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Some friends and I made a stop at this year's Barleywine Festival at the Toronado here in San Francisco. They have around 50 Barleywines available for your tasting pleasure many of them very good. The festival runs through the 26th, if you are interested in this sort of thing. http://www.toronado.com/events.htm#137 I've been intending to go to this pesky event for about 3 years now, and this was the first time I actually made it. I like but don't love Barley Wines. My first priorities were to taste the Speakeasy and Stone offerings, so I got tasters of both. Actually, I didn't hear which was which; but, after tasting it was immediately apparent which was which. The Old Godfather from Speakeasy had all the quintessial Speakeasy flavors. Perhaps a little too much. It really tasted more like a double Prohibition, than a barleywine to me. The Old Guardian from Stone was a nice gargoyle of a beer. Intense strong and hoppy. Certainly worth seeking out. Next I wanted to sample the offering from El Toro. My wife and I are big fans of their Poppy Jasper, and I wanted to see what they could do with a Barleywine. Unfortunately, the answer is not much. This was easily the worst beer of the night and the worst beer I can remember having in some time. They didn't list the alcohol percentage; but, I think it had to be over 15. It tasted like malt, hops, brown sugar, and everclear had been mixed in a bucket, left overnight and bottled the next week. I didn't take notes, so after that things get a little muddy. 21st Amendments Lower de Boom was very good. Anchor Brewings Old Foghorn quite tasty as usual. Lagunitas Old Gnarleywine was very tasty. Of the beers which had one the tasting contest, the only one in the top 5 which was not sold out was Alaskan Brewing's Big Nugget. I'd not tried any beers from this company before, so it was a pleasure to find that we also judged it among the best of the evening. I'm going to have to try some of their other beers. If you're in town, be sure to check it out, just don't forget to pace yourself! Erik

Sweet: http://lexus.msn.com/id/2074206/sid/2097342?GT1=6132

I posted about this place in the NY Forum but since it's buried in a thread about Patchogue, I wonder how many beer lovers actually saw it. BrickHouse Brewery I tried the BrickHouse Red, which I thought had nicely balanced flavors, but was overly fizzy and seemed to lose its head too quickly. My friend had the Hurricane Kitty, which was described at the bar as an IPA. I would have termed it amber. He reported it was hoppy indeed. It held its head properly. He liked it a lot. Has anyone else been to this place?

Can anyone shed light (no pun) on the reason Samuel Smith insists on putting its beer in clear glass bottles?

I've had the following craft brews recently: Magic Hat #9 - really liked, but don't think I couldn't drink it all night Victory Lager - good stuff Victory Hop Devil - also good stuff Victory Prima Pils - not bad, but I like the previous 2 better Victory Golden Monkey - I can't quite form an opinion yet. I like it but I don't at the same time. I haven't been a fan of any Belgian style brews that I've tried, but there is still something about this beer that appeals to me. Dogfish Head Shelter Pale Ale - pretty decent, first pale ale I've had I have quite a few more craft brews on the "To Try" list - brews from Great Lakes, Stoudt's, Troeg's, Magic Hat, and Penn (not sure if this is considered a craft brewery). If anyone can tell me where to find Magic Hat brews in Pittsburgh, I'd be appreciative. One of the local beer distributor owners said he's been trying to get some in but can't for whatever reason. I wondered if this was the case throughout the state or not. It wouldn't make much sense to me since I had the Magic Hat in Baltimore, so I don't see why a distributor couldn't get it around here.

Hey N.E. Ohio brew lovers what are your favorite beer shops? Who offers a unique selection and which stores offer lots of single bottles so you can try lots of varieties without springing for the whole six pack? My two current favorites are Chuck's in Chagrin Falls and Warehouse Beverage on Mayfield Rd. in Mayfield Heights. Chuck's is located in a beautifly restored old building. Lots of old wood and charm. Excellant selection with the Belgiums well represented. Warehouse doesn't offer the charm but has a great selection and really helpful advice. What are your favorites?

