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Took a little tour around the NC foothills on Saturday, hitting up Fonta Flora & Catawba Valley Brewing in Morganton, Howard Brewing in Lenoir, and Olde Hickory in Hickory. Also hit up a local restaurant that was really good (Root & Vine), and had what might be the best potato salad I've ever tasted. Fonta Flora is the newest of the breweries there, and I was extremely impressed with their lineup. They are doing a lot of unique styles for NC and most of them work really well. Appalachain Patersbier - a belgian session ale, clocking in at 4%. It was very drinkable, with just a hint of banana and some sulfurous notes, definitely one of my favorites. Local Kiwi - it tasted just like kiwi on the front-end, but the fruitiness and the hops clashed for me on the finish, leaving a artificial fruit flavor that reminded me of Juicy Fruit gum. Might just be my taste buds, it could be very good if the finish was not as noticeable, because that first taste is amazing. Urban Monk - their "almost" imperial stout. At 9.3%, it does hover on the line between stout and IS. Lots of chocolate and roast with some coffee notes, but not as thick and heavy as a typical IS, it finished with a lot of hoppy roastiness. I really liked it, but I think there was a bit too much of a "burnt" finish to make it really great. Beets, Rhymes and Life - a beet saison which is an startling shade of purple/red. Lots of earthy character from the beets, you can clearly taste them. I did not get any pepper notes from the saison yeast, only a very faint hint of banana, which was disappointing. I think a good dose of pepper could have really made this something special. As it was, I went back and forth on liking/disliking it. The color really tricked my brain into expecting something sour, and then there's nothing but earthy beets. Hop Beard IPA - a solid IPA with lots of lemony zing to it and a nice finish. One of the better NC IPAs, I think. Holden Rye IPA - I love rye IPAs, so I was a little disappointed in this one. Still solid, but I was hoping for more. Lots of spiciness, but a little dominating and one-dimensional.   I've had most of Catawba Valley's beers, since they've been around since 1999 and distribute fairly widely now, and they don't have many brewery-only releases. Only worth stopping in because I'd never been to the tap room before, but I'd skip this one in the future. Their regular lineup is fine, but uninspiring, and the taproom is pretty dingy. Howard Brewing is relatively new, and they must have some serious backing and some big plans, because they've got pretty large brewhouse for a new operation. They have 2 levels, although the upstairs looks mostly unfinished so far. The tap room was a pretty cozy space in the basement, with large windows looking in on the brewery itself. Upstairs also has huge windows overlooking the brewery, I could see a very cool space developing upstairs in the next few years. I'd had a couple of their beers, since they jumped directly into canning and distribution from the outset. Action Man - their Vienna Lager, which they can and distribute. Extremely good Vienna style and even better fresh, I'll be drinking a lot of it this spring I think. Weekender Pale Ale - their other canned offering, this is a pretty standard pale ale. Porter - pretty standard roasty porter, with a fair amount of caramel to it. Good example of the style. Lake Fever Black IPA - another very good example of the style. Like most of their stuff, it wasn't wonderful, but it was above average. Single Hop IPA - single hops are interesting to see how an individual hop tastes, but I've yet to have one that stood out to me. I don't even remember which hop they used. My pallet was pretty much gone by this time anyway.  After that, drove back to Olde Hickory for dinner and a glass of their Irish Walker barley wine, which is fantastic and was a great way to end the day. The area is great for a day trip, the breweries are spread out enough that you're not in danger of over-indulging (if you're smart), but close enough that you don't feel like you're driving all the time. Next time I'd just do Fonta Flora, Howard and then Olde Hickory. Each town is about a half-hour away from the next, so even with a late lunch (around 1:30), then doing all 4 breweries, we finished dinner at OH by around 8 pm.
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Feb 24, 2014 21:18
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What do you mean by hovers between imperial stout and a stout? At 8.5%+ any stout should be labeled as imperial.
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Feb 24, 2014 21:24
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Retemnav posted:
man, another clever beer name i can't use, and there's probably a good joke to be made about your review of the other.
