The Beer Thread

Yes, he's a pioneer, a trailblazer, blah blah blah.

Still it just sounds like sour grapes coming from a guy whose main products have obviously been surpassed by the new guys.

Now if that statement was made by GREG Koch, it would be more interesting.

stevewizzle wrote:

James wrote:
Jim Koch of Boston Beer Company, sounding a bit like someone most famous for brewing a mediocre lager, and never making a good IPA. (and sounding like atomicfront)

i don't think your dig on Koch is fair.  he's done wonderful things for the craft beer scene, and his assessment on IPAs is pretty spot-on if you ask me.  what's the best double IPA? if you ask me, it's usually whatever is the freshest ingredients.  that, in fact, takes very little talent by any brewer.

I had some Blue Point toasted lager yesterday.  Pretty tasty.

freshly canned OTWOA at DCBrau this weekend.

With fresh Double Trouble available (for cheaper) and SN Hoptimum on the way, may have to take a pass again.

stevewizzle wrote:
"they are all $10+" and "tastiers are way too expensive there".

they weren't all $10.  some were, some were less.

James wrote:
Hopefully they have some good leftovers of these beers during their half price happy hours this week (Mon-Thurs at Georgetown and Tues-Wed at Dupont), as I have plans to be there on Tuesday.

they still have several listed in dupont!

James wrote:
"There's probably 100 really good 80-IBU IPAs, and there's probably 500 or 1,000 that are out there. It's not that they're bad. It's like drinking Bud or Miller or Coors. You know what you're going to get, you're not going to be surprised. If you're surprised it's generally a bad surprise."

the first part of that statement can be applied to any beer.  only a fraction of any style - stout, pilsner, pale ale, etc - are going to be really good.  so nothing new there. 

i have a problem taking his opinion seriously if he thinks all 80+ IBU beers are the same and you should expect the same thing from each one, every time.

it is indeed relatively easy to brew a big hop bomb (you still need to be able to brew a good pale ale - then you crank up the hops).  it's very hard to brew an excellent hop bomb.  there is a reason why pliny, heady, zombie dust, etc have a following: they are unique.  they sell the stuff as fast as they can make it, you'd think everyone who makes "just another hop bomb" would be in the same position… but they're not.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=amgfgU5-lhs#!

Cracked open the Enjoy By 5.17.13. Fantastic beer, hoppy yet not overwhelming. Even my wife, who is not the biggest hops fan, loved it.

Planning on hitting DC Brau up this Saturday for OTWOA.

In honor of today's presale I picked up one of these:



Anybody try it yet?

Love it.

I'll preface my answer by saying I haven't had a beer by Lagunitas that I didn't like, but my answer is that it's one of their beers I've like least.

Shemp wrote:
In honor of today's presale I picked up one of these:



Anybody try it yet?

James wrote:
I'll preface my answer by saying I haven't had a beer by Lagunitas that I didn't like, but my answer is that it's one of their beers I've like least.

have you tried their Maximus DIPA, http://lagunitas.com/beers/maximus/? ; unimpressive, IMO.  not horrible, but not worth the $4.99 i paid for the bomber.

did somebody say fresh double trouble . . . just got some.  oh hell yeah.

Not worth $5 for a bomber of DIPA? that's so cheap!
That said, another least favorite Lagunitas beer.

Favorite Lagunitas beers:

Sucks
Brown Shugga
Hairy Eyeball
Little Sumpin Sumpin
Little Sumpin Wild

A second Lagunitas brewery is opening this summer. This one in Chicago. Will add that to places to visit when we see the in-laws in IN. Along with Three Floyds, Half Acre, and Revolution.

sweetcell wrote:

James wrote:
I'll preface my answer by saying I haven't had a beer by Lagunitas that I didn't like, but my answer is that it's one of their beers I've like least.

have you tried their Maximus DIPA, http://lagunitas.com/beers/maximus/?  unimpressive, IMO.  not horrible, but not worth the $4.99 i paid for the bomber.

