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Beer |OT|

LUck1ndl.jpg


Holy shit this is amazing.
 
Damn. Was in line to buy beer and in the line next to me was a local bartender. He had a bottle of Abyss and said they might have more hiding. I get out of line and nope. That was the last. He asked as I left if I got one and then he apologized about getting my hopes up. He did tell me they would get it on tap very soon though.

As for tonight, Molotov Cocktail Single Simcoe.
 
guys my friend is one of those assholes:

http://i.imgur.com/r3PetpD.jpg?1[/img[/QUOTE]
Must've gone to Indiana since there was no coffee to be found in N. KY. Only got a 4pk of regular and a bottle of barleywine. Shit is out of control anymore. Remember when it used to sit on the shelf for a year and nobody gave two shits about it. I miss buying it by the case... Need to do a six year vertical soon.
 
I'd bourbon county east only?

Nationwide this year from what a few people told me. Was the reason they gave me for it being less available this year then last year in VA. Some Total Wine guys told me that they got the same amount as last year, but other places like grocery stores got much less or something.

Not that this knowledge helps me at all since I still didn't get any. Friend like an hour away told me that the Whole Foods near him had it on tap though so may try to go get some from there.
 

overcast

Member
Ah okay. I don't have a great selection near me. Only Bevmo + Baron's pretty much. I doubt I find it.

Gonna go beer shopping tomorrow.
 

codhand

Member
guys my friend is one of those assholes:

r3PetpD.jpg

ha, damn.

im friends with the guy who is the number one untappd "check in" for BCBS.
heeeee's a little lot weird.

honestly this is the second year in a row, i've had friends buy a 4pack, say they dont like it and end up giving me the rest of their bottles. as much as i love it, i recognize it's a not a beer for everyone, by any means.
 
No Abyss to be found, but I did get some Beer Geek Brunch Weasel. That was the one you loved right, Seth?

And the place had Christmas Bomb on tap. If I didn't have to go to work I would have stayed.
 
Late night at work. Finished the night with Against the Grain Brettish Bulldog and Dogfish Head Beer Thousand. Both were pretty good, but nothing spectacular. The Brettish Bulldog was better. I will probably save the Brunch Weasel for Monday night.
 

overcast

Member
I grabbed Brown Shugga cause I've never seen it around. This is delicious, goddamn. Don't even understand how it's 9.9%. This is too drinkable to be fucking around like that.
 

Seth C

Member
No Abyss to be found, but I did get some Beer Geek Brunch Weasel. That was the one you loved right, Seth?

And the place had Christmas Bomb on tap. If I didn't have to go to work I would have stayed.

Yup, love it. My favorite stout this year. I've only had it on tap. I'm curious to see if it's just as good in a bottle.
 
It's brewday everybody. I'm making a simple Apollo/Simcoe pale. And because you need to drink beer to make beer, I'm having a sip on Revolution Anti-Hero, which is pretty fine.
 

Seth C

Member
It's brewday everybody. I'm making a simple Apollo/Simcoe pale. And because you need to drink beer to make beer, I'm having a sip on Revolution Anti-Hero, which is pretty fine.

I like Anti-Hero, but I like Revolution more. Great brewery in general, even though they don't make the world's best beer. Their food is fantastic and all of their beers are solid, plus just a bunch of good guys who do a lot for their community.

Brew day for me will be next weekend. I'm still putting together equipment for my new brew system.
 

Socreges

Banned
Found a single bottle of Cuvee des Jacobins today. I'd imagine it isn't easy to find. Pretty stoked to come across another Flanders Red, either way.
 
Good to hear! Did you find it to be less bitter (coffee bitter) then others? I thought the coffee was strong but smooth.
It was strong but smooth. However, I like my coffee black and bitter. It was smooth. I think the BCBS and Au Mas Cafe Jesus are more bitter.

I am still praying Stone does their espresso stout again next year. That is one of my favorite coffee stouts.
 

HiResDes

Member
Yup, love it. My favorite stout this year. I've only had it on tap. I'm curious to see if it's just as good in a bottle.
I feel like stouts are have a stronger tendency to be better on tap than in bottle. Old Rasputin on tap is so much smoother it seems for one.
 
I feel like stouts are have a stronger tendency to be better on tap than in bottle. Old Rasputin on tap is so much smoother it seems for one.

Yeah Old Rasputin on nitro tap really spoiled the bottles for me. Haven't had many stouts both on tap and in bottle so i can't really compare in general, though.
 

Seth C

Member
It was strong but smooth. However, I like my coffee black and bitter. It was smooth. I think the BCBS and Au Mas Cafe Jesus are more bitter.

I am still praying Stone does their espresso stout again next year. That is one of my favorite coffee stouts.

The Xocoveza or however it's spelled? Definitely another top notch stout.

