323 replies to this topic

[Kenwood wino]

[FONT=Impact]Living in the Northern Ca. Bay Area I have access to lots of great micro brews. We have a home dual tap to cut down on recycling and overpaying for good beer. We currently have Marin Brewing Breakout Stout and Moylan's ESB on tap. I had an ESB when I got home last night. It was killer! Nothing like topping off the secound brew with a little stout. Yummy!

[Rich Pawlak]

Anchor Brewing Co. Bock

This brand new bottling from Anchor pours big and full with a tall khaki head; upon settling you get an immediate whiff of bourbon and wood. First sip is a little thin, but with a semi-sweet chcocolate note on the back of the tongue. Silken mouthfeel. Delicious.

Enjoyed a couple of these during our weekly beer chat on Starchat. With a bag of Pennysticks Hard Amish pretzels!

[Monty Burr]

I'll go first.  Yesterday I drank Corona during happy hours, and later a Rogue Shakespeare Stout.
The former: Always good and thirst-quenching in the Florida heat.  Let the sun shine....
The latter:  Mmmm... 

Raining and chilly here in Seattle - Deer Creek oysters and Penn Cove Mussels with Alaskan Smoked Porter. Life is most pleasant.

[BCarroll05]

Results from March Madness, Round 1
(in which 3 American expats in Holland subject all the Belgian beers they can get their hands on to a systematic, rigorous blind taste-testing)


Abbey-style Triples, Set 1:
(in order from best to worst)

Corsendonk Agnus
This tasted typically "triple" - the faintest bit of sweet. It didn't have any of the off-characteristics of the next two, which were a close 2nd and 3rd but still very different from one another.

Witkap-Pater Tripel
The hoppiest of the four. Triple meets pale ale. C and P tasted pot. Hmmm...

Leffe Tripel
This most ubiquitous of the Belgian triples turned out surprisingly good. Triple meets Belgian wheat beer. Not too strong of a flavor. Refreshing.

Val Dieu Triple
Of the four today, this is the only beer actually abbey-brewed (and the only non-Trappist abbey-brewed beer in Belgium). The others may have some financial arrangement with an abbey (like Corsendonk) or just have an abbey-sounding name (like Witkap). Despite the authenticity of this beer, it came in a distant fourth. Tasted like socks.

Dinner: Grilled Shad with Bearnaise Sauce (from Davidson's North Atlantic Seafood)

Edited by BCarroll05, 02 April 2009 - 06:22 AM.

[kitchensqueen]

Eh, I just had a couple of Fat Tires. Goes alright with breakfast for dinner.

[Tom Gengo]

I'll go first.  Yesterday I drank Corona during happy hours, and later a Rogue Shakespeare Stout.
The former: Always good and thirst-quenching in the Florida heat.  Let the sun shine....
The latter:  Mmmm... 

All of them :D

[ScottNYC]

Kasteel Cru, a fine lager made with Champagne yeast. This is probably the lightest and most refreshing beer I have ever had. It is so unique, it almost tastes like a beer at the start and then finishes like a champagne. Expensive stuff but worth the price.

[Florida]

Southern Tier Gemini, a blend of ST's Unearthy and ST's unfiltered Hoppe.


A very nice beer with quite a complexity. There is a lot going on here between the yeast, malts, and hops resulting in a beer with citrus hop aroma and a sweet, fruity maltiness. However, it is too sweet side for my tastes and, for a IPA, the hops are certainly playing second fiddle to the malts.

[theisenm85]

Maui Brewing Coconut Porter
Dogfish Head 90 minute IPA
Maui Brewing Big Swell IPA

Very good stuff.
The Coconut porter has a lovely coconut taste, very nice beer.

DFH is not as fresh as it possibly could be out here on the west coast... but still nice beer. For a malt forward imperial ipa, not much better out there.

Big swell is a nice "restrained" ipa. I say "restrained" because being on the west coast, ipas that aren't pretty dry and ridiculously hoppy aren't that common. I can imagine it being awesome on the beach, very smooth drinking, pleasantly hoppy without being overbearing.

[Florida]

Dogfish Head 90 minute IPA

DFH is not as fresh as it possibly could be out here on the west coast... but still nice beer.  For a  malt forward imperial ipa, not much better out there. 

Wow! I guess in the land of PTE and Ruination, 90min comes across as being "malt forward." Wish we got the hop bombs you guys get out there.

Just had a Stone wine barrel aged 07.07.07 Epic over the weekend. Crazy interesting beer. A unique sweet and sour, grapey tartness hanging on a light, sweet malt backbone. Virtually no hops, but I'm not so sure hops and wine would get along together anyway.

[theisenm85]

Wow!  I guess in the land of PTE and Ruination, 90min comes across as being "malt forward."  Wish we got the hop bombs you guys get out there.

Possibly... I'm a little suspicious that the distributor in our area isn't good at getting these things fresh... I've had a couple that were more hoppy than others. I'm relatively certain DFH 90 wouldn't hit the hoppiness of PTE or Ruination.... but I'm pretty sure it's hoppier than I usually taste it. Oh well.

edit: I should say... the distributor in my area isn't terribly good at selling craft beer - so it probably sits around for a while.

