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Astronaut Jones posted:It's a grocery store, not a beer distributor/liquor store they dgaf. ~~Beer goes in, beer comes out, that's what PA liquor control board laws are all about.~~ I live in CT where the cheapest 6 packs never go below $8.99 and even fairly common beers like Flower Power are never less than $13.99, I assure you I'm quite hardened
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Jan 30, 2013 22:04
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Lagunitas Sucks kills Hopslam in every conceivable way. I bought a sixer of each and see little reason to get any more Hopslam, especially at 20/sixer.
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Jan 30, 2013 22:08
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Quite the haul today: Lagunitas Sucks White Rajah Head Hunter 2013 Bigfoot Behemoth Rye da Tiger I'm running out of room to put all this.
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Jan 30, 2013 22:53
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Anyone tried Sixpoint 3Beans yet? Picked it up yesterday and tried one today. I thought it was pretty well-balanced between the cacao + coffee. Doubt I could drink it very often, though. edit: yep, meant coffee GigaFool fucked around with this message at 02:31 on Jan 31, 2013 |
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Jan 30, 2013 23:37
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ShaneB posted:Lagunitas Sucks kills Hopslam in every conceivable way. I bought a sixer of each and see little reason to get any more Hopslam, especially at 20/sixer. I haven't tried it yet, while we get some Lagunitas stuff around here, I haven't seen Sucks anywhere.
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Jan 31, 2013 00:26
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Are they doing smaller runs of Brown Shugga now with Sucks in the mix? Sucks is great and all, but I still love Brown Shugga and it seemed to vanish quickly while Sucks has been popping up in stores here for a couple months now.
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Jan 31, 2013 00:40
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Sucks is now a year-round. Shugga is still a seasonal.
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Jan 31, 2013 00:52
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Angry Grimace posted:Because Alpine is practically a moonshining operation and they're subject to the whims of mother nature, i.e. they apparently don't have temperature control inside their building. I'm not entirely sure how that makes sense for a professional operation, but you got me. Having been to both spots, I don't see Alpine as really any smaller than Kern River. And the weather conditions are often as rough up there in Kern county. I guess it just boils down to the breweries growth pattern. It sounded like Alpine wanted to expand but red tape is holding back a brewing site expansion? I saw this link for Younger tappings for later in Feb. http://blog.ocbeerblog.com/2013/01/30/2013-russian-river-pliny-the-younger-releases/ Velvet Merlin has been showing up more and more in SoCal shops now, so yeah, it may be out of season by then. Though I hear tale that Velvet Mirkin is being bottled this year - sadly in September, So long after your buddy will be there. I have oddly enough found Parabola out of season a lot by hitting up whole foods and asking the beer dude if they have any in the back. You'll be amazed at the stuff they sit on back there. So ask your buddy to just hit up those spots. Even in May there's places that will have it. Bag of sun chips, I'm in the process of getting caught up with those. Ugh, trustee work is something I wish on no one. Jack Skeleton fucked around with this message at 01:39 on Jan 31, 2013 |
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Jan 31, 2013 01:30
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GigaFool posted:Anyone tried Sixpoint 3Beans yet? Picked it up yesterday and tried one today. I thought it was pretty well-balanced between the cacao + chocolate. Doubt I could drink it very often, though. I hope you meant coffee! Also to follow up the earlier Left Hand Milk Stout Nitro discussion, I'll add that it tasted better than I remembered it, but I'm not thrilled with the nitro bottle. It's impressive poo poo from an engineering perspective, but from the first sip I found that it had even less carbonation than a nitro tap version. I'm not through the 6 pack yet, though, so maybe I'll refine my technique.
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Jan 31, 2013 01:35
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Jack Skeleton posted:Having been to both spots, I don't see Alpine as really any smaller than Kern River. And the weather conditions are often as rough up there in Kern county. I guess it just boils down to the breweries growth pattern. It sounded like Alpine wanted to expand but red tape is holding back a brewing site expansion? They are expanding. My incredulity wasn't due to the size but the fact that a brewing company could even exist without having the ability to prevent their yeast from going out of the ranges they want.