Some pictures of my new brewing equipment:

The pot and the vessel I'll be using to ferment in.
rv6Jq4Zl.jpg


The pot after conversion. It's huge.
Be0Qcodl.jpg
 

PG2G

Member
Think I'm gonna try and start home brewing early next year when I get into a house with a backyard/garage. Any recommended books/resources?
 

Seth C

Member
Think I'm gonna try and start home brewing early next year when I get into a house with a backyard/garage. Any recommended books/resources?

Definitely can. As far as books go, I'm going to recommend a classic. It probably gets recommended more often than any other, and for good reason. John Palmer's How to Brew. As for resources, the forums at homebrewtalk.com/ are hard to beat. I'm on there looking up how-tos and things all the time.

If you're sure you will be wanting to brew, and want to start with five gallon batches (and I wouldn't recommend starting any larger), you may want to go ahead and get in on this deal at Wal-Mart. Getting a stand, a propane burner, and a 7.5 gallon pot for $25 is going to be impossible to beat. You could probably piece together the minimum equipment you'd need to brew and only be out $100.

Personally, I started with a simple Mr. Beer, then made friends with more experienced brewers, and went from there. So far I've spent most of my time doing 5 gallon all grain batches, but there is no harm in starting with a good extract kit to get the feel for things. Now I'm moving up to 10 gallon batches with this new system and I can't realistically see myself ever wanting to brew anything larger at home. I'll actually have the ability to do 15 gallons of a pale ale or something similar, but I don't see myself ever wanting 15 gallons of the same beer all at once for personal consumption. I mean that's about 160 12 ounce bottles.
 
Think I'm gonna try and start home brewing early next year when I get into a house with a backyard/garage. Any recommended books/resources?
The first edition of How to Brew is available online, if you want to have a look through. They're up to third edition in print and some of the info from first is a bit outdated, but it's still a great resource. It can be a little overwhelming if you try to take it all in at once, though. It took me a few batches to get my feet under me before I could appreciate a lot of what it has to offer.

That turkey fryer Seth linked to is a fantastic deal. I still boil in a 30-quart turkey kettle, myself. That plus a couple of six-gallon buckets and you'd be off to pretty good start.

My advice in general would be to not get too crazy too fast. If you're like most people, you'll get a batch or two under your belt and want to start doing a bunch of stuff with fruit or spices or whatever. And chances are that chocolate-chili-vanilla pilsner is going to be terrible. Don't feel bad about just following a simple recipe the first few batches. It takes some time to get a feel for the fundamentals and it's much harder to develop that sense when your recipes are overly complicated.

Some pictures of my new brewing equipment:

The pot and the vessel I'll be using to ferment in.
rv6Jq4Zl.jpg


The pot after conversion. It's huge.
Be0Qcodl.jpg
Holy crap. That kettle is enormous. You must have way more people helping you drink your homebrew than I do.
 

Seth C

Member
The first edition of How to Brew is available online, if you want to have a look through. They're up to third edition in print and some of the info from first is a bit outdated, but it's still a great resource. It can be a little overwhelming if you try to take it all in at once, though. It took me a few batches to get my feet under me before I could appreciate a lot of what it has to offer.

That turkey fryer Seth linked to is a fantastic deal. I still boil in a 30-quart turkey kettle, myself. That plus a couple of six-gallon buckets and you'd be off to pretty good start.

My advice in general would be to not get too crazy too fast. If you're like most people, you'll get a batch or two under your belt and want to start doing a bunch of stuff with fruit or spices or whatever. And chances are that chocolate-chili-vanilla pilsner is going to be terrible. Don't feel bad about just following a simple recipe the first few batches. It takes some time to get a feel for the fundamentals and it's much harder to develop that sense when your recipes are overly complicated.

Holy crap. That kettle is enormous. You must have way more people helping you drink your homebrew than I do.

Definitely listen to what he said. When you get started don't try anything fancy. Unless you have experienced brewers helping you out, just brew a well-reviewed recipe. When you want to start doing your own thing I recommend starting with SMaSH (Single Malt and Single Hop) beers. That's the only way you will really learn the flavor of the ingredients you're putting in your beer. If you use 8 malts and 5 hops do you really know what the smoked vienna pilsner malt added? Or the Galena hops? Probably not. And yeah, with that turkey fryer, a cheap 6.5 gallon bucket from your local homebrew store, and a 5 gallon igloo cooler to use as a mash tun, you have everything you'll need to do all-gran recipes. If you start with extract you wouldn't even need the mash tun.

