Some recents (not my pics):



Green Flash - West Coast IPA

Picked this up during a recent trip to Birmingham. Perfect name for this beer as it tastes like what I think a classic West Coast IPA should taste like. All piney, green and hoppy. Not the best but a great respresentation of the style. Delicious aromatic treat. Wish I could get it here.



Green Flash - Rayon Vert

A "Belgian Style" pale ale. Apparently this is pretty new (released this past January) and a bit experimental. Done using "pre-WWII Belgian conditions" and ingredients only available at the time, it's apparently "continuously evolving" because there is a lot of sediment in the bottle. Still, it's got a good clean Belgian taste to it. It reminds me a bit of Goose Island's Matilda but no quite in that class. Overall, a good beer that just falls short of great IMO.

Couple more:



Boulevard Brewing - The Sixth Glass

Part of their Smokestack series. This is a "Quadrupel Ale". Another pick up from the Birmingham trip. I've only had their regular Pale Ale before so this was a nice surprise (and a little pricey). A really solid take on a Quad and one of the best American takes I've tried. The booze peeks through a liiiiittle too much towards the end but it's a minor beef. I'd get it again and age a couple.




Dogfish Head - Aprihop

IPA made with apricots. Not a new beer but my first time trying it and thought it was good. Maybe the first IPA that FemDerris has actually liked. Not surprising though. To me, Dogfish's IPA's all tend to be tempered with a bit of that malty sweetness. Add to that a little fruit and it's in her wheelhouse. Still, this was a deceptive 7% ABV for sure and refreshing as hell. I'll probably keep some around for the summer.

Pretty much all of that Smokestack series is incredible. There must be 8 or 10 kinds now, and I've loved them all.

Here?

http://www.homebrewit.com/aisle/p/2160? ... gQgwgwATgK

They've got some 1 ounce packs, looks like (maybe not, didn't go all the way to checkout) but the big places I checked were stocked out. And I needed other stuff from the big ones, so I assembled a complete order there at the bigger site. I notice the small one you linked is also sold out of Ahtenum, like the others. The big-name new hop varieties are hot commodities.

13 Craft Lagers ranked:

http://www.pastemagazine.com/blogs/list ... 12_4_2_112

Glad to see Victory Prima and Brooklyn Lager way up there, those two are regulars for me.

The United States of Good Beer (map)
http://awesome.good.is/transparency/web ... /flat.html

Although full disclosure I think they contract brew at a brewery in South Carolina. At any rate, I LOVE Ode To Mercy, took some to Busty up in NC and he was blown away as well. Invocation is good, not great, but still solid. Look forward to trying the Light.

Can update: My local store is now stocking 12 packs of Brooklyn Summer. While this is good news, the beer to me is still just ok. Do they sell cans of the IPA and the Lager in 12's?

had one of these over lunch:


Tasty, but my palate prefers Yazoo's Rye Saison

I think Brooklyn Summer gets a big boost from my brain just for being canned. And I've never seen any other Brooklyn 12 pack cans, I don't think...? The tallboys in 4 packs, but not 12 ounce 12 packs.

Also I have all the gluten free ingredients, and I'm brewing the first batch of it saturday I think. Cannot wait... Here's hoping I don't make 5 gallons of bullshit. I'd love to do 2.5 gallons but I got 6 lb jugs of the main ingredient, and I suspect I can't split one in half and keep it sanitary for long...? Maybe I can.

Ok, first batch of glutenfreebrau is in the can. Think I got about 4 gallons. Sorghum tastes and looks a lot like barley malt, but it doesn't have that big tomatoe-funk smell when it boils. I don't know if it was the maltodextrine, the rice syrup solids, or the hops, but this was even cloudier than the DIPA was. Light straw colored, and thick as milk in the fermenter. But fuck me if it didn't set up and start bubbling in the airlock in under 4 hours! That's 1/3 of the normal "quick" start time. Shit got going in a hurry, so it will be booze of some sort, I just hope it clarifies a LOT.

