I honestly think it was at a grocery store. There are tons of gems in the bay area for bottle shop rarities.

BCBS ('14) was the winner that night. I normally love Prairie Bomb, but drinking it after 10 other imperial stouts basically felt like I was freebasing coffee.

Wow, I have always had trouble finding Avery in the east bay. I hit all the usual haunts (i.e. Ledger's, Monument, Craft Beer, BevMo, Lunardi's, Beer Rev, God Hop, Diving Dog, OL, etc.), but never seem to see any of their stouts offered.

btw, I think the winner for my guests was a toss up between the Berserker and the Tree of Life.

Tonight's agenda:

Attachment 177350

I just discovered that:

A: The TV station is about a mile away from Revolution Brewing, and

B: The network ops manager down the hall is a fellow beer geek.


I see weight gain in my future.

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Just added 2lbs of raspberries to the fermenter with my Kolsch in it. Hoping that I kept the volume low enough to just get a nice hint of the fruit without it overpowering the beer. Just prepared some ingredients for the pumpkin ale I'm brewing tomorrow.

Next on my list is a peanut butter chocolate stout and a pretzel ale.

Successful brew day for the pumpkin ale.

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Unfortunately I couldn't get any fresh pie pumpkins yet so I went with butternut squash as a substitute. I roasted it in the oven with some brown sugar, nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves. I added about 3 more tablespoons of spices at flame out. It smells and tastes just like pumpkin pie. I'll be adding some more caramelized butternutsquash in the secondary.

Well, having just said this here, I grumbled something to the clerk at Monument Liquors the other day and he agreed that they never seem to get them anymore. . . . but then he goes on to say they still have some old ones from years ago when they USED to get them. So naturally, I take the bait and ask what he's got hiding in the back. A few minutes later, he returns with 3 bottles of Mephistopheles from 2008. :facepalm:

Just had one tonight. It was very good. I will definitely be returning to pry whatever few bottles he may have from his grip.

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^^Not same batch that I got, but similar. My bottles are batch #4 from Nov. 2008, and are only 15.92 ABV. :rolleyes: Needless to say, these age VERY well.

It saddens me to report that a beer casualty was sustained during the move from NYC to Chicago.


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I bought this bottle when I first moved to Hoboken in 2013. It was supposed to commemorate my eventual departure from the NYC area, and I've been holding onto it for three years. Tonight, I unpacked the beer boxes and loaded up the fridge, fully intending to drink this one tomorrow. But alas, upon opening the box it was in, I found that it had blown its cork and coated its neighbors in deliciously funky-smelling residue.

So that sucks...



Oh, and Ryan_G, that sounds delicious. I miss having space for a full-boil rig.

I usually avoid posting the casual local craft bullshit I drink but this one takes exception.
This is without a doubt the most foamy beer I've ever drank.
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Over carbonated?

Maybe. It had a hell of a "PSSTT" when I opened it.

Tasted fine though.

Thanks for the recommendation; it's great and she likes it too. (My wife, not the bottle opener :) )

A Belgian beer (Duvel) to break in my new stein from Brussels. Best girlfriend ever!

What the FRACK?! AB/InBev bought ...Northern Brewer & Midwest Supplies O.o

Big Beer buys Northern Brewer Growler Magazine

Not surprised in the least. They have been acquiring a ton of craft breweries. This is just the next logical step. Never used Northern Brewer myself. I have 2 great LHBS in the surrounding area. One of which is about 5 minutes from my house and is competitively priced with all of the big online retailers for all-grain ingredients and most consumables.

It makes so much logical business sense it hurts. Big company sees market shift, buys small company, leaves staff intact, provides capital for growth, provides access to well-established distribution, small company grows without being forced to cut corners or reduce quality.

It makes no logical sense for ABInbev to change anything about the breweries they buy (aside from giving them more money and better sales). They know that the easiest and fastest way to jump on the craft beer train is to buy a ticket. The stupidest thing they could do would be to try to alter recipes or change anything about the brands or personalities of the breweries they're buying. They are smart business people, so I think they know that.

I've had Elysian before and after, it's exactly the same. I've also eaten/drank at 10 Barrel before/after their acquisition. The only difference is that now, when I go to 49ers games, I can buy a 10 Barrel IPA at the stadium instead of drinking garbage.

I don't trust ab/inbev at all. Them getting into the homebrewing space worries me because I'm worried that they see homebrewers as competition to their relatively high margin retail sales. Driving down margins in the homebrew supply area may be a way of sucking the oxygen out of the room for homebrewers and eventually jacking up prices, kind of like how wal-mart works in the grocery business.

Then again, maybe it's just a way for them to sell off excess capacity in their supply chain.

It also might be that they may view homebrewing as a way of getting free market research- if they see what people are interested in and who is winning contests with what, they get a heads up on things they can be doing in their commercial craft beer operations. They also get access to brewing talent and so on.

My biggest fear is that with their distribution control they can basically pick and choose who will be able to distribute and who will die on the vine.