Edited by theisenm85, 10 June 2009 - 02:59 AM.

[jesskidden]

Possibly... I'm a little suspicious that the distributor in our area isn't good at getting these things fresh... I've had a couple that were more hoppy than others.  I'm relatively certain DFH 90 wouldn't hit the hoppiness of PTE or Ruination.... but I'm pretty sure it's hoppier than I usually taste it.  Oh well.

edit:  I should say... the distributor in my area isn't terribly good at selling craft beer - so it probably sits around for a while.

Dogfish Head bottles are stamped with a "Bottled on" date, yellow ink "dots" on the neck. Unfortunately, the dating can be wiped off rather easily with a damp rag (I'm sure that'd be accidental- you know, while a retailer was "dusting"). If you're not seeing the date, I'd pass on a Delaware beer sold in California. In neighboring NJ, I won't buy any 90 Minute or 60 Minute ales that are more than 3 months past the bottling date.

Edited by jesskidden, 12 June 2009 - 05:28 AM.

[gfron1]

New to my area - I've really been enjoying Gulden Draak from Belgium. It reminds me of the great beers I had when visiting that part of the world.

[andiesenji]

I can't drink alcohol but am active on the Amber list, and one of the members posted the following link earlier today.
Fossil Fuels Beer

I thought someone might be interested.

[theisenm85]

Stone/Jolly Pumpkin/Nogne Holiday Ale
BuckBean Orange Blossom Ale
Kostrizer Schawrzbier
Buckbean Scharzwbier
Spaten Oktoberfest
Spaten Optimator
Paulaner Salvator
Krusovice Dark
Warsteiner Dunkel
other....

I was falling off my chair!

Just kidding. Most were part of a Beer Judging Certification Program class. All were just tastes, so no real alcohol intake.

[Peter the eater]

A very nice strong ale, malty and memorable. Looks nice in the glass. . .



ETA image of Fuller's 1845

Edited by Peter the eater, 20 September 2009 - 06:29 AM.

[BonVivantNL]

nice one, Peter. my last Fuller's, sometime this summer, was Golden Pride.

drinking a hefeweizen as we speak but am dreaming about a nice one i had yesterday... Bière Nouvelle by Brasserie de Saint-Sylvestre. a lovely beer.

[Rich Pawlak]

Theree beers made it into the beer fridge last week:

Flying Fish Oktoberfish, denser, richer, maltier than last year, with a discernable hop bite, a very nice Festbier indded!

Saranac Pumpkin Ale, my beer of choice with a hot plate of nachos; subdued spicing, nice round mouthfeel with nice amlt profile

Yards Brawler, the brewery's session beer, a roasty, toasty brown mild that satisfies greatly, and goes well with steak, beef stew, even maple-glazed grilled salmon!

[fresh_a]

1664

[Peter Green]

Badger's Tanglefoot
Zero Degree's (Readding) Vienna Dark, Elderflower Lager, Weissbeer, Pale Ale, Mango Lager, Black Ale
Adnam's Bitter and Honey & Hops (I may have the first bit of that wrong, but I can't read the photo yet)

[David A. Goldfarb]

Had a very satisfying pint of Abbot Ale in London this weekend--a bitter with a good balance of malt and fruit and pleasantly mild, natural carbonation that one doesn't find in American commercial brews.

[avant-garde]

Here's what I've been drinking lately.

http://www.youtube.c...eGrandOleHopry1

[countryboy]

I've just had an Innis and Gunn. My favourite beer on earth. Vanilla, butter, and I think, bananas. But people I give it to think I'm wierd.

[avant-garde]

Drank a Pliny the Elder last night from Russian River. Video review should be up on YouTube by tonight.

http://www.youtube.c...eGrandOleHopry1

[BonVivantNL]

yesterday at one of my regular pubs: St Feuillien Saison (delicious!), De Leckere Organic Pilsner (okay),
Flying Dog Doggie Style Classic Pale Ale (any more 'aromatic' then it would be soap. i'm allergic to cascade hops.), and Jopen Gerstebier (a new very nice and refreshing barley beer by Jopen).

[avant-garde]

Had a Rochefort Trappistes 10 yesterday, here's the review... http://thehopry.com/...-trappistes-10/

[david goodfellow]

My preferred current daily tipple is Greene King IPA, brewing beer since 1799, I will read you the blurb on the can.

An award winning, perfectly balanced, premium quality beer brewed in Bury St Edmunds Suffolk.

Award winning Green Kind IPA is easy to drink, making it the perfect choice for any occasion.

The characteristic hoppy taste and aroma comes from the use of Challenger and First Gold hops, which are combined with pale and crystal malts to create this perfectly balanced, premium quality beer.


I'll drink to that

Cheers

[nbaines]

At the moment I only have about a week to drink Ringwood Brewery's Huffkin which is their Autumn Ale.

I've also been drinking Brakspear's Oxford Gold

and another of my top three ales is Otter Brewery's Otter.

[david goodfellow]

Today, I will mostly be drinking Hoegaarden

http://www.hoegaarde...uk/whatisit.asp

[Scallop]

Moa St. Josephs, delicious beer from a tiny wine-town in New Zealand. One of the better beers I've had this year.