winter beer 2005-2006

[AndICried]

Old Speckled Hen is pretty good. As far as UK bitters go, I'd recommend Bluebird http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/298/828/

Had Schneider Weisse original recently, which I definately favour it to Erdinger and Franziskaner. Surprisingly dark and very smooth, with hints of banana and vanilla.

 

[chupe666]

it takes too long for snow cap to get out here.

frambozen is out, which is awesome- it's even available in our local grocery store. tried a Winterfest beer from Trader Joes that was a dark double bock, and it was pretty dece. i'll get it again, if i don't find something else better.
picked up a bottle of Wychwood's Christmas ale Bah Humbug. waiting til it's colder to try that. kept some anchor holiday and bigfoot barleywine from last yr (just a couple bottles of each). need more winter brews up in hizzuh.

 

[avi]

ooh I wish I could find the wychwood - I like that brewery a lot.

had some alaskan winter which was good as always, but I think the deschutes Jubelale is my choice beverage for the time being. I also tried the local Fish Brewery Leviathan barleywine which I actually really liked. Not too heavy (10%) and a nice current flavor.

 

[chupe666]

i heard good things other places about jubelale too, but haven't seen it. may need to trek over to this really good beer shop across the river in illinois- they had the Victory stuff (really good), Corsedonk (awesome), and others not available on the west side where i'm at.

ever try the Brasserie De Rocs stuff? their Brune is awesome; haven't tried the blonde or the Grand Cru or others though.

 

[goatschool]

thursdays, i think, will be 3 bottle experiment nights

i have no idea how to review beer except by the art on the label and how warm my eyeballs feel, so

so far:

witkap-pater: simple monk art on label ,i like it. 7% or something alc, eyeballs=warm

 

[mindspell]

Went to a brew pub (Brutopia) and tried out their seasonal beers:

Chocolate porter: surprisingly smooth and tasty. Not as fruity as other porters, nice bitter finish. Like it,

Rye Ale: Tasted like they dropped a bunch of coins in the vat and the beer only tasted metal. I guess they had a problem with that barrel. The first two sips had a nice taste... I can't really know though.

Had a half a pint of their usual Nut Brown ale and it was good, if a little light on the tastebuds.

 

[xfer]

budweiser select: like bud, except in a different can. $9 for 18 at Rite Aid.

 

[NAD]

a week or two ago i had a unibroue terrible dark ale. it did not live up to its name and i was pleased.

 

[mindspell]

Terrible is a good beer. If you can find it, I recommend the end of year beer called Edition 2005, a nice porter with high alcohol content and fruity undertones.

 

[chupe666]

i was wondering what the Edition 2005 was like. i've only tried a couple unibroue ones, but they were pretty awesome.

GS: pick up some Tank brew, its label is practically its own source of light.

 

[NAD]

i'll have to pick up one o' dem 2005 beers. i've had several Unibroue and all are good, especially the Maudite. also i like the nifty stories they come up with.

 

[mindspell]

Those aren't stories they came up with, those are stories from our folklore or history.

 

[NAD]

oh okay. well kudos to whoever made them up / experienced them.

 

[avi]

I like Terrible, but the Edition 2005 was not to my tastes

 

[chupe666]

stopped at good local store yesterday and they were tasting winter brews. tasted the delerium noel (awesome), another belgian i can't recall (good, but didn't like it as much as delerium), Nutcracker (nutty, hoppy ale from Boulevard- better than past years), and local O'Fallon Brewery's Chocolate Cherry brew (had it before, it's okay). picked up a pack of Snow Cap with the new packaging. they had lots more holiday brews than last time, which is good. kind of expensive ($5 for a 17-19oz bottle for British ones).

they also had some of Bell's Batch 7000, which is a DOUBLE Imperial Stout and like $16 a 6-er. expensive as hell, but i decided to try it since Bell's is pretty awesome at all they make. plus, they only had like 5 cases brought in (which they just got on Friday) and half of it was already gone. haven't tried it yet; waiting for colder weather. should be awesome though.

 

[gekko]

had a new Gluten free beer the other day made by Ramapo brewery. It was a honey lager. Had a sort of sweet taste, almost mead-like. Definitely very different but interesting and pretty good. It will make a nice change from Bard's Tale, particularly with the overcarbonation issues Bards has been having lately.

 

[avi]

chupe- you NEED to rent the American Beer DVD. NEED TO.

 

[chupe666]

yeah, i read the iw review. must look that up.

 

[avi]

it's edited kinda poorly (waaaaay too many montage sequences), but it's a good time and fairy educational. Inspired me to buy a Victory Hop Devil last night.

 

[chupe666]

oh yes, hop devil is pretty awesome. the Victory Storm King is a good imp stout too, but those are the only two of theirs i've had.