The Beer Thread

sweetcell wrote:
on wednesday night i'll be at this: http://phillytapfinder.com/event/brewing-networks-bna8/

looking forward to drinking Founder's Bolt Cutter & Doom, Moonlight Russian Imperial Braggot, Stone's Reason Be Damned, Weyerbacher Aquila & Insanity… at least i hope to taste all of these, we'll see how far i make it down that list.  supposedly there will also be some special meads from Moonlight Meadery.  

so i survived the National Homebrewer's Conference… still waiting to hear if stevewizzle made it back ;D

wednesday: the above-mentioned BNA8 party.  i liked the bolt cutter better than the doom.  the russian imperial braggot was insane. hop'solutely was surprisingly good.  tasted a number of other winners.  entertainment provided by The Trophy Fire (great power pop/rock) and the kids from the School of Rock (they melted faces).

thursday night was pro night, when the professionals brewers poured their wares in the grand convention hall.  best thing i tasted was Bitter Valentine, by Williamsburg AleWerks.  must have had at least 5 tastings of that.  the smaller breweries brought their A-game, some of the bigger boys phoned it in - Firestone Walker poured Wooky Jack, only, and the batch seemed off.  DFH had some great stuff on offer. Sam was serving for a while.

friday night was club night - the most fun i've had in a long while.  homebrew clubs decorate their tables with a theme and tried to out-serve everyone else.  a NYC club had 25 beers on tap.  a WV club had a kegerator that looked just like a mining wagon full of coal, with dynamite sticks as the tap handles.  a club from sacremento, Barley Legal, erected a whole saloon that was kick-ass.  they won the Golden Urinal award for bringing the most kegs - somewhere north of 100, probably around 150.  the theme for our club, the DC Homebrewers, was "occupy beer", protesting bad beer, "fermentation without representation", "we are the 5.8% (abv)", etc.  i can't even begin to decide what was the best beer that i tasted.  it was all awesome - a raspberry berliner wiesse, several barrel-aged RIS, lambics and geuzes, meads… it was beer nirvana.

friday night was the grand banquet which was a food pairing sponsored by Rogue.  at this point i was pretty beer'ed out.  the food, which was made with beer, was nice but the beer was merely OK: honey kolsch (new), american amber, rogenbier rye (new, i think), and the hazelnut brown. 

i also attended many seminars, got all sorts of free stuff from the vendor expo, traded beer, and drank more beer.  summer camp for beer dorks.

sweetcell wrote:

sweetcell wrote:
on wednesday night i'll be at this: http://phillytapfinder.com/event/brewing-networks-bna8/

looking forward to drinking Founder's Bolt Cutter & Doom, Moonlight Russian Imperial Braggot, Stone's Reason Be Damned, Weyerbacher Aquila & Insanity… at least i hope to taste all of these, we'll see how far i make it down that list.  supposedly there will also be some special meads from Moonlight Meadery.  

so i survived the National Homebrewer's Conference… still waiting to hear if stevewizzle made it back ;D

wednesday: the above-mentioned BNA8 party.  i liked the bolt cutter better than the doom.  the russian imperial braggot was insane. hop'solutely was surprisingly good.  tasted a number of other winners.  entertainment provided by The Trophy Fire (great power pop/rock) and the kids from the School of Rock (they melted faces).

thursday night was pro night, when the professionals brewers poured their wares in the grand convention hall.  best thing i tasted was Bitter Valentine, by Williamsburg AleWerks.  must have had at least 5 tastings of that.  the smaller breweries brought their A-game, some of the bigger boys phoned it in - Firestone Walker poured Wooky Jack, only, and the batch seemed off.  DFH had some great stuff on offer. Sam was serving for a while.

friday night was club night - the most fun i've had in a long while.  homebrew clubs decorate their tables with a theme and tried to out-serve everyone else.  a NYC club had 25 beers on tap.  a WV club had a kegerator that looked just like a mining wagon full of coal, with dynamite sticks as the tap handles.  a club from sacremento, Barley Legal, erected a whole saloon that was kick-ass.  they won the Golden Urinal award for bringing the most kegs - somewhere north of 100, probably around 150.  the theme for our club, the DC Homebrewers, was "occupy beer", protesting bad beer, "fermentation without representation", "we are the 5.8% (abv)", etc.  i can't even begin to decide what was the best beer that i tasted.  it was all awesome - a raspberry berliner wiesse, several barrel-aged RIS, lambics and geuzes, meads… it was beer nirvana.

friday night was the grand banquet which was a food pairing sponsored by Rogue.  at this point i was pretty beer'ed out.  the food, which was made with beer, was nice but the beer was merely OK: honey kolsch (new), american amber, rogenbier rye (new, i think), and the hazelnut brown. 

i also attended many seminars, got all sorts of free stuff from the vendor expo, traded beer, and drank more beer.  summer camp for beer dorks.

If I was atomicfront, I'd say "that sounds awful."

Yada wrote:

If I was atomicfront, I'd say "that sounds awful."

Actually I was going  to say that sounds great and I wish I knew about this in advance.  Why would I be against a home-brew convention? I have done about 12 batches at home this year.  Stop making everything about me.  You obsession with me is getting creepy.

Drink the District Beer Festival

Saturday, July 27 ? 11:00AM, 3:00PM, 7:00PM
Sunday, July 28 ? 11:00AM, 3:00PM

$20 (pre-sale/early bird only?)

