dont know but love the oskar blues 10-50

Just got back from the Union Jack's Hop Fest.
My drinking order is as follows:

Russian River Pliny the Elder 8%
Very smooth, with full hop flavor

Bells Hopslam 10%
Very strong, and really sweet...reminded me of sipping southern comfort

Otto's Double IPA 9.6%
Very pale tasting ipa, yet smooth

Moylan's Hopsicle 9.2%
Very dry, with minimal flavor

Green Flash Imperial IPA 9.4%
Tasted like somebody decided to brew beer with grass clippings, after a cat pissed on it

Port Mongo Double IPA 8.5%
Very smooth, and delightfully flavorful

Founder's Double Trouble 9.4%
Very bold flavor, smooth, and just all in all absolutely delicious

That's all I had. I finished my friends glass of Young's Double Chocolate stoudt cause he was being a skirt. He drank a Founder's Kentucky Breakfast Stoudt before that and hated it. The dude worships Guinness, but has no taste of other beers that are way better. He goes to a Hop Fest and ends up drinking Windsor and Coke.

Anyone tried the new Guinness Foreign Extra since they started importing it to the U.S.? I had it at St.James Gate and quite liked it.

Bader, I've seen that before. They also make one called End of History. Its 55% and comes in a dead sqirrel instead of a paper bag.

Ding... Ding... We have a winner.

It's from Brew Dog. We're looking at getting a bottle of "Sink the Bismark" which sits between "Tactical Penguin" and "End of History". Bismark is about $130 a bottle. I've not priced, much less found, a bottle of History.

Penguin was (is) a sippin' beer. Great cherry, oak and malt smell and taste with smokey, earthy overtones.

Now to get my hands on a bottle of Utopia...

- L

Something I have never thought to try until today... Stella Artois. Actually quite a tasty beer. Very smooth and good flavor. Should be for $11 for a 6 pack.

I'm a simple man.

How is the new Arcade Fire album?

Stella from a keg is a vast improvement over the stupid green bottles.

Meanwhile back at the ranch....

Last week I picked up a growler of a local brewpub's oak barrel wee heavy. Man that's a tasty beer.

Ever tried their Old Chub scotch ale? Good stuff. Chris Swearengen kindly brought me a case when he came down this way for nationals a couple years ago. I am down to my last can. (Hint, hint.)

I think I had the old chub but I can't be sure. I love all of the other oskar blues beers, particularly the ten fiddy (bourbon barrel aged one time on draft even!) and mama's little yella pils.

my first experience with dale's pale ale was in an intertube on the shenandoah river at harper's ferry. cans are win.

Tonight's beer is Sam Adam's Summer Ale from the kegerator. I've got a bottle of their New World Tripel I've been waiting to try, but it's one of those giant bottles of 10.5% beer so I need somebody to drink it with me.

Thanks to Hustler and a beer trade at the track, I had a bottle of this last night.

http://www.averybrewing.com/images/s..._bottle150.png

Normally I do not ales that are this hoppy since I am not a hop head, but more of a dark Belgian style guy, like Aventinus, Optimator, Trois Pistoles, La Terrible, etc, or hefeweisens. But this one has great complexity and sweetness that cuts through the hops and gives it a great overall flavor. It is really good. I travel to Boulder from time to time and am going to make a serious effort the next time I am there to go to the brewery and have some on tap. Thanks Hustler :makeout:

Today I had lunch at Freetail, a microbrewery/restaurant located in NW San Antonio.
http://www.freetailbrewing.com/
I sampled a few of the beers and ended up with a glass of the Rye Wit. They did not have Live Oak Hefeweisen on tap (the best Hefe on the planet). Damn it, I wanted to get a growler.

Someone I know at work gave me a couple of homebrews to try. I think I'll break at least one of them open tonight. It could be interesting.

Avery makes good shit. I recently had an Avery Majarajah. Delicious.

Agreed on the Avery status... I really like their limited series barrel aged stuff. All of the Wilds/Sours I have had have been solid. Still a few more I'm trying to get my hands on though...

