The Beer Thread

James wrote:
Your take on the Midnight Brett as a little different than mine and Brennser's.

Started by James Ford, Message by brennser:
Midnight Brett is disgusting - it smells like vomit and tastes only marginally better

Quote from: James Ford on January 01, 2014, 10:58:04 PM

6. Allagash Midnight Brett.. 4.5/10. like cherry cola And I hate cherry cola.

Unsanity wrote:
Allagash Midnight Brett Ale. Kinda expensive but damn tasty. Reminded me a bit of the Clutch Dark Sour Ale. If you see it give it a try.

but the same as mine.  i thought midnight brett was fantastic. very drinkable. black sours or wild ales seem to be polarizing.

They are indeed. I didn't care much more Tart of Darkness either. Though I found it more drinkable thank Midnight Brett.

stevewizzle wrote:

James wrote:
Your take on the Midnight Brett as a little different than mine and Brennser's.

Started by James Ford, Message by brennser:
Midnight Brett is disgusting - it smells like vomit and tastes only marginally better

Quote from: James Ford on January 01, 2014, 10:58:04 PM

6. Allagash Midnight Brett.. 4.5/10. like cherry cola And I hate cherry cola.

Unsanity wrote:
Allagash Midnight Brett Ale. Kinda expensive but damn tasty. Reminded me a bit of the Clutch Dark Sour Ale. If you see it give it a try.

but the same as mine.  i thought midnight brett was fantastic. very drinkable. black sours or wild ales seem to be polarizing.

So we had another bottle share, and though I don't have a complete log of what was shared, I can report on the blind vertical tasting of Midwest IPA's we did. We had eight people tasting six different unnamed IPA's. Everyone made a list, from first (1) to last (6). Here are the results. The number is the average (place) score:

1. The Brew Kettle White Rajah 1.75
2. FatHeads Headhunter 1.875
3. Half Acre Heyoka 3.375
4. Three Floyds Zombie Dust 3.875
5. Three Floyds Alpha King 4.625
6. Columbus IPA 5.375

So there you have it, the #6 beer in the world on Beer Advocate (Zombie Dust) gets crushed by two other local Midwest beers. Guess hype does have something to do with ratings after all. (All six of those beers have a 92 or above on Beer Advocate).

James wrote:
So we had another bottle share, and though I don't have a complete log of what was shared, I can report on the blind vertical tasting of Midwest IPA's we did. We had eight people tasting six different unnamed IPA's. Everyone made a list, from first (1) to last (6). Here are the results. The number is the average (place) score:

1. The Brew Kettle White Rajah 1.75
2. FatHeads Headhunter 1.875
3. Half Acre Heyoka 3.375
4. Three Floyds Zombie Dust 3.875
5. Three Floyds Alpha King 4.625
6. Columbus IPA 5.375

So there you have it, the #6 beer in the world on Beer Advocate (Zombie Dust) gets crushed by two other local Midwest beers. Guess hype does have something to do with ratings after all. (All six of those beers have a 92 or above on Beer Advocate).

I've said it once and I'll say it again, I find Zombie Dust Three Floyds quite overrated.

P.S. You forgot my invite, brah!

James wrote:
So we had another bottle share, and though I don't have a complete log of what was shared

partial list: Element Brewing Dark Element, Crooked Staves Hop Savant and St. Bretta (Summer), Rivertown Brewing Ojos Negros blackberry sour, Jester King Das Uberkind soured saison, Evil Twin Imperial Biscotti Break Natale Pretty Please with a cherry on top, 3 Floyd's War Mullet.  i believe i'm forgetting a few.

James wrote:
So there you have it, the #6 beer in the world on Beer Advocate (Zombie Dust) gets crushed by two other local Midwest beers. Guess hype does have something to do with ratings after all. (All six of those beers have a 92 or above on Beer Advocate).

i wouldn't draw too many conclusions from this exercise.  n=1 and all that.  some of those beers were bought in grocery stores, so who knows how fresh they were or what conditions they were stored in before being sold.  the beer in last place, columbus IPA, definitely didn't taste like a 92+ beer.  the tasting was the first thing we did at the share and i was thirsty… and i didn't finish my columbus IPA.  based on this one incident, i wouldn't dismiss this beer either.

