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Podima posted:Second, Sorachi Ace from Brooklyn Brewery. It's a pretty good saison (sharper than I was expecting), but for some reason it absolutely hits me with that 'holy poo poo this smells exactly like pot' like nothing else I've encountered before. I've seen it talked about in this thread, but it's wacky to encounter for myself! That's odd you got that from Sorachi Ace, I was smacked in the face with lemon and a peppery spice and nothing more, now Beer Hop Breakfast on the other hand... I actually just had my first Hopback Amber Ale yesterday and it was nice, light floral hops and a slightly sweet malt bill giving a caramel flavor. It's something I would recommend to someone looking to get into craft beer as a way to ease them in. Last night I wound up very drunk getting through the Firestone 15, Espresso Oak Aged Yeti and Founders Curmudgeon's Better Half with my friend. Firestone 15 was probably my favorite, I couldn't get over it's complexity. Overall it had a nice sweet caramel, vanilla, oak and a bourbon/brandy profile to it, but so much more was there. Curmudgeons better half was really sweet, but not cloying. Lots of maple oak and vanilla and I picked up some burnt sugar too towards the end. It was a good beer but it was also the last of 3 big bottles split two ways so I couldn't fully appreciate it.
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Mar 16, 2012 16:56
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Kudosx posted:gently caress. The amount of people posting saying they're going to the KBS release at this grocery store is absurd. I think I'm gonna have to show up like an hour early just for a 4 pack... it's first come, first serve. Doh! With demand like this stores should impose bottle limits for sure, when that many people want something 2 bottles should suffice.
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Mar 16, 2012 19:20
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obi_ant posted:God drat if that Sierra Nevada Hoptimum isn't one of my favorite IPAs. I typically ignored Sierra Nevada, but do they make anything else I should try? I haven't had a bad beer by them yet, I think everything they put out is worth trying at least once. Their big bottles have really blown me away especially the 30th Anniversary Grand Cru. I'm drinking another Sixpoint Resin now and man am I glad this is a year round beer now. This is a really solid IIPA and it's such a shock when you crack the can open and your smacked with hops from the aroma. This deserves a higher rating than it's aggregated on ratebeer, then again it's not rare so I don't expect it to.
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Mar 17, 2012 04:00
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lazerwolf posted:Either I got a bad batch or TASTEBUDS but Resin is way too syrupy and sweet for my tastes as a DIPA. Sucks I was really looking forward to this beer being awesome The first one I had was really malty, sticky, and sweet, with a nice hop finish, but definitely sweet. I see why people wouldn't like it but I absolutely loved it because of that. It's a nice change up in the world of IIPAs. I had one tonight from a newer batch and it seemed a bit stronger in the hops than I remember, more balanced.
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Mar 17, 2012 16:24
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Kudosx posted:Ugh. Double ugh. I went to my local store 45 minutes early that was supposed to be getting KBS in a little bit ago, and no one seemed to be there lined up, which I thought was weird. I know of a store that had a similar problem, but they thankfully caught it before too much damage was done. The guy who did it was fired though and I think they placed really strict rules on who can handle the beer now at the store. It's a bit sad, but it's also a bit funny. Edit: The manager had explained to the staff not to touch that box because it was all reserved through it's e-mail list. Midorka fucked around with this message at 17:22 on Mar 17, 2012 |
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Mar 17, 2012 17:19
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TenaciousTomato posted:why is brooklyn lager so good? I hate when I recommend it to people at my store when they're used to Budweiser and they say they can't tell the difference... Tonight I'm doing a beer pairing with cheese for my first time, I picked up a variety of cheeses but really don't know how to pair cheese and beer. I picked up some cheddar cheese with maple and bacon and I plan to pair it with a Flying Fish Exit 8, I figure it'll be a good pair at least.
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Mar 19, 2012 01:41
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Kosher man posted:You are in luck as the Brewers Association put together a great PDF that can help out big time if you want to do some beer and food pairing and also provides some nice little info on beer styles. Thanks, I was going to get a bottle of local port wine to pair with a cheddar cheese that's marbled with port wine, but maybe I'll pair a barleywine with it like Old Viscosity and get a bottle of wine for the pasta with red sauce we'll have before.  This was last night I paired a sweet maple bacon cheddar cheese with Flying Fish's Exit 8 which is a chestnut brown ale. A lot of sweetness from the local honey comes upfront and the chestnuts cut through somewhat as the beer shows it's Belgian side with some cloves and a mild floral finish. I think they paired pretty well together myself.