Since I haven't posted any of my tasting here in AWHILE I will add a few from some of my more recent tastings... All of these reviews were copied from my review at BeerAdvocate.com. Link to my profile if you want to see more: http://beeradvocate.com/user/profile/thagr81us

Mad River Brewing 21st Anniversary Barrel Aged Rorschach II Double Brown Ale: A- (4.03/5)
"Had as part of Hobo Cookout #1! Massive thanks to mikesgroove for sharing his 2010 Vintage Speical 2011 for mikesgroove hand bottle edition with me. Bottle #2 of 3 (no seriously, it had '2/3' written on the bottle)! Served from bottle into a Stone nonic. Poured a deep chocolate brown with a half finger off-white head that subsided to a minimal amount quickly. Maintained decent lacing throughout the glass. The aroma was comprised of sweet malt, dark chocolate, roasted malt, and wood. The flavor was of sweet malt, slight roasted malt, caramel, dark chocolate, and wood. It had a medium feel on the palate with mild carbonation. Overall this was an excellent brew in all aspects. Went down very smooth and was quite enjoyable. While not the most complex beer I have ever had, this one really worked nice for the style that it is in. It dared us to tick it, so we did just that... Really glad Mike shared this one with me!"

New Belgium Lips of Faith: La Folie: A (4.4/5)
"2009 Vintage! Served from bottle into a Bell's tulip. Poured a deep reddish brown with a three finger off white head with a light tan hue that subsided to a minimal amount slowly. Maintained excellent lacing throughout the glass. The aroma was comprised of sweet malt, sour, dark fruit, and dark chocolate. The flavor was of sweet malt, dark fruit, sour, tart, and dark chocolate. It had a medium feel on the palate with high carbonation. Overall this was a great brew as it always has been. Excellent aroma and flavor coming off from this brew. First time I have ever gotten dark chocolate off of this brew, but it works with the other flavors present adding a slight hint of bitter to it. Have had this multiple times from multiple sources and will definitely continue to do so. If you have not had this beer before you need to do so now! Still want to try a C&C version (hint hint traders!)."

New Belgium Lips of Faith: Le Terroir: A (4.47/5)
"Served from bottle into a Bell's tulip. Poured a slightly hazy red-orange with a three finger white head that subsided to a minimal amount very slowly. Maintained phenomenal lacing throughout the glass. The aroma was comprised of sweet malt, sour, citrus, and citrus hop. The flavor was of sweet malt, sour, tart, citrus, and citrus hop. It had a medium feel on the palate with high carbonation. Overall this was a great brew. The hop character on this one really makes its presence known. Really adds a very nice additional character to the sour and tart backbone going on in this one. A definite must try without a doubt!"

Smuttynose Baltic Porter (Utopias Barrel Aged): A (4.38/5)
"Review #800!!! Had as a supplement during a recent Goose Island Bourbon County Tasting in Charlotte with marine1975, boodingo, CarolinaKevin, HopDiggityDawg, and GehenHerzog at Mike Brawley's house with Budweiser sign blazing! Massive thanks goes out to Brawley for bringing this tape labeled bottle out for all of us! Served from bottle into a Duck Rabbit snifter. Poured pitch black with a half finger light brown head that subsided to a minimal amount quickly. There was no lacing evident throughout the glass. The aroma was comprised of sweet malt, caramel, dark chocolate, and wood. The flavor was of sweet malt, dark chocolate, wood, caramel, subtle dark fruit, and sweet alcohol. It had a heavy feel on the palate (almost syrupy) with mild carbonation. Overall this was an excellent brew. It was a really nice way to end the night of having all kinds of great beers with a bunch of great BAs. The aroma on this one was quite nice and inviting. However you would have never guessed that it had been barrel aged by the aroma alone. Once you take your first sip you know what this beer has been through with a sweet alcohol flavor combined with the wood character of the barrels shining through. This is a really well done brew... For the second Smuttynose -bal aged rarity that I have had, this one seems to be on-point as well. Really hope I get the chance to try more -bal aged offerings from Smuttynose in the future as I have thoroughly enjoyed all the ones I've had so far!"

