The Beer Thread

StoneTheCrow wrote:
Had no idea the dbl chocolate stout was at the club. Nice.

basement bar

Came home with way too many beers from my trip to chicago, but will be trying many of these this weekend….

Great Lakes: Eliot Ness, Commodore Perry, Edmund Fitzgerald (note- I hate porters, but love the song, so had to get it)

Capital Brewery (Wisconsin): supper club

Chi-Town: windy city wheat, pier pale ale

Bell's: best brown ale, oarsman ale

New Glarus: spotted cow (a favorite, so stocked up), moon man, two women, fat squirrel

Boulevard: single-wide, double-wide (750ml), smokehouse series collaboration #2 white ipa (750 ml; collaboration with deschutes)…also brought back their wheat beer for the wife.

Crooked Line: detour double ipa (750 ml)

Sam Adams: third way double ipa (1 pint, 6 oz)

Speaking of Bell's, I went to Church Key on Tuesday for the Black Note tapping.

Had never heard of it, but figured Bell's could do no wrong and it was the only keg in DC/VA, so what the hell.

Nevertheless, it was Kalamazoo Stout aged in Old Forrester Bourbon Barrels combined with their Double Cream Stout.  Clocked in at 11.5%, and it was absolutely delicious.  Really roasty and smooth, on the verge of being sweet, very good.

Made a stout night of it and also tried:
Diesel - from Sixpoint brewery
Christmas Eve at a New York City Hotel Room - from Evil Twin
NATAS - from DC Brau (Cask conditioned and dry hopped with centennial hops)

All had good roasty/coffee/chocolate notes.  Diesel was pretty standard, a little thin for my tastes.  Christmas Eve.. was good, a lot like Black Note, but just not as good in any area.  NATAS, solid beer, but I generally across the board am not a fan of the sweetness in most porters and this was the case here as well. 

So let me ask you, dear 9:30 board friends. How many of you would want to share a beer with Newt Gingrich? Wouldn't you be afraid of contracting herpes or boredom or something? Good lord, who writes this shit?


You don?t get more un-Romney than Gingrich. Imperfect and untidy, he?s the serial husband with whom anyone could feel comfortable sharing a beer. Or a keg. A sinner like the rest of us, he?s as familiar and comfortable as an old sofa.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-gops-death-wish/2011/12/09/gIQALe5CjO_story.html

Newt is a fucknig train-wreck

http://www.thedailyshow.com/collection/403573/a-whole-newt-ball-game/386213

I'm not going to match it against the Belgian holiday offerings, but I would say this is the best holiday themed beer produced by a North American brewery. Ever.

Was in West Virginia for work earlier this week (much to my chagrin), so I drove over to Ohio to this beer store I found on BA and bought two bombers of Three Floyds.  Got Alpha Klaus and Dreadnaught. They also had Lagunitas Sucks but I had a few of those on tap at Iron Horse last weekend. Can't wait to try these.

Both are awesome. Make sure you drink them quickly, as the Three Floyds hoppy stuff seems to lose intensity pretty fast.

Had an Alpha King 12 oz with dinner last night. Had an Arctic Panzer Wolf (maybe a bit more bitter than Dreadnaught, hard to say which is better) bomber a week ago. Had Dreadnaught on draft while in Chicago and Thanksgiving. yum yum.

misread your post: alpha KLAUS, which is a porter, will probably keep better than alph KING, a pale ale.

BrettnotBritt wrote:
Was in West Virginia for work earlier this week (much to my chagrin), so I drove over to Ohio to this beer store I found on BA and bought two bombers of Three Floyds.  Got Alpha Klaus and Dreadnaught. They also had Lagunitas Sucks but I had a few of those on tap at Iron Horse last weekend. Can't wait to try these.

i like beer and all . . . but james ford is a beer crack head.

