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Salsa McManus posted:Making a stop at Jolly Pumpkin up in Traverse City. What beers should I be looking at? Madrugada Obscura if they have it. Can't remember if it's a winter seasonal.
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Jul 2, 2012 01:22
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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). Really? I love it. I have had an off bottle of it that was VERY lactic and a bit unpleasant, so I guess there's a bit of bottle variation.
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Jul 2, 2012 17:34
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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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wattershed posted:I assume they make it to Portland, so keep a look out for Vortex IPA by Fort George, they've been doing the canned thing for quite a while now. Vortex is excellent and can easily be found in Portland. Boneyard's RPM IPA is also quite good and is on tap at a lot of bars around town. Be sure to go to the Deschutes brewpub and order the XPA. It's a bit like Red Chair, but even better IMO. They used some experimental hop variety in it that is just fantastic. Lots of citrus and floral notes.
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Jul 9, 2012 20:30
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Midorka posted:I've heard Ninkasi makes some good stuff... It's true. Grab Maiden the Shade, their summer IPA, if you can find it. It's nothing too out of the ordinary, just a really good IPA. Most of their other beers are also at least solid, with the exception of the Radiant Summer Ale, which is poo poo IMO. Believer Double Red, Tricerahops Double IPA, Oatis Stout, Total Domination IPA, and Unconventionale are all very good. Went to the Cascade Barrel House tonight and had an awesome flight of beers. First was the Blueberry Bourbonic Plague which they just tapped a barrel of tonight. It's basically the Bourbonic aged on a ton of blueberries. It's a delicious beer, but I found myself wishing for a little more sourness and funk. The 2011 Kriek is coming along nicely. Was a bit more overtly fruity and less sour than I remember the 2010 being, but this was also from barrel rather than a bottle. The star of the night was the Figaro, a sour blonde aged on figs in Chardonnay barrels. They've bottled this, but haven't released it as planned because it's "not ready yet".
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Jul 11, 2012 08:30
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Midorka posted:I had it and it was decent, but the coffee profile was a bit bland and there was a bit too much mocha in it for me to consider it a hazelnut beer. It was probably old, but gently caress Rogue for not dating their bottles. Frangelic Brown is an assault of hazelnut as if it were just pressed, I am enjoying the bottle greatly. Rogue Hazelnut Brown tastes like almost nothing but hazelnuts. I can't drink more than a few ounces of the stuff because it's such a one note beer. Likely an old bottle, I think.
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Jul 13, 2012 05:52
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Wolfy posted:I'm going to Portland/Corvallis next week and I just don't even know what to try. I'll have most of a day in Corvallis and maybe an evening in Portland. Any suggestions for either place? I won't have a car and my hotel in Portland is near the airport, and I understand there isn't much out in that part of town. Block 15 in Corvallis. In Portland, take the Max (light rail) into downtown and go to the Deschutes brewpub for food and beer, then go to Bailey's Taproom afterward.
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Jul 20, 2012 09:47
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Wolfy posted:Wow, looks like they have really good food in addition to beer. I'm actually moving to Corvallis so I think I'm going to be there a lot. Going to OSU? Check out Flat Tail Brewing, too. They are making some pretty good beer. I believe I read something about them having an anniversary party soon, possibly while you are there. Let us know how your trip went and what you drank. Phanatic posted:In the case of Frangelic, it's because the hazelnut coffee they're using as an ingredient is artificially flavored coffee. Every hazelnut coffee I've ever smelled has given me the impression that the only people who would buy it like neither coffee nor hazelnuts. It's weird that a great brewery like Founders would use that poo poo when there is hazelnut extract on the market made from actual hazelnuts. Rogue uses a real hazelnut extract in their Hazelnut Brown, IIRC. I was in Orkney, the islands in the far north of Scotland, and I found this:  I had the regular Dark Island when I was there and it was pretty good. This is 2x the ABV and aged in whisky barrels. I have no idea how this is going to be, but I figured I'd buy a bottle and pack it in with the scotch I was bringing back. Looking forward to opening it soon. consensual poster fucked around with this message at 00:26 on Jul 23, 2012 |
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Jul 22, 2012 23:15
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funkybottoms posted:if you like sweet beer and peaty whisky, i think you'll enjoy it. not typically my thing, but i tasted one with a few years on it and thought it was decent enough. I'm a bit surprised that anyone else here has had it, though I don't think there is much of a market in the UK for it. It's quite possible that it's brewed primarily for export. I'm glad to hear that peaty scotch barrels were used to make it. It doesn't explicitly say that it was scotch whisky on the bottle. I've not had a beer with peat smoke notes in it before. I noticed that they are pretty serious about the CAMRA thing in Scotland. I didn't see many beers that weren't either mass-produced or hand-pumped from a cask with a CAMRA logo on or near the tap.
