frequently if you go there, customers will be outnumbered by dogs running around among the equipment. The beer's good, too, tho sadly they only can the boring pale ale etc. Colorado Boy in Ridgway works among similar lines, but makes a lot more effort at being eco-conscious, to the point of getting their brewing water from solar collectors on the roof. The guy also runs a program where you pay him like $2000 and he'll give you a two-week-long boot camp on how to operate a small brewery, and I think there are a number of alumni who are running joints here in TX at least. SUPER HASSLER fucked around with this message at 01:12 on Jul 3, 2012 |
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Jul 3, 2012 01:02
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A random west coast pale ale and a slice of pumpkin pie is where its at. We truly live in a world gone mad if you only have the time to enjoy your pumpkin pie in your beer. I just don't like pumpkin beer so I'm mostly kidding. For those who like it it is probably like shower beer where at first glance you wonder what went wrong where you must enjoy a beer in the shower, and then you try it and its like, its better this way.
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Jul 3, 2012 01:07
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zedprime posted:A glass of milk and a slice of pumpkin pie is where its at. Fixed that for you. Beer does not go with pie, and pie should not go inside of beer. Tangentially related, I had Short's Carrot Cake beer twice. Once from a growler directly from the brewery, and once on tap at my local beer bar. The growler beer smelled and tasted incredibly like carrot cake (in a good way, actually). The on-tap version was a disgusting cinnamon mess. Substitute that for any of their other weird beers and thats been 95% of my experiences with Short's.
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Jul 3, 2012 01:11
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zedprime posted:I just don't like pumpkin beer so I'm mostly kidding. For those who like it it is probably like shower beer where at first glance you wonder what went wrong where you must enjoy a beer in the shower, and then you try it and its like, its better this way. I, uh, have never heard of this. In what situation would one do this?
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Jul 3, 2012 01:15
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Sirotan posted:
I really feel like Shorts have toned down their releases over the past year or so. Granted, their Strawberry Shortscake will be on the shelves any day now but their beers on tap at the brewery have been much more conventional.
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Jul 3, 2012 01:27
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SUPER HASSLER posted:I, uh, have never heard of this. In what situation would one do this? Shower beer owns, apparently you are no longer invited to MY cool kid parties No but seriously, after mowing the lawn on a hot day or a super long bike ride or something bringing a nice light beer into the shower is glorious. It's sort of like that feeling of going between the hot tub and the cold pool, except also you're drinking booze.vvvv yeah I have never heard of this either Docjowles fucked around with this message at 01:49 on Jul 3, 2012 |
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Jul 3, 2012 01:31
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SUPER HASSLER posted:I, uh, have never heard of this. In what situation would one do this? Shower beers are very popular in college. Supposedly the hot water thins out your blood or something and the alcohol has more of an effect on you, so you drink while you shower in preparation for going out at night. That being said, I never did this in college and don't actually know first hand if that is true or not. It definitely sounds like a stupid theory, but who knows.
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Jul 3, 2012 01:35
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RiggenBlaque posted:Shower beers are very popular in college. Supposedly the hot water thins out your blood or something and the alcohol has more of an effect on you, so you drink while you shower in preparation for going out at night. What? I have honestly never heard this. Shower beers are a beer that you drink in a shower, usually after a hard/lovely/etc day to relax and they are wonderful.
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Jul 3, 2012 01:42
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I guess I have a conundrum. Jolly Pumpkin apparently does make a pumpkin beer: http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/9897/45723/ Of course, earlier in the thread I said this: crazyfish posted:That one is actually my least favourite, though I don't think jolly pumpkin is even capable of making a bad beer. My favourites are the oro de calabaza golden, the calabaza blanca witbier, and that io saison that is made with hibiscus and rose hips (and I normally dislike flowery beer). Guess I'll find out for sure when it comes out in the fall.
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Jul 3, 2012 02:03
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There's almost 0 pumpkin flavor and overall it's kind of boring. One of their more disappointing beers for sure. I assume they made it just so people could stop complaining that a brewery called Jolly Pumpkin had no pumpkin beers.
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Jul 3, 2012 02:18
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MalleusDei posted:I'm going to have to disagree. "Cloying mess" was pretty much how I'd describe it. Really? I think Pumking is the only good pumpkin beer I've ever had. It's like liquid pumpkin pie. I buy so much more beer during the time Pumking is released, than any other time of year. I thought Cigar City's Good Gourde was pretty disappointing, especially at $15 for a bottle. RiggenBlaque posted:Shower beers are very popular in college. Supposedly the hot water thins out your blood or something and the alcohol has more of an effect on you, so you drink while you shower in preparation for going out at night. Natty Light kegstands are popular in college, too. And eyeballing vodka. Doesn't mean it's not retarded.
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Jul 3, 2012 02:28
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crazyfish posted:I guess I have a conundrum. Jolly Pumpkin apparently does make a pumpkin beer: http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/9897/45723/ No pumpkin beer can possibly be better than Madrugada Obscura.
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Jul 3, 2012 02:36
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Perfectly Cromulent posted:No pumpkin beer can possibly be better than Madrugada Obscura. I can imagine you're right, but I haven't had La Parcela.
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Jul 3, 2012 03:43
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To me, Pumking is just way too cloyingly sweet. There's too much 'pie', not enough 'pumpkin', and definitely not enough 'beer' to it.
