The Beer Thread

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Best brewery in Silver Spring. Walking distance to my office but I haven’t been there in going on 7 months.

Space wrote:

StoneTheCrow wrote:
Elder Pine has been hit or miss for me - the hits are really good, though. Really nice spot, too.

The last time we went late on a Friday and they were out of IPAs. Never a good thing.

Drove all the way there, wife got carsick from the country roads, and they said they were filled to capacity so better try some other place. We went to Downtown Crown and got a Cushwa DIPA and a Bourbon County.

You should have checked out Lone Oak or Brookeville Beer Farm, which are close by.

Heilung4eva wrote:
AstroLab has been absolutely crushing it lately. Verrry happy to be within their delivery zone :)

Agree. Been drinking their Gravitas Rainbow.

Also loving Cushwa and Nepenthe.

shemptiness wrote:
You should have checked out Lone Oak or Brookeville Beer Farm, which are close by.

Can’t imagine Lone Oak ever meeting a capacity limit.

BBF has really fallen off lately.

I want to get back to Saints Row and True Reapite at some point.

Would like to hit up Nepenthe and that Celebrated Summer Record shop too.

I wasn't a big fan of BBF beers when i went a couple of years ago. Maybe a tad better than Waredeca. I've heard of Lone Oak and Nepenthe but had to look up where they're actually located just now.

i had an opportunity to enter civilization last week, so i hit up Total Wine to see if there was anything interesting to be had.  they had some Born Yesterday in the fridge that was fresh, so i grabbed some along with some Backwoods Bastard.  most notable thing that i saw was KBS for $18/4-pack.  a year ago they were going for $24.  maybe Founders finally got the message…

GABF was held online, whatever that means, this past weekend.

the expo was a no-go, but the competition was still held and you can see winners here.  notable:

[li]VA: 16 medals, lots of names i don't recognize.  interesting that both Lost Whino and Port City medaled for Vienna lager, and Devils Backbone won the category several times in the past… is vienna lager the official beer style of the Commonwealth?[/li]
[li]MD: poor showing at only 2 medals, although Silver Branch nabbed the gold in saison - a highly competitive category.[/li]
[li]no medals for DC.  boooooo. [/li]
[li]no pro-am this year, due to the pandemic.[/li]

I had about 5 beers at silver branch a year or two ago and was not impressed 
Don’t recall the saison?
But with all the great brews coming out of VA/MD  it is sad that these three are the names that won for the DMV

sweetcell wrote:
i had an opportunity to enter civilization last week, so i hit up Total Wine to see if there was anything interesting to be had.  they had some Born Yesterday in the fridge that was fresh, so i grabbed some along with some Backwoods Bastard.  most notable thing that i saw was KBS for $18/4-pack.  a year ago they were going for $24.  maybe Founders finally got the message…

2015 called, they want their references back!

What message did Founders finally get?

KBS is now a year round beer. I noticed it for $17/four pack at Whole Foods. I would have bought some at that price, but i have way too much beer at home, including KBS dating back to 2017. I would say I'm purposely aging it, but really it's aging because i bought too much. At least all my Tree House ipa's are from 2020.

I actually have so much store/brewery bought beer to go through that I'm not homebrewing until the Spring. I even still have a case left of the quad homebrew that i brewed last Fall. It's actually mellowed and drinking quite nicely now, as you predicted back in the Spring.

My experience has been that KBS doesn’t age as well as Bourbon County or CBS. YMMV.

Silver Branch was noticeably better the last time I went but still a few steps behind AstroLab. I don’t recall having the saison, either.

sweetcell wrote:
GABF was held online, whatever that means, this past weekend.

[li]VA: 16 medals, lots of names I don't recognize. 

Just checked the link; Wow VA kicked butt …Tied with WA for 16, and beat them in a few categories! (WA did have 7 golds tho)
NY and FL did horrible too

  I guess places like Aslin, Commonwealth, Tripple Crossing, Hardywood, The Veil, Brothers, Ocelet, Red Dragon, and others just don't enter these contests? (I guess since people already know they are great…not worth the $385 per beer cost plus the actual beer and shipping…)


You are right..I haven't even heard of 9 of them

I've had these two and I do think they are very tasty…not a good enough judge to say gold worthy on both
Safety Dance Smartmouth Brewing Co. Kellerbier or Zwickelbier Gold
ODIS O'Connor Brewing Co. Stout 2020


These Gold's surprise me, as they seem like competitive categories…I'm basing both these judgments with no actual knowledge…
Plumpricot Beale's Bedford VA Specialty Berliner-Style Weisse Gold
Mosaic Pale Ale Random Row Brewing Co. Charlottesville VA Juicy or Hazy Pale Ale Gold (Beat WA's Reuben's Brews )
Crazy Jackass Ale Great American Restaurants - Sweetwater Tavern Centreville VA Rye Beer Gold (Beat WA's Chuckanut Brewery - North Nut)

Beales in Bedford I have heard of because there was just an article that the owner is opening a Richmond brewery.

I'm at Mellow Mushroom, drinking something called,  Alltech Lexington Kentucky Pumpkin Barrel Ale.

I'm, in love.  And tipsy, again.

Awwwww, hell.

Did you need to clean your keyboard after you saw that news

They’re also doing a collab with Jailbreak, I believe?

Went to Elder Pine last nite. They didn’t have all 19 taps going but the beers I had were damn good. They’re now the best brewery in my immediate area. Need to go back soon but I won’t even try it during a weekend.

StoneTheCrow wrote:
Went to Elder Pine last nite. … They’re now the best brewery in my immediate area. N

Man wish these guys could get VA distribution, guess I'll need to cross the border to get some
Alcohol laws are stupid

It isn’t Sapwood good. But it’s the best within 5 miles of me.

StoneTheCrow wrote:
They’re also doing a collab with Jailbreak, I believe?

Went to Elder Pine last nite. They didn’t have all 19 taps going but the beers I had were damn good. They’re now the best brewery in my immediate area. Need to go back soon but I won’t even try it during a weekend.

Went last weekend, and can confirm. Such a wide variety of beers, all done very well. They must be really hitting their stride, I think every beer we had was near the top of all of their untappd scores. Generous half pours and friendly service, too. And a very nice, distanced outdoor space to drink them. Will definitely return.

We followed that up with Lone Oak. Nice (and hugely popular) space, mediocre beer, and terrible food. Cool to visit once, but won't return.

Lone Oak is wildly popular. I guess it's the space cause it sure ain't the beer.