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Jul 23, 2012 01:50
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Sirotan posted:sheeeeit, $20 shipping if I only get the one bottle? But the rest of their poo poo is so expensive..... Why not order Apricot directly from Cascade?
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Jul 24, 2012 16:02
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Sirotan posted:Yeah I wasn't aware this was possible, looks like that's exactly what I'll be doing now. http://shop.cascadebrewingbarrelhouse.com Apricot is $18/bottle. 2 bottle minimum for orders. Sang Noir and The Vine are also available (and I would recommend getting some of those before buying the Apricot).
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Jul 24, 2012 16:42
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Wolfy posted:Well I made it to Corvallis. Oregon is loving beautiful and so is Boneyard RPM IPA. I love RPM the way I used to love Ninkasi's Total Domination. Not that Total Dom isn't good, it's just not what it used to be (or maybe my palate has changed). A word of advice: avoid McMenamins. Some of their bars are cool, but you will be disappointed in the end.
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Jul 25, 2012 05:35
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Deschutes released Black Butte XXIV yesterday. To celebrate, the Portland and Bend brewpubs were pouring verticals of XXI through XXIV. Unfortunately, I missed the vertical tasting, but they were still pouring both the XXI and the XXIV in the Portland brewpub tonight. Black Butte XXI is still going strong and has developed into something that is both incredibly delicious and quite drinkable. If you have any bottles, I suggest that you drink them soon as I don't see this getting any better. In fact, I think it has faded a bit since I drank some about 6 months ago. Black Butte XXIV was shockingly drinkable and delicious for such a big beer at such a young age. By comparison, I had a 12 ounce glass of the XXIII on release a year ago and it was difficult to finish the last half of the glass because the beer was so intense. This year's version is less over-the-top and much more drinkable. Deschutes brewed this batch with dates and figs and those fruit notes come through very clearly, which I love. Also, the coffee and chocolate notes are quite a bit more subdued than in previous versions. My overall impression is that the beer is not going to be as ageable as previous releases, but is delicious from the start unlike some of the others.
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Jul 27, 2012 07:30
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Docjowles posted:Two new Lips of Faith beers announced by New Belgium: A collab with Alpine (spoiler: it is an IPA) and some kind of peaches-and-brett thing. The peach saison sounds like it could be really good. It's a collab with musician G. Love, which sounds kind of weird, but I guess DFH made a beer with Dan The Automater, so this may become a popular new beer gimmick.
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Aug 1, 2012 23:23
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funkybottoms posted:so, so glad that they didn't make some sort of "special sauce" joke with the name. also, NB made a musical LoF with Clutch last year (which was awful). Or a "Cold Beverage" joke, I agree. I guess breweries have been making beers with musical references for a long time now, so it shouldn't be surprising that they are starting to do straight-up collabs.
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Aug 1, 2012 23:30
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bartolimu posted:Black Butte XXIV made it to Vegas yesterday, so I'd guess it's out or has been in most of the country. If anyone's opened one to try it fresh, I'd be interested in opinions. One of the local bars got a keg they might tap next week, if so I'll do the review honors myself. XXI was one of my favorites for aging so my hopes are high. Black Butte XXIV is really good right now. Very drinkable fresh. Posted about it right after release: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?goto=post&postid=405984119 I've had it several times since then on tap and my opinion hasn't changed. However, it does not strike me as a beer that will age the way that the XXI has or (I expect) XXIII will. It'll go a few years, no problem, but I don't know that it'll get significantly better.