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Jan 31, 2013 01:39
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Jack Skeleton posted:
I'll assume this part was meant for me. Even if not, it's valuable info. It turns out that my San Diego friend is now living in Hollywood going to art school, and has limited time to go beer hunting for me. He asked me to try to dig up some close by places for these beers. SoCal goons, where's the best close spot to Hollywood for FW and RR bottles? TIA
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Jan 31, 2013 01:49
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crazyfish posted:Sucks is now a year-round. I didn't know that.... that puts Sucks as one of the top 5 year-round IPAs in the country now, IMO. Founder's Centennial Bell's Two Hearted Sucks Union Jack and maybe for 5th Blind Pig Alesmith Fathead Headhunter Stone Opinions? I'm curious what people think.
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Jan 31, 2013 01:53
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ShaneB posted:I didn't know that.... that puts Sucks as one of the top 5 year-round IPAs in the country now, IMO. I'd probably go for the following: Ballast Point Sculpin Alesmith Blind Pig Bells Two Hearted Sucks or Union Jack or Stone or La Cumbre Elevated
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Jan 31, 2013 02:02
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Captain Shortbus posted:I'll assume this part was meant for me. Even if not, it's valuable info. It turns out that my San Diego friend is now living in Hollywood going to art school, and has limited time to go beer hunting for me. Here are some of my favorite spots; Ramirez Liquors - (East L.A.) about 15 minutes without traffic from Hollywood. If he's near Downtown, it's right around there. Best drat spot that has a lot of hidden gems mainly because their customer base is typically in there for a bud three pack or 40oz'er. I've seen Cantillon bottles sit there for a week over christmas. RR friendly (they have pliny/blind pig bi-weekly) Cap n' Cork Jr. (Los Feliz) location is closer to Hollywood. Prices are a buck or two more than I'm use to, but their selection is pretty big. (RR sours friendly) Whole Foods on Fairfax (across from The Grove) - They have a great selection, offer singles. I've found previous years Parabola at this spot just weeks before the new release. Bill's Liquor (Atwater Village/Glendale boarder) - They typically have Pliny and Blind Pig within 2 week freshness(but with a 1 bottle limit) Prices are reasonable. They also have past years Parabola just sitting there. Another case of their customers being 40oz drinkers and afraid of a $10+ bottle of beer. Vendome (Beverly Hills) - The prices are higher than most but they have a great selection. Valley Beverage Company (Sherman Oaks) - This is the only spot in L.A. that carries Mammoth Mountain Brewing Company stuff. I think they pick it up themselves. Either way, good selection. That's a handful of them.
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Jan 31, 2013 02:09
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Furious Lobster posted:I'd probably go for the following: I'd really like to have a super fresh Sculpin. I live in the midwest, so the ones I've had are of unknown origin. They don't date their stuff, right?
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Jan 31, 2013 02:10
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Thanks, Jack!
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Jan 31, 2013 02:11
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Angry Grimace posted:They are expanding. My incredulity wasn't due to the size but the fact that a brewing company could even exist without having the ability to prevent their yeast from going out of the ranges they want. yeah, my friends have their setup in a garage where they built in an insulated, temperature-controlled room in one corner- we had twelve gallons of saison fermenting in there with 30-40 degree weather until last weekend. maybe they're trying to be "green" and kind of go with the flow, weather-wise? GigaFool posted:Anyone tried Sixpoint 3Beans yet? i probably will now that i've read some decent reviews, but i haven't liked any of their stuff enough to blindly pick up a little can for $4. in other coffee beer news, drank one of my release #3 Epic Big Bad Baptists and, well, i still don't like it. obviously i like beer, and i drink my coffee black, but this stuff- even 13 months out- is like drinking super-bitter day-old coffee while chewing on whisky-soaked toothpicks. maybe there are huge batch variations, but both fresh and aged, this release is a ridiculously unbalanced beer.
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Jan 31, 2013 02:14
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Jack Skeleton posted:Here are some of my favorite spots; I'd also include Vendome Toluca Lake / North Hollywood, which is the best bottle shop in the area in my opinion. They have weekly shipments of PtE and get a lot of good stuff such as Logsdon Peche 'n Brett, FSW Parabola §ucaba, all of the 50/50 Eclipse varieties and even Alpine, which is fairly hard to get in the LA area. Edit: I still haven't made it out to Ramirez Liquors but following Jack's reasoning, I think that there'd be some great finds there. Bill's Liquor has a great selection of Bruery stuff like Tart of Darkness, which I haven't been able to find in my area and a reasonable selection of Hair of the Dog bottles. Valley Beverage Co looks very unappetizing from the outside but will have Fou Foune randomly here and there; though when I was there last, the owner tried to foist some terrible Eagle Rock beer on me. They also have a limit on the RR that they let out. Furious Lobster fucked around with this message at 02:24 on Jan 31, 2013 |
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Jan 31, 2013 02:15
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ShaneB posted:I'd really like to have a super fresh Sculpin. I live in the midwest, so the ones I've had are of unknown origin. They don't date their stuff, right? They do now, with I believe a 3 month best by date. Older bottles may have six month best bys, I think they finally settled at 3. They've been changing their dating so much that I really can't be certain, I think they did a few runs with bottled on dates, then went back to "best by".  And I don't think that Sucks is year-round yet, I'm pretty sure Tony's still planning on making the year-round release in motherfucking 32 ounce bottles. 