I was driving to work today and I got to a red light. I had my foot on the brake pedal and then it popped and went straight to the floor. F me in the A. I drove the truck home anyway, and I found a ruptured hardline. In fact, they all look rusty, so I guess I'm staying home from work and getting paid to fix my truck today.
Before I decided to get in wrenchhead mode, I took the miata to the local beer distributor and purchased a Fort Collins Lunchbox Variety Pack. It contained 2 each of Major Tom’s Pomegranate Wheat, Rocky Mountain IPA, Kidd Lager, Z Lager, Retro Red and Chocolate Stout. I drank the Kidd Lager and the Z Lager. They almost taste similar, but the Kidd Lager is darker almost like a porter. The Z lager is like a porter as well, but more of a smoked porter and not as dark.
Ever notice how certain breweries have a signature taste that haunts every one of their brews? Fort collins leaves that signature, as does anything I have ever drank from Lagunitas.

Last Weekend's Tasting
 

A little late in posting this, butit's been a busy week.

Here's the line up from last week's tasting. Our focus was "Summer Beers"...

Bonus...
 

I bought a box at HEB (the local grocery chain) yesterday.

Contents of the box:

(1 of 40 in the State of Texas...)

And I thought La Terrible was expensive! Wow...

I am now shitbag wasted and am watching "Natural Born Killers". I know it's more of a stoner flick, but I'm no Detroit rock city burnout, so I'll just deal with the in between burnt out/ drunk understanding of movies. This movie is a classic. Rodney Dangerfield rules and juillette Lewis is soooo hot!

Then again, this is one of my favorite movies. I mean who doesn't love these psychadelic 90's movies that are so drug ingrained with NIN music and synthetic mind bending tools. You make this all go away..I just want something, that I can never have."

what'd you pay? the market by my house had one...

I'm movin to Texas.

$250. Cost will be split between the 5 of us in the beer tasting group I have at the house each month, so $50 each.

The mind boggling parts of the story (for me at least) is that:
(a) this was found in the local grocery store vice Gabriel's or Speck's (the two large liquor store chains in the area),
(b) Larry the Beer Guy at this particular store had not one but three of these (yet I bought the last one in stock),
and
(c) they're building a larger store to replace the existing one (due to open Feb '12) that will have double the area for booze.

- L

Good line up on the summer selection, Bader. I especially like the Pinkus. I have really enjoyed everything I've tried of theirs.

bader... Nice on the Utopias. I have yet to get my hands on any. Granted I am kind of waiting for a few good friends to crack one open and give me a small pour. *fingers crossed*

Someone recommend me a beer (I am t3h newb). I like Stella, Heineken, Amstel and Beck in particular.

Trois Pistoles

http://thefullpint.com/wp-content/up...s-pistoles.png

Cheers!

What all breweries do you have local to you? I might could come up with something...

I am at the canal street pub in Reading, PA right now.
Just had a Weyerbacher Slam Dunkel...delicious double dunkelweizen.
Then I had a Sly Fox Peggy Maibock. It's a German style lager that I felt was very pleasant to drink and it tasted great.
Now I'm on a Laginitas Wilco Tango Foxtrot. Definately has a Lagunitas signature taste, but very mellow, yet without the harsh after taste. Is it just me, or do a lot of beers that are dry hopped smell like a cat's litter box?

I've found cat litter box in a few IPAs and Double IPAs in my day... I forget which hop variety gives that off that aroma. But I do know amarillo smells like pot...

As does Ithaca Flower Power. Green Flash Imperial IPA is the most cat pissy brew ever.

I'm home drinking a Saranac variety pack. Not bad for the cheap-o price. I favor the Black Forest Lager.
I did notice something over Memorial Day weekend. I had off for 4 days straight, which is unheard of, and Friday I drank at the Canal Street Pub. I had a Weyerbacker Slam Dunkel, a Sly Fox (not sure what, but it was a German Lager and was delicious), and a Lagunitas WTF. I drove the Miata there with my friend, and I took him to his house and then drove home. Felt sober as a priest on Sunday. Then I went out and drank crappy beer...Yuengling Lager, Yuengling Premiun, Miller High Life, Rolling Rock, Guinness mixed with Yuengling Lager (Black and Tan). I turned into a fuckin scumbag asshole. WTF? I drink high test beer that's microbrewed with excellence, and I am fine. I drink shit beer that flows all across the country and I turn into the biggest jerk off to sit in 3 countys worth of bars.
There is something to this, I swear.
My best friend homebrews beer that tastes better than any DogFish product, and I can drink it all day and feel normal. I drink a Pabst Blue Ribbon and a Genessee Cream Ale and it's Jekyl and Hyde time for me.
Know what I'm sayin?

