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danbanana posted:Love this. Definitely one of the more complex ba'd stouts you can find. Nobody I know really likes Sea Monster. I can't honestly explain to you why that's one of their seasonals. The barrel aged version was pretty good but they never put that out.
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Mar 4, 2013 06:31
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Finally got a non-expired Enjoy By and it's pretty dang nice.Docjowles posted:It's only happened for me a couple times but I've had a few beers where I could write a pretty lengthy list of flavor/aroma descriptors that kept changing as the beer warmed and I picked out new characteristics. Most recent was Uncle Jacob's Stout from Avery. It's a bourbon barrel-aged stout at something absurd like 18% ABV and there is a LOT going on. Firestone's Anniversary is a blend of a shitload of different barrel-aged beers so it's not unreasonable to find a lot of complexity in there, too. Something to consider is that a lot of complex flavors are found in aged alcohol so a higher ABV beer (or wine, for that matter) will form a lot more compounds that are reminiscent of lots of things when it's been aged a bit.
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Mar 4, 2013 07:04
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Did a great beer tasting at a friends over the weekend and many great beers, and a few weird ones, were had. Toppling Goliath, a 7% "IPA" beer aged in Templeton Rye barrels. IPA is a really loose definition, but an English IPA is probably the closest definition you'll get to the base beer. This light (both abv and color/character) of a beer in a barrel usually doesn't work, but they put together a pretty interesting package with a restrained hand in the barrel aging. Lots of wood tannins, spicy rye and light vanilla on something slightly dry but with a little bit of sweetness and herbal hop character. Interesting combination that stands out as being fairly unique, though not in the realm of mind blowing. Great label!  Cigar City / Mikkeller Swinging Harry Tropical Quad featuring papaya, mango, simcoe and citra hops and aged in grand marnier barrels with brett C. This sounds like a totally insane beer that is all over the place but in reality the fruit and crazy hops and weird barrel end up being really subtle and complimentary. A touch of tropical character here, a hint of orange there, but mostly all delicious brown sugar quad. The base quad style is a little on the less dark and rich side of say Gulden Draak which was somehow the right place for all the other fruit and hops to come in, all in all it was actually really enjoyable. The old school Pitfall! video game inspired label is sweet.  I picked this up in 2009 at Holiday Wine Cellar before heading over to the Stone Bistro for Sour Fest. I figured at 8% this wasn't going to age well much longer so what the hell. Somehwat dry big-ish American porter with some subtle dark chocolate notes and a nice balance of wood and vanilla. Pretty solid.  Coffee, Fig, Coconut Oatmeal Stout. While this sounds like it should be divine I didn't dig it for two reasons. One is that this is one of those stouts that is super dry and super super ashy, with very little sweetness or malt character to balance. The other is that it smells and tastes like burnt coffee. I couldn't get any fig, coconut or oatmeal character and didn't get very far before giving up on this incredibly astringent ashy beer.  I dug out my Cigar City Humidor Imperial Stout, which I believe was the 2009 bottling. I've been looking forward to drinking this beer as a bottle of 2009 Marshall Zhukov was the best Imperial Stouts I've ever had and I was not disappointed. Outstanding port/sherry aged character, hefty malt sweetness, dark chocolate truffles, fig and date and a big rich mouthfeel are very uniquely complimented by the cedar aging time. The cedar is at once both sharp and slightly savory, keeping the sweetness in check and spinning a fantastic beer in a really unique direction. Just really blown away by how awesome this beer is, and I have to say it ties with my previous 2009 Marshall Zhukov experience as Best Imperial Stout.  This Cantillon Mamouche is a really, really odd beer. Its like someone made a salad and crammed it into a Cantillon sour, lots of vegetal and pickled asparagus like character dominates a pretty sour gueze base, with a touch of dandelions in the finish. I dug on it for a little bit but ultimately couldn't finish my sample.  We opened this beer after arguing a little bit about what makes an Old Ale different than a barleywine or a stout. This beer is pretty close but still falls a little closer to a barleywine. Great sweet fig character, a touch of dark malt on top of lots of vanilla and wood. Sweet but just shy of being too cloying. Pretty fantastic.  The big daddy of the Bourbon County Stout varients. Aged in Pappy 23 barrels for 2 years this Bourbon County Stout variant is really a notch or two better than your standard BCS. Outstanding bourbon, vanilla and wood character on top of sublime dark chocolate truffles and roast. Not much more to say other than yes, this beer is THAT good.  The final beer of the tasting worked well as a palate cleanser. I have a bottle of this, and the special version with peaches on the way and I am pretty excited to be landing some. A very solid amber gueze-style sour with a really delicious rye kick. Dry, sour and then a rye pepper spice with a little soft oak in the background. Really unique and delicious, wish I hadn't missed out on it last year.