Oh and I snuck a taste of the DIPA, even though it's only been bottled for 2 weeks. I had a 15 oz swingtop of it, and it was Not Bad. Huuuge relief. Malt has a nice creamy flavor, which must've been from the Victory malt I guess - hafta go back and check to see if I used any Maris Otter, I don't think I did. And then the hops are very orange/citrusy, witha good bitter hit but not overkill. And I was clean and sober prior to the 15 ounces, yet had a noticeable little buzz after. I may have done the math wrong, this tastes/affects like a 10%'er. What in the FUCK am I going to do with a growler of it, where I have to finsih it all within a day or two?

I should qualify this better. I feel like Wild Heaven has come right out of the gate with some serious stuff. Nobody is trying stuff as complex as they are around here. It's almost a shoot for the stars and hit the moon type of success (although Ode To Mercy takes a back seat to nothing). Still, I had a few Sweetwater IPA's last Friday and for an everyday IPA, it's tough to beat. I could make a strong case for the consistency of Sweetwater.

I get to try Sweetwater like once a year and never in between, and everytime I do I feel like it's a little better than I remembered it. I have it pegged as basically southern Harpoon, but it is better than Harpoon.

Hey Ky, our mutual pal Terry is brewing again. I had a brown ale over at his house that was pretty damn good if I do say so myself. He's brewing straight to keg.

Recents...

Victory Headwaters Pale Ale - I think this was really fresh because it was in the New/Seasonal release section at TW and the expiration date is a long way off. Anyway, holy shit, really fresh, hoppy as hell and delicious. This is where the line between APA and IPA gets real blurry.

Smuttynose Star Island Single - I've been on a good run with Smuttynose lately so I might as well keep seeing what they have to offer. This is a "session beer brewed with spices", basically an extra pale ale with some Belgian funk. And I think it's mostly successful. I would be totally happy drinking these outside at a barbecue. The problem? I think I'm allergic to something in this beer. I'm not sure what's in it that's different from the galaxy of other beers I try (a particular strain of yeast maybe?), but yeah, allergic. It's a shame, because I would definitely buy again.

I totally agree. 420 hasn't aged particularly well with me (it's fine and all, but...), but that fucking IPA is a damn good "everyday IPA" as you say.

Can you buy beer directly from the brewery? I'd like to get some that's fresh as hay-ul.

I was up in Napa over the weekend and made a detour Friday night to Santa Rosa to check out Russian River Brewery. It was really packed with an hour and a half wait for a table and several rows deep at the bar. Not really a conducive environment for trying to pepper the bartender with a lot of questions or be able to sample much. I would have really needed a table to be able to order a tasting sampler. They'd only sell me full beers. After having gotten up at 4:30am, driven 400+ miles and tasted wine all day, I didn't really have it in me to drink too many strong beers and then drive 40 minutes back to our hotel in Napa. I did try the Salvation (Dark Belgian) Ale which was pretty tasty and bought ten bottles to go split between the Consecration Ale and the Supplication Ale. Hopefully, I'll have the patience to let them age a bit.

I was a steward at my first official AHA beer contest on Saturday. It was pretty cool, and the BJCP officials that I worked with allowed me to drink beer and comment, which is not typical of most beer judging panels.

As for the recent beers I have consumed:
Green Flash Palate Wrecker Double IPA
Stone Ruination IPA
Stone Sublimely Self-Righteous Ale
and
O'Dell Shenanigans Oak Aged Crimson Ale

I've been wanting to try that Green Flash Palate Wrecker but everyplace I've seen it has had it for $15 a 4pk and I can't really justify that.

I got lucky and had it on tap. I'm guessing they have been moving a shit ton of beer since invading Nebraska a few months ago, and are willing to throw a few specialty kegs at the bars that have been selling a lot of their product.
It wasn't bad if you really, really like hops.

Alpine Beer brewer goes nutty on people selling growlers of one of his beers on ebay.

Integrity and Complicity

I would do the same thing. Especially since he's selling out everything he makes... he's not going to lose business with that decision, but he is going to stand by his principles.

Oh and good for Terry, I had no idea! I had another of the double ipa's last night - Neuro came over to watch mad men, and I am out of beer... I need to stop but it's GOOD.

Cool, thanks for the link. For NC, its Fullsteam out of Durham. I've only had a couple of their beers (including a slightly disappointing sweet potato lager) and was never super impressed. I personally would have gone with Highland.

I love New Belgium, but best brewery in Colorado? Definitely not. Odells and Great Divide are loads better.