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[Seth C]

That's a little disappointing. That it's reminiscent of PBR is interesting, since I picked them like half a mile from the old PBR brewery.

Oh well. Perhaps they're just not well suited on their own. Maybe better in combination with another hop or two. I've got enough to play around with.

Thanks for having a crack at it. Maybe when it tames a bit, you could send me a couple of bottles.

The beer isn't metallic the way PBR is, but there is a similar grassy/musky flavor and aroma that to me is characteristic of PBR. I just had a glass with a salad though, and it was fairly drinkable. I definitely think as the dry hopping fades out the beer will get better. I think they work well in the boil but aren't well suited for dry hopping and they definitely created a beer that is better served cold, American style.

On the other hand, I don't think I've ever made a beer with such incredible head retention.

 

[Seth C]

Double post.

 

[distantmantra]

The hops didn't look very good (old, yellowed, past their prime) in that one picture, probably resulting in some of the "off" flavors.

 

[weremichael]

GABF is next week. Yay.

Yep!!! Going to What the Funk for the second year in a row!! What events are you hitting up this year?

I know I'm pumped.

Also, if anyone has any recommendations of must tries beers or breweries while there, I'll add them to my list of places to check out.

That's a tough one, since it truly is overwhelming. The one thing that I always go for is the cheese/beer pairing line. There are beers there that aren't anywhere else @ GABF. I also like hitting up the regional guild tables. Also, make sure you drink some of there Pro-Am beers. Oh and if you can score a taste of Utopias from Samuel Adams, do it.

What my brewing guild has done for the past five years is focus on one style to taste until our palettes are shot. Then it's a free for all. Just remember it's not just ok, but preferable that you dump out beer. If you're there to taste beer, then dumping out samples is the only way you can survive GABF. You'll still end up drunk, I swear!

At the Elysian brewpub by my house. Two fresh hops right now, a collab IPA they did with Bale Breaker and then a fresh hop Amber with Citra.

I love this time of the year.

And I love Elysian. Last winter break, my wife and I went back to visit family in the PNW and we spent a very fun happy hour at Elysian sampling all of their great beers.

 

[distantmantra]

At the Elysian brewpub by my house. Two fresh hops right now, a collab IPA they did with Bale Breaker and then a fresh hop Amber with Citra.

I love this time of the year.

 

[MacGurcules]

The hops didn't look very good (old, yellowed, past their prime) in that one picture, probably resulting in some of the "off" flavors.

They were mostly green when I packed them. A few days in the mail and another day or two waiting to brew may not have done any favors. And another few days before dry-hopping probably didn't help, either.

I dried and froze all of mine. Perhaps they'll fair a bit better.

 

[Jarnet87]

Sorry, double post.

That Founders Breakfast Stout I just had was tasty.

I saw it at my local TW, passed on getting another 4 pack as I still have some last year. Think it's a bit overrated. KBS lives up the hype though I feel.

 

[distantmantra]

Parents brought me all three Crux fresh hops direct from the brewery.

Rock on.

 

[sharkmuncher]

I saw it at my local TW, passed on getting another 4 pack as I still have some last year. Think it's a bit overrated. KBS lives up the hype though I feel.

I agree that it is incredibly overhyped, but at $10/ 4pk, I would put it above of Old Rasputin. Great stout, but I wouldn't go out of my way for, but if it's there, worth at least a pint.

 

[bumbillbee]

Ugh distantmantra you're killing me with all these fresh hops!

Had my first Sante Adairius beer today, the 831 IPA. Pretty damn good, very piney/dank/bitter and dry. Gotta drive there sometime but I won't be able to this trip

 

[distantmantra]

Ugh distantmantra you're killing me with all these fresh hops!

Had my first Sante Adairius beer today, the 831 IPA. Pretty damn good, very piney/dank/bitter and dry. Gotta drive there sometime but I won't be able to this trip

The PNW is calling.

:bow Yakima valley hops :bow2

 

[krameriffic]

Good GOD I'm looking at this list of different beer events around Denver for GABF week and I wish I could go to all of them.

http://brewtallyinsane.com/2014/09/10/great-american-beer-festival-2014-calendar/

 

[PhoncipleBone]

Breakfast Stout 2014 has started showing up in stores. I still have a bottle of the 2012 I found left. Time to get some 2014 and compare the two. Bottle in store showed it was bottled on 9/13 or so, so it is really fresh.

