It is only 5:31pm eastern time and I am back on the road. I had to stop and get a Paulaner. It was an impulse buy.

 

http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/458/23720

solid beer...I'm happy to find another great Tripel, not as hot as I like, but seriously good and will buy again. Its also cool to see a Texas brew this solid.

 

LOL, my attitude doesn't carry well through my typing over the super-seriouz interwebz, no harm intended.

Devil's Backbone is just down the street from my place in VA, I wish they bottled beer but they only serve on tap and in Growlers so I'll have to wait until I get back home to get my fix. Blue Mountain Brewery just up the road from DBB ain't half bad either.

 

Went to the event for Great Divide Night of the Yeti... HOLY CRAP! Great brews. Also picked up bottles 486/1104 and 488/1104 of the Stranahan's Whiskey Barrel Aged Yeti's. Only one is mine though, the other is going to a friend for some trading. Got to drink the 2009 Oak Aged, 2010 Espresso Oak Aged, and 2009 Chocolate Oak Aged.

1) 2009 Oak Aged Yeti:
"Vintage: 2009 Served from tap into an imperial pint. Pours black with a minimal tan head. Maintains good lacing throughout. The aroma was comprised of malt and coffee. The flavor was of coffee and malt with a tart followthrough. It had a medium feel on the palate with medium carbonation. Overall the flavors are definitely in your face on this brew. It was quite good for an imperial stout, but not great. It definitely needed more flavors to counteract the tart followthrough that I was experiencing."

2) 2010 Espresso Oak Aged Yeti:
"Vintage: 2010 Served from tap into an imperial pint. Pours black with a tan one finger head that lingers. Maintains nice lacing throughout. The aroma was comprised of malt and coffee beans. The flavor was of malt and massive coffee. It had a medium feel on the palate with medium carbonation. Overall it was a pretty nice for a coffee flavored Russian Imperial Stout. The coffee was overwhelming in flavor though and most likely covered up a lot of the subtle flavors that might have been present. However it was still quite enjoyable and this is coming from a non-coffee drinker."

3) 2009 Chocolate Oak Aged Yeti:
"Vintage: 2009 Served from tap into an imperial pint. Pours a deep black with a tan one finger head that subsides to minimal. Maintains excellent lacing throughout. The aroma was comprised of malt and chocolate. The flavor was of malt, coffee, and a chocolate followthrough. It had a medium feel on the palate with low carbonation. Overall this is by far the best Yeti I have had. I will compare it to a 2010 bottle I have in the fridge right now in the near future for a comparison. This one will be hard to top though..."

 

This beer is made in South Texas and the "Devil's Backbone" is a mountain ridge in Texas.

 

Waitaminute... I think you are both right, sort of.

VA
http://dbbrewingcompany.com/ourbeer.aspx

TX (they make a tripel called Devil's Backbone)
http://realalebrewing.com/beer_styles.php

So Trey how wide spread is Real Ale brew? I have not seen any yet around here though I have not been actively looking for it.

 

Devils backbone is right by Wintergreen Ski resort outside of Charlottesville, VA.

I've stopped there many times after skiing and it's quite good. Their imperial stout is really good and only served by the half pint to keep people out of trouble.

It's also an awesome building where you can sit at the bar and watch the brewmasters behind the glass.

Food is good too.

 

Haha! Glad there is only one Great Divide Yeti...

 

Fancy grocery stores have it, every store in Austin has "Real Ale".

 

In Houston it was hit or miss. I know that Central Market stocked it but I couldn't find it at Spec's, which seemed odd at the time. Every Real Ale I've had has been pretty good and it's worth picking some up if you find it IMO. Along with Real Ale, St. Arnold and Live Oak are two other brewers in TX whose beers are not distributed as widely as they should be considering the good quality brews they turn out. I've kind of been jonesing for some St. Arnold Brown Ale but I'm pretty sure I'd have a snowball's chance in hell of finding any here in VA.

 

Sat down to an Ommegang Chocolate Indulgence Stout last night. Review and pic below as usual...