What you get

    3 Hours of Unlimited Tastings of 50+ Beers
    Unlimited Full Pours of Bud Light & Shock Top
    Live Music, Lawn Games & Food Trucks

Take an unlimited tasting journey through more than 50 beers from around the world, dive into DC's most delicious food trucks, and enjoy awesome lawn games and live music on the main stage at this summer's Drink the District: Beer Edition, held on Saturday, July 27 and Sunday, July 28 in Mount Vernon Triangle. With this offer, you can snag tickets to your choice of five sessions, plus receive a commemorative tasting glass.

Be sure to buy early! The price will go up as sessions sell out.

Drink the District's Website
breweries
Devil?s Backbone Brewing Company
Tröegs Brewing Company
Smuttynose Brewing Company
Bold Rock Hard Cider
Victory Brewing Company
Goose Island
?and more!

   11 a.m. to 2 p.m. | Session 1 on Saturday
   3 to 6 p.m. | Session 2 on Saturday
   7 to 10 p.m. | Session 3 on Saturday
   11 a.m. to 2 p.m. | Session 4 on Sunday
   3 to 6 p.m. | Session 5 on Sunday

https://livingsocial.com/events/cities/1709-washington-d-c-citywide/722178-drink-the-district-beer-festival

i'm pretty sure even a'front would have liked it - there were plenty of german-style beers being poured.  someone i met & hung with at the conference won a bronze medal for his classic american pilsner.  our table went nuts when they called his name at the banquet.  definitely one of the fun things about that last big event - pulling & cheering for your buddies, even if you only met them 48 hours ago.

a'front, if you can, try to attend a NHC (http://www.ahaconference.org/).  such a blast: you learn a lot, meet amazing people (tons of drinking, zero altercations or even harsh words), get tons of free stuff, and drink the most amazing beer (all unlimited pours…  :o).  next year's edition will be in Grand Rapids, MI.  lots of good breweries to visit while there: founders, jolly pumpkin, dark horse, bell's, hopcat, right brain, new holland, etc.

sweetcell wrote:
so i survived the National Homebrewer's Conference… still waiting to hear if stevewizzle made it back ;D

things that survived:
me

things that did not survive:
a can of beer that exploded in my backpack
my phone
my lunch on friday
my pride

stevewizzle wrote:

sweetcell wrote:
so i survived the National Homebrewer's Conference… still waiting to hear if stevewizzle made it back ;D

things that survived:
me

things that did not survive:
a can of beer that exploded in my backpack
my phone
my lunch on friday
my pride

POTM.

when i watch this, i think of atomicfront.  you know . . . i bet hes pretty cool in person.  people on computers are always opposites of their forumer self.  somebody told me that once.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Sm8JM-K1dc&feature=youtu.be

From Deadspin:

36 Cheap American Beers, Ranked

Or maybe that should be 36 rank American beers 

Heading up to The Alchemist on Saturday… first time.  I'll report back after the weekend.

The Saturday of the Fourth of July Weekend when they can on Monday's and Wednesday's? In spite of a two case limit (this week only, I think) per person, I'd be surprised if they had any beer left. Check their twitter and facebook pages.

Stillwater wrote:
Heading up to The Alchemist on Saturday… first time.  I'll report back after the weekend.

James wrote:
The Saturday of the Fourth of July Weekend when they can on Monday's and Wednesday's? In spite of a two case limit (this week only, I think) per person, I'd be surprised if they had any beer left. Check their twitter and facebook pages.

Stillwater wrote:
Heading up to The Alchemist on Saturday… first time.  I'll report back after the weekend.

I was going to say the same thing. You'll be able to still have tastings and beers on draft there, but won't be able to purchase any cases.

Gggaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Stillwater wrote:
Gggaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

oh . . . there you are.

Going to Flying Dog tomorrow for the brewery tour.  You have to like this rule:

3. Don't bring your baby.

?All of our tours and events at the brewery are for those 21 and older.
?This includes small children and babies, so get a babysitter: Call your mother-in-law, cash in a favor, or bribe with the totally amazing beer you'll be bringing home.

i like people who bring their children to things . . . because i realize they are miserable and i feel good about that.  how, very.

As mediocre as their beer is, it doesn't seem like they should be trying to shed business like that. I'm not buying any more Flying Dog!

atomicfront wrote:
Going to Flying Dog tomorrow for the brewery tour.  You have to like this rule:

3. Don't bring your baby.

?All of our tours and events at the brewery are for those 21 and older.
?This includes small children and babies, so get a babysitter: Call your mother-in-law, cash in a favor, or bribe with the totally amazing beer you'll be bringing home.

From the Alchemist Facebook page:

Attention fans: We have decided to keep a case purchase limit of 2/person in place for the summer. We hate to limit folks who travel to Vermont to stock up on Heady and share with friends, but even with our new increased capacity, we continue to sell out weekly. We hope to lift this limit sometime in the future, but for now it will help us and our loyal retailers stay stocked for as long as possible. Thanks for understanding and cheers!

Going up to Troegs for a tour tomorrow.  Child-free tour hopefully!

James wrote:
From the Alchemist Facebook page:

Attention fans: We have decided to keep a case purchase limit of 2/person in place for the summer. We hate to limit folks who travel to Vermont to stock up on Heady and share with friends, but even with our new increased capacity, we continue to sell out weekly. We hope to lift this limit sometime in the future, but for now it will help us and our loyal retailers stay stocked for as long as possible. Thanks for understanding and cheers!

driving to vermont . . . to get beer?

thats like going to amsterdam . . . to smoke pot.