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Jul 3, 2012 03:48
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escape artist posted:Really? I think Pumking is the only good pumpkin beer I've ever had. It's like liquid pumpkin pie. I think that sums up why I don't like Pumking. Pumpkin pie, yes. Pumking, no. So this week was my first time having Union Jack IPA. Really good, although I'm sure that is old news for you guys. And finally. Playing a few hours of ultimate, then...shower beer. Its almost always the best beer of your life.
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Jul 3, 2012 03:53
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Ugh not the Great Pumpkin Beer debate again. The only good pumpkin beer I've had was Night Owl by Elysian. Most of the time I'd rather of a Marzen during fall time anyway
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Jul 3, 2012 05:55
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lazerwolf posted:Ugh not the Great Pumpkin Beer debate again. The only good pumpkin beer I've had was Night Owl by Elysian. Well, I don't mean to pick on your beer tastes, but plainly you are F of S , because I had that same beer and it tasted like just any ol' beer to me.See, that's the thing I guess. If I want a "pumpkin beer," I want something that really does taste like serious pumpkin pie; maybe I was spoiled by Pumking in that respect. Out drinking in Austin today; I had the beers from the newly minted South Austin Brewing Co., the latest in a number of breweries to open up here. They had a very good saison, I think. They are starting really big (50bbl system), but for some reason they are charging by far the biggest prices for bottles in this state. I mean, people used to think Jester King charged a lot, but they are charging like $16 for a bomber of a very basic (tho good) kinda saison, and that's just ridiculous. SUPER HASSLER fucked around with this message at 06:04 on Jul 3, 2012 |
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Jul 3, 2012 05:59
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Enjoyed Great Divide Samurai and Hades tonight. Strangely enough, I got almost 0 taste out of the Samurai. It almost felt like I was drinking water. Loved the Hades though; it wasn't too sweet like most other Belgians I've tried. Still have to try the Titan and DPA, but those are for another night!
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Jul 3, 2012 06:06
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I run into the pumpkin beer problem all the time when those seasonals hit. The solution is to figure out whether you (the customer) want something that tastes like the pumpkin by itself or something that tastes like pumpkin pie or bread or just straight-up candy-like pumpkin filling. Once you know what you're expecting or what you want to get out of the pumpkin beer, it's easier to pick one that you'll like. There are lots of people that want a vegetal, unsweetened, almost un-processed raw pumpkin flavor. There are lots that want pumpkin bread. There are lots that want a dessert pumpkin beer. Finding the right pumpkin beer for each person is exactly the same as finding the right any beer for that person.
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Jul 3, 2012 06:08
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It's loving JULY jesus christ stop talking about pumpkin beer. We went through this last year, and maybe the year before if I was talking in the beer thread then.
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Jul 3, 2012 06:09
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ShaneB posted:It's loving JULY jesus christ stop talking about pumpkin beer. We went through this last year, and maybe the year before if I was talking in the beer thread then. Well I think it was mostly you talking crap about Pumking two threads ago that made this topic into "a thing" in the time since actually!    :bigtran:(in jest of course) SUPER HASSLER fucked around with this message at 06:20 on Jul 3, 2012 |
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Jul 3, 2012 06:16
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Worse than pumpkin beerchat is shower beer talk. Swear to god I have time to follow maybe 10 threads at most on all of SA and easily 6-7 of those have devolved into talking about shower beer at some point.SUPER HASSLER posted:Ps. I have little further to add about CO's beer scene, except to recommend two small ones. Crazy Mountain is in Vail and is about the most authentic "brewery run by mountain man stoner bums" place I can think of. Frequently if you go there, customers will be outnumbered by dogs running around among the equipment. The beer's good, too, tho sadly they only can the boring pale ale etc. I was really confused by this until I saw Crazy Mountain was the place in Edwards. Sadly I know Vail really well and I would have been dumbfounded to find a brewery there I didn't know about. Haven't been in years, I'll have to check it out again. CO Boy sounds cool too. Relatives are coming into town for the second and third weeks of August to "See Colorado!" so that means me diverting us to whatever brewery is nearby during the evenings. Will keep both of these in mind.
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Jul 3, 2012 07:25
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Eejit posted:Worse than pumpkin beerchat is shower beer talk. Swear to god I have time to follow maybe 10 threads at most on all of SA and easily 6-7 of those have devolved into talking about shower beer at some point. Having a Berliner Weisse with your post-workout shower should be talked about.Uinta's Dubhe Black IPA is fantastic, by the way, and has a gorgeous bottle/label design:  I'm usually not one to collect bottles (unless I'm brewing) but I'm almost compelled to keep one of these around just to look at it.
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Jul 3, 2012 09:46
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| # ? May 11, 2024 14:57 |
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please can we not talk about pumpkin beer again air- and Munkaboo, be careful opening bottles of Blue Mountain Isabel, they had a lot of severe gushers. didn't care for it on draft, but if you want a seriously coffee-rear end beer, go for it. also, enjoy all the Blue Mountain that they're shipping up your way instead of Richmond- went to a bottle-share last night and some shop/bar owners and a distributor rep were all complaining about how lovely BM (pun intended) has been about getting beer to our market lately (with the exception of the new Barrel House stuff).
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Jul 3, 2012 12:11
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