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Feb 24, 2014 21:24
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Midorka posted:What do you mean by hovers between imperial stout and a stout? At 8.5%+ any stout should be labeled as imperial. Like I said, it did a good job of combining the heavy chocolate/coffee flavors I most associate Imp Stouts with, with a lighter body and less of the sweetness of the typical IS. I can see why they named it an "almost" IS.
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Feb 24, 2014 21:32
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air- posted:Inevitable this would happen. Someone in Houston paid a homeless person $10 to stand in line so they could get more beer during the BCBS backyard/rye/coffee release this morning: I'm pretty sure that "White Kia Soul" did this at the BA Abraxas release, albeit I'm not sure the people he paid were homeless.
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Feb 24, 2014 21:33
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crazyfish posted:I'm pretty sure that "White Kia Soul" did this at the BA Abraxas release, albeit I'm not sure the people he paid were homeless. Yes, that's who I was referencing during growler limit chat last week.
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Feb 24, 2014 21:49
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wattershed posted:If she's a wine lady and you're a beer guy looking for a taste of SD, you'll likely want to set up a residency here: http://fiftysevendegrees.com/ - 31 taps, exclusively local stuff (and at least half from nanobrewery-sized places that aren't on tap anywhere else). It's a quick trolley/cab ride away. 57 Degrees is a neat place, but a lot of the nanobrews are mediocre or worse. It's a good place to stop in and see what the really little guys are doing, but I couldn't spend a day there. Luckily it's just across the highway from The Regal Beagle, which has 24 taps and very good food. Not sure about wine though.
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Feb 24, 2014 22:05
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bartolimu posted:57 Degrees is a neat place, but a lot of the nanobrews are mediocre or worse. It's a good place to stop in and see what the really little guys are doing, but I couldn't spend a day there. Luckily it's just across the highway from The Regal Beagle, which has 24 taps and very good food. Not sure about wine though. (I never said they were good across the board, definitely hit & miss, but their approach to their taps is unlike anywhere else in the city  )I figured it was a good compromise for the both of you. You can (in addition to the bottle offerings) make yourself happy with beer for an evening or two, and she can enjoy a large wine selection...but yeah, get a few drinks in you and go over to Regal Beagle to stuff yourself.
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Feb 24, 2014 22:17
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wattershed posted:(I never said they were good across the board, definitely hit & miss, but their approach to their taps is unlike anywhere else in the city There's also Downtown Johnny Brown's right next to the San Diego Opera House, which has a few good things on tap and sometimes does interesting takeovers. They had a great list for last year's sour fest that I managed to miss by one day.
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Feb 24, 2014 22:44
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Midorka posted:I know I already praised Otter Creek's Citra Mantra, but seriously if you like Citra hops then you ought to try this. Excellent beer. I got a pint of this Saturday and was impressed. It's very light and definitely has that pilsner background, but the citra really stands out and makes it delicious. I could put down quite a few of these. I just grabbed a six pack tonight and gonna send one out on my BIF.
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Feb 24, 2014 23:56
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dphi posted:Hey, another Portlander. I think we should get a bottle share going for SUPER HASSLER's visit this weekend. I am all for this sort of thing.
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Feb 25, 2014 01:05
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So I'm at a local tapping of Pliny the younger right now. They tapped the keg at 5, and it is still on. I am really suprised, considering it was gone in seven minutes last year. I should have not bothered with grabbing a ticket.
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Feb 25, 2014 01:23
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mrcowcow posted:So I'm at a local tapping of Pliny the younger right now. They tapped the keg at 5, and it is still on. I am really suprised, considering it was gone in seven minutes last year. I should have not bothered with grabbing a ticket. Did you go to Choice City or somewhere else? Was thinking of going today but work was extra busy and I didn't get a chance to duck out and grab a ticket. Apparently I could have just gone anyway 
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Feb 25, 2014 01:25
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Docjowles posted:Did you go to Choice City or somewhere else? Was thinking of going today but work was extra busy and I didn't get a chance to duck out and grab a ticket. Apparently I could have just gone anyway Yea, I went to Choice City. The keg just kicked at 5:30. I really did not expect it to last that long. I could have gotten a second one, but decided to get a Tart Lychee instead. That stuff is good, and I hope it gets bottled again soon
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Feb 25, 2014 01:35
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One of the two "real" breweries here in town (and the only one that actually releases things in bottles/cans) posted this picture today. KBS barrel aged scotch ale...???
