Whatcha drinking?

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Sat Oct 27, 2012 8:04 pm

I think the only green bottle I had was Heiny beer and it was awful. Not as bad as Stella but close. Been thinking of getting some Red Stripe in those old style little neck bottles. Ive never tried Pabst blue ribbon..considering it also.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Sat Oct 27, 2012 8:08 pm

Pineapple juice, as the wedding selection consists of Coors Light, Miller light, champagne, and the only liquors are Midori, Malibu, and amaretto.

And don't care for melon, coconut, or almonds.

mori · Post by **mori** » Sat Oct 27, 2012 8:12 pm

Daehawk wrote:I think the only green bottle I had was Heiny beer and it was awful. Not as bad as Stella but close. Been thinking of getting some Red Stripe in those old style little neck bottles. Ive never tried Pabst blue ribbon..considering it also.

Can never go wrong with PBR in the pint cans. Cheap pounders

.

silverjon · Post by **silverjon** » Sat Oct 27, 2012 8:19 pm

Isgrimnur wrote:Pineapple juice, as the wedding selection consists of Coors Light, Miller light, champagne, and the only liquors are Midori, Malibu, and amaretto.

And don't care for melon, coconut, or almonds.

Not to make a mockery of your pain, but that bar selection is... like it was planned by Barbie?

mori · Post by **mori** » Sat Oct 27, 2012 8:20 pm

Isgrimnur wrote:Pineapple juice, as the wedding selection consists of Coors Light, Miller light, champagne, and the only liquors are Midori, Malibu, and amaretto.

And don't care for melon, coconut, or almonds.

Champagne or cheap sparkling wine (which by the other selections leads me to cheap sparkling wine)? Not bad either to be the designated driver when your SO may find more enthusiasm in the selection. Get the SO loaded and have some fun.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Sat Oct 27, 2012 8:24 pm

She works at a beer/wine store, and has more discerning tastes than I do when it comes those and liquor.

She was talking earlier that the champagne is André, the bottom of the market.

KKBlue · Post by **KKBlue** » Sat Oct 27, 2012 8:26 pm

silverjon wrote:
Isgrimnur wrote:Pineapple juice, as the wedding selection consists of Coors Light, Miller light, champagne, and the only liquors are Midori, Malibu, and amaretto.

And don't care for melon, coconut, or almonds.
Not to make a mockery of your pain, but that bar selection is... like it was planned by Barbie?

or maybe someone who wants everyone to have hangovers? Wow, aren't you were invited after all? Ah, the perks in being the significant other.

KKBlue · Post by **KKBlue** » Sat Oct 27, 2012 8:27 pm

Isgrimnur wrote:She works at a beer/wine store, and has more discerning tastes than I do when it comes those and liquor.

She was talking earlier that the champagne is André, the bottom of the market.

Whoa, is she the bride that you are referring to?

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Sat Oct 27, 2012 8:30 pm

No, that post is all about my gf.

KKBlue · Post by **KKBlue** » Sat Oct 27, 2012 8:38 pm

Whew, thanks

Kraken · Post by **Kraken** » Sat Oct 27, 2012 9:41 pm

Gavin wrote:
Holman wrote:I am reassured about my beer!

I've been told that a "skunked" beer is the worst thing you can taste. I've never had the experience. I've tasted some pretty awful stuff, but it was just cheap.
I've had some french beers that tasted that way. It tastes like a skunk smells. It isn't dangerous at least, just awful.

Industrial beer is pasteurized and will keep for a long time. Craft beers usually have a shorter shelf-life. I bought a couple bombers of some black lager from a local brewer that were less than a year old; they hadn't gone skunky, but sour.

Holman wrote:I hope Kraken comes home and posts tonight after evaluating 30-40 beers.

OK then, I'll take that as an invite. These were the standouts:

Tonight I'm drinking Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale. It goes into whisky casks at around 5% ABV and comes out 5 weeks later at 8% with a strong whisky flavor. A really unique flavor that works perfectly (for my taste). Best of show today. Unfortunately, at $11 per 4-pack I won't be buying it often.

Boston Beer Works, a local chain of brewpubs, is selling their beers outside the breweries for the first time. I like their IPA, but their Bucket Town Brown really blew me away with its toasted malt. Unfortunately that one's still only available in horribly overpriced growlers (around $20).

Southern Tier out of Jamestown NY had two winners: 2x Stout and Heavy Seas 2x IPA. The stout was unusually hoppy.

Harpoon's new Rye IPA was just promoted to year-round status. It's aimed at people who think their regular IPA is too tame. I bought a 6-pack. Not yet available in 12-packs, but will be included in a mix pack later this year. Their Chocolate Stout deserves honorable mention for having the strongest dark chocolate flavor I've ever tasted in a beer.