OK, so I'm in Longmont, CO, for business. After the drive from the Denver Airport up to Longmont, my co-worker Rich and I get settled in to our hotel rooms and then go set up our classroom. Hunger pangs hit so it's time for lunch. We head over to the Pumphouse brewpub in downtown Longmont. Lunch consisted of a Santa Fe burger for me and a Reuben sandwich for Rich. Both were very delicious. We washed them down with IPA and Amber ales, again all beers were very delicious. Following lunch we made the obligatory trek up to Fort Collins to worship at the grotto of New Belgium Brewery. We took the brief tour then bellied up to the bar for the tasting of the beers. Good sized samples of Fat Tire, Blue Paddle Pils, 1554, and Transatlantique Kriek were enjoyed. We were also treated to samples of La Folie, Bier de Mars, an IIPA that is available for tasting only at the brewery, and a blended beer that was made for the employees Christmas party, a blend of La Folie and pomegranate and raspberry juices. I didn't want to leave! But alas, Odell's Brewing beckoned! We made the short drive to Odell's and sampled just a few of their brews. (unlike New Belgium, we had to pay for the privilege of drinking at Odell's!) Ft. Collins Brewing (formerly HC Berger) called out to us, but I had a dinner invitation with an old friend so I needed to get back to Longmont. While at my friend's house for dinner, I got to quaff several beers from Lefthand Brewery. Tuesday night took Rich and I into and through Boulder to do some shopping, but man does not live by shoes alone, so we did stop at the local Gordon Biersch for dinner and some beers. We both decided on the meatloaf with garlic mashed potatoes and we were not disappointed. To wash the food down I first had the very tasty Schwartzbier and Rich had the Winterbock. We followed those with a Martzen for me and Rich had another Winterbock. All beers were crisp, clean, aromatic and full of flavor. That brings us to Wednesday. Enroute to Boulder the previous night I noticed the sign for Redstone Meadery, but they were closed. (tasting room hours are M-F 3:30 - 6:30) So, we decided to hit the meadery on Wednesday afternoon. Boy, am I glad we did! The tasting consisted of 1 oz shots of 6-8 meads, and they were some of the best meads I've had in a long time! Traditional mead, metheglins with Juniper berries, and vanilla and cinnamon, pyments both white and red, and delicious melomels both sparkling and still. I purchased 4 bottles which they were able to ship home for me. They also honor the AHA membership card by giving a 10% discount. On my way out, I asked if there was a brewpub close by. I was directed to Rockies, one of the oldest brewpubs in the country being established in 1979. When we entered Rockies, we were greeted by a party in full force! Turns out Rockies was celebrating their rebirth into their former entity, Boulder Brewing! And all the beer was FREE until 7:30pm! Not just the beer, but also a sizable buffet spread was available for partiers! I quickly ordered the IPA, Hazed and Infused, and made my way to the buffet. Between gulps of the Cascade/Chinook/Centennial hopped beer I filled my plate with Bratwurst, chicken wings, Filet Mignon sandwiches, and slabs of smoked trout! The sandwich and the trout were unbelievably wonderful! So was the beer! I ordered another beer, the Mojo, their Amarillo hopped APA. MMMMMM! Hop burps were prevalent tonight! I sidled up to the Brewer, David, who took us on a quick tour of the premises. Along the way he allowed me a taste of their still aging Barleywine. It seems to be an English variety and not as hoppy as I would have expected, but still quite tasty. Back to the tasting room for more beer, a very delightful Porter and then the Scotch ale. The Scotch ale had big time malt and smoke from peated malt! This beer is a winner! But, as 7:30 approached I wanted another hop fix so I ordered up another Hazed and Infused. What a wonderful surprise this was! Free beer and food, and it was some of the best beer and tastiest food I've had! BTW, while in the tasting room at Boulder Brewing I ran into Gary Glass and Kate Porter from the AHA! I had a nice visit with them and they invited me to visit the AHA offices on Thursday. This was a great beer day! The Redstone meadery tasting room is a must visit if you are in this area and the Boulder Brewery should also be on your list. Be sure to tell them that Bob from OKC sent you!

Aloha we just bought a nice bottle of the chocolate bock from Sam Adams. Never had it before and want to know what temperature would be best (I'm thinking slightly chilled but not too cold). What are some of your experiences? Thanks and a hui ho

http://www.lemis.com/grog/brewing/temperature-control.html Got an old computer lying around that isn't useful for anything? Well, download a copy of FreeBSD or Linux (Free, Open Source operating systems similar to UNIX) follow this guy's instructions and buy the kit components, and you too can be home brewing like a complete geek. The software was developed by a British chemical engineer. He's also got some cool recipes for homebrews: http://www.lemis.com/grog/brewing/index.html

Recently I stopped at Shangy's and picked up a variety case from the Southern Tier Brewing Co. of Lakewood, NY. So far I'm impressed with what I got. The case had a six pack each of IPA Porter Belgian Trippel Phin & Matt's Excellent Ale The house style appears to favor a fuller bodied, maltier beer with an aggressive hopping... but the residual sugars from the malt balance the hoppiness. Once I'm seated in front of each of the beers I'll report on the specifics, but having tried one of each at this point, I'll recommend them. Anybody else tried beers from these guys? Opinions?