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Feb 25, 2014 02:00
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In unrelated news I am consuming this Justin Blabaer and... not sure what to think. It doesn't taste much like blueberries. Got kind of a vinegar smell to it. Tastes like sour lemonade with a little bit of malt at the end. It seems to be pretty well regarded, so am I tasting it "wrong" or is it maybe a bad one? I haven't been into the sour thing very much, all I've had was Consecration, Supplication, and Rodenbach Grand Cru. Edit: don't want to go nuts with multi-posting, but has anyone tried the Founders Smoked Porter yet? I don't care much for smoked beers as a rule, I had Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier and found it way too smoky, Stone Smoked Vanilla Bean was thin and kind of weak. I wasn't excited for this one until I remembered how good the regular Founders Porter is. It's definitely hitting the spot for me. Deliciously smoky without tasting like bacon, rich full body like the regular porter we know and love. I would certainly recommend trying it if you have the chance (and have any kind of taste for smoked beers). krustster fucked around with this message at 03:48 on Feb 25, 2014 |
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Feb 25, 2014 03:30
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Holy cow I don't know why I was so intimidated to open a Bruery Sour in the Rye. This is sour but not nearly as much so as I found Oude Tart and Tart of Darkness. This has a bit more depth and a good complexity of red wine vinegar, sour cherry, vanilla, oak and caramel with just a hint of rye. Really loving well done.
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Feb 25, 2014 04:42
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Sour in the Rye is indeed fantastic, possibly Bruery's best shelf beer. Try to get your hands on the Kumquats variant, it's my favorite as it really kicks up the citrus notes. Peaches is more popular (and excellent) but as far as I know that's Hoarders only. krustster posted:In unrelated news I am consuming this Justin Blabaer and... not sure what to think. It doesn't taste much like blueberries. Got kind of a vinegar smell to it. Tastes like sour lemonade with a little bit of malt at the end. It seems to be pretty well regarded, so am I tasting it "wrong" or is it maybe a bad one? I haven't been into the sour thing very much, all I've had was Consecration, Supplication, and Rodenbach Grand Cru.
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Feb 25, 2014 04:50
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bartolimu posted:Sour in the Rye is indeed fantastic, possibly Bruery's best shelf beer. Try to get your hands on the Kumquats variant, it's my favorite as it really kicks up the citrus notes. Peaches is more popular (and excellent) but as far as I know that's Hoarders only. Unfortunately that variation doesn't make it to NJ. I noticed that this years Tart of Darkness is like 7%+ compared to the 5% ish version I had first. Any thoughts on the two if you've had them?
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Feb 25, 2014 04:52
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krustster posted:In unrelated news I am consuming this Justin Blabaer and... not sure what to think. It doesn't taste much like blueberries. Got kind of a vinegar smell to it. Tastes like sour lemonade with a little bit of malt at the end. It seems to be pretty well regarded, so am I tasting it "wrong" or is it maybe a bad one? I haven't been into the sour thing very much, all I've had was Consecration, Supplication, and Rodenbach Grand Cru. It's a blueberry berliner weisse, so you have to understand that the base beer is a sour German wheat. Berliner weisse's often have a lemon/hay/grassy taste, and there is a light/moderate tartness to most of them. There's definitely some blueberry flavor in the Justin Blabaer, it's just that it's pretty well balanced, so it doesn't overpower the lemon/hay flavor. I think it was really well crafted, although if the blueberry was a tad more prominent it would have probably been a bit better. Adding the right amount of fruit to beers can be tricky, because (in most cases) you don't want to overpower the base beer with fruit flavor, but you still have to make sure you add enough to be able to taste the fruit. Did you like any of the other sours you tried?