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Aug 19, 2012 02:07
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Had the New Belgium/Alpine Super DIPA on tap last night and thought it was really disappointing. It was quite sweet with a hop profile that was predominately over-ripe tropical fruit. Not terribly complex and lacked bitterness to balance out some of the sweet, tropical flavors.
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Aug 19, 2012 02:55
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Cervixalot posted:What brewery should we visit in Portland (or in Gold Beach, OR)? How long are you planning on being in Portland? Not much in or near Gold Beach. Pelican in Pacific City is good, but hell and gone from Gold Beach. If you make it up to Newport, Bier One is a great little beer bar/homebrew shop. I would avoid Rogue. If you are passing through Corvallis on your way to Portland (down highway 20), I would highly recommend Block 15. Excellent food and beer at the brewpub. As for Portland itself, you MUST go to the Cascade Brewing Barrel House if you like sour beers. There are lots of other breweries making sour beer these days, but none can compete with the insane number of different, brewery only releases to be found here. Hair of the Dog is close to Cascade and is also a good bet. They usually have some very interesting rare beers on tap like Flanders Fred or Fred from the Wood. Bailey's Taproom and Apex are great beer bars, though Apex is a bit California/IPA focused which might be redundant after your RR and Bear Republic visits.
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Aug 21, 2012 01:13
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bartolimu posted:Things of note I've had in the last week: Totally disagree about the Vortex. Love that stuff. Does the Black Butte XX have much life left ahead of it? I thought the XXI tasted a bit over the hill when I had it last month. Thought the XXIV was like a big mouthful of cocoa-dusted dried figs. It was apparently aged on figs and dates, which, along with a bit of a lighter body than previous Black Butte Reserves, gives it some characteristics I normally associate with aged stouts. I agree that it will peak early, though that's not a bad thing, IMO.
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Aug 26, 2012 00:57
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bartolimu posted:Our bottle was probably old. It tasted like a generic, fairly low-hop IPA, kind of thin and not really special in any way. I'd try it again with a fresh bottle to re-evaluate. The Vortex was in a bottle? Ft George has gone to cans for nearly all of their regular beers, including Vortex. I haven't seen one in a bottle for a long time. It was probably pretty old. It's not going to blow your mind fresh, but it's one of my favorite everyday Oregon IPAs. The glasses of XXIV I've had have all been from tap at the Deschutes brewpub in Portland. Not many of the tasting notes I've seen have mentioned fig or date flavors. Maybe I heard it was brewed with figs and dates and my brain filled in the blanks with my expectations when I tasted the beer. Or maybe I have had enough beers with dates or figs recently (lots of fruit beer in Portland this summer) that my palate is tuned into those flavors. 
consensual poster fucked around with this message at 19:59 on Aug 26, 2012 |
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Aug 26, 2012 19:47
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Midorka posted:I kind of really like the Stone 16th Anniversary IIPA, it's a huge change from Stone's usual hop assaults and is actually more sweet than bitter. The lemon is more sweet than tart, in-fact I get no tartness here, and lingers after the sip, the rye contributes hints of spice on the finish while the hop profile provides a slightly fruity/sweet flavor, but dries out on the finish with a moderate bitterness. I actually prefer this to the Enjoy By, by a nice margin. I believe it uses only lemon verbena, an herb, not actual lemon. I don't see any mention of actual lemon on Stone's web page. The beer is excellent, IMO. Lots of complex malt character with the rye, tropical and peachy hop flavors, and an herbal, lemony finish. escape artist posted:Really? Gubna tastes like garlic and onions to me. I agree. It's a polarizing beer. Very heavy-handed with the summit hops. consensual poster fucked around with this message at 01:03 on Aug 28, 2012 |
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Aug 28, 2012 01:00
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Angry Grimace posted:Stone's 16 - Almost no malt to speak of. I'm a bit surprised to hear this. The beer has a spicy rye malt character for me.
