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Beer |OT|

I tend to forget this thread because I'm barely wandering around Community Off Topic.... but SF Beer Week is coming up. I'll be in town for the kickoff on Friday and through the weekend.

Anyone notice anything they consider a must do? I usually play Beer Week events by ear.


Screw SF Beer Week. Omaha Beer Week runs from the 15th to the 22nd. I know I'm pumped. Odell beer dinner, Extreme Beer Fest, barrel night. This will be a good week haha!
 
Screw SF Beer Week. Omaha Beer Week runs from the 15th to the 22nd. I know I'm pumped. Odell beer dinner, Extreme Beer Fest, barrel night. This will be a good week haha!

Haha... well, I have family in San Jose so it's easy to stay at their place, take train up, and then public transport everywhere. I didn't know Omaha had their own beer week too though. That's awesome.
 
What beer should I pair with Girl Scout cookies?

Pairing Thin Mints with an imperial stout sounds awesome. I think pairing it with a chocolate or mint stout sounds like overkill.
I don't know if I like the idea of Do-Si-Dos with a red ale though. An imperial stout would match well with those. But something like Choklat or Breakfast Stout with Do-Si-Dos sounds sublime.

And now I want someone to make a stout that is aged with Thin Mints in the barrel.
 
I tend to forget this thread because I'm barely wandering around Community Off Topic.... but SF Beer Week is coming up. I'll be in town for the kickoff on Friday and through the weekend.

Anyone notice anything they consider a must do? I usually play Beer Week events by ear.

On a more serious note, what I have learned during beer weeks is to try and find events where a brewer or brewery is a part of it. The "tap takeovers" where some random distributor or rep is the only person there are not all that great. Food/beer pairing events are always my favorite, as are special release type events.
 

Datwheezy

Unconfirmed Member
Anyone in the VT area that would be open to trading some Heady? Looking to try some for the first time. Send me a PM.


Looking forward to trying Hop Slam for the first time tonight. First time it's going to be available in Buffalo.
 
scdak0W.jpg


So, this is out in the wild in CT. $5 for a bomber ain't bad. Looking forward to trying this.
 

KingGondo

Banned
First time seeing this thread.

I just wanted to drop in to let you all know I had heady topper recently. GOOD LORD, I don't know how anything can ever live up to that beer. Granted I'm not the most experienced compared to some others, but wooooooow
Had the chance to try it over Christmas too. I have to say it lived up to the hype IMO.

Incredibly smooth for the hop levels and ABV.

Excellent stuff. I'd drink it regularly if it were available around here.
 

t-ramp

Member
Looking forward to trying Hop Slam for the first time tonight. First time it's going to be available in Buffalo.
I wasn't that impressed. It was good, but I'd take Enjoy By over Hopslam, and actually liked Hop Henge more than the other two among the DIPAs I've had recently. Hopslam just seemed like a good DIPA, but sweeter, probably due to the honey.

By the way, Stone's newly announced special release sounds great. Bourbon barrel-aged Old Guardian... yes, please.

W3BtEb5.jpg
 
I wasn't that impressed. It was good, but I'd take Enjoy By over Hopslam, and actually liked Hop Henge more than the other two among the DIPAs I've had recently. Hopslam just seemed like a good DIPA, but sweeter, probably due to the honey.

By the way, Stone's newly announced special release sounds great. Bourbon barrel-aged Old Guardian... yes, please.

W3BtEb5.jpg
ooooooooh. gimme!
 

Datwheezy

Unconfirmed Member
I wasn't that impressed. It was good, but I'd take Enjoy By over Hopslam, and actually liked Hop Henge more than the other two among the DIPAs I've had recently. Hopslam just seemed like a good DIPA, but sweeter, probably due to the honey.

By the way, Stone's newly announced special release sounds great. Bourbon barrel-aged Old Guardian... yes, please.

W3BtEb5.jpg

I would agree. Hopslam was good, but I dont know if it lived up to the hype. I'd usually agree with the comment about Enjoy By, but I wasnt impressed with the 2.14.14 batch. Last one I had before this was Sept or October, so not sure if it has been a gradual change or not.
 

Socreges

Banned
Just brought a bottle of Driftwood's Bird of Prey home. Limited release seasonal, apparently one of their best. Won't open it until Friday.

On a related note, as of tomorrow I'll have gone four nights without a beer. I was just thinking about that and how it's been easily my longest period without since November, if not October. Between my Advent Calendar in December, seasonals, and gifts from friends, I was loading my fridge with beer faster than I could drink it. Which naturally meant that I couldn't let many nights pass without dipping into the fridge for yet another unique beer to taste. Thankfully I'm down to just a few that I'm cellaring. I never crave beer so much, but I'll admit right now it's taking a lot of restraint to not pop open that Bird of Prey.

Funny to think that a year ago I would drink mainly on weekends, and maybe just a few occasions per month. Not out of abstention, but just because I wasn't interested. But once I knew more about beer and caught the bug, there was no going back. Now I marvel at myself if I go even just a few days without a beer.
 
I recently had a home brewed beer that's haunting me. The guy called it a Belgian IPA, made with a bit of smoked malt and dry hopped with a lot of Simcoe. Soooo good. Nothing like it is available here :-/
Time to get into homebrewing then! You get to do all kinds of crazy shit and it doesn't matter whether it's commercially viable or not.
 