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Jan 31, 2013 02:37
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deadwing posted:They do now, with I believe a 3 month best by date. Older bottles may have six month best bys, I think they finally settled at 3. They've been changing their dating so much that I really can't be certain, I think they did a few runs with bottled on dates, then went back to "best by". Didn't know about the dating system rigamarole but it'd really be better for all to do a simple date like RR does for PtE.
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Jan 31, 2013 02:37
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ShaneB posted:I'd really like to have a super fresh Sculpin. I live in the midwest, so the ones I've had are of unknown origin. They don't date their stuff, right? They've always dated it, its just not written in obvious straight-up English. In any case they date them now, although they give "best by" dates rather than bottled-on dates (which is a certain number of months out).
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Jan 31, 2013 02:40
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Lagunitas Suck is year round (or going)? Mmmm How long until that wonderful Chicago branch opens  For the Sucks v Hopslam. I really enjoy Hopslam for my 1 or 2 6packs a year, but then I am okay not having it around for 17$. I don't think I'd ever argue about Sucks being a better value. drat good beer.
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Jan 31, 2013 02:45
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Best year round IPAs? Two Hearted is- to me - the best year round beer on the planet. Then probably Daisy Cutter, Centennial, Double Jack, and... Stone? I dunno. I never really reach for anything past the first few. And I don't think Sucks is on the level of Hopslam, but to each their own. EDIT: Wait, no, Jai Alai. Duh. Right after Two Hearted. Stupid to forget that but since I've only had one sixer.... danbanana fucked around with this message at 03:28 on Jan 31, 2013 |
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Jan 31, 2013 03:07
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I see none of you have ever had White Rajah. That gets my vote for best year round IPA. But holy poo poo I'm drinking my first Sucks right now and it is fan loving tastic.
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Jan 31, 2013 03:20
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Astronaut Jones posted:I haven't tried it yet, while we get some Lagunitas stuff around here, I haven't seen Sucks anywhere. Any reason why you bought a case of a beer you haven't had? Especially one that, essentially, has a ticking clock from the moment it's bottled? By that I mean that the some people will consider a month old Hopslam to be too old. I've had a month old Hopslam myself and thought it was a decent IIPA, but I wouldn't go out of my way to get it. I agree with ShaneB, I'd take Sucks over it 10 out of 10 times. ChickenArise posted:Also to follow up the earlier Left Hand Milk Stout Nitro discussion, I'll add that it tasted better than I remembered it, but I'm not thrilled with the nitro bottle. It's impressive poo poo from an engineering perspective, but from the first sip I found that it had even less carbonation than a nitro tap version. I'm not through the 6 pack yet, though, so maybe I'll refine my technique. I love Milk Stout, it's hands down my favorite beer ever brewed. Nitro took a bit to come onto me fully, but now I prefer it over regular, even for a dollar more. As for my favorite year round IPAs it's hard but: White Rajah Columbus IPA Surly Furious Centennial IPA Sixpoint Bengali Tiger Maybe Sculpin or Sucks in there.
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Jan 31, 2013 03:56
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I meant I haven't had Sucks yet. This hopslam is not likely to last a month, so I'm not so worried about all the "it doesn't age well" chatter.
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Jan 31, 2013 04:19
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Saranac White IPA Dogfish Head 120 Starr Hill Northern Lights Budweiser Platinum Catching Grass Clippings With My Mouth Edit: For content, just replace all those with Maximus and you've got my list. Or really any IPA that Lagunitas puts out.  Despite having explored a lot of different IPAs, I just keep going back to Maximus and Sam Adams Latitude 48.Also, my town has started getting Dark Horse and I've only just recently given them a shot. One Oatmeal Stout is a Tasty Beer and should be drank by people who like those things, y'hear? Kraven Moorhed fucked around with this message at 04:30 on Jan 31, 2013 |
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Jan 31, 2013 04:26
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Kraven Moorhed posted:Saranac White IPA Wait til you try Plead the 5th.....