Yada wrote:
P.S. You forgot my invite, brah!

didn't know you were still interested… ;D

we'll let you know about the next one.

sweetcell wrote:

James wrote:
So we had another bottle share, and though I don't have a complete log of what was shared

partial list: Element Brewing Dark Element, Crooked Staves Hop Savant and St. Bretta (Summer), Rivertown Brewing Ojos Negros blackberry sour, Jester King Das Uberkind soured saison, Evil Twin Imperial Biscotti Break Natale Pretty Please with a cherry on top, 3 Floyd's War Mullet.  i believe i'm forgetting a few.

James wrote:
So there you have it, the #6 beer in the world on Beer Advocate (Zombie Dust) gets crushed by two other local Midwest beers. Guess hype does have something to do with ratings after all. (All six of those beers have a 92 or above on Beer Advocate).

i wouldn't draw too many conclusions from this exercise.  n=1 and all that.  some of those beers were bought in grocery stores, so who knows how fresh they were or what conditions they were stored in before being sold.   the beer in last place, columbus IPA, definitely didn't taste like a 92+ beer.  the tasting was the first thing we did at the share and i was thirsty… and i didn't finish my columbus IPA.  based on this one incident, i wouldn't dismiss this beer either.

Yada wrote:
P.S. You forgot my invite, brah!

didn't know you were still interested… ;D

we'll let you know about the next one.

yea… admittedly, I haven't been a good attendee… No exaggeration, we were out of town over half of last year's weekends + baby preparation + work + any other commitment it was tough to do anything else. Anyway… keep me posted, i don' think I'm out of town again until April.

Four of the six beers were bought in grocery stores.

The #2 finisher, Headhunter, was bought at the brewpub with no bottling date.

The #4 finisher, Zombie Dust, was bought at the brewery on the day it was bottled. It was the freshest of the sixth and still finished a distant fourth!

sweetcell wrote:

James wrote:
So we had another bottle share, and though I don't have a complete log of what was shared

partial list: Element Brewing Dark Element, Crooked Staves Hop Savant and St. Bretta (Summer), Rivertown Brewing Ojos Negros blackberry sour, Jester King Das Uberkind soured saison, Evil Twin Imperial Biscotti Break Natale Pretty Please with a cherry on top, 3 Floyd's War Mullet.  i believe i'm forgetting a few.

James wrote:
So there you have it, the #6 beer in the world on Beer Advocate (Zombie Dust) gets crushed by two other local Midwest beers. Guess hype does have something to do with ratings after all. (All six of those beers have a 92 or above on Beer Advocate).

i wouldn't draw too many conclusions from this exercise.  n=1 and all that.  some of those beers were bought in grocery stores, so who knows how fresh they were or what conditions they were stored in before being sold.   the beer in last place, columbus IPA, definitely didn't taste like a 92+ beer.  the tasting was the first thing we did at the share and i was thirsty… and i didn't finish my columbus IPA.  based on this one incident, i wouldn't dismiss this beer either.

Yada wrote:
P.S. You forgot my invite, brah!

didn't know you were still interested… ;D

we'll let you know about the next one.

I've also had White Rajah, Headhunter, and Zombie Dust all on draft and all three are pretty evenly matched on draft…my wife would pick the first two though

yeah but isn't zombie dust a pale ale, not an IPA - is it even a fair comparison?

Three Floyds calls it a pale ale, but I don't. Hoe many pale ales do you know that are 6.4 abv? And pack that much hop punch?

