Fuck that sounds delicious. Damn you for making me want beer at 10 am.

I'm thinking this would be suited for the Thursday evening arrival.

Creeping Jesus, if I try keeping up with you glass for glass, I'll have to get the EMT's on standby outside, and the cardiologist reserving an OR.

Nah man. I'm not trying to slam some St. Bernie's.

Gotta savor that shit.

Also, is the place you're talking about Kickbacks?

If so, sounds awesome.

Yep, Kickbacks. Best bar in this shitty state, maybe in all shitty states as far as I'm concerned.

Far and away not a great beer, but for us with roots in Baltimore, this is pretty big news:

National Bohemian beer to be served on draft again Historic Baltimore brew will be available in kegs for first time in 15 years

Grabbed 3 6ers of this bad boy..



As well as a case of this mofo..



and got a case of this:



One of my favorite IPAs

and a case of my old stand by pils..




And there is close to 2 feet of snow outside, so needless to say I am good for a few days..

I learned tonight that I could get most Bell's products by making a short trip up to Council Bluffs, IA a.k.a Counciltucky. I will be making a road trip to get Bell's Oberon, Two Hearted and Hop Slam very soon.

I had the rest of the Mikkeller Yeast Series beers tonight as I tried the Brettanomyces and US Ale.

I wanted to get that Mikkeller Chipotle Porter but I just want to try a sip and I don't think I'd like it and $16 for something you don't really want is too much.





got this but haven't drank it yet. still working on some dogfish 90 minutes. the label on this beer is among the best i've seen.

I'm going to split an 18pk of Tall Boy cans with my brother tonight, after I purchased a 6pk of Sierra Nevada Kellerweis for a relaxing night at home.
I can't believe the Lionshead was only $11.99, and that the college kids haven't started drinking tons of it here.

Had a pretty good beer weekend. Some misses but mostly hits.

Couple folks came over for a chill Friday at the house and few varieties were consumed.

Derris bloviates:



I'm on record as not being much of a hophead but I read about this online and the "smoked malts" piqued my interest even though I sort of knew what I was getting into. This was surprisingly drinkable and given the weather this weekend, it was a nice way to kick off the night. 9.3% ABV and I could barely taste it. A pleasant surprise. Best part, and another reason I picked it up, is that part of the proceeds go to help rebuild this theater that burned down in Athens. (Georgia Theater for the local folks). Terrapin has now done 4 "Special Session" beers for this cause, this being the final one.

Side note for the local folks: these Terrapin series beers also have a promo going on as well called The Golden Ticket. For each session, there are 4 golden tickets placed in each box the beer comes in. If you get one, you get free admission to The Georgia Theater for life when it re-opens. Pretty cool.


The guy that came over brought a few sample German beers since I told him that I had really yet to jump into the Germans yet. (and I'm going to a Weihenstephaner tasting next Wednesday)

First was this:



I feel like this is a pretty nuts and bolts German lager. Found nothing wrong with it but it felt like I should be outside drinking it somewhere. Pretty tasty though.




Again, nothing bad here but I thought it tasted like Hoegaarden. Pretty standard hefe I'd guess.

Good stuff. Hopefully that have a wider range of stuff at the tasting Wednesday.

Then, the Belgian obsession continued.

I talked for a while with the owner of my local beer shop and I told him how blown away I was with the Rocheforts and St. Bernardus and wanted some recs.

He gave me the following:




I was REAL excited about this one. The guy told me "this is going to be your new favorite beer".

He was wrong. I didn't really like this much at all. Ridiculously thick and it tasted like black liquorice and as I worked towards the bottom of the glass, the alcohol started overwhelming everything. Won't be revisiting.




Haven't drank this one yet. He was giving a lot of info on the Belgians and said I should try the other end of the spectrum. FemDerris is going to work for a bit and I think I'll sit outside with this one today (it's 70 degrees and fucking gorgeous here)





See my comment about the Gouden Carolus. Same kind of taste for me. They both just seem......unbalanced, for lack of a better word. Didn't like the flavors at all.

Finally, sat on the deck of a restaurant in my hood yesterday for lunch and has a St. Bernardus Abt 12. Shit is just out of control good. Nothing more really needs to be said.

Then last night went to see True Grit (which was great) and followed it up with some dinner next door and a couple of these:




I hadn't drank any of their stuff in years (had a bad experience a long time ago) but decided to give it a go.

Loved it. 2 of these and I was feeling warm and fuzzy. Delicious.

I just heard of a place here that has the Rochefort. Gonna have to get in the game here.

I had 2 Erie Brewing Company Misery Bay IPA with dinner last night.

I ordered it by name, but it was solid, not spectacular. Definitely drank good with the seafood pasta I had.

Derris your 2-footed leap into this thread has, like, made my year. I am loving this so very very much. If you can find the 3 or 4 offerings from Caracole (belgian brewery) including Saxo and Nostradamus, you might really like them as well. They're mid-level flavor density - not overwhelming, just smooth and pleasant - and they tend to be a few bucks cheaper per 22oz than Bernardus, Rochefort, etc. I find myself going back to those a lot. Also check out the Brooklyn No 1 I think it is - 1 or 2 - anyway the belgian they make. It is surprisingly good and tends to cost less than some authentic imports.

Cheers brother!

St. Benardus triple might be my favorite beer ever

Saison Dupont is a good go-to Belgian for me as well.

This is pretty much the perfect spring/summer beer. Had 2 friday night - because it was 65 degrees here.

Don't think that I don't check this thread everytime it gets bumped and do a search everytime I buy something to see if it's been discussed.

Will keep an eye out for Caracole and I've been wanting to try that Brooklyn 1. I know my guy has that.

I don't know. I think my current interest in this stuff has kind of dovetailed with this boutique beer store opening, it being near my office/house, weekly beer tastings, and actually finding some beers I REALLY liked. For a long time I just felt a lot of these run of the mill microbrews were just variations on the same tired themes (oh another pale ale or brown ale!)

Also, this guy that owns the store is good people and I dig his passion for the beer. That said, we'll see how long this lasts once we're in week 8 of 90+ degree heat.

Hell yeah. Solid choice that goes so well with springtime weather, and it seems to be available in a ton of places.

Speaking of, we're getting another 20+ inches this week to add to the 40 something we've already gotten this month. This is nuts. I wanted to bike ride in today but it was too cold. I'm digging the skiing every weekend, and fending off the moto-fever as best I can. But like, I don't know where they're going to shovel all this new snow TO. I keep seeing dumptrucks full of snow driving around town, moving it places.

Geek time. Can one of you explain to me the difference between a Witbier and a Tripel?

Just brew methods?

They seem pretty similar.

I don't usually like sweet beers, but this is my new discovery when a local bar had it on tap:

It is kind of weird at first because it is quite sweet--has that nectar taste that is really obvious. But they also hopped the hell out of it. The resulting beer makes the hop-head in me oh-so happy, while providing a really smooth drinking experience. It went and knocked me on my ass. Catapulted into being one of my favorite beers.

Grab that Hop Slam if you can, limited edition and places around here are charging 90 a case..It's good, but 90 is a bit of a stretch.

I went to a few places last week and they were sold out, but I came upon a case and was happy as a pig in shit..If troeggs put this out year round, hands down it is their best beer, but they do the once a year thing to get beer heads in a frenzy and sell out of it. It is a great beer.

Yes. You get it! I find Hopslam and NN not as good as last year but Flower Power is always slammin!