 

[Seth C]

They were mostly green when I packed them. A few days in the mail and another day or two waiting to brew may not have done any favors. And another few days before dry-hopping probably didn't help, either.

I dried and froze all of mine. Perhaps they'll fair a bit better.

It will help but they really just aren't meant for dry hoppping in general. Use them as a bittering hop, make a nice lager out of them, and they will do fine.

The beer isn't bad by any means, it's just the flavor those hops lend, well, again...imagine if PBR took their hops, even in their prime, and did a dry hop addition. You wouldn't love it. PBR doesn't need to be that hoppy. But hey, that's half the fun of brewing with unknown hops. Next year I know to have you dry them and we will use them to make a nice light blonde or a lager. It will be delicious. I'll invite the hipster kids over, charge $1 a pint, and make a nice profit!

And don't get me wrong, what we brewed is drinkable. It's just a 2 and I prefer to brew a 4 out of 5. It will get better as it ages and some of that grassy/minty flavor drops out of it. It has a solid backbone but it's just too much...unique hop flavor, for the style of beer. That's why we did a single hop/single malt, to figure the hops out. But I'm sipping on a pint of it right now while I wait to pitch the yeast on a robust porter we just brewed.

 

[Badgerst3]

Deschutes lists all the nutritional info on their website. Might help compare based on the style.

Speaking of- when does Abyss make its debut this year?

Specifically to San Diego area...

 

[codhand]

Good GOD I'm looking at this list of different beer events around Denver for GABF week and I wish I could go to all of them.

http://brewtallyinsane.com/2014/09/10/great-american-beer-festival-2014-calendar/

that Euclid Hall Midnight Breakfast! damn, Euclid Hall is one of the best restaurants I've ever eaten at.

 

[weremichael]

that Euclid Hall Midnight Breakfast! damn, Euclid Hall is one of the best restaurants I've ever eaten at.

This man knows the truth!!! The bone marrow, chicken and waffles and blood sausage have my wife and I eating there about once every month.

 

[distantmantra]

Speaking of- when does Abyss make its debut this year?

Specifically to San Diego area...

Abyss typically comes out in November.

 

[pablito]

Anyone have any barley wine recommendations? I've only tried Big Foot and a local brewery's brew.

Something I can get on the west coast.

 

[scissorfight]

Anyone have any barley wine recommendations? I've only tried Big Foot and a local brewery's brew.

Firestone Walker Sucaba (my favorite)
Founders Bolt Cutter
AleSmith Barrel Aged Old Numbskull

for regular releases:

Green Flash Barleywine
AleSmith Old Numbskull

edit: scratch the Founders. the rest are west coast.

 

[t-ramp]

Anyone have any barley wine recommendations? I've only tried Big Foot and a local brewery's brew.

Something I can get on the west coast.

Stone's Old Guardian is pretty good if you like the Bigfoot school of barleywines. I think it's still around in Iowa, so it should be available a lot of other places too.

 

[distantmantra]

The king of fresh hop is here.

 

[PG2G]

The king of fresh hop is here.

Going to Portland late October, am I going to be too late for fresh hops?

 

[distantmantra]

Going to Portland late October, am I going to be too late for fresh hops?

Probably. Might find some stragglers.

 

[PhoncipleBone]

Just saw a bundle at Liquor Barn. The Three Philosopher's Cellar Pack. It has three bombers of Three Philosopher's. One from 2011, 2012, and 2013. REALLY tempted to get it, but it is $41, which is pretty pricey. Of course, that is only about $3 more per bottle than getting the newer 2014 bottles, so if I look at it that way it isn't bad.

 

[Link]

Just saw a bundle at Liquor Barn. The Three Philosopher's Cellar Pack. It has three bombers of Three Philosopher's. One from 2011, 2012, and 2013. REALLY tempted to get it, but it is $41, which is pretty pricey. Of course, that is only about $3 more per bottle than getting the newer 2014 bottles, so if I look at it that way it isn't bad.

I bought that set a couple of months ago, and I thought it was totally worth it. The 2012 was my favorite.

 

[bumbillbee]

Just saw a bundle at Liquor Barn. The Three Philosopher's Cellar Pack. It has three bombers of Three Philosopher's. One from 2011, 2012, and 2013. REALLY tempted to get it, but it is $41, which is pretty pricey. Of course, that is only about $3 more per bottle than getting the newer 2014 bottles, so if I look at it that way it isn't bad.

