Beer

[MasterOLightning]

Wow. Considering how hard it is to get limited releases from Founders, Goose Island, or Bells here, I doubt I'd ever see Westy, but I'd pay quite a bit for it. I can't imagine retailers not breaking up those packs and selling the bottles for around $20 a piece.

 

[Krow]

In my limited beer knowledge I picked up a 6 of these:

And I'm fairly happy with it. I'm fairly virginal when it comes to beer, but yea I do like this.

 

[V.V.V.V.V.]

http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/306/63224 lol

 

[Draehl]

Winter Abbey Ale was good, but I prefer their regular ole Belgian White.

Also, I polished off the singles I bought a couple weeks ago. Genesee Cream Ale, Fort Collins Choc Stout, Left Hand Milk Stout, Duck Rabbit Milk Stout. All terrible. I guess that's what I get when I want a cream stout but they don't have any. I'll stick to Sam's Cream Stout I suppose.

 

[Saparmurat_Niyazov]

Got one of those mini kegs of this:

The beer tastes good, but it is functionally the worst mini keg I have ever bought. If only all of them worked as well as Newcastle's mini keg.

 

[Krow]

http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/306/63224 lol

Oh those websites. Maybe my tongue isnt right but I have to laugh at the stuff people say different beers taste like. It was a decent tasting beer with an odd aftertaste and easy to fucking down. I'm pretty okay with that.

Edit:

I'd also like to point out that I'm from West fucking Virginia and I'd rather be drinking moonshine or whiskey, if possible, but I'm trying here.

 

[KafkaX]

Drinking one of these little fellas right now. This beer will always be one of my favorites.

 

[AlienZombie]

http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/306/63224 lol

Personally, I think blue moon winter is the least worst of the blue moon line. I'd never actually buy it tho.
Brewed an ale version of an oktoberfest, as well as pumpkin ale that are drinking good.

 

[Master_Yoda77]

Crushing a few Urquells tonight in honor of Onder. Decent for what it is.

 

[V.V.V.V.V.]

Epic Winter beer tasting today with lots of friends, here's what we ended up drinking (8 people):

Young's Double Chocolate Stout
Victory OTTO Rauchbier
Porterhouse Brewing Oyster Stout
Brasserie Dupont Avec Les Bons Voeux
Hook Norton Brewery Twelve Days Ale
Nøgne Ø/Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales/Stone Special Holiday Ale
Jolly Pumpkin Noel de Calabaza Special Ale
Anchor Christmas Ale 2011
Green Flash Double Stout
Sierra Nevada 2010 Celebration vs. 2011 Celebration
Spoetzl Shiner Holiday Cheer Lager
Ipswich Winter Ale
Hinterland Luna Coffee Stout vs. Sam Adams Black & Brew
White Birch Barrel-Aged Night Falls Wild Ale
Boulevard Dark Truth Stout
Grand Teton Black Cauldron Imperial Stout
Narragansett Porter
Brouwerij van Steenberge Gulden Draak Vintage 2009
Lagunitas Sucks Holiday Ale
Harpoon Winter Warmer

Thoughts in no particular order:

I liked a fair bit of these more than expected. The White Birch Wild Ale was fucking insane. I still have the last 6 or 7 ounces sitting in my friend's refrigerator waiting for me at some point. Jolly Pumpkin's solo and collab stuff was crazy; the solo beer is a weird Belgian sour dark ale with a very blunt taste (lots of acetic acid, some smoke, bit of lactic acid, light and crisp malts, high carbonation and tart finish) and the collab with Norwegian brewery Nøgne Ø and Cali's Stone sure was special stuff. For stouts, I'd say Black Cauldron is the typical "best of show" imp-stout in my eyes; a perfect balance of malt deftness and strong but classically simple body character for its 8% ABV.

Vintage 2009 Gulden Draak? Why the hell not? This was well-worthy of its hefty price tag, as the one member of our group who bought this will tell you. A shiny but opaque Belgian dark with some lighter highlights, it won us over with a strong sensation of fruity malt sweetness and a very delicate, light hop back. This aged gracefully, with a bottle fermentation gracing the purchaser with about 3 ounces of pure yeast sediment after the beer proper was poured amongst all of the guests. Went great with dinner as well as a distinguished sipping beer.

