FOUND it. Snagged one at $14.99, and it's stashed. Thanks again for the heads up, I'm gonna enjoy that fucker someday.

And Batch 5, a pale ale, was bottled only 7 days ago but I couldn't help myself. Tried one last night, and it's GOOD. Full carbonation, nice and clear amber, the little pinches of 3 black malts and the dry hopping keep it from being boring, but at 5.5% it's still chuggable. Really, really happy with how this turned out. But it's going to go quick, so I need to brew again quick. Bought ingredients already to try to clone Spotted Cow.

Glad you found it. My last order:

3 Russian River Brewing Co. "Row 2, Hill 56" Simcoe Hopped Pale Ale, California 375ml (3 bottle limit per customer) @ $5.99

1 Sierra Nevada/Russian River Brewing Co. "Brux" Domesticated Wild Ale, California 750ml (1 bottle per customer) @ $15.99 (So that I can open one soon and let the other one age)

1 Uinta Brewing "Birthday Suit" Sour Cherry Ale, Utah 750ml @ $14.99

I haven't had many new beers lately, since I have been consuming my Irish Ale lately, but I have had a few quality beers.

2012 Goose Island Bourbon County Stout (draft)
2012 Goose Island Imperial IPA (draft)
Great Lakes Edmund Fitzgerald Porter

Love that Edmund Fitz porter.

I had the Great Divide Wolfgang, De Koninck Belgian Pale Ale and Samuel Adams Cinder Bock tonight. All were fairly tasty and worthy of a try on tap.

Late last week I got a growler of Summer Basil from Fullsteam (brewery in Durham) from my beer store up the street. Nice, crisp summer beer with a distinct taste of basil. Pretty good stuff. Fullsteam apparently also makes a weissebier that contains Cheerwine concentrate, but I haven't had that yet.

Last night I had an Ommegang BPA and Stoudt's Scarlett ESB. Both tasty brews. BPA is basically a Golden Ale, which I typically enjoy. ESB had a nice malty finish similar to Sprecher's Amber.

Tommy those brews sound compelling, but I might be turned off by basil beer? Cheerwine extract could be interestingg considering it probably ads a wollop of caramel taste?

From my limited experience with beer with basil added to the mix, it usually isn't that discernible or overpowering. The only time it clearly stood out, it was a cask version of a Honey Blonde Ale with lemon basil added to it. That beer had a fairly strong anise flavor to it.

Do they actually sell cheerwine extract or is this uncarbonated pop syrup? I'm just wondering how and when they are using the cheerwine extract during the brewing process. It wouldn't normally add that much to the beer in a boil or during active primary fermentation, and the phosphoric acid that is usually present in cola tends to completely annihilate yeast.

Working through that pale ale WAY too quickly, gonna "work from home" tomorrow the first half of the day and brew a spotted cow clone.

This brewing thing is fun.

I noticed Boulevard brewing is putting out some sixers around here now. I picked up their Single Wide IPA and it's damn tasty. They also had a wheat beer available too.

I also saw a 22oz collab between Mikkeller and Three Floyds but there wasn't much info on the label about what type of beer it was, nor was there a price, so I passed.

The Boulevard rollout has been slowww here. They still don't have it at my local place. Green Flash and Anderson Valley are all over the damn place though.

Someone else try that summer beer they have and tell me if it tastes like caramel cookies. That shit I had was odd.

I've only had the IPA and thought it was pretty good.

they were in Nashville up until 2010. Left due to lack of sales.

I thought about adding this to the map thread, but it is more fitting here:

Agreed, the IPA is really good. And such a beautiful brewery to visit.

A local beer store got some stock of Westvleteren 12. I grabbed two of the gift boxes and I'm trying it for the first time right now. It's pretty damned good, and I could see myself drinking this regularly if it wasn't so rare, and expensive.

How much was a gift box?

$80

yikes. i guess that's a bargain though for what people want for them on ebay.

i saw cases of that dogfish head positive contact w/ the dan the automator vinyl in it for the same price.

..holy fuck, you know how hard to find those are supposed to be? I thought you had to like blow Santa Claus or something to get one.

This is the place I bought it from: http://www.zyn.ca/.
They had quite a bit of stock when I was in there, and they're taking orders from across Canada. I couldn't pass up what will likely be a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I'll be keeping the rest for a special occasion.

Working from home this morning, which means I'm brewing. Spotted Cow clone is underway, minimash on the stovetop. 3 pounds of american 6 row pale, pound and a half of flaked corn, half pound of vienna malt, .4 pound of flaked barley, all mashing at 158F or as close as I can keep it thereabouts. Only one ounce total of hops... this will be different from the previous batches. Discipline.

The Summer Solstice? I bought a sixer of it about a month ago. The guy at Hop City recommended it because I was A) looking for something in cans and B) looking for a low ABV beer.

I thought it was a fine change of pace after drinking low abv pale ales. Defintely a cream type of ale. As a stand alone beer it wasn't all that great but when compared to more hoppy offerings it was fine.

I'd get it again as a session beer.

Yeah that one, Summer Solstice. The 6er I bought directly out of their own fridge had one can that was almost empty, and everything tasted REALLY sweet and like baked goods.

also



FUCK I just broke my thermometer. That leaves 2x kid thermometers, both of which have regularly been up my toddler's butt. May have to just eyeball this one down to 80F or lower.