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Jan 31, 2013 04:52
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ShaneB posted:I'd really like to have a super fresh Sculpin. I live in the midwest, so the ones I've had are of unknown origin. They don't date their stuff, right? It's incredible.
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Jan 31, 2013 05:33
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Mahoning posted:I see none of you have ever had White Rajah. I just don't like it that much...
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Jan 31, 2013 08:13
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ShaneB posted:I just don't like it that much... Yeah, I definitely like White Rajah, but I don't think I'd include it in my top 5 IPAs. I enjoy Head Hunter a significant amount more, as far as NEOH IPAs go. It is a much better price point than Head Hunter though, and I grab it whenever I see it around. I would probably include it in my top 3 OH IPAs - which are Head Hunter, Columbus IPA, and White Rajah. I'd probably include Hoppin Frogs IPA in my top 3 OH IPAs if it wasn't such a drat rip off. I'm not sure I could even pick a top 5 to be honest, there's so many great IPAs around. I also haven't tried some of what I believe are probably the best in the country, such as Jai Alai, Blind Pig, Furious, and Union Jack. I recently read that someone is proposing to increase the ABV cap in OH to 21%, which would be super awesome! Then I wouldn't have to worry about trading for BCBS, and a bunch of other good beers. Beers above 12% aren't something I'd seek out regularly, but it's nice to have a strong beer every once in awhile. Edit: Oh yeah, forgot to mention... there's rumors that BA Bigfoot is going to be distributed to OH, despite being slightly over 12% abv. I would buy any amount available to me if that were true, and I hope it is. Kudosx fucked around with this message at 08:54 on Jan 31, 2013 |
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Jan 31, 2013 08:50
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IPA fest? IPA fest. RR Pliny the Elder BP Sculpin Alpine Duet Alpine Nelson The fact I can't think of a fifth means I probably shouldn't put a fifth.
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Jan 31, 2013 08:54
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Munkaboo posted:It's incredible. It pretty much is. I love that they went with the 6-pack route. But I'm going to be even happier when they have cans of it. For a while I was coming up with issues that I wasn't finding anything fresh, as west coast IPA's are a dime a dozen around SoCal. So Sculpin, which would move amazing any where else, would sit on the shelf for months here. And yeah, they had a very confusing bottle dating system. I don't mind that they went the "best before" route, because really, bottled on just has so much negative consequence. Look at the attitude for Pliny that is older than a month old. Bottle dating can have a huge negative effect. Jack Skeleton fucked around with this message at 09:31 on Jan 31, 2013 |
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Jan 31, 2013 09:04
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Kraven Moorhed posted:Also, my town has started getting Dark Horse and I've only just recently given them a shot. One Oatmeal Stout is a Tasty Beer and should be drank by people who like those things, y'hear? really? definitely snag some Too Cream and Scotty Karate, you'll like those, and you should try the Tres Blueberry at least once. skip the others, at least for now, because they are from the first shipment a couple months back (but eventually you need to holler at some Crooked Tree and Special Reserve Black). Mahoning posted:Wait til you try Plead the 5th..... yeah, it's good, and i'm hoping we get both that and Four (although i'm not holding my breath on BBPt5). Richmond has some sort of special hookup and is the only place in VA that gets Dark Horse, but shipments have been sporadic. VVV i wouldn't say no. funkybottoms fucked around with this message at 13:29 on Jan 31, 2013 |
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Jan 31, 2013 10:30
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funkybottoms posted:yeah, it's good, and i'm hoping we get both that and Four (although i'm not holding my breath on BBPt5). Richmond has some sort of special hookup and is the only place in VA that gets Dark Horse, but shipments have been sporadic. I'm actually headed to Dark Horse in a few weeks. I wonder if they'll have any BBPt5? If they do maybe I could pick up some extra and send it out your way. Kudosx posted:Yeah, I definitely like White Rajah, but I don't think I'd include it in my top 5 IPAs. I enjoy Head Hunter a significant amount more, as far as NEOH IPAs go. It is a much better price point than Head Hunter though, and I grab it whenever I see it around. I would probably include it in my top 3 OH IPAs - which are Head Hunter, Columbus IPA, and White Rajah. I'd probably include Hoppin Frogs IPA in my top 3 OH IPAs if it wasn't such a drat rip off. I know personal taste and all but I'm the opposite, White Rajah is by far my favorite IPA (actually to be more accurate its my favorite beer