Interesting idea for a box, wouldn't mind more breweries doing that (would be great to pick up Old Stock or Bigfoot sets like that). Wish I liked Three Philosophers more. I don't like quads that much in general but the main problem is the hangover I got a few years ago when I drank an entire 750ml bottle to myself. Haven't touched it since!

 

[codhand]

New shit

 

[Milchjon]

Had Dieu du Ciel's Moralité and Aphrodisiaque today at the Newcastle Brewdog Bar.

My first Canadian small brewery beer and it's pretty darn awesome.

 

[terrible]

Spoiler

I've never seen a beer suffer from batch inconsistency as much as this one. Sometimes it's one of the best IPAs out there and other times it's hot garbage. I picked up four cans that were canned on 9/25/14 and it's terrible. The last batch I had (9/8/14) was insanely good though. This has been my experience with them. I keep coming back because when they get it right it's truly ridiculously good. It's up there with the best made in Canada (Yakima IPA, Moralite, etc). It's frustrating.

 

[PhoncipleBone]

Passed on getting the Three Philosophers Cellar Set this time. Grabbed the last Stone Mixed 12 pack instead. It is half the price, comes with a lot of reliable stuff, and will last me longer.
Now if the Cellar Set is there again in a week or so, I might have to bite.

 

[TheSadRanger]

So I'm on a bit of a budget and I decided to try out some cheap beer at my local Sprouts. I bought a six pack of Goldmine Lager for $4.

You know what, it's surprisingly pretty good to be honest. I actually like it more than PBR which is nearly twice as much.

 

[MacGurcules]

So we've got a new local brewery in town. I haven't been there yet myself, but a friend got a growler of their "honey wheat pale ale" and shared a little with me.

It was awful. Thin, cidery, tons of yeast faults, startlingly clear for a wheat beer. I'm not even a great brewer and I could point out a half dozen places where their process clearly went wrong.

I've been hearing second- and third-hand stories of their setup and their methods and it hasn't been confidence-inspiring. It's basically run by a couple of homebrewers and it seems like they didn't do their homework before trying to scale things up. By all accounts they're playing very fast and loose without an actually clear idea of how to run a production brewery, either legally or functionally.

Still, though, I want to give them the benefit of the doubt. I'm not going to write them off until I actually visit the place, but so far, I'm skeptical.

 

[Jarnet87]

Passed on getting the Three Philosophers Cellar Set this time. Grabbed the last Stone Mixed 12 pack instead. It is half the price, comes with a lot of reliable stuff, and will last me longer.
Now if the Cellar Set is there again in a week or so, I might have to bite.

beer geek nation youtube channel did a review of the cellared set. might wanna give it a watch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S91X0FEeoWQ

 

[Davedough]

Poker night tonight.

 

[HiResDes]

Omg this Saison is so good

XV (√225 Saison) - It poured an almost dark gold colour with a bit of haziness to it. The smell is quite floral, with a sort of beautiful funk to it, kind of like the smell of honey but not quite as sweet and more matured like it was mixed with a fine Pinot Grigio.

When I poured it created more of a head than I had anticipated. The taste is simply blowing my mind. It's got this funky semi-sweet citrusy nature to it and finishes with a tart crisp sourness that just sort of tickles and lingers on the palette. The body is about as light as a fine wine making this beer exceptionally drinkable and probably is a perfect candidate to be aged.

All in all, without a doubt this is one of the best Saisons I've ever, as I'm a huge fan of sours, and this one seems to blend the best of both worlds. Exceptional brew.

A-

 

[PhoncipleBone]

beer geek nation youtube channel did a review of the cellared set. might wanna give it a watch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S91X0FEeoWQ

Interesting. And making me want to get the pack even more now. The thing is I would want to taste them all together like the video did, and there is no way I can do three bottles in one night, lol. And no one nearby I know to share it with.

I have never tried it, but getting a wine stopper or something should help an open bottle keep for a day or three right?

 

[RELAYER]

Tonight I bought Lakefront Pumpkin and a single of Red Hook Pumpkin Porter.

I opened the Red Hook first and I knew I wouldn't like it just by the smell. It had this disgusting smell that seemed to fill my entire apartment before the cap had finished bouncing on the counter top.

Do you know that nauseating smell that fills your entire lungs and nostrils the morning after you wake up from a night of heavy drinking and are hungover? As though all the air in your vicinity is suffused with the essence of your own headache? That's exactly what it smells like.