So why is it the #6 beer in the world? Are people giving it massively high scores because they think it's a pale ale and thus they have lower expectations? If it's truly the #6 beer in the world, it should be able to beat some single IPA's in a blind taste test!

brennser wrote:
yeah but isn't zombie dust a pale ale, not an IPA - is it even a fair comparison?

so i spent the weekend drinking throughout the bay area. SF friday, wine tasting in napa saturday, and russian river brewery on sunday.  it was tough, you guys, but someone had to do it.

on friday, went over to tornado in the mission for a beer or two.  appreciated the juke box, enjoyed the "i dont give a shit about you" attitude displayed by the bartenders, but ultimately thought their draft list was just okay.  probably an off night, but i had a good time regardless.

saturday was spent tasting at two different vineyards.  since i don't know shit about wine, i'll leave my wine talk to the very miminum, which is: i really enjoy the fact that people make wine in barrels so eventually russian river can age their sour ales in them.

sunday was christmas. we got to russian river early (1130am), and the place was a zoo already.  we managed to score two of the last seats at the bar right infront of the TV for the pats game.  sours mainly ruled the day, with beatification, supplication, and consecration all tasting great, but blind pig and pliny were $3.25 so plenty of those were enjoyed as well :)  thought beat was the best sour, i could drink that all day.  ended up walking away with two sixers of the pig and pliny, and 3 bottles of supplication. 

That sounds like a great time. I love a good sour beer.

Definitely sounds like you had a great trip. That's one I hope to make myself at some point. Well, except for the wine tasting.

How did Blind Pig and PTE compare for you?

you "enjoyed the shitty attitude exuded by the bartenders" of that one place?  why would you do that?  is that the new cool and hip thing to do;  savor the tastes of bad service from paid employees?

Seems about right for a city ruled by homeless degenerates.

walkonby wrote:
you "enjoyed the shitty attitude exuded by the bartenders" of that one place?  why would you do that?  is that the new cool and hip thing to do;  savor the tastes of bad service from paid employees?

James wrote:
Seems about right for a city ruled by homeless degenerates.

walkonby wrote:
you "enjoyed the shitty attitude exuded by the bartenders" of that one place?  why would you do that?  is that the new cool and hip thing to do;  savor the tastes of bad service from paid employees?

i almost spit out my breakfast.

it was somewhat TIC, i was told going in that the place was run by a bunch of assholes, so i didn't expect much.  service was fine, i got my beers quick and they were friendly enough. but there was a feeling of "i'm better than you" type in the air… i don't know, i'm having a hard time explaining.  it's not the cool, hip thing to do, i just heard that place does beer fantastically well so i was going to go regardless.

James wrote:
Definitely sounds like you had a great trip. That's one I hope to make myself at some point. Well, except for the wine tasting.

How did Blind Pig and PTE compare for you?

pig >>> PTE

and i'm still not sure if it's because i realllly like the pig, or if PTE just doesn't do it for me. 

You should have told them you were from Seattle. Where the Seahawks play.

stevewizzle wrote:

James wrote:
Seems about right for a city ruled by homeless degenerates.

walkonby wrote:
you "enjoyed the shitty attitude exuded by the bartenders" of that one place?  why would you do that?  is that the new cool and hip thing to do;  savor the tastes of bad service from paid employees?

i almost spit out my breakfast.

it was somewhat TIC, i was told going in that the place was run by a bunch of assholes, so i didn't expect much.  service was fine, i got my beers quick and they were friendly enough. but there was a feeling of "i'm better than you" type in the air… i don't know, i'm having a hard time explaining.  it's not the cool, hip thing to do, i just heard that place does beer fantastically well so i was going to go regardless.

Same for me. I think it's a little bit of both reasons for me.

stevewizzle wrote:

James wrote:
Definitely sounds like you had a great trip. That's one I hope to make myself at some point. Well, except for the wine tasting.

How did Blind Pig and PTE compare for you?

pig >>> PTE

and i'm still not sure if it's because i realllly like the pig, or if PTE just doesn't do it for me.