I attended the first round judging of the National Homebrew Conference this weekend in Kansas City, and helped judged categories 10 (American Ale), 7 (Amber Hybrids) and 9 (Scottish and Irish Ale). I did category 10 on Friday night, and got the smaller categories to do on Saturday.
While I was down there I consumed Founder’s All Day IPA, a Nogne O 2011 Winter beer, Stone Enjoy By IPA and purchased Great Divide Orabelle, Deschutes Chain Breaker IPA, Anchor Small Beer, Four Hands Divided Sky Rye IPA and Bell’s Oarsman Ale.
I also helped judged American Ales with the winner of this contests: http://wweek.com/portland/article-19731 ... ent_page=2
He was a totally cool guy who clearly doesn’t like to brag about being a top notch home brewer. I think it helps to be from the upper Midwest. I also met Janis Gross of the AHA, who is right behind Charlie Papazian in the organization.

Westmalle was really the pioneer of what we all think of as modern Belgian beers. The dubbel / tripel combo was them, both in name and in recipe. Most of the others follwed suit when they proved popular, with recipes only being fixed since the mid 20's or later.

Agree on 12oz 12 packs of Torpedo, that would be a suitcase full of purpose. Disagree on 420 - you are ruined by your proximity to it. It's perfectly nice, big and sweet and green and not unbalanced. You've just had too much of it. I've done this several times when I've moved... what I was tired of, I called "shitty," only to years later realize it ain't bad after all, when in moderation.

You're probably right. I never feel the desire to grab one when there are other good options available, BUT, there is something to be said that for many around here (myself included), Sierra Nevada and 420 WAS craft beer for a long time in this state.

What I'd really like to see is Sweetwater produce it's IPA in 12 pack cans.

That's still my go to with Sweetwater year round brews.

In other news, Wild Heaven Brewery is getting closer to opening it's brewing facility in Avondale Estates (just next to Decatur). I believe they've been contracting with Thomas Creek to this point. Pretty cool and will be a really good thing for that neighborhood.

Holy shit yeah, that's a BIG deal.

There's a new brewery in town called Trillium, and they got a great space in Fort Point Channel, opened a merch shop but haven't sold a drop of beer yet - regulation trouble or something. But are already selling merchandise... crazy. Fort Point is the part of downtown where it used to be gigantic parking lots and industrial space only, and lately it's on a tear. A big new biotech doubled down and built its HQ there, and Harpoon has been there for a long time, now there's trendy loft apartments and high end food joints. So they hit a great locale, but there's no telling if the beer's any good. I stopped by yesterday when we were there anyway, but they were closed.

That is great news about Wild Heaven.

I'm with you 100% on Sweetwater IPA needing to be in cans, Derris--I thought they were adding a canning line as part of their expansion?

As far as 420 goes Ky, I don't know what to say: I mean, I didn't drink ANY beer for five years so my burnout on it would have been negligible at best. And FWIW, I probably drank more Sierra Pale than anything back in the day and I still like it (though admittedly not nearly as much)

They can sell growlers but they can't give out samples at the brewery yet. Also, they've been running out of a lot of their beer too. I was going to stop there a couple Saturdays ago but then I saw on their Facebook that their kegs were tapped so I went to Mystic brewery instead, which is actually not that far from Night Shift.

So have you tried any Trillium yet? I assume not...

I thought that was the case too. It was mentioned in every press release that came out at the time of their expansion and hasn't been mentioned since.

Still, I just got their email blast today and it contained this:



12 packs! The Yellow Hulk.

Also read that they're discontinuing their Exodus Porter (which I enjoyed) and that George Clinton and P-Funk, Robert Randolph, and Black Joe Lewis will be the big acts for 420Fest.

Nope. The two times I've planned on going to the brewery they've either been closed or out of beer. I guess they have their farmhouse ale on tap at Vee Vee and the Publick House but I haven't got around to going to those places either. I hope I'm not disappointed when I finally get around to having it.

The last of the Final Four:

http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2 ... ll-ip.html


And the winner revealed.........


http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2 ... veale.html


Well done boys.

WOW. Well, ok then. I just saw a six of Union Jack at whole foods... will have to pick some up. But I doubt it will ever unseat Two Hearted for me.

My next question was "Does Firestone Walker have distribution in the East". I've never had it or Odell.

Meh.

I’m going to a Boulevard tap takeover tonight. Neil Witte, the former brewer of Boulevard and current Field Quality Manager for the brewery is hosting it. He is one of the six mater cicerones in the world. Their tapping the Boulevard Coffee Ale and Grainstorm Black Rye IPA at this event. I had a taste of the Coffee Ale over the weekend while in KC and I have had a bottle of Grainstorm, but I am looking forward to tasting it in its draught form.
p.s. Their 80 Acre Hoppy Wheat tastes fucking fantastic in draft form. It is far superior to the product in bottles.

Jealous, Prom. Boulevard is top-shelf, and has a deep bench.

Had a bit of a head-to-head with double IPAs last week.



Since I scored the Heady I figured I'd compare to a similar Firestone Walker.