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Mar 4, 2013 07:46
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After a long weekend in Vail, I'll be in Denver, with a car for a few hours today, and would really like to go see one or two breweries before heading out. Any that are can't miss? I know there are a few out here that have distribution to San Diego, so I'd like to skip those, and try something I've never had before. I heard from a few people say Breckenridge is pretty good... BA for their beers seems like it might be more run of the mill though. Edit: or any other beers I should try and pick up locally at a liquor store? Capt. Awesome fucked around with this message at 17:37 on Mar 4, 2013 |
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Mar 4, 2013 17:24
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Capt. Awesome posted:After a long weekend in Vail, I'll be in Denver, with a car for a few hours today, and would really like to go see one or two breweries before heading out. Any that are can't miss? I know there are a few out here that have distribution to San Diego, so I'd like to skip those, and try something I've never had before. I heard from a few people say Breckenridge is pretty good... BA for their beers seems like it might be more run of the mill though. http://www.legionofawesomebeer.com/index.php?title=Main_Page Someone do a Denver entry, quick!
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Mar 4, 2013 17:43
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danbanana posted:http://www.legionofawesomebeer.com/index.php?title=Main_Page Haha, funny thing is, I was catching up on the weekend posts and was like "Oh poo poo! A wiki! I hope someone did Denver already!" Nope 
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Mar 4, 2013 17:46
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High priority to me would be: http://www.crookedstave.com/ Great Divide's space downtown is pretty cool too. Favorite beer bar there was Vine Street. For stores, I liked Argonaut and Colorado Liquor Mart.
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Mar 4, 2013 17:49
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Capt. Awesome posted:Haha, funny thing is, I was catching up on the weekend posts and was like "Oh poo poo! A wiki! I hope someone did Denver already!" Nope I plan to (unless someone else is already working on it), but I just bought a house and that is kind of taking up all my time v  vSeconding everything air- said. You can have a pretty great afternoon stumbling between Great Divide, Breckenridge, Falling Rock Tap House, 1-Up (old school video game bar with a lot of good beer available) and Wynkoop. Crooked Stave is a quick drive or bus ride from that area. I'd add Dry Dock in Aurora but it's not really near anything else. Or take the car up to Boulder and do Avery, Mountain Sun and Boulder Beer. Oskar Blues and Left Hand are a little further out in Longmont. My totally biased recommendation is to come up to the Fort Collins/Loveland area where I live as we have an embarrassment of brewing riches here, but it's like an hour each way and probably more driving than you want to do. There's also a LOT of new little breweries in Denver but I haven't been to many of them personally. I can vouch that Strange and Prost are both good. Docjowles fucked around with this message at 18:04 on Mar 4, 2013 |
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Mar 4, 2013 17:58
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Yeah, and everything Docjowles said that is "downtown" or I guess "LoDo" if I recall correctly is all within a 10-15 minute ish walk. You can knock out a ton since it's all so closeby.
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Mar 4, 2013 18:00
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SUPER HASSLER posted:
I started a skeleton for a page about Philly, if anyone else wants to add to it.
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Mar 4, 2013 18:32
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Found myself up in NOVA 5 minutes from a Total Wine yet again, so I stocked up on Boulevard beers, snagged another Belgian Yeti ( ), and decided on a whim to pick up the Barrel Aged Gonzo. Didn't have a price tag, but I figured it wasn't going to be that bad.$18 later and I'm a little suspicious, especially since I haven't seen this before. People seem to dig it on RB and I think the base beer's alright. Anyone give this a shot before?