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Aug 30, 2012 21:14
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Angry Grimace posted:Which is weird because I was actively looking for some particular malt character in it. I don't know, I tend to think that Stone's beers that are hoppier than the base IPA have a fairly harsh bitterness that overpowers the beer's positive aspects. I bet you are pretty sensitive to the lemon verbena and lemon oil in the Stone 16th Anniversary. For me, the lemony flavors were mostly in the background, adding some bitter herbal and lemon flavors, but not overpowering the rye malt or the tropical hops. The hops in particular were surprisingly sweet and mellow for a Stone DIPA. Sounds like the lemon just overpowered everything else for you.
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Aug 31, 2012 05:14
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Fresh hop season has started!  Saw the first two fresh hop beers of the year today at the Deschutes Portland Brewpub. Seems earlier than in past years.
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Sep 1, 2012 05:33
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Chicago Goons: looks like Upright brewing is doing an event at Bangers & Lace tonight. If you are into Saisons, I would highly recommend checking them out. Unfortunately, they are not pouring any of their regular seasonal beers, but they will have all 4 of their year round beers plus two one-offs.
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Sep 7, 2012 22:41
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bartolimu posted:Look. Look at all of those Cascades in one place. I highly recommend the Orange Sherbet, Bourbon Barrel Fruit Blend, Sang Noir, and Figaro on the Cascade list. Hair of the Dog Flanders Fred is worth checking out. Logsdon Seizoen Bretta is a great brett saison, but seems out of place at a sour festival.
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Sep 9, 2012 06:18
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Drinking the Firestone Walker XV from tap. It's good, but I'm not blown away by it. Quite sweet and boozy with a ton of barrel notes: molasses, toffee, vanillin, etc. Quite a bit lighter in both color and mouthfeel than I was expecting. I think this will be really good with some time, but I'm not sure that the alcoholic heat will ever subside.
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Sep 10, 2012 22:37
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SUPER HASSLER posted:You know, everything I've heard about Oregon and beer is true. My walking-distance beer bar here in Bend has 16 taps and six or seven of them are Oregon IPAs from places I never heard of. I'm not sure I have enough of an IPA palate to tell one from the other very well. Drink lots of Boneyard while you are in Bend.
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Sep 13, 2012 03:39
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SUPER HASSLER posted:I can't believe those DC prices. If in part because OR doesn't have sales tax, it almost seems like $5 is the ceiling. Oregon also has extremely low taxes on beer, which is a major contributor to both the number of breweries and the low cost.
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Sep 19, 2012 19:06
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SUPER HASSLER posted:Well, I will, because I'd kill for some Pumking right now, okay?! You can get Pumpking at many places around Portland, like the Whole Foods in the Pearl. Do you like malty DIPAs? Have you had Hopworks Ace of Spades yet?
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Sep 21, 2012 05:37
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SUPER HASSLER posted:Yeah, but Portland ain't Bend, and Southern Tier doesn't have it here Ah, right. I forgot that you were in Bend, not Portland. You were talking about HUB, so I thought you went to the brewpub. Boneyard's Hop Venom is indeed one hell of a good DIPA. I wish they would expand already so they would start making more beer.
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Sep 21, 2012 17:24
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I like Pumking a lot, but not quite enough to merit a multi-hour trip just for that. (Going to Portland in a couple weeks, though, in order to fly to Denver for GABF.)
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Valencia posted:Also got to try the New Belgium Peach Porch Lounger- I think this might be my favorite of the LoF series so far. Tasted exactly like biting into a sweet, juicy peach- although the waitress accidentally mixed up my pint with the one of the friend beside me who had ordered a pale ale, so there was lots of initial confusion as I tried to figure out why a saison had a harsh hoppy finish and where the peach flavor went, and my friend was bombarded with fruit flavor that he didn't expect I had the Peach Porch Lounger about a month ago and thought it was pretty bad. There were some nice brett and saison aromas and flavors, but the combination of the yeasty funk, molasses, and lemon peel overwhelmed the peaches for me, making the beer smell and taste indistinctly fruity rather than peachy. On top of that, the beer was too sweet from start to finish, had a thick, syrupy mouthfeel, and didn't hide its high alcohol very well. Overall, I think it's a big, confused mess of a beer and one of the least refreshing beers I've had in a while. I can't imagine drinking one on a porch on even a mildly warm day.
