I usually go for the english ciders like Strongbow or Magners. Most of the domestic stuff I've not liked (Woodchuck, Fox Barrel) or has been very small, regional and mostly good Pacific Northwest stuff which you'd never find in ATL and wasn't really worth the prices they were charging anyway.



I have the first two episodes in my dvr but have been saving them to watch sometime when I also feel like having a beer.

I finally saw this in a store the other day.



I passed.

I *believe* I had it in Portland. I had something made with the beard yeast, anyway. It was just beer - big and solid like theirs usually are, but you know, beer.

Nothing to exciting. I went to a tapping party for New Belgium Lips of Faith Fresh Hop IPA on Friday, so I could get a.47 litre chalice. It was pretty tasty.
I also tried Millstream Brewing Great Pumpkin Imperial Stout. It wasn't very good. I think it had some serious fermentation issues and smelled like bubblegum.

Gentlemen, begin fapping.



Shiv made a VT run, and got us EACH a case. I've only had one so far. I hate to break up the perfect rectangle. Pour it all in the bathtub and try to drown happy? Glue the cans together into a surrogate wife while the real one is away camping and fuck the tar out of it?

ditto.

Sweet sassy molassy.

Trying to find out if I can still get an insulated shipper / cold bricks here...

I did indeed get my hands on a cold shipper and bricks. Gonna go at lunch today and send something your way, Bloor (assuming I can dig up your address).

I'm gonna ship a 4 pack to one of you, and I don't much care which it is. I assume you'll share it, but hell finders keepers. Would be great if ol' Terry got one too, but that's your call.

Somebody PM me an address. Gonna leave in less than an hour and pack it up / send it out on cold bricks.

edit: PM received, Derris's place it is.

HAHA!!

Ok, they're off.



"And what's in the package?"

"Non-GMP retain samples for a stability study."

As reported elsewhere, Duvel is buying Boulevard.

The founder is 60, and was looking for an exit strategy, and I have to say this is an ok one. Shitloads better than what Goose Island did. Still, I'm not a big fan of consolidation so I wish it had remained intact and independent, but few people have that kinda money. He built something of value, and he got paid for it I guess.

Have you noticed anything different about Goose Island since they sold? I know a lot of the brewing team left almost immediately after they were bought but the departures were so quick that I think they were philosophically opposed to working for "the man" more than protesting any changes made. Matilda was really the only Goose Island beer that I could ever get that I liked much and I haven't had it recently enough to know whether it's still the exact same beer. Still can't find Bourbon County Stout here in bottle despite stories that they were going to start distributing it here last year. If anything has changed though, I haven't heard about it.

I've had the amber and the IPA, and the amber was a little different to me. Label said it was now made in upstate NY. And even if it's identical, I'm not going to be giving money to AB on purpose.

See, i don't care about that at all. If it tastes the same, I'm ok with buying it. At least I think that I feel that way but maybe on some level that is part of why its been so long since I've bought any Matilda. Not sure what to make of brewing the Amber and IPA in NY rather than Chicago. Plenty of larger craft brewers like Lagunitas are brewing their beers regionally now to save on distribution cost. Could be innocent enough. I'm not sure that I really believe that terroir is all that important for brewing most beer styles. If they start trying to save production expenses by changing recipes or stretching grains with adjuncts, that's another matter.

Incidentally, one of my local beer stores just posted this to facebook:

http://beeradvocate.com/community/threa ... ia.123838/

I've had two different people tell me that the Oskar Blues beer brewed in Brevard tastes different, but the only one I've had from there is the scotch ale and I think it tastes the same. I'll give my full assessment when I get a Ten Fidy from there since its one of my favorites.

I have some basic concerns about where I spend disposal income. Might as well not be to a gigantic conglomerate.

I went to a show in Burlington last night and the venue had Heady Topper, which was a nice touch. I need more VT shows.

I went to one of the Deschutes launch party events last night. I consumed Jubelale on Nitro, Mirror Pond IPA, Armory XPA, Black Butte Porter and Chainbreaker White IPA. I have had all but the Jubelale and Armory XPA beforehand, but it is nice to have to those beers readily available here in Nebraska. I also tried the Zombie Monkey Robust Porter from Tallgrass last night. It was decent, a slight step down from Black Butte, but certainly not terrible.
The highlight of the evening was learning that Founders is definitely going to be distributing beer here in Nebraska before the end of 2013. Now we just need to get Avery to distribute here again and hope that Bell's, Oskar Blues, Dogfish Head, etc. follow them into this market.

I don't frequent this thread nearly enough.

a few recent purchases...I'm a sucker for trying every local oktoberfest.


New Glarus Staghorn

O'so Hopdinger

Central Waters - Oktoberfest

Hinterland Oktoberfest

Lakefront Brewery - Oktoberfest

Ayinger Oktoberfest

I'm impressed with those beers, but I haven't checked their rate beer or beer advocate ratiings either. I like to consume all the various local options of new beers available to me whenever I get a chance, especially if they are a reasonable price, so I think you did good.

Just take all my money, Goose. $30 for the Gillian and $25 for the Halia. They are 765ml at least...