Tasty, but nothing special...

duuuuuude

Awesome label, not really good brews.

i didn't hear what the bartender said when i gave her the $20. she put $13 back down on the bar and i was going to leave a buck tip but i figured they'd already raped me enough on the price.

i mean, i had a golden monkey at great scott on saturday and it was only $6.50.

That happened to me once in Atlanta in Buckhead. "HEY GUYS LET'S GO OUT TO BUCKHEAD!!" $10 cover to get in to a bar that charged $7 for a heinekin, in 1999.

Recents....

Sierra Nevada - 30th Anniversary Series: Fitz & Ken's Ale (Stout)




This was excellent. It isn't the boldest, darkest, hairiest stout you can find, nor was that their intention. This is not a russian, nor an imperial, just a regular stout, which is really just a normal ale with more malt, and all of that malt roasted longer. They got the alcohol content up there, too, I believe it was around 10% but it could've been over 11%. It tastes much smoother than that, though, so force yourself to go easy. This was subtle and interesting and obviously really well-made. Given the medium, it's not incredibly memorable but it was a great beer while I had it in-hand. I'll look for more of this series and try other variants. Love the cork tops, too. Looking at that second shot just gives me pleasure... the twist tab out to the side, all ready to go, says "you're just seconds away from cool, refreshing goodness. Buckle up, cowboy."



The Bruery - Orchard White



A Californian brewery with excellent label esthetics, which always draw me in when I see them. And so far the beer has been up to par with the packaging. This was "only" 5.7%, and had hints of apple tartness mixed in with the usual "spicey wheat beer banana yeast" flavor arrangement... it was absolutely perfect for yesterday's sunny 65-ish weather. I motored through it entirely too quickly, a comment on the smoothness, the lighter alcohol content, and the beer's perfect suitability to the weather. It got slitghly better as the glass warmed up to about 60F and then somewhat less so as it got closer to 70. A picnic companion par excellence.

I had this yesterday while sitting outside in a patio section at local brew pup/NYC style pizza joint.
Not bad, it was refreshing.

Batch Three


Goose Island Night Stalker Imperial Stout

It might be the most formidable beer I have ever consumed, and didn't have an ABV above 11%

I had that Collaboration on draft the other week...I liked it quite a bit.

The Collaboration is GOOD. I haven't had the Night Stalker yet, but I'magonna.

I had a pint of Marzen from a Franconian Gravity Keg tonight. It was delicious.

just returned with 2 new Great Divide seasonals:



haven't cracked one yet, but i've yet to be disappointed with Great Divide. just behing Avery as my favorite local these days.

i liked that Hoss more than i thought i was going to.

Goose Island - Night Stalker Imperial Stout


11.7% ABV, for the record. Not for the faint of heart. This is rich, full, sweetish, complex, and entirely interesting. It has a big hop bite for a stout, and has a LOT of complex drier tastes going on in the background, but the first thing that grabbed me was a sweet flavor in the neighborhood of raisins. All of these are big, but they balance out nicely. It's like a really loud song that still sounds about right. I was trying to think of what the big wet fruity flavor was, and in describing it to myself, it occurred to me that it's just a shitload of late hops. It's the same idea as IPA's like Bell's 2 Hearted or even good ol' Sierra Nevada... lots of late hops for that piney, wet, round, almost sweet flavor. They late hopped the shit out of this, I think, and it took me a while to figure it out because it's not something you see in a really dark stout very often. Anywho, I worked on this over the course of the afternoon, and it was frankly incredible. Goose Island's got some serious in-house knowledge on the dark stuff, it would seem. Someone's up to something.

Gouden Carolus Cuvee Van De Keizer Blauw

I had this at a tapping party on Friday Night.

And then had a Rogue Mom or Half e Weizen at dinner afterward.

dammit man the whole point is to DISCUSS the good beers you've had... good? Bad? Worth it? RIYL?

I don't think I do a great beer justice when I review it. I tend to try it and then compare my reaction to people who post on Beer Advocate or Rate Beer. I lose some of the taste and quality adjectives I would use to review it, since I don't usually post about it for a day or two afterward.

Thanks alot, I had a good laugh at this. If it came from any of the other literary masters posting in this thread, I might have been offended, but you do an excellent job of discussing beer.




I bought six packs of these dirt cheap on Saturday night, they aren't spectacular, but I
have always enjoyed them.

To celebrate 50 years as sister cities, brewers from St. Louis and Stuttgart got together to produce a nice dry hopped Märzen, which I drank quite a few of this weekend.

cool!

Recents



Belhaven - Scottish Stout


I've always sorta loved their St. Andrews beer, going back to undergrad, and that says a lot. Lots of the things I loved back then don't taste that special to me anymore, but I can still get down with a St. Andrews anytime. I don't buy it often, to keep it special, but it means I saw their new(?) stout offering and had to try it. And while not amazing, it was very good, and well done. 7% content is a really good place to be - not so much that I start slowing down, but enough of a kick to be interesting. The flavors here were almost 100% of the malty sort... toasted this, roasted that, with maybe a tiny bit of heathery stuff in the background. Hops are there but not in a big way. I feel like the scots know how to roast malts well, and everything else is a toss-up. So it was good. B+


Arcadia Ales - Cereal Killer


Once again, no info on the bottle... Not even a hint as to what kind of beer it was. I got asked twice in line, (once by the checkout guy), "what kind of beer is it?" We all looked at it in the light and determined that it wasn't dark, but sorta coppery colored maybe. I didn't get a pic of it poured because I drank it at the pond in the grass, with the bottle still in an insulated sleeve. But we were right, it's a mid-colored reddish ale. I tastes like... shitloads of malt. Somewhere near a barleywine, but not as sweet. It had a strong hop kick too, and a couple of oddball flavors I couldn't ID. Content tasted pretty high, can't remember what it said but I'd guess over 9%. Not remarkable, probably wouldn't get it again. B


Dogfish Head - Black & Blue


A strong ale with blackberry and blueberry purees. Not something I'd normally go for first, but I was in the mood I guess, and I'm glad I was. This was delicious. I don't know how these guys do it but this was interesting, big, balanced, and in no way too fruity or annoying. The berry flavors weren't colossal, they were perfect... just enough so that you taste and smell them, but aren't hit upside the head with them. By the end of the bottle they still hadn't overstayed their welcome. I would get this again, for sure. Fucking delicious, I dug it. A

This is actually a gold medal winning barleywine. You have/had a 2009 as the new batch (the award-winning batch which isn't any better/worse than 2009) is in 4-packs. Arcadia is a pretty meh brewery but has been better the last year or so as there has been a change of guard that is much more passionate about beer.

I haven't had this one specifically but I find all of the Dogfish beers I've had to be too fruity and annoying. I kind of feel like people who like Dogfish Head should just go ahead and admit that they like Mike's Hard Lemonade and be done with it.

WTF? Which ones have you had? The IPAs? Those are the most common. I'm not big on them myself, but I never noticed any "fruitiness" when I've had them.

Raison D'etre is pretty sweet, but it's hardly what I'd consider fruity.

You must hate all Belgian beers and any wheat beers with the slightest hint of citrus.