Support NeoGAF

[bumbillbee]

Anybody know where to find Green Monster in The Bay Area? Or at the very least a good specialty beer store in East Bay?

Yeah I'd be interested in knowing this too. I'm going to Ledgers sometime this week so I'll let you know if it's there though I doubt it. A nearby Andronico's still has Black Butte (at 13 or so which is lower than I've seen) but I'm pretty sure that has wider distribution.

As far as good specialty beer stores go, I love Ledgers in Berkeley, but can be kind of a mess at times. You probably won't find the hottest new releases there unless you're really lucky but the selection is always good (Russian River, Almanac, Fantome, Boulevard Smokestack always on shelves in my experience) and prices aren't terrible. The Trappist Provisions (and I assume the original Trappist) in Oakland also have some great stuff, though it can get really pricy but if you want, say, Quetsche Tilquin it's your best bet. Doubt they have Green Monster there, though.

 

[distantmantra]

Green Monster had pretty wide distribution in Seattle (it really isn't as limited as Deschutes was making it out to be). The store I got mine at had five cases. Doesn't help you guys down there, but it shouldn't be too hard to find it.

 

[sharkmuncher]

Just a few from a recent camping trip and a beer fest. The 2009 Old Stock is amazing, and I have 1 bottle left!

Had to try out my new jockey box with a keg of Oktoberfest that was gone by the second night.

Met the brewer from 2 Brothers at a beer fest in Omaha and broke out some of he good stuff for a few home brewers, man can New Glarus make a good beer.

 

[thabiz]

Im in love.

 

[JLG-]

 

[weremichael]

Just a few from a recent camping trip and a beer fest. The 2009 Old Stock is amazing, and I have 1 bottle left!

Had to try out my new jockey box with a keg of Oktoberfest that was gone by the second night.

Met the brewer from 2 Brothers at a beer fest in Omaha and broke out some of he good stuff for a few home brewers, man can New Glarus make a good beer.

Keg in a creek!! My man! That makes homebrew taste even better. So what was the corny keg full of??

 

[PhoncipleBone]

I MUST find The Trooper.

 

[distantmantra]

Just a few from a recent camping trip and a beer fest. The 2009 Old Stock is amazing, and I have 1 bottle left!

Had to try out my new jockey box with a keg of Oktoberfest that was gone by the second night.

Met the brewer from 2 Brothers at a beer fest in Omaha and broke out some of he good stuff for a few home brewers, man can New Glarus make a good beer.

Drinking Fred from a plastic cup makes me cry. Hehe, looks like a good time was had.

 

[sharkmuncher]

Keg in a creek!! My man! That makes homebrew taste even better. So what was the corny keg full of??

Corny was full of Oktoberfest. Creek was easily in the mid 40s, so it worked quite well! The camping was one of my friend's bachelor party, so an oktoberfest seemed fitting.

Drinking Fred from a plastic cup makes me cry. Hehe, looks like a good time was had.

Yeah, they gave everyone one of the Sierra Nevada IPA glasses for the event, but I didn't trust myself to make the glass survive the evening, so plastic it was haha.

 

[Rei_Toei]

Snake Dog IPA from a can was nice and the label is amazing, but with a rather steep price over here in Euroland there's cheaper alternatives in bottles that are just as good or better.

 

[Chris R]

Local brewery (aka the one I can walk to in under 10 minutes) has their Oktoberfest on tap now, soooooo good, just wish they weren't charging $4.50 a glass!

 

[andycapps]

Had some Great Lakes Brewing Co Oktoberfest last night. Pretty good.

 

[codswallop]

I MUST find The Trooper.

Huh. I saw this the other day. Is it any good? I remember reading the Iron Maiden guys had contracted someone half decent to design their beer, versus ones like KISS and AC/DC which are terrible booze.

 

[PhoncipleBone]

Huh. I saw this the other day. Is it any good? I remember reading the Iron Maiden guys had contracted someone half decent to design their beer, versus ones like KISS and AC/DC which are terrible booze.

I just found it at the store near work. It is getting cold right now, so I shall have it soon.

 

[Cr0wn0]

Wow Fat Jack is pretty damn good. It's the closest thing I've had to Pumking so far.

 

[PhoncipleBone]

Wow Fat Jack is pretty damn good. It's the closest thing I've had to Pumking so far.

Fucking right! Glad you liked it.

On a different note, Trooper was meh. Definitely not worth the price. But at least I tried it.

 

[fijim]

Fucking right! Glad you liked it.

On a different note, Trooper was meh. Definitely not worth the price. But at least I tried it.

Yeah, everything I hear about Trooper is that it is just ok, totally a marketing beer.