Shiner Holiday Cheer should be everyone's go-to beer for weird refreshment this holiday season. Brewed with pecans and peaches? Crazy shit, but actually very, very drinkable and simplistic in its bock style. Such a basic lager infused with such cool flavor elements made for quite the talked-about beer for a while.

SN's 2010 Celebration aged surprisingly poorly; most hop-heads in our tasting group agreed that the hops seem much less prominent after a year of sitting around. The malt in the 2010 brew was significantly easier to detect but, without the hops, lent to the beer a very one-dimensional characteristic not typically in character for SN. Glad we stacked them up but it's not really a beer to keep for a year. Drink fresh and often!

I was a big fan of Victory's new Rauch, both in aesthetic (the backstory to it is quite interesting) and flavor. Like most rauchbiers, it's leans very close to the smoked side of things with very little hop character but makes up for it with big caramel malts and a strong meat flavor that satisfies the savory palate, and at around 8%, it's satisfying to those continuing on through the night with drunken aplomb.

Ipswich's simple-but-awesome ale would probably be the sleeper hit of Winter seasonals this year. At 4 dollars a bomber, it's pretty difficult to deny the effectiveness, taste and simplicity of this beer, especially when compared to many "micro-brew" beers of similar quality and higher price-point. Great shit with a good warmth, a strong flavor that carries through to an excellent aftertaste and hefty build.

Anchor's 2011 Christmas is wacky; it's a dark warmer with an odd flavor profile; ranges from molasses to piny hops to wooden flavors in one simple sip. I remarked fairly quickly (it was our first beer of the session) that it tastes like a "druidic" beer, maybe like somethings people would've drank centuries ago when no one knew what the fuck they were doing with alcohol. Really cool shit, but not for everyone.

The Hinterland vs. Sam Adams was an interesting one. Most people agreed that the Hinterland coffee had a more rounded taste to it, with a more stout-like quality to the mouthfeel. SA's is a bit more hoppy (as the brewery is wont to do) and has a more acidic and sharp-edged assertion to its coffee beans, which taste equivalently strong. Both have the good characteristics of a simple and effective coffee stout and the actual preference between the two seemed to be somewhat split, which was interesting.

 

[unknown]

I keep seeing people jizzing over Sierra Nevada Celebration being aged, but I don't see it. I'll gladly take your word for it. What'd you think of the Green Flash Double Stout? It's pretty fucking good in my opinion.

Some pics of a recent haul and beer trade:
http://imgur.com/a/AeAmM

Most important in the beer trade is Jester King's Black Metal imperial stout. Can't wait to try this, but I'm gonna have to...I'm saving it for my next imperial stout tasting. The Boulevard Tank 7 saison was pretty good. Actually from that trade, the canned beer, Southern Star Pine Belt pale ale, blew me the fuck away. I had no idea Texas good make a fucking amazing pale ale. It was everything I look for: piney, resiny, but creamy and incredibly drinkable. I would absolutely buy again

Winter beer haul on bottom. Haven't cracked into these yet other than the North Coast Old Stock Ale 2011 which I had tonight. It's a sexy beer. For being almost 12%, it's very drinkable. Looks like a whiskey but goes down without any alcohol burn at all. Little hop presence at all. This is more about the malts playing off of each other. It's a favorite of mine and can't wait to see how the past couple of years' that I've cellared hold up.

 

[V.V.V.V.V.]

It was pretty good but not outstanding. I would rather drink their Hop Head Red or even Le Freak any day. WC IPA is amazing as well. This stout is fine but not out of the ordinary and, stacked up to Black Cauldron especially, doesn't pull the style off as well as it probably should given their great lineup.

Re: Celebration, that just seems weird. It just tasted wrong. There's no bottle fermentation and it says right on it "fresh hop ale" so aging it just seems like a weird idea, or rather, like a weird candidate for the whole "beer aging" thing, which most of the time seems to just be people jizzing over how long they could keep beer in their cellar without drinking it then remarking over basic differences you could get from just having another beer.

Also, Tank 7! Probably going to grab/split a bottle of that with people soon. We just recently started getting Boulevard stuff here. Wasn't a huge fan of the Dark Truth Stout, but that might've been because I was happily finishing my friends' glasses of B-A Night Falls (which, due to being a wild ale with Brett yeast, most people ended up disliking...whereas I found it fucking awesome) at the time it was being poured The Dupont saison we had tonight was basically a crazy version of their regular saison with 9.5% ABV. Insane shit! Didn't even have a burn at all, very veiled alcohol presence, strong rustic grassy flavors as usual, with maybe a thin bit of spice at the end.

