is that a brewery in portland? my friend was telling me about it.

yeah - New Old Lompoc brewery. they have 3 locations and make some damn fine beers.

holy crap....very smooth stout. they have this on tap at bar here in kzoo


Left Hand Milk Stout

This is on deck for when I get home:

[img][375:500]http://img15.imageshack.us/img15/5943/dscn0538b.jpg[/img]


Not really sure what to expect. Otherwise the sister in law sent me some Capital Maibocks from Madison and daaaamn I've missed those. And for a base coat, I have a 12er of Harpoon Summer, which is an excellent over-done attempt at a Kolsch. The real ones have less going on than these do, but I like where they went with it. Everyone here who tries to make a kolsch gives in to temptation and hops and malts them up too much. The real ones are minimalist masterpieces, dictionary-perfect lawnmower weather session beers.

had some of these this weekend:



about to go grab some more. good warm weather beer.

also had one of these, and it was damn good (not for you anti-hopster's though):

NOT FOR WARM WEATHER.

I agree that it's really good, but I made the mistake of bringing some to a friend's house around this time last year. I couldn't drink it.

"Milk was a bad choice."

Haaa ha ha



and the Catamount Maple Wheat wasn't especially good. It was ok, but tasted like a good homebrew, like it was too simple or something. There just wasn't much going on.

The Malt House in Madison is an amazing beer bar.
6 Belgians
6 Locals
6 Random draught
then 200 some beers from across the world ranging from $4-$20 served across a
Civil War era bar
no TVs, no games, no jukebox, no food
only conversation
beautiful

http://www.thedailypage.com/isthmus/art ... icle=23746

I've been meaning to head over to the Malt House, sounds awesome.

I was drinking some Fauerbach this weekend.

I'm like an indian on the side of the road over here, with a lone tear drop rolling down my cheek. I never got to check that place out. But I'm going back in July.

Kyle, have you ever ended up around RT 7 near the VT/NY line? There's this little English pub called Man of Kent by the intersection of 22 and 7 in the middle of nowhere that has a bunch of English taps. I've wanted to go forever now. I haven't gotten the chance yet, but have heard great things from friends.

I guess this kind of belongs in the beer thread.

I think 7 only straddles VT and NY up at Lake Champlaine near Canada. I've been there, but it's been 3 years now.


Now southwest of you 7 crosses from VT south into western Mass, which I've done most recently with Neuro last fall. Took it down to Route 2 and headed back over the berkshires from there.


If it's in the south, I may go find it when I go camping next. The one thing I wanna do for sure this next time is hit up the Long Trail brewery. I think it's in Killington?

Oh sorry, yeah, Southern VT border, right outside of Bennington.

Yeah, Long Trail is near Killington. I've never been there. I've really got to exploring Vermont more...

Almost all of my VT drinking has been pulling some sort of bottle out of a cold river and sitting on a stump or something.

I need to get back up there.

Just finished the 12 of these



and I'm ready for another one. So far this is the closest thing to good 'ol Spotted Cow that I can find up here. Great flavor, easy-going, good longevity.

If it's sold near you, it's worth a try. Excellent hot-weather beer, but not too light.

Had one of these a few days ago. Pretty damn good.

Been trying to get to this place for MONTHS....

Glad you enjoyed it.

MONTHS!

Not sure if you had a chance to check this place out, but it's a very good beer establishment as well:

http://www.brasseriev.com/

Hot dammity, I think this sprang up after I left too.

I'm glad we're driving out there, so I can bring home a few cases of the good shit.

And the final beer snob establish I'm aware of is:
http://www.madurocigarbar.com/
I think this place was open when you were still in Madison.
I haven't been there, but apparently their beer/wine/spirits/cigar selection is supposed to be top notch.

It was, yeah, but the stinky cigars kept me away.


The lo-fi local alternative to all this highbrow stuff is The Old Fashioned, downtown on the square, specializing in local food and canned schwag from the region (Schlitz, etc).

I'm hosting my second-ever stout tasting on Saturday. Here's the lineup:



Pairing with gourmet chocolates. Can't. Fucking. Wait. The Goose Island growler is filled with Night Stalker.

I'm going to be volunteering at a beer festival on the 30th...hopefully there are some decent ones this year (there were maybe 4 or 5 that I liked last year)

I've been drinking a lot of the expensive shit lately but I haven't been really impressed since the Maharaja. Tried some more of the well-respected Bells, but I just don't really like their style. I definitely would consider them the most overrated brewery.

I still haven't ever found Hopslam around here, though. It's out of season now anyway, but not one all winter.

I had stole one of my roommate's New Belgium Sunshine Wheats at 4:15 this morning, which reminded me that I really don't like wheat beer.