;)

He is.  I should have checked with him before I flew to Dallas.  Got there and had no idea what I should have been looking for.  The only homework I ever do is what record stores I need to visit.

haha

just used about four years worth of miles saved to book a European trip for three.

Six days in Germany, three in Belgium, and three in Amsterdam. Rumor has it they drink beer in those countries.  ;D  Might even have to have more than one per day!

walkonby wrote:
i like beer and all . . . but james ford is a beer crack head.

;)

Quick: anyone have any opinions on the offerings from Lakefront Brewery (WI)?  I'm trying to choose here… Starting with a Fuel Cafe.

sweetcell wrote:
Quick: anyone have any opinions on the offerings from Lakefront Brewery (WI)?  I'm trying to choose here… Starting with a Fuel Cafe.

So, how'd you like it?

I was in Milwaukee summer before last for a wedding, did the Lakefront Brewery tour.  I thought it was all quite bland.  In my opinion, it all had that horribly thin, metallic taste that one associates with all the big lager breweries out there.  I later came to realize that is just a Milwaukee thing, as I was surprisingly disappointed in just about everything that I had on that trip because it all tastes like that.

New Glarus was an exception, but even that wasn't as good as the hype wanted me to think it was.

Has anybody tried the Infinium yet?  I have a bottle chilling in the basement, but the reviews seem mediocre to poor.

I think it's been discussed at some point in this thread, but how is the Pearl Jam 20th Anniversary Dogfishhead Brew??

Picked up two bottles of the weekend.

imbecile wrote:

sweetcell wrote:
Quick: anyone have any opinions on the offerings from Lakefront Brewery (WI)?  I'm trying to choose here… Starting with a Fuel Cafe.

So, how'd you like it?

I was in Milwaukee summer before last for a wedding, did the Lakefront Brewery tour.  I thought it was all quite bland.  In my opinion, it all had that horribly thin, metallic taste that one associates with all the big lager breweries out there.  I later came to realize that is just a Milwaukee thing, as I was surprisingly disappointed in just about everything that I had on that trip because it all tastes like that.

New Glarus was an exception, but even that wasn't as good as the hype wanted me to think it was.

i need to share my full appreciation of WI beers, what what tomorrow being my last day here, but until then: you're pretty spot on about the Lakehead.  the Fuel Cafe coffee stout was quite solid but don't know that i'd order it again, and the Wheat Monkey was unimpressive (and disappointing, since i love wheat beer).  the evening wasn't a complete loss, tho, thanks to Bell's.  the restaurant i was at had their White Winter Ale (http://www.bellsbeer.com/brands/10-Winter%20White%20Ale%20) which i quite enjoyed.  it was a nice mix between a heavy spiced winter seasonal and a summer'y whitbier.

sweetcell wrote:

imbecile wrote:

sweetcell wrote:
Quick: anyone have any opinions on the offerings from Lakefront Brewery (WI)?  I'm trying to choose here… Starting with a Fuel Cafe.

So, how'd you like it?

I was in Milwaukee summer before last for a wedding, did the Lakefront Brewery tour.  I thought it was all quite bland.  In my opinion, it all had that horribly thin, metallic taste that one associates with all the big lager breweries out there.  I later came to realize that is just a Milwaukee thing, as I was surprisingly disappointed in just about everything that I had on that trip because it all tastes like that.

New Glarus was an exception, but even that wasn't as good as the hype wanted me to think it was.

i need to share my full appreciation of WI beers, what what tomorrow being my last day here, but until then: you're pretty spot on about the Lakehead.  the Fuel Cafe coffee stout was quite solid but don't know that i'd order it again, and the Wheat Monkey was unimpressive (and disappointing, since i love wheat beer).  the evening wasn't a complete loss, tho, thanks to Bell's.  the restaurant i was at had their White Winter Ale (http://www.bellsbeer.com/brands/10-Winter%20White%20Ale%20) which i quite enjoyed.  it was a nice mix between a heavy spiced winter seasonal and a summer'y whitbier.

