I tried the New Belgium Lips of Faith Peach Porch Lounger Saison last night.
Here is the commercial description:
Peach Porch Lounger is the lovechild Saison of musician G. Love and New Belgium. The glowing orange beer is a groovy mix of peaches, hominy grits, molasses and lemon peel with pale and biscuit malts. Brettanomyces yeast brings a bold, sweet nose and the beer ends with a dry finish

I wish the Brett would have stuck out a bit more, and that there was slightly more citrus to match the Peach, but it was a solid beer and quite tasty.

Just in time for football season:

http://beerstreetjournal.com/goose-isla ... n-georgia/

I know you guys have talked about their beers for years but I always gloss over it because they haven't been available here. What is a must try in the vintage series? Matilda and Juliet look the most interesting to me from the descriptions.

Edit: I've had the Pepe Nero courtesy of Derris

I've had their 312 Wheat, Honkers Ale, Sofie, Matilda, Pepe Nero, Pere Jacques, and their Bourbon Co. Stout.

All were good to great which is basically why they are held in such high regard. I've never had anything that was less than good.

I remember really liking the Pepe Nero but it was also after the "Stout Night" tasting.

I really like the Matilda and the Bourbon Co Stout is on par with Founder's KBS depending on your taste.

Honker's (ESB) and 312 (wheat) are also just solid summer beers.

In short, for me, Bourb Stout may be their crown jewel but the Matilda is something I'll go back to a lot more.

Then again, I need to try Pepe Nero again among their others. My test sample is pretty small for GI stuff.

Just had my first Bellhaven Scottish Ale.
Which is a shocker (to me) since I have loved the style for so long, and have never even had the classic.
It was fucking perfect.

Matilda is very good. I thought the others were MEHriffic. I'm still hoping Bourbon County Stout makes it out to the west coast.

This is all correct. Their normal 6 pack fare somehow manages to surprise and delight me, and the big singles can sometimes be amazingly good. Lots of triples and a few home runs.

Also the beer in Peru is pretty boring. 90% of it is Cusquena, which is a germanish lager. They make a "malt" version that is like a schwarzbier, very dark and sweet, not my kind of beer at all. And then an amber, which was slightly better. Best thing I had was a homebrew - this lunch place in Cusco was owned by a dude from Wisconsin and he got tired of not having anything hoppy so he smuggled in yeast, malt extract, and hop packets in a suitcase and brewed a pale ale. Had to carb it with honey, he said, because he couldn't find corn sugar.

I don't think I've had a South American beer that I'd be in any hurry to drink back in the states. Cusquena is decent for what it is though and serves the purpose of a thoroughly poundable beer when you don't want to drink more pisco or wine.

Absolutely. I must've had 30 of them last week, in all seriousness.

So, Goose BCS hit Chicago in bottle form today. My local Binny's got a pallet, yes a pallet, at 2:50. It was all gone by 3:20. A PALLET! This Binny's is nowhere near any sort of office complex... basically, you're only going there. I am also aware that it's a Thursday. Supposedly, there was a group of 30 that got there before 9a and just hung around all day. The beer wasn't even confirmed to be arriving there until about 2p.

Chicago has completely ruined the craft beer scene. Too many unemployed drunks and delivery truck chasers.

I just finished bottling what I am deeming to be an American Pale Ale due to its SRM value. I thought it might be closer to a Blonde Ale in color, but it has a nice orange color.
The late addition of citra hops and lemon zest really stand out, and it has a very dry finish. I really hope it carbs properly. I added a pinch more of corn sugar to the mix to insure it happens, but didn't over do it.
It has an ABV of 6.1% and should be very sessionable.

Sooooo, you're saying you didn't get any.

Was saving this review til Squirg got back into town:

Night Shift Quad Reserve


A Belgian-style quad ale fermented with brown sugar and Shiraz grape juice. Squirg brought this to me when he came down for the Derris wedding. I finally broke it out a couple weeks ago with some friends who enjoy a good beer. Man, holy shit, this was GOOD: Incredibly complex, literally waves of different flavors; truly made me wish i had a nice cigar for a couple of puffs and i haven't had one in years. Not one of us was less than blown away by this. Delicious. Classy. Brilliant. A++ Muchos gracias.

Here it is poured out in four glasses on my friend Hans' outdoor bar:

Correct. Worst part, I wasn't even trying for myself since I don't care for the beer. It was going to be a thank you gift to one of my old trader buddies.

Beyond that though, if there's a beer release anywhere within driving distance of 312, people from here will go and ruin that event as well. We hoard, sell on eBay and ransom beer on the trading market. It's awful. I don't think any of you guys trade, but if you did, you would have a low opinion of folks from Chicago.

Personally, I prefer most of the Bell's stuff to most of the Goose Island stuff.

I had the same experience trying to buy this years Founder's KBS. I was following twitter for the announcement at my local shop (which is less than a mile from my office). I was in a meeting and when I got out I saw that they announcement has been made 45 minutes earlier. I ran over there and they had been out for a half an hour. About 20 or so cases in 15 minutes.

I don't think it's just Chicago man.

Yaaaaay! If there's one thing better than finding a beer you really dig, it's letting someone else (someone honest, no less) try it and having them come to the same conclusion. Couldn't have asked for a better tasting set up either, very glad it was shared. Totally worth lugging down there.

Founders Dirty Bastard (Wee Heavy) is really good. Also their Pale Ale, Black Lager, Porter, Oatmeal Stout, Breakfast Stout and Peppercorn Ale. Porter was a little on the bitter side and Breakfast Stout was like taking a shot of strong alcoholic espresso. The rest were all solid, good beers but nothing mindblowing.

I weant to an informal tasting last night at a friend's house. I'm not sure if it was because I was just so surprised (not typically a fan of pumpkin beers), but this one may have been the best. And the B.O.R.I.S was stellar, too.

I was pleasantly surprised with that one too. Definitely a 1 pint brew. The spice and clove starts to get overwhelming.

Still, tastes like it should be drunk under a harvest moon, while 55 degrees, and on a hay ride.

I've been told that the Schlafly's Pumpkin Ale is at the top of the list...now I'm gonna have to try it.

Yeah considering the effort that it took you to get down here, travel wise, I can't say "I'm glad you lugged it down" because that would make me an ass--but hey, I'm glad you lugged it down.

As an aside, my friend Jason LOVED this. Like, "sent me a text the next day" loved it. He likes good beer, but doesn't wade too deep--he's still talking about the line up at our Stout Fest last year though.

Also, I grabbed a 4P of that Weyerbacher Imperial Pumpkin. So I got that going for me this weekend.