Alchemist - Heady Topper

At 8%, not strictly the strongest of DIPAs, and with a very light body color and almost delicate, bready flavor, there's little Crystal malt sweetness, causing me to suspect that their malt bill contains none. I get very little of the honey / raisin spectrum that usually comes from crystal malts. But the hops... they're doing something either better, or "more" than other people. It's that simple. Nobody else has quite hit this level of explosive green holyfuckitude. Pliny is fantastic, and similar, but I can see where this could be judged above it. I've had it before, but I learn something new everytime. I heard a bar in VT was having an anniversary event a few weeks ago, and had pints of this for $1 each.

Firestone Walker - Double Jack

Similar enough in purpose and form, but with more bitterness and less late hops green explosiveness. The malt body might even be more interesting and better crafted, but the hops are really what DIPAs are all about, and there's no contest in that regard. This is a fine beer and it needs no qualifiers or apologies, but when it's consumed in the presence of Topper, it rides shotgun.

And just from today, as I'm brewing my own DIPA...

Heavy Seas - The Big DIPA

This differs in that it is oaked (spirals in the steel tanks, not barreled), and it's a bit punchier in the booze department. They continue (Heavy Seas) to skirt that line for me between Solid Local and Top Shelf. They're much, much more capable than a lot of reg'lar folk like Long Trail, and yet they never quite enter the top tier. Sadly the prices on these have gone up - if they had stayed in the $8 / 22oz range, this would be a get-the-fuck-out bargain. At $12 or so, it's got competition it doesn't need. Makes me wanna oak the DIPA in my closet...

Terry was doing an oaked (or some other wood chip) beer the last time I was over there. Hit him up if you're curious how it went (I havent tried it)

I never posted my review of KBS. I'll be brief, it was fucking fantastic. I savored it for a LONG time and got a good taste of the complexity of the flavors at several different temperatures. I've shared one before (thanks to Derris), but it was nice to savor all 12oz. Deserving of its reputation. Not deserving of waiting on line.

It also reminded me that I think that Ten Fidy is my favorite "available" imperial stout. Like, its over: I love that beer.

Top 50 Craft Breweries:

http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2 ... s-top.html

I was coming to a similar conclusion in a slightly larger regard a few nights ago, talking about beer with someone. So there’s your “solid local” category that you can happily chug down 12 cans of, and then moving up the ladder there’s the “Standout 6 Pack” category that is a borderline-treat. And then there’s the Top Shelf stuff usually sold in 22’s. But now because of the fucking lines and bullshit, I’m getting to where I just cut off the Really good ones that are so hard to get and I give up, which leads me to a new category: Best Top Shelf Beer You Can Actually Find All The Damned Time. And I realize that’s what I buy a lot of… things like Brooklyn Sorachi Ace, or most all of the Pretty Things bottles. Or maybe Oak Aged Yeti, or Smuttynose Baltic Porter.

Also it eggs me on to try to make the hard-to-find quality stuff at home, or get as close as I can. That DIPA I made yesterday cost about $2.32 for a 22oz bottle, (plus the portion of propane I used, and my time, which is worthless.) It will come in at about $8% abv, maybe a touch more depending on how aggressive the yeast are. And it will have absolute fuckloads of late and dry hop goodness – 18 ounces total (used 3 ounces in my pale ale), and just about every hopping technique used (first wort hopping, standard bittering boil, 5 min, 3 min, whirlpool, and soon dry hopping too). Despite the explosion of breweries, it’s now somehow easier to make something like Heady Topper than to actually buy it.

I've come to the conclusion recently that I buy way too much of the Top Shelf 22 oz, high abv beers and not nearly enough of the just very solid six pack sessionable beers. It's really only once every couple of weeks that I'll really feel like committing to drinking a whole 22oz'er in an evening, and if I have friends over they have to drive at the end of the night and would prefer something sessionable. I know that I could open a 22 oz'er and recap it and drink the rest the next day but I rarely feel like doing that either.

...huh. I never, ever have that problem. The really hairy ones I just drink without anything else, and I always finish them in an evening after work. But the few times I do want to leave one overnight, I use those caps Shiv got me. Hell I use those on every 22 - once I open and pour half of it, I cap it when it goes back into the fridge. Have probably used them 300 times or more.

Yeah i know that I could do that but where you are primarily a beer drinker, I drink a lot more cocktails and wine. Most of the time when I have a beer, I've already had at least a strong cocktail (if not 2 or 3) before dinner and probably some wine with dinner. At that point, I might be still be up for a sessionable beer but not a 22 oz monster.

it helps to have friends who work in liquor stores and do the purchasing.

A member of our homebrew club brought a sampler pack of New Glarus to the meeting tonight. I tried Moon Man No Coast Pale Ale, Cabin Fever Bock and Two Women Lager tonight. I was the most impressed by the Two Women Lager, but wish we could get Moon Man here for regular consumption.
I passed on the Spotted Cow, since I have consumed it before and I was busy drinking Fort Collins Double Chocolate Stout. This beer is no joke. I would put it up there with Yeti, KBS and Bourbon County stout. It might have a little too much fusel alcohol for it to be the best, but it was fantastic and not overly hot.