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Mar 19, 2012 17:52
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Ubik posted:Kosher Man's PDF is a fantastic resource and starting point, but I'll put in my two cents as well. I did cheese and beer pairings for a gourmet cheese purveyor in Chicago, and I've run into some general rules of thumb that work well: Thanks much for the advice, what sort of beer do you think would work best with a port wine cheddar cheese? Would I be okay using Old Viscosity? Kosher man posted:Old viscosity isn't really a barleywine though. Don't know why, but I thought it was for some reason, I haven't had it but I just assumed it was...Reading the description of it seems like it's bourbon, chocolate, and roasted profile so should I get something sweeter for the port wine cheddar?
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Mar 19, 2012 21:25
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Old Viscosity with port wine marbled cheese didn't work too well, wound up mostly drinking the local port wine we had which worked better. I read a few reviews thinking Old Viscosity was going to have more chocolate flavor than it did, the strong black coffee flavor just didn't work too well with the cheese. Lesson learned.
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Mar 20, 2012 18:00
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Arnold of Soissons posted:Are you not testing these out yourself before you serve them? Not usually, I don't buy many repeat beers. It wasn't a serious tasting though, just having a cheese desert with friends and I happened to have an Old Viscosity in the fridge and thought, "I want to try this, I hope it goes okay with the cheese." Also, I think I'm the only person in the world who doesn't care for Noble Pils. Midorka fucked around with this message at 18:54 on Mar 20, 2012 |
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Mar 20, 2012 18:33
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CalvinDooglas posted:Must have been extremely limited. The Website just says they haven't sold any, which I took to mean bottled/distributed. I have not much to say but good luck!
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Mar 21, 2012 05:14
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I have a hard time paying $10 for a 6 pack, but oddly enough I don't mind paying the upcharge to build my own 6 pack. $15 for a 6 pack isn't rare for me, thankfully most places are starting to give 10% discounts on full mixed 6 packs so it helps relieve some of the "single tax."
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Mar 21, 2012 18:44
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Been seeing Deviant Dale's pictures everywhere, but not in New Jersey. I would love to try it, how much is it?
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Mar 22, 2012 02:03
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Kraven Moorhed posted:Speaking of canned beers, I tried a Resin the other day. It's like the McDonald's Sweet Tea of IPAs. If they toned down the sweetness to a more honey-like taste I'd be all over it, but as is it's a mess. When was it canned? The first run of Resin was really sweet and sticky, but the second run is a lot more balanced and has a lot of hop presence. I enjoyed both a lot though.
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Mar 22, 2012 04:13
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I don't think any beer is worth camping out for at this point. I've had a lot of highly praised beers from Hopslam, Pliny, and Curmudgeons Better Half and while they were all fantastic beers there's been others I've enjoyed more in the same vein. There's a lot of absolutely astounding beers out there and brewery's just keep getting better and better. I'll give every rare beer a shot once, but I don't think I'll ever hunt Pliny, Black Ops, KBS, etc down again. I'm glad to have tried them but I'm happy with the huge variety of more easily available stuff as well, especially at a lower price point.
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Mar 22, 2012 20:06
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Hey at least going to a beer release makes more sense than going to a video game release, that's just silly.
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Mar 22, 2012 22:04
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SUPER HASSLER posted:Just found the first bottle of World Wide Stout I ever saw at a shop I wouldn't drink it without a year on it, fresh it's kind of a mess. With a year it's one of the best stouts I've ever had, very wine like.
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Mar 22, 2012 22:23
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The first time I've been excited about buying something from DFH in a while.