"Served from bottle into a Duvel tulip. Pours a dark dark brown almost black with a one finger light tan head. Maintains nice lacing throughout. The aroma was comprised of coffee, alcohol, and subtle chocolate. The flavor was of caramel, coffee, and chocolate. It had a medium feel on the palate with medium carbonation. Overall this was a nice chocolate stout. The subtle flavor notes were nice and not overwhelming so you could pick out some more of the flavors in the brew. The aroma was lacking however and could be improved on to make it more complex. Glad I finally got the chance to drink this one after so long."

 

Sat down to two new-to-me brews last night... Hustler, with you suggesting the Avery Salvation to me awhile back, you owe it to yourself to have the first one here if you have not...

1) Avery Collaboration Not Litigation Ale:
"Served from bottle into a Chimay goblet. Pours copper with a small amount of tan sediment present with a one finger white head that has a dusting of brown sediment that subsides to minimal upon sitting. There was nice lacing throughout. The aroma was comprised of bread, malt, and fruit. The flavor was of fruit, bread, small hint of alcohol, and a hit of sweet malt upon swallowing. It was medium on the palate with medium carbonation. Overall this was quite an excellent brew. It is by far one of the best brew mixes I have tasted to date and will be hard to top. It really makes me want to go back and drink Avery's and get ahold of Russian River's to pick out the aspects of each and compare them to the 'collaboration'."

2) Stone Cali-Belgique IPA:
"Served from bottle into a Duvel tulip. Pours yellow-orange with a one finger white head. Lacing was nice throughout. The aroma was comprised of only strong hops. The flavor was of hops with a slight malt note. It was medium on the palate with medium carbonation. Overall it had a nice hop note that wasn't overwhelming but was definitely present. It was a nice IPA but definitely not the best from Stone's IPA lineup. Still very good though..."

 

This morning, it occurred to me that I should finally contribute. This is what my fridge looks like at the moment:



Apart from the RedHook ESB and the Mothership Wit, no two of those bottles are the same. Couple of Chimays, some Stone Bitter Chocolate,Delirium Tremens (the best Pale Ale ever brewed, by at least an order of magnitude), some Old Chub, a couple of different milk stouts, good stuff.

 

Nice selection Joe... I spot a Rogue Double Dead Guy lurking in the back. Haha. I should post a listing of my mini fridge in my room and the one in the kitchen. By the way, the kitchen has one of 1104 Stranahan Whiskey Barrel Aged Yetis in it... I have 3 in my possession now. Only the one is mine... :( One is being shipped to Ohio on Monday and the other is for a local friend.

 

Blaah...I can't stand Tremens, not in the least. I'm more interested in what the hell is up witht hat Mountain Dew than with the beer!

 

today was an ellicottville brewery day, i got the blue berry stuff, its sooo good...... i gotta go out to the brewery one of these days and start filling up on the big jugs they have....lol....

 

Haven't really been drinking much new lately... Just buying various beers and shipping them off for some trading. Have some epic brews on the way currently... I will post my haul as they roll in. Thanks again Brian for getting me started trading. It is quite addicting. Haha

 

Haha, isn't it though? I had to block myself from using RB for a week or two to break myself of it, I'm maxing myself out at two trades a month now...shipping beer is a bitch, but it's so rewarding .

On a side note, I still have your box I said I was getting ready for you here...growing, I may decide to ship it eventually

 

The ban button is looking very appealing to me right now.


Mountain Dew Throwback- made with real cane sugar. I had to hop on the bandwagon and try it. A bit more citrusey than the modern formula, otherwise unremarkable.

 

You won't do it!!! I keed I keed... I'm not a fan of the Tremens, sorry, I can deal with the Nocturnum but the Deleriums just don't appeal to me all that much. I've been to the Delerium Cafe in Brussels BTW, 2500+ different bottles + ~40 taps on hand from all over the world at any given time, the beer list is like a freakin Webster's dictionary, no joke.

Ah, I'm in Germany where they don't have High Fructose Corn Syrup crap in anything anyway, so nothing special for me right now....I do like the real sugar better in Coke but that's about it, the rest you can't tell much of a difference at all.

EDIT: Since this IS the beer thread I guess I should make my post more beer-related... Hit the Hofbräuhaus this weekend. 1 Liter of anything they brew for around 3 euro, can't beat that. Place is like Oktoberfest every night of the year, I can't wait to go back and go again, wish I would've gone the first two times I was in Munich now.