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Feb 25, 2014 05:32
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Midorka posted:Unfortunately that variation doesn't make it to NJ. I noticed that this years Tart of Darkness is like 7%+ compared to the 5% ish version I had first. Any thoughts on the two if you've had them? Kumquats was a Reserve Society beer last year, and it was indeed very good, but SitR regular is definitely no slouch. I've got a bottle (of regular) from last year I need to open soon. Better get my tums.
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Feb 25, 2014 05:49
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crazyfish posted:Kumquats was a Reserve Society beer last year, and it was indeed very good, but SitR regular is definitely no slouch. I've got a bottle (of regular) from last year I need to open soon. Better get my tums. I've got two bottles that I've been saving since last year. I had this years a a couple weeks ago and loved it. Sour and oaky and complex. Anyone have experience with it aged? Any point in saving one past 1 year?
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Feb 25, 2014 05:53
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Kudosx posted:It's a blueberry berliner weisse, so you have to understand that the base beer is a sour German wheat. Berliner weisse's often have a lemon/hay/grassy taste, and there is a light/moderate tartness to most of them. There's definitely some blueberry flavor in the Justin Blabaer, it's just that it's pretty well balanced, so it doesn't overpower the lemon/hay flavor. I think it was really well crafted, although if the blueberry was a tad more prominent it would have probably been a bit better. Adding the right amount of fruit to beers can be tricky, because (in most cases) you don't want to overpower the base beer with fruit flavor, but you still have to make sure you add enough to be able to taste the fruit. There might be some batch variance (I have no idea) but when I tried Justin Blabaer I thought it was actually a bit too sweet and blueberry-y. The blueberry really cut the tangyness that I love in Berliner Weisses, and although it was certainly still a tasty beer, I felt it could have definitely been more sour.
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Feb 25, 2014 06:20
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Eejit posted:There might be some batch variance (I have no idea) but when I tried Justin Blabaer I thought it was actually a bit too sweet and blueberry-y. The blueberry really cut the tangyness that I love in Berliner Weisses, and although it was certainly still a tasty beer, I felt it could have definitely been more sour. The bottle I tried was about 8 months old, so the blueberry could have faded a bit. Kudosx fucked around with this message at 08:29 on Feb 25, 2014 |
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Feb 25, 2014 08:17
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Eejit posted:There might be some batch variance (I have no idea) but when I tried Justin Blabaer I thought it was actually a bit too sweet and blueberry-y. The blueberry really cut the tangyness that I love in Berliner Weisses, and although it was certainly still a tasty beer, I felt it could have definitely been more sour. they made at least two batches and yes, they were quite different. 2 > 1.
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Feb 25, 2014 11:58
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Midorka posted:Holy cow I don't know why I was so intimidated to open a Bruery Sour in the Rye. This is sour but not nearly as much so as I found Oude Tart and Tart of Darkness. This has a bit more depth and a good complexity of red wine vinegar, sour cherry, vanilla, oak and caramel with just a hint of rye. Really loving well done. SitR is one of the better sours I've had from the Bruery. Tart of Darkness had nothing but sourness going on for me. I didn't get anything else from it whereas SitR had a better balance of flavor to sour ratio.
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Feb 25, 2014 14:22
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I remember I'd posted in response to someone asking about DC and while I was browsing Talkbeer, noticed someone threw down a lot more details here: http://www.talkbeer.com/community/threads/definitive-washington-dc-visit-thread.2335/
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Feb 25, 2014 14:55
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The Justin blaeber I just recently had also had no blueberry to speak of. Wasn't bad but we got zero.
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Feb 25, 2014 16:07
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Kudosx posted:It's a blueberry berliner weisse, so you have to understand that the base beer is a sour German wheat. Berliner weisse's often have a lemon/hay/grassy taste, and there is a light/moderate tartness to most of them. There's definitely some blueberry flavor in the Justin Blabaer, it's just that it's pretty well balanced, so it doesn't overpower the lemon/hay flavor. I think it was really well crafted, although if the blueberry was a tad more prominent it would have probably been a bit better. Adding the right amount of fruit to beers can be tricky, because (in most cases) you don't want to overpower the base beer with fruit flavor, but you still have to make sure you add enough to be able to taste the fruit. I did like the other ones, and this one wasn't bad but it seemed weird that there wasn't any blueberry present (for me). I was mostly wondering if that was to be expected in a sour. Your explanation makes a good amount of sense, although based on other people's posts it looks like batch variance is a big part of it too.