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Mar 4, 2013 19:46
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Docjowles posted:I plan to (unless someone else is already working on it), but I just bought a house and that is kind of taking up all my time v A short car ride in Denver should also bring you to Bull and Bush which has some pretty good beers as well as their "hop infuser" which is a french press with an assortment of hops you infuse at your table. Furthermore there is Denver Off the Wagon that has a lot of good information about beer events in the city on any given day. I would make an entry, but I'm not too good at "Wiki" writing, and I don't live there anymore.
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Mar 4, 2013 20:05
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Kraven Moorhed posted:Found myself up in NOVA 5 minutes from a Total Wine yet again, so I stocked up on Boulevard beers, snagged another Belgian Yeti ( The stuff is everywhere in Frederick (home of Flying Dog) and it goes for around $8 for a 12oz bottle, a little steep. It's good though, adds the usual barrel notes to an already good imperial porter. After having one I'd sooner just buy the regular at $3 a bottle.
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Mar 4, 2013 20:49
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Radio Nowhere posted:The stuff is everywhere in Frederick (home of Flying Dog) and it goes for around $8 for a 12oz bottle, a little steep. It's good though, adds the usual barrel notes to an already good imperial porter. After having one I'd sooner just buy the regular at $3 a bottle. i'd agree with that, although i don't recall it ever coming in 12oz bottles. it was near-impossible to find in Richmond for the last few years, but i've seen it in a few shops recently.
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Mar 4, 2013 20:58
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rage-saq posted:
That one was bottled in December 2011. Any CCB beer with the die-cut cigar band label was bottled no earlier than around May of '11.
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Mar 5, 2013 00:46
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I scored 4 bottles of Black Note tonight, as well as another bottle of Enjoy By. I also got the chance to try 08 Expedition, which was unbelievably good. 'Twas a good beer night, my friends.
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Mar 5, 2013 01:17
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A guy I know is flying all the way to Florida just to get a bottle of Hunapu's. And then flying back. 
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Mar 5, 2013 01:36
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XxGirlKisserxX posted:That one was bottled in December 2011. Any CCB beer with the die-cut cigar band label was bottled no earlier than around May of '11. Ah, well, make more of this! (or trade a bottle or two with me) This beer is really really incredible.
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Mar 5, 2013 01:59
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Angry Grimace posted:A guy I know is flying all the way to Florida just to get a bottle of Hunapu's. And then flying back. I'm driving from Ann Arbor Michigan. Granted, my girlfriend and I are staying with my grandparents (in Palmetto, 40 minutes from Cigar City Brewing) and we plan on going to Universal Studios Island of Adventures, but the trip was planned to coincide with Hunahpu Day. Cigar City is my favorite brewery and I can't wait for the 120+ taps, including J. Wakefield beers (Dragonfruit and Passionfruit Berliner!). Hey Girl Kisser, can we get any hints as to what will be on tap?
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Mar 5, 2013 04:35
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Angry Grimace posted:A guy I know is flying all the way to Florida just to get a bottle of Hunapu's. And then flying back. I bet it's a fun time regardless, but if you're going strictly for the release of the bottles, set up a trade for God's sake. I'm getting a Hunahpu and a Saint Somewhere saison for some Alesmith stuff. Keeps me honest to my lifelong pledge to stay out of Florida.
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Mar 5, 2013 07:48
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I'm heading to Jungle Jim's this weekend, and I'm looking for some input on what kind of international beers I should toss in my cart. I mostly enjoy porters, wheat beers and gimmicky ales (pumpkin, chocolate, coconut, etc), and haven't jumped on the IPA train yet. Anybody have any favorites that I should try? vvv I'm going to the Fairfield one, I guess I'll have to brave the disarray. Millions fucked around with this message at 20:25 on Mar 5, 2013 |
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Mar 5, 2013 17:29
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Millions posted:I'm heading to Jungle Jim's this weekend, and I'm looking for some input on what kind of international beers I should toss in my cart. I mostly enjoy porters, wheat beers and gimmicky ales (pumpkin, chocolate, coconut, etc), and haven't jumped on the IPA train yet. Anybody have any favorites that I should try? Which JJ's are you going to? If you haven't been to the new one in Eastgate, it has a much better beer section on top of a growler fill station. I don't think they have any more selection or anything, their beer section just isn't a clusterfuck like Fairfield's.