So much for not having Utopias before... Got a chance to try a 2005 Vintage this Saturday during a MASSIVE Barrel Aged Only beer tasting at a friends. It was quite divine! Also sampled 28 other new-to-me brews as well. Might be attending a Sour Beer Only tasting this coming weekend if I can find the ammo to take with me to get in. *fingers crossed*

Stupid retarded sour tasting is ON at a friend's and I have an invite to come... Let the madness ensue.

List so far incase you care:

ALLAGASH: Vagabond, Vic Franc
ALPINE: Ichabod ‘09
BAYERISCHER BAHNHOF: Brettanomyces Lambicus Berliner Style Weisse
BOON: Horal’s Oude Geuze Mega Blend ‘09
BRUERY: BW XII, Oude Tart, Sour in the Rye, Melange 1, Pinotlambicus, Mischief Gone Wild
CANTILLON: Blabaer, Fou’ Foune ‘10, Lou Pepe Kriek ‘07, Vigneronne, ‘04 Kriek
CAPTAIN LAWRENCE: CdC, Flaming Fury, Rosso
CASCADE: The Vine ‘08 & ‘10, Bourbonic, Vlad
CIGAR CITY: Vuja De, Humidor Series Gruit
CISCO: Lady of the Woods, Cherry Woods, Monomoy Kriek, Winter Woods, Dark Woods
DRIE FONTEINEN: Doesjel, Schaerbeekse Kriek
GOOSE ISLAND: Juliet, Madame Rose, Matilda(infected batch)
ITHACA: Brute, LeBleu
LOST ABBEY: CC ‘10, DDG, Isabelle Proximus, Veritas 007 & 008, FdA ‘10, Red Poppy ‘11, CdT ‘11
MIKKELLER: It’s Alive ‘08(?), Spontanframboos, Spontankriek
NATTY GREENE’S: American Sour Ale, Raleigh’s BA Strong Ale
ODELL: DeConstruction Golden Ale, Friek
RUSSIAN RIVER: Deviation, Beatification b02 & b03, Cons, Supp, Sanct, Tempt
TELEGRAPH: Gypsy
UPLAND: Blackberry, Cherry, Kiwi, Raspberry
UPRIGHT: Fourplay ‘11

Trailer Park Boys was the best show of the 90's

hi.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...1&d=1307635164

Blue Moon or Shock Top?

Blue Moon.

I wish I could have a beer at lunch... Going to a tasting later tonight though. My contribution to said tasting: Deschutes Black Butte XXI http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/63/50846

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_L4B9VgnA4l...0/P1060299.JPG

"Similar recipe and strength (11% ABV) to Black Butte XX (2008), enhanced by adding some Theo's Chocolate cocoa nibs from Seattle, dry-hopping it with 100 pounds of Bellatazza's locally roasted coffee, and then aging a portion (20%) of it in Stranahan's Colorado whiskey barrels."

I went to Friday's a few days ago and tried Magic Hat #9. It's definitely different but I really liked it, probably one of my favorite beers. Its got a very fruity flavor, so figured you guys would like it too.

Magic Hat had a winter brew that was pretty good. It was called Winter Growl, I think. Reminded me of a Black and Tan that was made with a Dark Lager.

Was it Howl by chance??? http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/96/52704

That's the stuff!

Yeah, I had it awhile back... Not too bad. Not my favorite style...

3 months 1 day and counting until I head out of this hell hole for a couple weeks and can have a beer or two...or 70

I just downloaded a beer app on my iphone called "Pintley". It lets me track and rate beers, etc. It's a free app, so anyone interested should check it out.

I do that as well... But mine is online. Only take notes on my phone...