I took a sip and could barely choke it down. It immediately has this burning alcohol effect on the tongue, and the peculiarities of the taste are a mixture of cheap licorice, dish soap, and this strange astringent quality that coats the tongue and stays long after it should have left. It almost taste like cheap liquor in a way.

I tried eating a few crackers to get the taste out of my mouth and it still lingers on. I only took two sips of it and I'm still burping it up 20 minutes later. Absolutely disgusting. I'm glad I only bought a single.

Needless to say, that was a drain pour.

After washing my pint glass, now I'm into the Lakefront, and it's much better although nothing to write home about. I still can't really shake that other beer, it's sticking around like a ghost.

 

[distantmantra]

Much fresh hop was consumed tonight.

 

[codhand]

Omg this Saison is so good


XV (√225 Saison) - It poured an almost dark gold colour with a bit of haziness to it. The smell is quite floral, with a sort of beautiful funk to it, kind of like the smell of honey but not quite as sweet and more matured like it was mixed with a fine Pinot Grigio.

When I poured it created more of a head than I had anticipated. The taste is simply blowing my mind. It's got this funky semi-sweet citrusy nature to it and finishes with a tart crisp sourness that just sort of tickles and lingers on the palette. The body is about as light as a fine wine making this beer exceptionally drinkable and probably is a perfect candidate to be aged.

All in all, without a doubt this is one of the best Saisons I've ever, as I'm a huge fan of sours, and this one seems to blend the best of both worlds. Exceptional brew.

A-

Siiic review, spot on!

 

[Linius]

My supermarket was stocking another IPA I'd never seen before today. The Anchor IPA, imported from the USA according to the label. I like it.

Sorry for the lack of depth to my posts, I don't have much words to describe a beer

 

[Ludovico]

Still working my way through this year's Oktoberfest and pumpkin beers when I find SN Narwhal is already on the shelf here. Sweet Jesus.

 

[distantmantra]

Released yesterday. It won the Silver at GABF this year.

Let the rest of the beer world take note. And the hype and hoarding commence, sadly.

 

[sharkmuncher]

So, top cutter is an amazing beer. I Had a picture, but too busy to upload. GABF, while busy, is tons of fun. Everyone should try it sometime.

 

[distantmantra]

So, top cutter is an amazing beer. I Had a picture, but too busy to upload. GABF, while busy, is tons of fun. Everyone should try it sometime.

Field 41 is even better than Top Cutter.

Bottleworks has their Fresh Hop DIPA on right now. Yay.

 

[bumbillbee]

Made it to Cellarmaker in San Francisco today. Super impressed. Didn't get to stay as long as I was hoping because I was with a friend but I tried a few beers. Had a dry-hopped saison that was pretty good, an amazing DIPA, and a fantastic citra IPA. These guys definitely deserve the hype, I didn't expect to find hoppy beers this good being brewed in the middle of SF. Definitely rivals the best of what San Diego has to offer.

 

[Milchjon]

My supermarket was stocking another IPA I'd never seen before today. The Anchor IPA, imported from the USA according to the label. I like it.



Sorry for the lack of depth to my posts, I don't have much words to describe a beer

Anchor is one of the OG US microbreweries. Good entry point.

 

[Lotto]

Glorious day today. Had a flight of 6 tasters and picked up a growler of Nelson for the road (the other growler was Mandarin Nectar a friend picked up.)

 

[Rei_Toei]

My supermarket was stocking another IPA I'd never seen before today. The Anchor IPA, imported from the USA according to the label. I like it.



Sorry for the lack of depth to my posts, I don't have much words to describe a beer

AH suddenly got the memo and stocks Punk IPA and this. Good development, still a lot of people oblivious to the fact that there's to more to beer then the regular stuff from the big local breweries and the Belgians. More and more local AH's are also stocking local stuff, like Jopen in Haarlem, IJ in Amsterdam, etc. Too bad the price is pretty high, €2,60 for a Punk IPA with speciality stores charging €2 seems weird.

Bought this pretty much for the novelty factor of it coming in a can:

 

[Jarnet87]

Interesting. And making me want to get the pack even more now. The thing is I would want to taste them all together like the video did, and there is no way I can do three bottles in one night, lol. And no one nearby I know to share it with.

I have never tried it, but getting a wine stopper or something should help an open bottle keep for a day or three right?

I have no personal experience saving beer but I've read some of those wine or beer stoppers do a decent job for a night or two. May lose a little carbonation.