Beer

Decided to buy local and pick up a sampler pack from the Millstream Brewing Company, featuring the Iowa Pale Ale (an IPA, to clarify), a stout and a chocolate bock. All very flavorful, though not world class.
 
had a couple of friends over last night and opened up the following: Firestone Walker Sucaba 2014, Lawson's Finest Fayston Maple Imperial Stout and Lawson's Finest Maple Tripple. Sucaba was fantastic as always. I got the two Lawson's beers in a trade. The tripple was pretty good...pretty sweet. The imperial stout surprisingly had a bit of smokiness to it. I would've liked more maple flavors but oh well.

Tomorrow is my 5th annual "big" beer tasting for my friends. Every year I pull 10 imperial stouts and similar beers out of my cellar, invite several friends over, and we drink them and eat tasty food. Definitely looking forward to it
 
I really don't get a big selection of beer around here, believe me, I've tried. WV hasn't really moved past the pilsner stage except a few spots. (Morgantown mostly) I did grab a six pack of Hoegaarden last night and I really like it. I tend to like any wheaty beer in general and non dark lagers. This thread blows my mind a bit because I have little to no clue what you guys are talking about most of the time. :lol:
 
living in California, I feel as though we're spoiled with double IPAs. Seriously. Every goddamn place has a dozen IPAs. I look at breweries in the midwest and east that are brewing traditional german style beers and playing with belgian styles.

that being said, I did open a Stone Enjoy By 4.20.14 today and enjoyed it. As a hophead, I'm not complaining. I would just like a bit more variety
 
It has nothing to do with who the Indians are. Before the Suez Canal was built, English ale went bad on the long sea voyage to India, so they put extra hops in it to make it last longer on the journey.
 
ehhh sort of. Hops are actually from the same family as weed. They secrete oils (alpha acids) from glands in the male (I believe) cones. These oils act as preservatives and lend a bitter flavor to beer. The higher amount of alpha acids, the more bitter a beer is.

If you don't like salt, stay away from goses; Gose is a style of beer made specifically with salt
 
It has nothing to do with who the Indians are. Before the Suez Canal was built, English ale went bad on the long sea voyage to India, so they put extra hops in it to make it last longer on the journey.

I know that already; I was simply being droll.
 
Galaxy hops? I fucking love hop names.

I really hope my local liquor store gets the latest batch of Enjoy By here. It's cheap and fucking DELICIOUS. I tried it on tap and wasn't too impressed, but in the bottle damn, it's so good.
 
the new Enjoy By is pretty good but certainly not their best

brewed today for the first time in over a year. Just a small, one gallon IPA using Falconer's Flight, Citra and Mosaic hops. Hopefully it turns out okay. We shall see
 
Mosaic and galaxy seem to be the trendy hops right now. I'm not in love with either. Amarillo was the flavor of the month for a while there, and I wish that came back into fashion. Citra is still high on my list. It's probably cost prohibitive, but I'd love to have more beers with heavy use of hallertau and tettnang.