That's good to know that the Stout was good.

I guess I should've actually listed the four I had on the tour (their wheat, ESB, IPA, and american Red ale); all of which can easily come off rather thin tasting.  I do like Stouts and will give theirs a try if I ever come across it.

If you put and trust in ratebeer's ratings, you'll see that the Fuel Cafe Stout gets a 52nd percentile overall and a 29th percentile among sweet stouts. It's been awhile since i had one, but i'd say those ratings are pretty spot on. I'd drink one if you have me one, but I wouldn't buy it again.

sweetcell wrote:
i need to share my full appreciation of WI beers

so here we go: tonight is my last night in WI, after having worked here for the past 4 weeks.  brews that have been tasted:

New Glarus (http://www.newglarusbrewing.com/)
- Spotted Cow: my favorite local beer.
- Flying Squirrel: second-fav.
- Above 40 Boch (on tap) - not bad, a tad bitter, but wouldn't order again.
- Naked: wanted to like it, but in this case "back-to-basics approach to brewing" amounts to "rather plain".

Ale Asylum (http://aleasylum.com/)
- Contorter Porter: a little watery and a tad bitter.  did not like.  ironic since the label boasts of the beer's smoothness.  maybe i got a bad batch?
- Hopalicious: had it on a full stomach and it didn't sit well.  it was indeed hoppy.

Sprecher (http://www.sprecherbrewery.com/)
- Special Amber: surprisingly good.  first amber i've really enjoyed in a while.

so all in all, it's been fun but i haven't found anything that i'd bother bringing home.  HOWEVER, the beer highlight has been Cafe Hollander.  OH MY GAWD CHECK OUT THIS BEER LIST.  i'm like a kid in a candy store there.  i've been to the joint a few times and so far have tried:

- Delirium Noel
- High Speed Wit
- Wittekerke Winter Wit
- Goose Island Mathilda
- Confessions Grand Cru
- N'ice Chouffe (least fav but still solid)
- Ename Cuvee

i'm actually on my way there right now for my send-off party.  if anyone reads this in the next few hours and sees something on that menu that they recommend, please lemme know :)

If you've never had Three Floyds, you owe it to yourself to check this out (note: these are bottles only on the FFF) For hopheads, I especially recommend the Dreadnaught, Panzer Wolf, and Alpha King.

From the DCbeer website (words are not mine)


.The fine folks at Meridian Pint / Smoke and Barrel have just made all your Christmas wishes come true by announcing an event next week featuring one of my favorite breweries, Three Floyds. This brewery is often referred to as one of the very best breweries in America. They are a smaller brewery in Munster,IN and have a small distribution area, so take advantage of this rare opportunity.

The one-day-only event is next Wednesday, December 21, starting at 6PM at Smoke and Barrel in Adams Morgan and will feature a total of seven beers.

Dreadnaught, Alpha King, Gumballhead, Alpha Klaus, Arctic Panzer Wolf, Ragnarok, Pride & Joy

If you haven?t had a chance to try anything from Three Floyds, now is the time to make plans. Enjoy

The very next day at Meridan Pint, the fun continues with four more out-of-market beers. This is also a one night event. These will go fast so arrive early.

Ale Asylum Satisfaction JacksinLakefront RiverWest SteinNew Glarus Moon ManNew Glarus Spooted CowSprecher Black BavarianTyranena Rocky?s Revenge Bourbon BrownAle Asylum Satisfaction Jacksin

Lakefront RiverWest Stein

New Glarus Moon Man

New Glarus Spooted Cow

Sprecher Black Bavarian

Tyranena Rocky?s Revenge Bourbon Brown

My personal excitement for this event peaked quickly, only to be immediately extinguished as I realized I?m leaving town for the Holidays the day before. Reminds me Christmas 89??G.I. Joe Walkie Talkie set ??not so fast..here is some flannel kid.