Geary's IPA got 3.5 stars, which means slightly better than average. I liked its balance. It's not a hop bomb.

I liked Pigs Ear Brown from Woodstock Inn Brewery (NH) enough to buy a 12-pack.

My packie had Troeg's Perpetual IPA on sale last month. I bought it a couple of times, but it was unremarkable. The brewer said that it was an old batch near its expiration date and talked me into trying some fresh; that made a difference. Unfortunately they didn't have any yet, but he said it will be available later this week and only days old. I also liked their Dead Reckoning Porter.

The Long Trail Brewery (VT) took over another microbrewer called Shed. I liked their IPA well enough to buy it -- it's got a mild, clean taste comparable to Harpoon or Sams Latitude. Otter Creek Hop Session deserves mention, too, for being a "light" (4.25% ABV) IPA. Lots more flavor than most low-alcohol session beers offer.

Shipyard's (ME) Monkey Fist IPA was noteworthy, but I didn't note why.

Rising Tide Brewing is a family-run Maine brewery that recently started hand-bottling their beers and distributing them out of state for the first time. They just upgraded their capacity from 30-barrel batches to 80 barrels. Ishmael Copper Ale and Ursa Minor Weizen Stout were both good enough to buy. Because it's a labor-intensive operation, they're only selling bombers.

I tasted 23 other beers that were too average to mention, and about half a dozen that I just plain didn't like at all. I marked Samuel Smith's IPA as "nasty". Clown Shoes (MA) tricked me into sampling three Belgians that weren't labeled as such. Troegs Javahead Stout had a really unpleasant coffee flavor.

That's all the highlights and lowlights. Oddly, nobody was showing any winter ales yet, so I failed in my goal of finding a favorite for next season. Their tendency toward spices and other additives makes winter ales something of a minefield for me, and I'd hoped to negotiate it today.

mori · Post by **mori** » Sat Oct 27, 2012 11:07 pm

Clown Shoes is new to my market. Have not tried any of their beer but who wouldn't want to buy a beer called Flight of The Pimp, or Vampire Slayer? It is a lot of marketing but I understand there is good beer to stand behind it. I think I have a bottle of Eagle Claw Fist in the fridge.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Sat Oct 27, 2012 11:26 pm

I looked up a 'growler' and got this place .......looks interesting.

Kraken · Post by **Kraken** » Sun Oct 28, 2012 1:22 am

mori wrote:Clown Shoes is new to my market.

Their lineup is Belgian-based or -influenced, so if you like that clove/banana/coriander thing you'll probably like Clown Shoes. In the non-Belgian realm, their black IPA was below average and Vampire Slayer was average. But you do have to admire a beer called Tramp Stamp even if you don't particularly like it.

I buy growlers of Berkshire Brewing Co beers for about $9, so $20 for Boston Beer Works is right out.

Holman · Post by **Holman** » Sun Oct 28, 2012 8:00 am

Not a joke question: when you taste that many beers, is there a risk that the first ten samples start to dull your senses for the next ones? (Isn't this why wine tasters swirl their samples around in their mouths and then spit them out?)

Carpet_pissr · Post by **Carpet_pissr** » Sun Oct 28, 2012 11:30 am

mori wrote:If it comes in a clear or green bottle, chances are that it is "skunked". Never, ever buy any beer in a clear or green bottle.

So green is bad, but brown is ok? Huh...wonder why?

And if any beer on the market that uses a clear or green bottle is skunked, I would imagine that makes up at least half of the inventory on your typical grocery store shelves!

Just off the top of my head, skunked beers (due to glass color):

Corona
Sierra Nevada
Stella Artois
etc...just right there, you've got a massive amount of the market!

Edit: did some homework...bolding is mine.

Brown glass and aluminum cans offer the best protection from light. Some big brewers use a special hop extract called tetra-hop to protect their beers from skunking. The slightly different molecular structure of tetra-hops compared to natural hops makes the beer immune to the effects of light. That's why some big brewers' beers in clear and green bottles don't end up skunked. Some drinkers, especially Mexicans, stuff a lime into beer that's bottled in clear glass, to mask any stale, skunky flavor. But that's not really prevention. The best prevention is to store beer in a dark space, or to simply drink it!

silverjon · Post by **silverjon** » Sun Oct 28, 2012 12:09 pm

Mass-market beers with high sales and high turnovers would be less likely to suffer, even without any additives, I should think (and people can argue amongst themselves as to whether they were worth drinking in the first place).

But I would be less inclined to trust something from a small brewer that hadn't been protected from light.