Just bought a case of Lagunitas Wilco Tango Foxtrot. I had it on tap at a local bar, but I never bought it in a case. It was like $37.99 for a case of 12 22oz bottles. I did have a Lagunitas "undercover investigation shut down ale" on draught with my lunch today. I felt it was very overpowering for a Lagunitas poduct, but it was ok.
I also bought a case of Young's Double Chocolate Stout. 24 11.5oz bottles was like $47.99. Absolutely delicious.

Avery Collaboration for me today.
http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/30/34877

Avery maharajah, I think that's how it's spelled. I had that at a hop fest, it was real good.

Bought some 'La Fin Du Monde' made by Unibroue, in bottles, while on a business trip in Wisconsin last week. It is an outstanding tripel. In fact I think it is my favorite tripel now. It is a good choice when one wants something 'lighter' than Trois Pistoles or La Terrible, but still with a lot of character and kick. Highly recommended, and it takes the edge off of those disappointing track days that have been cancelled due to fire.

http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:A...yMSSAOu3yaq1nG

This beer is one of the few exceptions to my usual dislike of hoppy ales. It has plenty of good maltiness and complex flavors that balance out the beer, like Avery Salvation does for example. Much more depth IMO than something like Arrogant Bastard.

I've had excellent success with all of the unibroue beers. Those canadians know what's up.

Tonight I had Anderson Valley Boont in a can and an Appalachian "Hoppy Trails" IPA. both great. the IPA washed down some hot salsa and the Boont washed down a bison burger.

After an outstanding dinner at one of the local restauraunts, my wife and I decided to stop off at the Yardhouse (brew pub) on the way home. After having my usual Trois Pistoles I saw that they had five other taps all next to the Trois Pistoles tap with a sign reading 'six pack' or something like that. So I ask the bartender what the deal was and he said those six beers were in a Belgian sampler tray they were offering. I read the list of beers in the six pack and was intrigued so for the hell of it I ordered it.

It was the best of beers and the worst of beers...
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-z...0/IMAG0457.jpg

The short version:
Leffe Blond: Good lighter beer, has an interesting creamy taste to it.
Karmeliet: A good tripel, very nice taste. Good complexity. I would definitely get a full glass of this one again.
Trois Pistoles: Awesome (I already knew this, but the bartender would not let me make a substitution with something else, which was lame)
Kwak: FAIL - syrupy, bitter, no redeeming qualities whatsoever IMO
Maredsous 8: FAIL - Somewhat gimmicky smoky flavor, bitter (overly hoppy), thin (not much complexity), no finish. Not nearly as good as the Trois Pistoles. I do not care what beeradvocate says on this one. Maybe it was an old tap? Though the Yardhouse keeps all of their tap beer under purge from what I have seen.
Lindemans Framboise: MEGAFAIL - WTF! Syrupy, sour, blackberry flavored crap in a glass. I am not sure if this is trying to be a malted liqueur (not malt liquor) or what. But I do not see how anyone could finish a full glass of this. I did not even make much of a dent in the sampler. Every sip was just, well, citric-acid-tart awfulness. My wife thought if we added a lot of sugar to it that it might improve LOL.

My wife is not an avid beer aficionado so her tasting opinions are useful and interesting as a fresh look. She agreed that the Karmeliet and the Trois Pistoles were the best of the bunch, and that the bad ones were really, really bad.

I've been known to accept Tripel Karmeliet into my gastro-Valhalla. I will try the 3 Pistols.

ZX-TX would not been seen alive at "Hop Fest". Now "Barley Party" is another story.

Werd. Back in the dark ages before the Great American Beer Enlightenment the Canadians also supplied us with some decent alternatives to the usual American lagers (Miller, Bud, etc).

ZX, have you never had a Lambic before?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lambic

They come in peach, cherry, raspberry and some other randoms.

They are reknown for being "that beer that you give to people who dont like beer" haha.

Yes but still that stuff was really unpalatable imo.

Some lambics do take some getting used to... Personally I love lambics, krieks, and guezes. Just something about the fruit, sour, tart, and funky flavors all blended together that keep me coming back.