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Mar 5, 2013 18:17
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wattershed posted:I bet it's a fun time regardless, but if you're going strictly for the release of the bottles, set up a trade for God's sake. I'm getting a Hunahpu and a Saint Somewhere saison for some Alesmith stuff. Keeps me honest to my lifelong pledge to stay out of Florida. Apparently this guy is already a trading fiend. I guess the reason he even told me about this (I heard it through another friend) is because he's strongly itching to use that bottle on Hunapu's at a bottle share/tasting I was thinking of doing and he knows I still have 5 bottles of Westvleteren XII.  I never even mentioned the Westy when I suggested the share.
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Mar 5, 2013 19:07
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Bag of Sun Chips posted:I'm driving from Ann Arbor Michigan. Granted, my girlfriend and I are staying with my grandparents (in Palmetto, 40 minutes from Cigar City Brewing) and we plan on going to Universal Studios Island of Adventures, but the trip was planned to coincide with Hunahpu Day. Cigar City is my favorite brewery and I can't wait for the 120+ taps, including J. Wakefield beers (Dragonfruit and Passionfruit Berliner!). I will be flying from Rochester NY for hunahpus day. Should be a great time, plus I have a free place to stay in Ybor and a jeep to use freely. Not a bad weekend vacation!
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Mar 5, 2013 20:24
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Angry Grimace posted:Apparently this guy is already a trading fiend. I guess the reason he even told me about this (I heard it through another friend) is because he's strongly itching to use that bottle on Hunapu's at a bottle share/tasting I was thinking of doing and he knows I still have 5 bottles of Westvleteren XII. It'd be a real shame if you never pulled those Westies out for him. "What, I never said they were going to be opened today!" Kinda bummed we don't really have these big sorts of events around here for a single beer release. Stone's got their Oakquinox events and things like that, but Hunahpu day, Dark Lord Day, etc, that's just a great time to bottle share with randos for hours. Not necessarily the sort of thing where you *must* spend $35-70 to get a bunch of small tasters.
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Mar 5, 2013 21:29
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HumanCropcircle posted:Seriously? I'd definitely be willing to trade for a bottle of Parabola. Sent you a PM.
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Mar 5, 2013 22:17
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wattershed posted:Kinda bummed we don't really have these big sorts of events around here for a single beer release. Stone's got their Oakquinox events and things like that, but Hunahpu day, Dark Lord Day, etc, that's just a great time to bottle share with randos for hours. Not necessarily the sort of thing where you *must* spend $35-70 to get a bunch of small tasters. I've never been to any of the big releases, but even smaller ones usually have this. I was at Flossmoor Station's Barrel-Aged HiFi Rye release last year and even though there were only 150 or so people there, there was lots of bottle sharing going on. Even once they let us in the brewpub, they allowed it to keep going.
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Mar 5, 2013 22:22
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Bag of Sun Chips posted:I'm driving from Ann Arbor Michigan. Granted, my girlfriend and I are staying with my grandparents (in Palmetto, 40 minutes from Cigar City Brewing) and we plan on going to Universal Studios Island of Adventures, but the trip was planned to coincide with Hunahpu Day. Cigar City is my favorite brewery and I can't wait for the 120+ taps, including J. Wakefield beers (Dragonfruit and Passionfruit Berliner!). How about a little better than a hint: http://cigarcitybrewing.com/index.php?option=com_easyblog&view=entry&id=47&Itemid=37 That list is the epitome of .
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Mar 5, 2013 22:27
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Hunahpu Day Taplist went up: https://www.cigarcitybrewing.com/index.php?option=com_easyblog&view=entry&id=47&Itemid=37 Cigar City Bourbon Barrel-aged Cherry Cordial Imperial Sweet Stout
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Mar 5, 2013 22:28
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Really excited for those J wakefield berliners
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Mar 5, 2013 23:12
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Realized that in my beerdrinking career I've been to one Younger tapping and that's about it for nerdy beer launches. Unless you count Saint Arnold but nobody out of TX cares. My philosophy is that there's so much good beer around even in regular days that I can't be arsed to schedule my travel around special days. Meanwhile Boneyard puts out Notorious which is better than Younger, unannounced, and the result is just a fun little soiree in the brewery parking lot in the weekend. I wonder if it's being consumed at the same clip as Younger right now over in Portland.