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 Dogfish Head's 75 Minute IPA is pretty decent, I'm surprised it wasn't more expensive ($9 a 750ml) considering some of the prices of their other big bottles being $12+. The maple is very subtle, I'm only picking a little up at the beginning and end, otherwise the beer has a nice balanced hop profile of pine and citrus mostly. I'm pairing it with some maple bacon cheddar cheese and it's a nice accent to the slight maple flavor in the beer, the more I combine it the better I like it and appreciate it. Midorka fucked around with this message at 02:19 on Mar 23, 2012 |
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Mar 23, 2012 02:17
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The SARS Volta posted:Does anyone have an opinion on Cricket Hill Brewing Co. out of New Jersey? Their year round line-up is something to avoid, mediocre beer that would be well priced at $6.99 a 6 pack. Their 22 ounce brewer reserve bottles are good though. On another note, KBS with maple bacon cheddar is loving next level poo poo seriously. If you have a bottle of KBS try to find maple bacon cheddar cheese to pair it with because it's stellar. As for KBS it's a very solid bourbon barrel aged imperial stout that's extremely well balanced. It's definitely the "real-deal" and worth seeking as I consider it to be near the pinnacle of bourbon barrel aging. Lots of oak and vanilla with bourbon and dark chocolate taking a back seat, reminded me a bit of fresh tobacco in the aroma. The flavor is extremely well balanced giving lots of oak, vanilla, and bourbon to the already complex chocolate and coffee flavor of Breakfast Stout. This is a great beer that I feel lives up to the hype.
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Mar 23, 2012 04:15
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 I'm drinking a Troegs Flying Mouflan and I'm pretty happy with it. Lots of caramel and raisin in the nose with a slight candied sugar make this pretty drat sweet, but it's inviting. The flavor is pretty drat intense, caramel up front which yields to a sweet cocoa and raisin mix, then finishes with a candied sugar sweetness. It's a well balanced barleywine and it's pairing fantastically with the March 2006 vintaged sharp cheddar I have. They're both good alone, but together they bring out the best of each other. On another note, I really like pairing beer with cheeses, it's a nice after dinner snack and it's fun to figure out what pairs well with what. lazerwolf posted:OK heady topper is the poo poo. A ton of citrus and grapefruit flavor without being overly bitter. Its not as dry a finish as hop stoopid or pliny but the sweetness doesn't linger. This is seriously a dangerously drinkable dipa Are you drinking it from the can or a glass? I would like to get two to try both ways since they recommend it from the can.
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Mar 24, 2012 04:18
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Manky posted:Skipped the KBS release at my local bottle store today. They were giving tickets at eleven, then raffling them off at three. That seems like a good system to me, but I knew if I went that I'd be completely blotto by three, and sure it's a weekend, but drat. That's still pretty early. I love beer but I still haven't had anything worth waiting four hours for. How many cases did they get? My bottle shop I frequent got one case and sold them as single bottles @$5.49 a pop. I bought one and enjoyed the gently caress out of it with some maple bacon cheddar and I argue that one has not tasted KBS properly until they taste it with the maple bacon cheddar. It was heavenly to me. There's a few other stores that probably got some in, but money is tight right now due to a recent move to a new place so I couldn't get more than one right now, but KBS is definitely worth every penny. Edit: Since I couldn't find any Left Hand Nitro Milk Stout I got some regular Milk Stout and it's pretty drat good. Sweet lactose up-front with a nice dark chocolate and roasted coffee finish. This reminds me a lot of left-over cocoa puffs milk and some fresh coffee. This is such a breakfast beer and I think I'm in love with it. Midorka fucked around with this message at 06:00 on Mar 25, 2012 |
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Mar 25, 2012 04:59
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FreelanceSocialist posted:I had a dream last night that I found Troegs Nugget on clearance but then I got home and all the bottles were empty. Someone, interpret this dream for me. Also, the one good thing about working a part-time job at a beer store for lovely pay is Sculpin for $4/btl, Terrapin Hopzilla for $5/4pk, and first dibs on anything that comes off the truck (case of Hopslam? Yes, please). I wouldn't buy a 4 pack of Hopzilla, at least not with the intentions of drinking it now. It's incredibly sweet and incredibly citrus heavy. I got through it, but it was definitely borderline cloying and the citrus was overwhelming at times. I don't know if it will age well but I don't think many people, outside of the Shock Top group, could drink a 4 pack of it and be happy.
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Mar 25, 2012 17:52
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Manky posted:Only one case, if you won the raffle you were allowed to buy just one bottle for $12. I have no regrets skipping it. That's some pretty crazy price gouging, geez.