ever, although Lagunitas Sucks certainly gives it a run for its money) but I don't get all the love for Head Hunter. Its certainly one of the better IPAs but I think Columbus IPA is better than it. And at $10 for a 4-pack of Head Hunter when I could get 6 White Rajah for a dollar more or 6 Columbus IPA for a dollar less, I just don't care for it much. I actually found Hop Juju to be a much better tasting beer than Head Hunter and I certainly hope they start bottling it like has been rumored. But honestly, with Columbus Bodhi coming out in bottles soon, I probably will be enjoying a lot more of that. Jai Alai is very good, not quite as sweet as I prefer which is why I wouldn't put it in my top 5. Although I was lucky enough to have the White Oak Jai Alai on New Years and it was very good. I've also had Union Jack and still wouldn't put it in the same category as any of my favorites, but I've only had it once or twice so maybe I'm biased based on my repeatedly drinking others (although I've only had Racer X twice and Lagunitas Sucks once and they're both in my top 5). Since I'm getting some Pliny the Elder soon in a trade, I'll be interested how it stacks up for me. Sometimes I wonder if I'm blinded by my Buckeye state pride (Oh god I know I'm lame) and that's why I like White Rajah and Columbus IPA so much but then Lagunitas and Bear Republic are about as far as you can get from Ohio.... edit: that was unnecessarily long.... Mahoning fucked around with this message at 15:30 on Jan 31, 2013 |
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Jan 31, 2013 12:32
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Mahoning posted:Wait til you try Plead the 5th..... Sour Plead the 5th remains the best beer I've ever had, no exceptions. It was some kind of magical alchemy explosion in my head. Last EBF the crew said they were trying to make it again with the same barrels, but this year's list doesn't say the Pt5th is sour. Time will tell, I suppose. I remain hopeful. Speaking of the EBF list, there are some nice things on it. Utopias is back, which hasn't happened for a couple of years. (Last time it did, nobody seemed to want it and my buddies and I ended up drinking enough to pay for our tickets.) Boulevard is doing a rye beer aged in rye whiskey barrels. Cascade is bringing Vlad and Bourbonic, and Cigar City has a lacto stout aged in cognac barrels. Oskar Blues in is in the running for Worst Idea with a Chardonnay barrel aged Czech pils (because nothing tastes better than buttery flavors in a pale lager, right diacetyl?) Funky Buddha has a sour apple beer aged in apple brandy barrels. And that's just barrel night. Assuming I survive the night I'll try to have some cogent notes to share.
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Jan 31, 2013 15:53
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bartolimu posted:Boulevard is doing a rye beer aged in rye whiskey barrels. This is Rye on Rye, which I like quite a bit but the general consensus is mixed. It's one of their limited Smokestack Series but you could still find last year's on the shelf in Chicago as of a month ago. The new batch is already out.
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Jan 31, 2013 16:03
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bartolimu posted:Sour Plead the 5th remains the best beer I've ever had, no exceptions. It was some kind of magical alchemy explosion in my head. Last EBF the crew said they were trying to make it again with the same barrels, but this year's list doesn't say the Pt5th is sour. Time will tell, I suppose. I remain hopeful. I think "Aigre Plead The 5th" is the sour version. They released bottles of it at the 4 Elf party so if you're into trading, I'm sure you can score one. Also, for Chicagoons, Day of the Living Ales tickets are on sale now: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/318927 I bought one for the day session. crazyfish fucked around with this message at 16:23 on Jan 31, 2013 |
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Jan 31, 2013 16:20
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Mahoning posted:I'm actually headed to Dark Horse in a few weeks. I wonder if they'll have any BBPt5? If they do maybe I could pick up some extra and send it out your way. Have you ever been there before? It's, no lie, my favorite beer destination in the country. I don't even want to try to explain why, as it's probably all far too subjective and nostalgic, but I love that place. My mug still hangs up on the rafters even though I now live in Chicago.
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Jan 31, 2013 16:26
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ShaneB posted:Have you ever been there before? It's, no lie, my favorite beer destination in the country. I don't even want to try to explain why, as it's probably all far too subjective and nostalgic, but I love that place. My mug still hangs up on the rafters even though I now live in Chicago. Never been. I'm glad you have good things to say as my last trip to a brewery in Michigan (Founders Fest) was not an enjoyable experience.
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Jan 31, 2013 16:40
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