Milchjon

Member
Time to get into homebrewing then! You get to do all kinds of crazy shit and it doesn't matter whether it's commercially viable or not.

After spending a few months around homebrewers and sampling their output, this beer (and a second by the same guy) feel a bit like an outlier.

Most of the ones I've tried were decent, but overall, they didn't cause delusions of me thinking I'd be easily able to produce something great.

Still, one day I'll probably jump in.
 
We finally have Lagunitas in Cincinnati even though they're been in the rest of the state for years. Grabbed some Sucks and Hop Stoopid. Also grabbed a Deschutes Hop Henge as they just recently entered Ohio.
 

Tawpgun

Member
Had a beerfloat the other day and it was pretty good. It's not so much of a sweet desert as it just makes the beer taste creamier.

Put Vanilla Ice Cream in Sam Adams Cream Stout. It was pretty good. I thought it would turn the beer sweet, but it just pronounced it more.
 
After spending a few months around homebrewers and sampling their output, this beer (and a second by the same guy) feel a bit like an outlier.
That's a fair call. It's easy to make decent homebrew, but difficult to make great homebrew.

It does also give you the impression that quite a lot of craft brews are average at best, though.
 

aceface

Member
Seems like a few of us are enjoying Hopslam rolling out across New York State for the first time. Had my first bottle last night and it lives up to the hype. Sweet nectar of the gods. Too bad I can't have more than one at a time without being completely destroyed.
 

PG2G

Member
I'll have to get out and try it one of these years. Too much going on this year, and some of the local places do a raffle (with paid tickets) for the chance to get Younger. Kinda sucks, but at least the proceeds go to charity
 

bowery

Member
so has inbev fucked up any craft breweries theyve bought yet? or has it just been a positive effect of increased distribution?
 

thespot84

Member
I'm fascinated by the difference between the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Anyone know the reason? They used to be the same country!

slovakia is on the euro, CR is not. (not being on the euro allows your currency to devalue in order to match your countries out and cost of living etc. For a counter example See: Greece)
 

Talon

Member
so has inbev fucked up any craft breweries theyve bought yet? or has it just been a positive effect of increased distribution?
Witmer, greater distribution - see their Rotater witbiers everywhere now.

Goose, has continued with their "woman" micro-series - actually expanded a lot. Haven't seen a good, mainline brew from them in a WHILE though.
 

Milchjon

Member
For some funny reason my store apparently won't stock Widmer anymore because of ABInBev, but we still have Kona and Red Hook, and of course Hoegaarden.
 

Milchjon

Member
Do they carry Magic Hat or Pyramid? They're both owned by Cerveceria Costa Rica.

No, never heard of them.

We're still really limited by the fact that very few American breweries have an international distribution network. On the craft side of things, there's little more than Sierra Nevada, Sam Adams and the ones I mentioned before, I assume because of the ABinbev ties.

We do some importing on our own (with Rogue being the most recent one), but that's a major pain in the ass both financially and from a paperwork perspective.

Oh well, I hope these things improve as more Germans get interested in craft beer. Thankfully our German craft beers are constantly improving.
 

Milchjon

Member
Rogue ships their shit everywhere in the world.

With the brewers that we get regularly, there's usually local importers/wholesalers involved that handle the paperwork, the labeling (we have stricter requirements for the info on them) and whatever. In this case, we had to do all this ourselves. I literally spent days putting the stupid ingredient list on these bottles :-D

I don't think there's a wholesaler in Germany that offers Rogue.

Fake edit: I forgot about Anchor, Flying Dog and Anderson Valley. The supplier that imports these also has like 3 Rogue beers. We got like 15 plus kegs and spirits.
 

HiResDes

Member
This probably didn't help. It seemed hard to find in Cincy as well. Local place (that doesn't move much beer) got 10 cases and it was gone in a day. Guess someone tweeted it or posted it somewhere.
Yo where are you getting Deschutes and do you love Madtree as much as me, rep the local stuff man. Madtrees Thundersnow is the best stout I've ever had

Whole Foods had a bunch of Hopslam

PS are you going to Cincy beer festival?
 

injurai

Banned
This probably didn't help. It seemed hard to find in Cincy as well. Local place (that doesn't move much beer) got 10 cases and it was gone in a day. Guess someone tweeted it or posted it somewhere.

Never been to Savor Growl but that is pretty shitty to do. Glad Bell's is investigating it. I wonder if there are any left, I haven't been to the groceries in a while.
 
Yo where are you getting Deschutes and do you love Madtree as much as me, rep the local stuff man. Madtrees Thundersnow is the best stout I've ever had

Whole Foods had a bunch of Hopslam

PS are you going to Cincy beer festival?
Deschutes is all over the place (including Kroger). Love MadTree. Favorite local brewery. If you haven't have their BA Axis Mundi you need to. It's their imperial stout aged in Willett barrels. If you haven't been to Brass Tap in Clifton, head there during the week for happy hour. From 3-8 it's $3 locals including all the high ABV stuff. And Jessica has a world-class arse.

Didn't get tix for Beerfest.
 
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