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Mar 25, 2012 20:27
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Manky posted:Sure makes me miss Philly. As a New Jerseyan I am laughing. Philly prices are terribly gouged due to the archaic laws. Josh Wow posted:I've generally found that aging beers causes them to get sweeter over time since hops fade and that loses some of the balance to the beer. With that said you're the first person I've found to say Hopzilla is sweet. There's no crystal malt in it since it's 100% Maris otter, and it ferments down pretty low as well. It is pretty citrusy but only from the hops, which is a lot different than a Shock Top kind of flavor. Up front it was far too sweet and thick for me, even being very chilled, and the citrus was way heavy starting sweeter citrus of tangerines and ending slightly grapefruit, but it was just something I didn't enjoy very much.
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Mar 26, 2012 02:04
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Kudosx posted:Sculpin is really, really good, but just as I predicted I'm not 100% sure it's worth its price tag compared to other local beers I can get. I will probably pick it up again because it's really good, but White Rajah is definitely what I'll be looking for until Fat Head's starts to distribute Head Hunter in May/June. Sculpin is great I don't think I'd pay more than $12 a 6 pack though, maybe $13...Then again we're splitting hairs at that point.
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Mar 26, 2012 03:22
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Brooklyn's Black Chocolate Stout is a steal imo. $7.99 for a 4 pack of 10% goodness. A few stores I know that aren't huge into craft beer have it and have marked it 20% off since they want to clear their winter stock.
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Mar 26, 2012 19:22
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I love Flying Fish's Exit 4, it's hard to beat a 10% Triple for $11 a 6 pack. Nice balance of semi-sweet citrus, clove spices, and a perfume-like floralness to it. It's way too easy to drink at this ABV, I've caught myself drinking 4-5 a night a few times and regretted it.
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Mar 26, 2012 23:22
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A friend who isn't into craft beers bought me a Magic Hat 12 pack to welcome me to my new place, I accepted even though they're poo poo. Their Vinyl, an amber lager of sorts, actually wound up being excellent for the wings we were eating. It curbed the spice a lot and was easy drinking. It was poo poo by itself, but it definitely worked well with wings.
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Mar 27, 2012 04:35
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I've had lovely luck with variety 12 packs lately, bought a Smuttynose pack and it was skunked. I returned that and got a Stoudts 12 pack and instead of 3 Munich Helles, I get 6 Pils instead which is my least favorite of the bunch. After 4 Pils last night I'm actually appreciating them though.
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Mar 27, 2012 18:07
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Ubik posted:Why bust your rear end for special releases when you can get so many great loving beers so easily and (relatively) cheaply? Amen brother. I drank an Ayinger Celebrator tonight and am I the only one who thinks it tastes and smells like concord grapes? I'm looking up reviews and don't get anything of what others are describing, it's as if I'm drinking a different beer. Midorka fucked around with this message at 06:58 on Mar 28, 2012 |
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Mar 28, 2012 06:56
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Perfectly Cromulent posted:All the normal ~taste buds~ disclaimers apply, but I love the stuff and never got any concord grape-like smells or flavors. You sure the stuff was stored properly? Could be an incredibly old bottle, the bottle was sitting on the singles rack which tends to have some really old stuff on it (A 3 year old Maudite) and this has no date. So it's possible. Ubik posted:It may be that you're getting an oxidation character from an old bottle. Some oxidation shows up as "wet cardboard/newspaper," but some of it shows up as a distinct raisin-y/ribes flavor. It's highly probable, given the fact that it's imported from Germany and probably sat on a shelf for a while before you bought it. Oxidation is the biggest drawback to buying imports, and often gives people a false impression of what the beer is meant to taste like. Thanks for the informative post, this is definitely quite possible. I'm definitely willing to try this beer again though as the reviews of others make it sound absolutely wonderful. That isn't to say it was bad last night, but it really smelled and tasted a bit like some Manischewitz Concord Grape in a way.
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Mar 28, 2012 17:34
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CalvinDooglas posted:that's the funny thing about taste buds. Your brain wants everything to taste familiar, so when something new comes along it gets sorted into the closest category until you consciously distinguish it. Thanks for this post. I recently had a Troegenator and picked up caramel apples mostly, which was actually really good so I was more expecting something like that with the Celebrator. I'll definitely try it again once I see a newer batch come in. I found 3 bottles of the Birra del Borgo version of the DFH collab My Antonia, the bottles were $8.49 but I had to buy all of them just in-case it blows my mind. Worst comes to worse I have a friend who will appreciate a bottle.