 

[sharkmuncher]

Today was a good day!

 

[thespot84]

Today was a good day!

the whole LoF series is incredible

 

[bumbillbee]

Anybody know where to find Green Monster in The Bay Area? Or at the very least a good specialty beer store in East Bay?

Okay no luck at Ledgers, though I did manage to snag some fresh Blind Pig and Pliny so I'm happy.

Didn't realize Le Terroir was out again, never tried it the first time so I definitely will if I see it!

 

[codhand]

lookin forward to this pickup

 

[distantmantra]

Okay no luck at Ledgers, though I did manage to snag some fresh Blind Pig and Pliny so I'm happy.

Didn't realize Le Terroir was out again, never tried it the first time so I definitely will if I see it!

OH GOD LE TERROIR.

Best New Belgium beer ever. I am absolutely stoked about this hitting Seattle. Probably the first time I ever buy a case of beer.

 

[Milchjon]

There's a real lack of Black IPA variety over here. Right now my store only carries the BrewDog Libertine Black Ale, which I love to death.

 

[bumbillbee]

OH GOD LE TERROIR.

Best New Belgium beer ever. I am absolutely stoked about this hitting Seattle. Probably the first time I ever buy a case of beer.

That's quite the endorsement! I think places near me get decent NB distribution (La Folie and other LoF stuff like that Pluot disaster) so hopefully I'll be able to find a few bottles.

 

[distantmantra]

That's quite the endorsement! I think places near me get decent NB distribution (La Folie and other LoF stuff like that Pluot disaster) so hopefully I'll be able to find a few bottles.

If you get La Folie, you'll get Le Terroir.

Sour blonde ale dry hopped with Amarillo. I'm so glad they made it again.

I think it was $15 in 2011, probably the same price this time around.

 

[bumbillbee]

If you get La Folie, you'll get Le Terroir.

Sour blonde ale dry hopped with Amarillo. I'm so glad they made it again.

I think it was $15 in 2011, probably the same price this time around.

I think it was going for a little less when I saw it at a local store a couple years back (kicking myself for not trying it then!) but I'll definitely pick it up even at that price point. Had a sour session IPA a couple months ago in Michigan that I couldn't get enough of so I'm sure this will be even better in terms of sour-hoppy combination.

 

[distantmantra]

I think it was going for a little less when I saw it at a local store a couple years back (kicking myself for not trying it then!) but I'll definitely pick it up even at that price point. Had a sour session IPA a couple months ago in Michigan that I couldn't get enough of so I'm sure this will be even better in terms of sour-hoppy combination.

It's not really hoppy, the Amarillo adds some great citrus/apricot notes at the end.

 

[sharkmuncher]

If you get La Folie, you'll get Le Terroir.

Sour blonde ale dry hopped with Amarillo. I'm so glad they made it again.

I think it was $15 in 2011, probably the same price this time around.

$11.99 this time around in Omaha. Local prices will likely vary, but a great deal regardless.

 

[Link]

Wow Fat Jack is pretty damn good. It's the closest thing I've had to Pumking so far.

I've been looking for it for the past couple of weeks with no luck. I don't think it's in the cards for me.

 

[belvedere]

Speaking of Lips of Faith, I'll be brewing a Biere de Garde soon. Inspired by Biere de Mars and Ommegang's Scythe & Sickle.

Fantastic bieres.

 

[t-ramp]

I've been looking for it for the past couple of weeks with no luck. I don't think it's in the cards for me.

I did find some here in Iowa. It was pretty good. I've only had a couple pumpkin/spice beers, so I don't have much to compare it to, though.

I picked up another mix-and-match six-pack last night. Just finished a Ghostrider IPA from Wasatch. Not bad.

 

[PhoncipleBone]

Grabbed a Victory V-Twelve tonight. Mighty tasty quad, but I am a sucker for quad ales. The cork on the bottle was the most annoying thing ever. Trying to remove it caused it to snap in half. Tried a corkscrew after that and had a hard time with that. The whole time I was trying to get the cork out I was thinking "This thing better be fucking good after all this trouble."
Thankfully it is.

 

[johnsmith]

This week's pick ups. Been wanting to try this Lagunitas beer, was lucky they actually had it at the state liquor store I went to. Their selection usually isn't very good. And a local double IPA I can't believe I hadn't tried.

 

[PG2G]

Hop Rising is good. A friend of mine brought me a six pack from when she went on vacation

 

[Milchjon]

Mikkeller will arrive at our store soon. Any recommendations?

 

[codhand]

Mikkeller will arrive at our store soon. Any recommendations?

pretty much whatever they get will be good, a lot of the best ones are limited run or discontinued.