Shit, forgot to mention we drank another White Birch towards the end, but I kinda forgot about it because it was as the group started dissembling. It was their Bohemian Tripel and quite a smooth brew. Pure Bohemian malt slickness with earthy, piny and somewhat floral hops, washing down a grass-like body with a coating veneer of alcohol at the end. Pretty well balanced and didn't have the crazy Belgian yeast thing going on, hence the Czech style. Interesting.

Here's our beer lineup picture for the night:

 

[mutantllama]

Drinking some Skull Splitter, good shit

 

[brooks55]

Drinking some Skull Splitter, good shit

Yes it is, happy birthday man.

 

[V.V.V.V.V.]

Skull Splitter is a pretty crazy beer. Happy birthday dude.

 

[mutantllama]

thanks guys

 

[Anom@nder Rake]

One of my friends works for Victory and gave me a bottle of Dark Intrigue which is Storm King Stout aged in bourbon barrels. I'm drinking it now and loving it as barrel aged stouts are one of my favorite beers

edit: i received a St. Bernardus Christmas Ale for xmas as well and i've never had it before

 

[unknown]

nice! St Bernardus Christmas Ale is fucking outstanding. All of their beers are.

Beers I received for Christmas: Hangar 24 Barrel Roll #3 Pugachev Cobra imperial stout (super stoked about this one), Lost Abbey Gift of the Magi and Stone Double Arrogant Bastard

Last night I went out to the bar with my buddy and a girl (see Males and Females thread) and had two Pliny and two gueuzes...NOT a good combination

 

[Zephyrus]

Had Affligem Noel tonight. Pick it up if there's any left. It's what you'd expect, a Belgian abbey ale with spices like any "Christmas/winter" beer.

 

[unknown]

since I promised Andy, here is my write up of the past three days. My buddy and I went up to the bay area and stayed with a friend to tour some breweries and brewpubs. Here is the TL;DR version:

Firestone Walker - Really nice. Chill atmosphere. Great beers
Russian River - 17 beer flight. Loved it. Knew what to expect
Bear Republic - Really solid stuff. Looking forward to Racer X
Iron Springs - Local brewpub. Pretty mediocre. Could've done without

21st Amendment - Cool spot. Not enough house beers on tap (there were only 4 21st Amendment beers on tap)
City Beer Store - Thank god I don't live in SF. I could blow all of my money there
Triple Rock Brewery - Berkeley brewpub. Really good housebeers and decent food. Enjoyed the atmosphere
Drake's - Far and away the best experience of the trip. Consumed what I believe to be the best beer I've ever had

So yeah. Russian River, home to Pliny the Elder and others, was as we expected: excellent. I ordered the Belgian beer flight, but the bar tender poured me a full flight but only charged me $8 for this:

Me as a happy camper:

As I said, Drake's was the showstealer. It was the last place we went to, and we were all pedestrian fans of Drake's. We knew Denogginizer and their other staple beers and were all big fans of them. However, their on tap only beers are by far some of the best beers I've ever had.

Picture of the flight:

blurry picture of me thoroughly enjoying myself

Inside of Drake's

The winner of the trip was Drake's beer Quaid's Dream, an imperial stout aged in Port barrels with blackberries. Sweet holy fuck. The smell is absolutely boozy, but the taste is sweet and only slightly boozy. It smelled and tasted like heaven. Total Recall was also aged in Port barrels but did not have blackberries added...also the base beer was different but still really good. They also had a barleywine on tap called Brandy Witches, which was obviously aged in Brandy barrels. Again, the brandy aging was clear. The taste was sweet...almost like maple syrup on waffles. It was one of the best barleywines I've ever had. Also had their 1500 IPA hopped with Zythos, and, again, just an outstanding IPA. The Zythos hops really added a nice bit of fruitiness to the beer.

The sad part was none of them are sold in bottles or growlers. They absolutely blew me and my friends out of the water. So if you're ever in the bay area, just go to Russian River and Drake's and nothing else. You'll be a happy camper