Beer

[CladInDarkness]

Picked up a few seasonal/variety packs on my way home today.

Sierra Nevada Fall Pack - Tumblr, Vienna, Oktoberfest, Pale Ale

Sam Adams Harvest Collection - Boston Lager, Octoberfest, Harvest Pumpkin Ale, Harvest Saison

I'm unfamiliar with most of these brews ... really looking forward to tasting 'em.

Pretty much most of what SA does is ok, that saison was shit though.

 

[CladInDarkness]

My Labor Day selections:

Begyle - Crash Landed. Hoppy pale wheat at 7%. Probably not available outside Chicago.

Anchor - Big Leaf. Amber with maple. Characteristic of Anchor, with a nice malty maple flavor. Great for autumn.

New Belgium - Tour de Fall. Malty fall pale ale. Average, not bad.

Upland - Campside Session. On the border of blonde ale and APA. Ok.

Stone - Ruination. It's bitter. Not a big fan.

Stone - Sublimely Self-Righteous. Really nice black IPA, one of the best Stone beers I've had.

Furthermore - Knot Stock. Brewed with black pepper, and the black pepper is extremely apparent. But it's really good, and one of the better spice integrated beers I've had. Dry body with rich maltiness, notes of tobacco, tangy bitterness, creamy mouthfeel. I'd drink another black pepper beer again. Nice finish.

Knot Stock is my clear winner, but I don't know how much to attribute to already having had six beers today.

Yeah Ruination is pretty meh I think. I had it when Stone debuted in Chicago at Hopleaf way back when a few years ago. Knot sock, any chance they brewed that with rye?

 

[CladInDarkness]

I'm still waiting for the alleged drop in quality from Goose Island that everyone was terrified about when AB InBev took over. Sure, the volume movers (312 wheat, 312 pale, IPA) aren't really anything to write home about, but they haven't been rendered undrinkable, and they weren't exactly at the top of the leaderboards to begin with. I find it mildly encouraging that the inevitable corporatization of craft beer isn't necessarily going to kill the quality.

They're pretty run of the mill and I'll include BCBS in that too. A pretty mediocre trend I think.

 

[TechnicalBarbarity]

Pretty much most of what SA does is ok, that saison was shit though.

Sierra Nevada makes a Saison? I enjoy just about everything they have to offer.

 

[CladInDarkness]

Sierra Nevada makes a Saison? I enjoy just about everything they have to offer.

Sam Adams saison in the Harvest pack. The other three were enjoyable enough, but I had a hard time downing the saisons in it.

 

[TechnicalBarbarity]

I didn't like their pumpkin beer.

 

[CladInDarkness]

I'll trade you the saisons for the pumpkins. In your favor too since there's more saisons than pumpkins in the box.

 

[TechnicalBarbarity]

That was my first Saison(i think), and it was rather enjoyable. Any recs for the style?

 

[CladInDarkness]

I'm not a huge saison fan, but if you're going to drink a Belgian style you might as well make it an actual Belgian.

This has high marks and is generally fairly easy to find: http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/637/1717/

 

[CladInDarkness]

This is another that's quite well regarded: http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/738/5057/

 

[TechnicalBarbarity]

Ohh so saisons are originally a Belgium style ale? I've had Pranqster, Duvel and a few Belgian wits, but that's about it when it comes to beers from there.

 

[CladInDarkness]

Ohh so saisons are originally a Belgium style ale? I've had Pranqster, Duvel and a few Belgian wits, but that's about it when it comes to beers from there.

I've never had Pranqster, but I see it's actually brewed by North Coast. Generally I don't think American versions of Belgians are anywhere near as good, though there are a few exceptions. And I'm not ragging on American beers, I love a lot of them. Just that when they try to do Belgians they generally fall short.

Wits, I don't drink a lot of anymore. They were one of the first beers that exposed me to the world of beer outside of macros, along with your German hefes. I just got burnt out of them, drank way too many.

I'm a quad guy.

 

[TechnicalBarbarity]

oops, i meant Belgian style when referring to those beers. I actually liked the Pransqter more than the Duvel. I've also had their Brother Thelonious, while not as good as the Pranqster, was still a great brew. Another solid offering from North Coast.

Haven't tried any quads yet, but i was looking at the Allagash Four and their Tripel the last time i was in Bevmo. Might just fuck with those.

 

[unknown]

Saisons and Quads are my two favorite styles right behind IPAs. DuPont's Saison is pretty much the standard against most other saisons are judged. My only beef with Fantome is they vary wildly from batch-to-batch. I've had some saisons from them that, no joke, looked like sludge and tasted awful. I've had others that were amazing. For the price, I usually don't risk going with Fantome. Personally, I prefer funkier saisons like Boulevard's Saison-Brett (especially with a year or two on it) and The Commons' beers. Hennepin is alright, but I never thought it was terrific. Logsdon makes, in my opinion, the best and most authentic saisons in America (with Hill Farmstead close behind). Their Seizoen Bretta is one of my favorite beers. Their standard Saison is fantastic too.

In regards to Quads, the trifecta is St Bernardus Abt 12, Rochefort 10, and Westvletern XII. Westy 12 isn't sold in the U.S., and for what's it worth, I prefer St. Bernardus Abt 12 (which is the original recipe for Westy XII) and Rochefort 10. De Struise's Pannepot and Pannepeut are both fantastic as well. The only American one I've tasted that's close to a Belgian quad is Avery's The Reverend. It's pretty damn good.

edit: also, just as a side, Pranqster is classified as a Belgian Golden Ale (similar to Russian River's Damnation)

 

[CladInDarkness]

Just had a St. Bernardus 12 on tap on Sunday, has been one of my favorites for ages. I also had a Rochefort 8, I prefer the 8 over the 10 to be honest. I also just had my last Westy left over from the bricks they sold in the states in 2012 last weekend.

Allagash four comes close I think, but it's expensive. It's like 17 bucks for a bomber and you can get an actual Belgian for cheaper than that. Why not just go with that then? Chicago actually has a small brewery that does Belgians and I was quite surprised when their quad was actually really good. The brewery is called Une Annee.

 

[CladInDarkness]

I will say that the Westy was by far the best of the bunch, but as you experience with Fantome, they vary from batch to batch. They're all good, but some really stand out. I was lucky enough to get two of the bricks and out of the 12 I kept three for myself. Many of the people I gave bottles to shared theirs with me and some were great and some were just fucking exceptional.

 

[CladInDarkness]

And I'd go Westy > Rochefort > Bernardus. But either way, cheers!

 

[unknown]

Yeah don't get me wrong, Westy is far better than many beers but different strokes. I still have a few bottles left over from my brick stashed away in my cellar. That place in Chicago sounds awesome, but is a bit far for TB (he lives in CA) haha...roadtrip!

 

[CladInDarkness]

A couple other really great quads: La Trappe and Cuvee Van De Keizer Blauw.

 

[CladInDarkness]

And I haven't had the Avery quad, but I really like their Maharaja. Not too crazy about Kaiser though.