 

[fijim]

Mikkeller will arrive at our store soon. Any recommendations?

They make tons of beers and try lots of interesting things. Just pick up a few

 

[HiResDes]

If you get La Folie, you'll get Le Terroir.

Sour blonde ale dry hopped with Amarillo. I'm so glad they made it again.

I think it was $15 in 2011, probably the same price this time around.

Man I want those two so bad, and I want to move to Seattle anyway. What better time than now

 

[Malvolio]

Mikkeller will arrive at our store soon. Any recommendations?

Personally I'm not a fan. I've tried 3 or 4 of theirs and the collaboration they did with Stone and have since written them off. Everything I tried was so over the top hoppy that it was practically undrinkable and this comes from someone that loves hoppy beer.

 

[Cr0wn0]

I drink an absurd amount of La Folie. When ever its on tap a place near me puts it on 64oz growler fills for 15$. I haven't had a chance to try La Terroir yet.

I had the Grassroots arctic saison last night and was not impressed at all. I think Funkwerk's saison blows it out of the water. It was drinkable but I didn't enjoy it all it tasted pretty bland. Mikkeller has a single hop series that I know a few people like but other then that I cant really recommend anything.

My wife and I have been really considering moving to Seattle in the coming years. I lived there when I was younger and I loved it. The beer scene and all the conventions would make me pretty damn happy.

 

[distantmantra]

I drink an absurd amount of La Folie. When ever its on tap a place near me puts it on 64oz growler fills for 15$. I haven't had a chance to try La Terroir yet.

Le Terroir shits all over La Folie. Truth.

I had the Grassroots arctic saison last night and was not impressed at all. I think Funkwerk's saison blows it out of the water. It was drinkable but I didn't enjoy it all it tasted pretty bland.

I kinda felt the same way about it. I think the hype is around the fact that it's a Hill Farmstead collab beer, and most people will never get the chance to try another HF beer.

My wife and I have been really considering moving to Seattle in the coming years. I lived there when I was younger and I loved it. The beer scene and all the conventions would make me pretty damn happy.

It's not even a beer scene in Seattle. It's greater than that, it's just embedded in our culture.

 

[codhand]

Le Terroir shits all over La Folie. Truth.

quite the statement there

 

[distantmantra]

quite the statement there

Truth.

 

[bumbillbee]

I saw that saison and was tempted but I heard it wasn't great. I also see the Fantome/HF collab around but I'm too scared to buy any Fantome given how inconsistent I hear it is.

Yesterday I got to revisit Moonlight's Reality Czech pils and I'd forgotten how incredible it is. Definitely the best pils I've ever had and it's a shame Moonlight doesn't have wider distribution. I've loved every beer I've tried from him (well, maybe not the saison that used cedar chips instead of hops). Also tried a sour wheatwine from Drakes which was too sweet for my liking and some Black Butte XXV, which I liked more than the other vintage I'd had but probably not enough to spring for an entire bottle.

Any opinions on Firestone's DDBA? There are some 2012 bottles near me and I'm not sure if it's worth betting $15.

 

[distantmantra]

I've got a Black Butte XXIII, XXIV, XXV vertical I need to do at some point.

I saw that saison and was tempted but I heard it wasn't great. I also see the Fantome/HF collab around but I'm too scared to buy any Fantome given how inconsistent I hear it is.

I'm kinda afraid to open my bottle of Hiver. I've heard that it could potentially be goopy/strandy and/or taste like smoke.

 

[Momentary]

I MUST find The Trooper.

If you're near Wilmington, North Caroline there's a new beer store there that has it called Fermental.

 

[PG2G]

I think DDBA sucks. Too bad I have a few bottles of it :/

 

[Momentary]

My beers and randoms so far of 2013

My top 3 picks for the year so far are
1. Evil Twin Imperial Biscotti Break
2. Souther Tier Choklat (not pictured - had it on tap)
3. Founders KBS

Runner Up: Samuel Adam's Imperial White

 

[bumbillbee]

Saw some Elysian at my local Trader Joe's, which I can't remember seeing in California before. I picked up a bottle of the Super Fuzz since I really like blood oranges, hope more of their beer becomes more widely available since I honestly can't remember the last Washington beer I had (sorry distantmantra).

 

[distantmantra]

Saw some Elysian at my local Trader Joe's, which I can't remember seeing in California before. I picked up a bottle of the Super Fuzz since I really like blood oranges, hope more of their beer becomes more widely available since I honestly can't remember the last Washington beer I had (sorry distantmantra).

A lot of WA beer isn't bottled or distributed outside the state. No worries.