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Mar 28, 2012 20:33
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Roommate should be forced to drink a 30 pack of Gennessee Cream Ale in one sitting. Edit for new page content: This year's Aprihop is better than I remembered, much better than the two years of drain pour. It's a moderately bitter ipa with a tarty apricot flavor. I'm not a fan, but I can see why people would like this.
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Mar 28, 2012 22:27
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danbanana posted:I'm assuming you're getting these for free? If I had two years of drain pouring a beer, I wouldn't waste my time with a third unless someone handed me one. Yeah, a friend whom drain poured with me the past two years, was foolish enough to buy it and gave me one. I think the past two years we had infected bottles or something because it tasted like puke last two years. I'm not joking around either, it tasted like bile to me and 3 other people who tried it.
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Mar 29, 2012 00:00
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FreelanceSocialist posted:Tonight's brews, based on customer chatter this week (otherwise, tonight would've been a Cantillon night)... I agree with everything here 100%, great post! quote:Not sure but it could be a issue of where it was brewed. Brooklyn does a lot of contract brewing at FX Matt AKA Saranac. Maybe they do their draft lager but then the rest up there or something. No clue really. I tend to like their lager a good bit when fresh. I thought they stopped contract brewing with their expansion?
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Mar 29, 2012 18:29
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Just got back from a store trying to sell me Nugget Nectar for $15 a 6 pack, I politely declined. I know it will sell at that price but I paid $12 for a 1 week old 6 pack the first time around and that was enough for me.
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Mar 29, 2012 19:25
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Is it that New Jersey gets a lot of Firestone Walker distribution, or is it that their 15 and Sucaba aren't that limited?
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Mar 29, 2012 22:45
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danbanana posted:I think it depends on the market. XV is hard to find by me except one shop that always seems to have it. Sucaba/Abacus has always been a buy-it-when-you-see-it item. New Jersey must be saturated then, most places I know got 2-3 cases of 15 and the two places yesterday have 2-3 cases of Sucaba.
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Mar 29, 2012 23:48
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danbanana posted:In general, the Chicago beer scene has gotten stupid-popular. I never bought multiples at once a couple years ago because I always figured I'd be able to grab more of something good later. Even things like Bourbon County would sit on shelves for weeks. You could buy at leisure. Now you need to reserve bottles of just about anything "rare." So running into a half-case of something as good as Sucaba (at least Abacus was awesome last year...) is a rarity. I feel compelled to buy a couple just because I don't know if I'll see it again. Interesting, that's sort of how things are here, but for certain beers. Firestone is always readily available in big bottles, hell I can still buy 14, 2011 Abacus, and 2011 Parabola on the shelf if I go to the right stores. Sucaba and 15 I could buy a full case of if I wanted to. Now 120 Minute I can't find at all unless I go to the right stores. Certain beers in New Jersey fly off the shelves, some you wouldn't expect, while some highly praised ones sit for months. I have no doubts I will be able to get 15 when 16 comes around, but I couldn't get more than a 6 pack of Union Jack. It's weird. I read on some beer trading site that New Jersey has the largest, or second largest, amount of breweries that distribute here. That's pretty cool and whatever I can't find here is usually in Philly. I just don't know why we get a huge amount of Firestone considering the market isn't huge for it here, at least not enough to cause a huge enough demand to have bottles flying off the shelves. Now Dogfish Head is another story, but I think that's everywhere because of the show. Lastly am I wrong to think of black IPAs as a hop-forward porter? I generally think porter when drinking one, just a lot more hops. I drank Demo from the Magic Hat variety my friend brought me and it's a black IPA, but honestly I wouldn't consider it a terrible porter. Midorka fucked around with this message at 01:55 on Mar 30, 2012 |
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Mar 30, 2012 01:51
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I found a Bruery Autumn Maple in my store today for $10, apparently it was in the back for someone and they never came to get it. I can't wait to try it, but it'll have to wait until I drink my Weihenstephan Vitus! Both sound delicious. Edit: Had a Victory Otto for the second time yesterday, 6 months since bottling and almost all the smoke flavor and aroma was gone. Is this normal for smoked beers? Midorka fucked around with this message at 03:29 on Mar 31, 2012 |
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Mar 31, 2012 03:13
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