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Sep 21, 2012 20:45
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Docjowles posted:That was exactly my feeling on it, too. I thought it was one of the worst LoF beers in a long time; wasn't thrilled with the Alpine collab "Super IPA", either. Yeah, the "Super" wasn't very good, IMO. Fresh Hop Mirror Pond isn't being bottled this year.  Considering how fast it went from being awesome to just okay last year, maybe that was a good decision by Deschutes. Better to have it as fresh as possible.
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Sep 21, 2012 21:03
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Hood River Hops Fest is Saturday. 37 breweries pouring 51 fresh hop beers. The line-up: http://www.newschoolbeer.com/2012/09/hood-river-hops-fest-brewery-beer-list.html I don't think I'm going to have 2 brain cells left to rub together on Sunday.
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Sep 28, 2012 02:29
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SUPER HASSLER posted:I'd go but a) The Ale Apothecary is having their opening/celebration thing in Bend the night before b) not even I am sure I can withstand 50 fresh hop beers in one go. Tell me more about The Ale Apothecary. I found some basic information on brewery and the beers, but the details are really hazy. Looks like a cool idea, but it seems like a bit of a special club kind of a thing. Are they distributing beyond their beer club? Re: the festival, you don't HAVE to drink all 50 fresh hop beers.  Besides, you have a whopping 9 hours to get through them.
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Sep 28, 2012 04:49
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SUPER HASSLER posted:Whooooops looks like an impromptu weekend trip to Portland (OR) is in order starting tomorrow. I don't know poo poo about this city yet beerwise. Where should I go if I want (a) neat bars to hang out at (b) tiny little breweries? If you are into sour beers at all, you MUST go to the Cascade Brewing Barrel House. If you like farmhouse ales, you should try The Commons and Upright Brewing. Apex is a great bar if you want to drink German, some Belgian style beers, or hoppy California-style ales. They have a great patio out front. Not a ton of Oregon beers there, though. Bailey's Taproom is one of my favorite beer bars. 20 rotating taps and heavily Oregon-focused. It's downtown, so it would be a good bar to do in conjunction with the Deschutes Portland Brewpub. The best stuff there is usually brewed at and limited to the Portland pub, so it might actually be worth visiting even though you are in Bend. Belmont Station is a fantastic bottle shop with an attached Beer Cafe. EDIT: All of the stuff that Tigren mentioned is really good. Not a big fan of Lompoc personally, but lots of people love them.
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Sep 29, 2012 00:16
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Tigren posted:I don't love Lompoc, but they're better than Lucky Lab or McMenamins and 5th Quadrant usually has some pretty solid stuff. Oh, yes, they have some good stuff. I definitely don't dislike them. There are just a lot of other places I'd prefer to go. We ought to talk about places he should avoid. I'd stay the heck away from McMenamins, Tugboat (right next to Bailey's Taproom), Rock Bottom, Rogue, and Lucky Lab. There's too much good beer here to be drinking bad (McMenamins, Tugboat) or mediocre (Lucky Lab) beer.
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Sep 29, 2012 00:54
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SUPER HASSLER posted:As it turns out there's both Flanders Fred and Fred Flanders, the latter of which I'm having now.Really kickin' sour. Is the Fred Flanders the one from 2008? Had a 2008 Fred Flanders at an event full of great beers and it was easily one of the best things I had that night.
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Oct 1, 2012 01:56
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SUPER HASSLER posted:It was on tap so I am guessing not. Still yummy tho. The one I had from 2008 was on tap, so maybe. It was damned good.
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Oct 1, 2012 21:34
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SUPER HASSLER posted:Crux (recently founded by an ex-Deschutes guy). How is Crux? There has been a bit of hype in Oregon about them, but I haven't actually heard anything about the quality of the beer yet.
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Oct 5, 2012 05:54
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