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Mar 5, 2013 23:39
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SUPER HASSLER posted:Realized that in my beerdrinking career I've been to one Younger tapping and that's about it for nerdy beer launches. Unless you count Saint Arnold but nobody out of TX cares. My philosophy is that there's so much good beer around even in regular days that I can't be arsed to schedule my travel around special days. After going to the debacle that was the CFH release this year (line capping out at 4:45 AM) and doing the retardedness that are PtY releases in SoCal, I'm pretty much in the same camp as never doing special beer releases without doing a ticketed system. Alesmith's usage of Brown Paper Tickets for their special releases is something that I can get behind because there is minimal time wasted and one is guaranteed a release. The downside is that there aren't any of the bottle shares that usually spring up around such events. The counter to bottle sharing, however, is to go to a general ticketed beer festival, much like FSW's annual show and experience great tastings there.
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Mar 6, 2013 00:03
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Just had some Nugget Nectar on cask for the first time in a couple years. It's ok, but basically the same as in the bottle with less carbonation (from a freshly tapped cask no less). I'd be in heaven if they could get some serious dry hops in there. I know they've done it before (and I was equally unimpressed, but also at a hellish venue), but this time it appears to be straight NN. It was still delicious (I love this beer) and surprisingly cheap as poo poo.
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Mar 6, 2013 00:25
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SUPER HASSLER posted:Realized that in my beerdrinking career I've been to one Younger tapping and that's about it for nerdy beer launches. Unless you count Saint Arnold but nobody out of TX cares. My philosophy is that there's so much good beer around even in regular days that I can't be arsed to schedule my travel around special days. California breweries don't do hype releases very often. At least not overboard super exclusive party launches.
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Mar 6, 2013 00:35
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Angry Grimace posted:California breweries don't do hype releases very often. At least not overboard super exclusive party launches. Speaking of hype releases, I confirmed at Lost Abbey that they'll be releasing DDG this year, sometime in August! I hope they do a BPT release instead of a line-up-at-the-brewery release. Given the recent trend, if it's the latter, people will line up multiple days in advance. 
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Mar 6, 2013 00:58
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Furious Lobster posted:Speaking of hype releases, I confirmed at Lost Abbey that they'll be releasing DDG this year, sometime in August! I hope they do a BPT release instead of a line-up-at-the-brewery release. Given the recent trend, if it's the latter, people will line up multiple days in advance. I don't' think they have picked up on the BPT thing yet for bottle releases.
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Mar 6, 2013 01:00
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SUPER HASSLER posted:Meanwhile Boneyard puts out Notorious which is better than Younger, unannounced, and the result is just a fun little soiree in the brewery parking lot in the weekend. I wonder if it's being consumed at the same clip as Younger right now over in Portland. Word.    I know I'm doing my part to drink as much Notorious as possible right now. More of it is being consumed here in Portland than PtY simply because more places are getting Notorious and in bigger kegs than PtY.
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Mar 6, 2013 01:00
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I'm drinking Victory's new Spring seasonal Swing. It's a 4.5% saison and holy poo poo it's good. This reminds me of a more tart and lemon Helios with less funk. I am getting a lot of lemon, almost like sucking a lemon, with some leather and spice. My only complaint is that they released this too early. I want this in the hot weather, not when snow is coming.
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Mar 6, 2013 01:44
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This weak rear end snow storm is a good excuse to open a Big Hugs. Another coffee stout better than Speedway!
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Mar 6, 2013 01:57
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XxGirlKisserxX posted:That one was bottled in December 2011. Any CCB beer with the die-cut cigar band label was bottled no earlier than around May of '11. I sent you a note about setting a tour up in May... any thoughts? 
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Mar 6, 2013 02:21
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