Kraken · Post by **Kraken** » Sun Oct 28, 2012 10:30 pm

Holman wrote:Not a joke question: when you taste that many beers, is there a risk that the first ten samples start to dull your senses for the next ones? (Isn't this why wine tasters swirl their samples around in their mouths and then spit them out?)

At each table I start with the mildest varieties and work my way up through the IPAs and the dark beers. Then head over to the food table before moving on to the next beer table. But even with those snack breaks, the mild beers all start to taste alike after awhile, so I mostly skip the pilsners and pale ales unless there's something unique about them.

Even with this approach I occasionally misjudge a beer and buy something that turns out to be less wonderful than it seemed at the time.

(Tonight I'm enjoying the Shed IPA. It was a good choice.)

Spitting a sample prevents you from getting drunk, but it doesn't help your palate.

Post by **ImLawBoy** » Mon Oct 29, 2012 10:02 am

Carpet_pissr wrote:Just off the top of my head, skunked beers (due to glass color):

Sierra Nevada

Sierra Nevada comes in brown bottles (or cans).

We used to drink skunked beer all the time in college. It won't kill you (although I'd avoid it on taste these days).

Carpet_pissr · Post by **Carpet_pissr** » Mon Oct 29, 2012 10:27 am

You're right - my bad...green label, not green bottle.

Interestingly, I can't think of one beer I like in green bottles. Of all the ones I can think of, I either strongly dislike them (Heineken, Carlsberg, Becks' Rolling Rock), or am not crazy about them. The one exception is Stella Artois, which is my preferred mass market beer, if I have to choose one. I guess I have been spoiled by one of our small local brew pubs, that has delicious quasi-warmish wheat beer. Their red is great too.

For your viewing pleasure:

KKBlue · Post by **KKBlue** » Mon Oct 29, 2012 11:43 am

Great googley mooglie green bottles!

Let's see what I'm going to drink...
Going to go with the Ménage a Trois 2009 red.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Mon Oct 29, 2012 11:45 am

In honor of what will likely be an extended power outage, I've cracked open one of these - the last cold one in the fridge.

mori · Post by **mori** » Mon Oct 29, 2012 6:18 pm

Kraken wrote:
mori wrote:Clown Shoes is new to my market.
Their lineup is Belgian-based or -influenced, so if you like that clove/banana/coriander thing you'll probably like Clown Shoes. In the non-Belgian realm, their black IPA was below average and Vampire Slayer was average. But you do have to admire a beer called Tramp Stamp even if you don't particularly like it.

I buy growlers of Berkshire Brewing Co beers for about $9, so $20 for Boston Beer Works is right out.

Tried Clown Shoes Eagle Claw Fist. Could not taste any of this Belgian influence you speak of, but it was so damn bitter, a lot could be hidden after my taste buds got wrecked. I do want to try Tramp Stamp.

Scuzz · Post by **Scuzz** » Mon Oct 29, 2012 6:45 pm

Mass market beers (and sadly probably some craft beers) also suffer from temperature swings during shipping and at the stores.

Kraken · Post by **Kraken** » Mon Oct 29, 2012 6:56 pm

mori wrote:
Kraken wrote:
mori wrote:Clown Shoes is new to my market.
Their lineup is Belgian-based or -influenced, so if you like that clove/banana/coriander thing you'll probably like Clown Shoes. In the non-Belgian realm, their black IPA was below average and Vampire Slayer was average. But you do have to admire a beer called Tramp Stamp even if you don't particularly like it.

I buy growlers of Berkshire Brewing Co beers for about $9, so $20 for Boston Beer Works is right out.
Tried Clown Shoes Eagle Claw Fist. Could not taste any of this Belgian influence you speak of, but it was so damn bitter, a lot could be hidden after my taste buds got wrecked. I do want to try Tramp Stamp.

Eagle Claw was not among the beers they were showing last Saturday. After Tramp Stamp I only wrote "bleah." Didn't say why.

KKBlue · Post by **KKBlue** » Mon Oct 29, 2012 8:21 pm

KKBlue wrote: Let's see what I'm going to drink...
Going to go with the Ménage a Trois 2009 red.

Took all day (plus an hour nap) but I finished the bottle all by myself.

We are turning in to watch a "The Wire" marathon while we still have power.

Kraken · Post by **Kraken** » Mon Oct 29, 2012 10:09 pm

Tonight I'm drinking the Pig's Ear Brown from Woodstock Inn. Not sure what I saw in it at the tasting -- it tastes exactly like Long Trail Ale to me. That's not a bad thing, but it's unremarkable.

silverjon · Post by **silverjon** » Mon Oct 29, 2012 10:28 pm

J made me a Caesar. That's like a Bloody Mary, but with Clamato juice instead of tomato. It's a Canadian thing. Stop looking at us funny.