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Feb 25, 2014 16:35
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It's not just you. I've had Justin Blabaer 3 times and it has never had much blueberry. It's very very subtle.
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Feb 25, 2014 16:55
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HatfulOfHollow posted:It's not just you. I've had Justin Blabaer 3 times and it has never had much blueberry. It's very very subtle. The blueberry is considerably more noticeable on tap than in bottles. In Chicago beer event news GI Stout Fest tickets go on sale today at 3: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/593643 Apparently the MBA pre-sale yesterday lasted a whole two minutes so be forewarned.
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Feb 25, 2014 17:13
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Compusaurus posted:The blueberry is considerably more noticeable on tap than in bottles. Welp that explains it.
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Feb 25, 2014 17:21
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nosleep posted:I've got two bottles that I've been saving since last year. I had this years a a couple weeks ago and loved it. Sour and oaky and complex. Anyone have experience with it aged? Any point in saving one past 1 year?
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Feb 25, 2014 19:07
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dphi posted:Hey, another Portlander. I think we should get a bottle share going for SUPER HASSLER's visit this weekend. I won't be around this weekend but this is going on for anyone in Portland. Lucky Labrador Barleywine/Big Beer Tastival 2014 Noon – 10 p.m. Friday & Saturday, Lucky Lab Beer Hall, 1945 N.W. Quimby St.; $14 includes required glass and four tix; List of beers can be found here: http://www.newschoolbeer.com/2014/02/lucky-labradors-2014-barleywine-big.html
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Feb 25, 2014 19:41
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Are there any breweries worth going to in New Orleans?
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Feb 25, 2014 19:43
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ChiTownEddie posted:Are there any breweries worth going to in New Orleans? NOLA would be the one I'd hit. I haven't been impressed by any of their canned stuff, but they have a taproom that opened late 2013 and you'll find test/one-off beers exclusively available there. Helps that it doesn't look very far from Steins or Avenue Pub.
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Feb 25, 2014 19:56
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dphi posted:Looking at Cascade's site and what they have available right now, I'd recommend getting Sang Noir and Figaro. I personally love Bourbonic Plague as well but it's a few bucks more and not everyone is a fan of sour porters. The Kriek is also quite good. Vlad the Imp Aler is also pretty impressive, IMO. They recently had Cherry Vlad on tap at the brewpub and I think it was my favorite thing I've ever had from them. I'm now just crossing my fingers that they re-release Sang Royale at some point in the future. God I love living within walking distance of Cascade.
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Feb 25, 2014 20:04
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Extreme Beer Fest list is finally starting to come together, and it's looking good, despite the fact that some breweries are being unusually disappointing. Lots of the places are bringing almost exclusively bottled releases, and a lot of that is stuff that has been at the festival before. Who is going to the Friday session?
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Feb 25, 2014 20:06
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ChiTownEddie posted:Are there any breweries worth going to in New Orleans? Not reeeeeeeeeeeaaaaally. NOLA is ok and the Crescent City Brewhouse is mostly about chugging wheat beer and eating oysters. Abita is a nice drive north, but the beer's, you know, Abita. I'd rather just hang out at Avenue and environs.
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Feb 25, 2014 20:07
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| # ? Jun 7, 2024 16:13 |
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Daunte Vicknabb posted:Extreme Beer Fest list is finally starting to come together, and it's looking good, despite the fact that some breweries are being unusually disappointing. Lots of the places are bringing almost exclusively bottled releases, and a lot of that is stuff that has been at the festival before. I'll be in Boston from Thursday through Sunday but I'm going to the Saturday late session. I'd be down for a creepy goon hotel room bottle share if people are around.
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Feb 25, 2014 20:11
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