Went tonight. Pleasant surprise running into stevewizzle. though he was the one doing the running.



tried a taste of this:

Mad Fox Oaked Wee Heavy-add this to the list of Mad Fox misses for me


starte with this:

Evolution Special 608

Very respectable belgian pale ale brewed in good old Maryland


then had this:

Ola dubh-ditto to what you said. Might go to Old Town location tomorrow with the family and have another.


split one of these with my friend:

BFM Abbaye de St bon chien 2011-I'm not a sour guy, but was looking for something distinctly different than the Ola Dubh-agree that it was a good one to end on

sweetcell wrote:
Some absolutely amazing beers on offer at the Paradiso. I tried:

- Ola dubh: mind blowing. Thick malt, heavy caramel, strong oak, borderline burning alcohol.
- Captain Lawrence's Golden Delicious: a dry-hopped tripel aged in brandy barrels. not distributed in this area, so Pizza Paradiso trucks it down themselves from upstate New York. Really nice Belgian and apple flavors with a touch of tartness. This was my "hydrating" beer… At 10%.
- Elysian the Dread: A  respectable oak aged imperial stout. Very creamy. Least fav of the 4 i had but I'd still have it again.
- BFM Abbaye de St bon chien 2011: defies description. An 11% sour biere de garde, and a very sour one at that. With wood flavor. Wow. Just wow.  I'm not the biggest sour fan but this was damn impressive. End your evening with this one. You won't be tasting anything afterwards. In a good way ;D

sweetcell wrote:i've heard good things about Harviestoun Ola Dubh

Stevewizzle, you need to try this one.

James wrote:
Not worth $5 for a bomber of DIPA? that's so cheap!

i know, and it still wasn't worth it.  i looked at the bottle and told myself "shoulda spent $3 more on something better".  agree with your other lagunitas selections, all good beers.  just the maximus was a miss for me.

were the beers you tried half-price?  i might hit up dupont tonight or tomorrow, depending on work.

in the same category from lagunitas is also Hop Stoopid, which I seem to remember as better than Maximus.

Yees, all draft were half price!

sweetcell wrote:

James wrote:
Not worth $5 for a bomber of DIPA? that's so cheap!

i know, and it still wasn't worth it.  i looked at the bottle and told myself "shoulda spent $3 more on something better".  agree with your other lagunitas selections, all good beers.  just the maximus was a miss for me.

were the beers you tried half-price?  i might hit up dupont tonight or tomorrow, depending on work.

James wrote:
Pleasant surprise running into stevewizzle. though he was the one doing the running.

funny, i also ran into stevewizzle!  t'was at the DC Homebrewers' Club monthly meeting, so after your meetup at the PP, and we talked about the Ola Dubh he had just tried (although neither one of us were able to get the name right…).  another successful meeting.  Mike the Mad Fementationist gave a talk on brewing sours.  he passed around 4 brett'ed beers but i didn't get to try them as i was too far back, bottles were empty before they got to my area.  i got to taste his soured dubbel aged on plums afterwards - wow.  tried another more traditional, straight-up soured pale ale and a bunch of other things including a citra-hopped ESB which was interesting.  even walked out with 6 pounds of crystal wheat malt thanks to a club sponsor (Briess Malting). 

i left a tad early to make the HTDA show at the FSS (comments on the show in the "this week's roll call" thread).  they had harpoon IPA on tap, which at best is mediocre but the keg mine came from was clearly oxidized and tasted stale.  washed that down with a ruthless rye in a bottle and finished off with a flying dog belgian white (seasonal).  they had other FD options as well, it varied from bar to bar.  so not an amazing beer selection but there were a few options to choose from.

In Germany, a US beer invasion.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/in-germany-a-us-beer-invasion/2013/04/30/0d03f6e6-adf3-11e2-8bf6-e70cb6ae066e_story.html?hpid=z5

Enough already with boring German beer.

sweetcell wrote:

James wrote:
Pleasant surprise running into stevewizzle. though he was the one doing the running.

funny, i also ran into stevewizzle! 

my alcoholism is really showing these days.

US Craft Brew invades Germany

?I have worked in pubs all my life, but never has anybody asked for an American beer,? said Uwe Helmenstein, 52, a barkeeper in the middle-class neighborhood of Friedenau.

?I don?t think it would work here,? he said, because perceptions run strong that American beers are flavorless and thin.

But with small-scale breweries springing up around Germany?s cities, many of them creating beers that emulate American craft-beer styles, the seeds of a broader shift may have been planted, some advocates say.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/in-germany-a-us-beer-invasion/2013/04/30/0d03f6e6-adf3-11e2-8bf6-e70cb6ae066e_story.html?

‏@GBDchixndonuts 5m

We're tapping @mainebeerco Lunch IPA TONIGHT! Don't miss out on one of the best IPAs in the USA…will go fast!