And yeah, the pot is massive. It's 80 quarts. I was going to go for 60, because that would have been big enough, but the 80 qt. was only $12 more so it seemed silly not to get it. I definitely won't be having any boil overs with a 10 gallon batch, though! I also have a 70 qt. Coleman xtreme cooler to use as a mash tun. I have plenty of people to s hare my beers with (downed almost 20 gallons since mid September) so it makes sense. Keep in mind I don't bottle anything. I have a 3 tap kegerator in the apartment, and I have fridge space in the basement to keep 4 more corny kegs in cold storage. It will be nice to be able to brew ten gallons of recipes I like and stick a keg in the fridge for a month or two, ready to swap it in when I blow the first one.
 

Moppet13

Member
Thought I was done for when I was looking for abyss, I only found one bottle and any liquor store that carried it sold out super fast. Got super lucky and found a store that still had 10 on the shelf, and several bottles of Velvet Merkin left too.
 

Seth C

Member
I love beer and comics a ton...
I was able to get a 6 pack of Festus Rotgut from Arcade brewery.
Its a beer with comics on the label, each beer is a different part of the 6 part story.
Art is done by Tony Moore (The Walking Dead artist) and a hot writer.

Is was pretty damn good,, starts out hoppy, hint of wheat,, ends with a stout deeper taste.

That's pretty nifty! I wouldn't mind having a set of those to add to my wall:

k4BP4Rpl.jpg
 

Jarnet87

Member
See, we don't have a lot of places like that in South Florida. The ones we do have are a bit of a drive for me, which is obviously not something I want to be doing after a few high ABV beers.

I think we are seeing more bar/restaurants open that cater toward craft beer. Main problem is none of them are really that special at least IMO. Maybe it is because we actually get good distribution but 95% of what shows up in south florida bars for craft beer can be got at Total Wine and other stores. I check the local WoB menus often and I'll only go if they have something unique that I can't find in a store, which is rare. And of course everything needs driving distance like you mentioned. I plan on going to the Funky Buddha event for the MCBP but I will only be able to try 2 or 3 of the brews otherwise I'll get hammered lol. I think south of Broward all me have as far as breweries is Wynwood which is midtown so it's a hassle, and then I think Doral is getting one.
 

Link

The Autumn Wind
I think we are seeing more bar/restaurants open that cater toward craft beer. Main problem is none of them are really that special at least IMO. Maybe it is because we actually get good distribution but 95% of what shows up in south florida bars for craft beer can be got at Total Wine and other stores. I check the local WoB menus often and I'll only go if they have something unique that I can't find in a store, which is rare. And of course everything needs driving distance like you mentioned. I plan on going to the Funky Buddha event for the MCBP but I will only be able to try 2 or 3 of the brews otherwise I'll get hammered lol. I think south of Broward all me have as far as breweries is Wynwood which is midtown so it's a hassle, and then I think Doral is getting one.
Right, don't get me wrong, I appreciate that most bars and restaurants down here have at least some choice of craft beer, but most don't have more than a minimal selection. Hell, the bar I occasionally go to after work with coworkers just stopped carrying Stone because "no one bought it."

Sure, there are places like Tap 42 and Riverside Market, and a host of other places downtown, but I live out west, so that means both driving and dealing with horrendous parking if I want to go to any of those places. And like you said, it's rarely anything I can't just pick up at Total Wine, which is right next to where that new WoB is opening, actually. I'll certainly be in that area quite often.
 
Guess I can stop complaining about not getting any BCBS. A Whole Foods near a friends house had the stout and barleywine on tap. His wife, him, and I finished off their last keg of the stout at like 11 am on Sunday. I can only thank them not allowing growler fills on it for them still having any left at all.
 
One of my favorite spots has a pretty dismal selection by most accounts. It's got five standard British beers, a rotating cider, and just five rotating craft handles. But boy do those handles rotate. I've never seen the same line up on two consecutive visits. Even in the same day.
 
I feel really blessed with the availability of beer in Seattle and Washington state in general.

Less than a mile from my house I've got Toronado, Uber Tavern, Burgundian, Latona Pub and Elysian Tangletown. Expand another couple miles and I can get to Big Time Brewery, Fremont Brewing Company, Brouwers, Sixgill and Bottleworks.
 
I grabbed Brown Shugga cause I've never seen it around. This is delicious, goddamn. Don't even understand how it's 9.9%. This is too drinkable to be fucking around like that.

Oh man, that stuff is the best. Last year Lagunitas had something called Brown Shugga Substitute or something like that, and from reading the label, it sounded like they had lost the recipe or something. It tasted worse and had less alcohol.

This year, the real Brown Shugga is back and as good as I remember it. I have no idea how the recovered the recipe.

Edit: I looked it up. The substitute was called "Lagunitas Sucks". Whole story here:

http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/220/74986/

Oh, and for the 9.9% Brown Shugga, I really have to consciously remind myself that this is a 2 for 1 beer... need to drink half as many or I will get blitzed.
 
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