Kraken · Post by **Kraken** » Tue Oct 30, 2012 9:31 pm

Tonight it's Harpoon Rye IPA. Reminds me of a less-ruthless (more ruthful?) version of Sierra Nevada's Ruthless Rye. Good stuff...if it ever finds its way into 12-packs it could become a staple.

Skinypupy · Post by **Skinypupy** » Wed Oct 31, 2012 12:01 am

An apple beer growler from Mooses Tooth Brewery in Anchorage. Went for some local flavor while I'm here, even if it does make me look like a hobo.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Wed Oct 31, 2012 12:32 am

The best and closest brew house near me is The Terminal Brewhouse in Chattanooga.
http://terminalbrewhouse.com/" target="_blank

Some others.....

Best brewery in the world?
http://www.blacktoothbrewingcompany.com/" target="_blank

Top 10 American breweries worth a visit
http://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestrave ... h-a-visit/" target="_blank

Top 20 micro breweries in America
http://matadornetwork.com/trips/the-top ... n-america/" target="_blank

Kraken · Post by **Kraken** » Wed Oct 31, 2012 2:18 am

They have apples in Alaska?

paulbaxter · Post by **paulbaxter** » Wed Oct 31, 2012 12:07 pm

Picked up a pack of Southern Tier 2X Stout, a double milk stout. Quite tasty.

http://www.stbcbeer.com/works-2-cols/2xstout-beer-page/" target="_blank

mori · Post by **mori** » Sat Nov 03, 2012 8:17 pm

A local brewery released a beer that used freshly harvested Citra hops. But instead of brewing the expected pale ale, they brewed a pilsner, August Schell Stag Series Fresh Hop Citra Pils. Certainly interesting in sensing how the hops behave in a lager compared to an ale. Been savoring those over the last couple of nights. I also had a North Coast Old Rasputin this evening. For a relatively inexpensive imperial stout, it is one of the best. The only other that I thinks competes is Victory's Storm King Stout for taste and price.

Jeff V · Post by **Jeff V** » Sat Nov 03, 2012 9:52 pm

Score!

I was at the supermarket (Jewel) this evening, and they were blowing out craft beers that had gotten a little dusty. Founder's Red Rye, normally $10 per 6, was going for $2.50! I picked up a whole case of it, along with a few varieties of He-Brew and few varieties from Barley Island (blonde and brown ales). I also got a 6-pack of Red Seal, all for $2.50 each or less per 6 pack. I pretty much cleaned out the sales of cart of anything that wasn't Belgian or cherry-flavored -- 10 6-packs that would normally cost near $100, all for about $25.

I don't know if I'll stumble into any other such fortune visiting another Jewel, but I might stop at another tomorrow just to see...

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Sat Nov 03, 2012 9:59 pm

Shiner Wild Hare Pale Ale. It's an excellent version with just the right balance for me.

Kraken · Post by **Kraken** » Sat Nov 03, 2012 10:43 pm

My packie finally landed some Ipswich Harvest Ale, which was my favorite fall beer last year. Quite tasty again this year.

Post by **ImLawBoy** » Sun Nov 04, 2012 12:38 am

Currently drinking a bomber of Broo Doo from Three Floyds. They're calling it a harvest ale, and it's wet hopped with a decent alcohol kick to it. I'm calling it delicious.

mori · Post by **mori** » Sun Nov 04, 2012 8:28 pm

ImLawBoy wrote:Currently drinking a bomber of Broo Doo from Three Floyds. They're calling it a harvest ale, and it's wet hopped with a decent alcohol kick to it. I'm calling it delicious.

I want to try that beer. Not the biggest fan of wet hopped beers but Three Floyds do hoppy beers very well and this one sounds very good.

Been watching football today and trying several new beers. The first was O'Fallon Hemp Hop Rye Amber Ale. No thanks. Rather poor as I could not taste hemp seed, hops, or rye. The next was Fish Tale Organic Amber Ale. It was better but still not something I would seek out again. The final beer was Lost Abbey Red Barn Ale. I know there are not a lot of Belgian beer fans on here, but this was one of the better American attempts at a saison. Dry, crisp, and refreshing. Too much alcohol and not carbonated enough, but I thought it was in the spirit of beers of Flanders.

Fretmute · Post by **Fretmute** » Wed Nov 07, 2012 1:55 pm

I have a get together with some buddies tonight. For Donald Trump's sake, I will be drinking La Fin du Monde.