Uncorking one right now. Share your impressions on their other efforts?

Hey Gulleteers- I've once seen this topic just briefly mentioned... but I was out at Target yesterday and ran across a "deluxe" Mr. Beer brewing kit at deep, deep discount. As I am fascinated with homebrew ( as well as the distrotion of traditional foodstuffs for commercial purposes) I shelled out the $7.48 for the kit thinking what a hoot. You are supposed to be able to brew real beer in a plastic/wood keg then bottle the stuff in plastic pop bottles. The kit comes with a can of hopped malt. Has anyone tried it? What was your experience? Do things like this make people more interested in brewing beer for real, or after a Mr. Beer experience do people feel creating real food is just too mysterious, and the process is better left for the professionals at Budweiser?

OK - Do I'm at the Beer and Wine MAkers' Warehous on Murphy Road in Hartford, CT today. The SO knows I wanna make some lambic, and I'm girding my loins for a brewing battle. You know, finding the right yeasts, buying (or planning to buy) a gazillion pounds of raspberries or cherries, etc... And she finds a kit named Framboos. Has anybody tried this yet? It looks like hopped malt syrup and raspberry juice.....is it a shortcut to something approaching lambic? Thanks in advance - Rob

This year this gift is selling like hotcakes in beer loving Belgium and Luxembourg. My husband got it for Christmas and he and our friends enjoy draft beer at home. Any other opinions???

I just wanted to post about a new place that I checked out on my last trip to Vegas. We were in the local liquor store, Lee's, and started to talk to a local about IPAs. He mentioned that there's a great bar for rare beers....The Freakin' Frog. We got directions (it's off of Maryland near the university) and we on our way. It's truly a hole in the wall and very plain. I thought that the local was pulling our leg, until I looked at the beer list. HOLY #$%! I thought that we hit the jackpot! They have plenty of beers from all over, and the menu consists of an excel spreadsheet (about 7 pages long) that's updated weekly. They had Stone's Vertical Epic, from '02, '03 and '04. If you're willing to drop some cash, you can really get some rare finds! It was too bad that I was driving, maybe next time I'll have to get someone else to drive. Has anyone else checked this place out?

Back in college, a local shot and a beer bar (patronized by the locals,not the college kids) started to draw a college crowd by selling $1.00 imported bottles every Wednesday night. Trying a bunch of these beers is what got me into the beer thing. After running through the list at the bar ($1.00 for a big Paulaner Hefeweizen?!?!), we found out about a liquor store across the river which had a wine and beer cellar. Every few weeks, we'd go to the store and buy a six pack of whatever beers we had never heard of. When I saw the hang tag on the Samichlaus (World's Strongest Beer!) and Thomas Hardy's (Rarest Beer in thr World!), we HAD to buy them. I knew nothing about beer at the time other than, "It tastes good," or "This sucks!" I read the label on the Hardy's, which explained that the beer could be aged for twenty five years. I drank one and thought, "Strong, dark, sweet...I'm not sure about this one." I don't think I liked it, but it didn't suck, either. So, I put the remaining bottles in a paper bag, took the bag home and put it in the closet. Somehow, the bag didn't get thrown away and I got it back when my mother gave me one of her many "Whatever you don't take out of the house this weekend gets thrown out next trash day" edicts. I decided that the holiday weekend would be a good time to try one of my two remaining bottles of this beer. I shared it with my cousin, who homebrews and worked as an assistant brewer at a now defunct microbrewery in PA. We cracked it open last night. Wow! Eighteen year old beer! Intense chocolate, toffee and raisin aromas. Most, if not all, of the carbonation had dissipated over the years. It was intensely sweet and viscous, no noticeable hops. I was amazed that a beer could hold up this long. So now I'm down to one little bottle. I think I'll wait until 2006, it's 20th birthday.

Winter is my favorite time of the year to go beer shopping. This year's purchases (and I'm not done yet): Victory Old Horizontal Anchor Our Special Ale 2004 Corsendonk Christmas Ale Stoudt's Winter Ale Unibroue Edition 2004 2003 Samichlaus Still looking for: Troeg's Mad Elf Weyerbacher Winter Ale (which has the best label of all the winter beers!) Are there any others that stand out this year??

I'm in charge of beer for a friend's NYE party, so I'm going to get a keg. I always have a hard time picking kegs out, so I thought I'd ask the eG beer experts what they suggest. Here are the requirements: • Easy drinking - Lots of people will be drinking this, so nothing too distinctive, or bitter. • Something with a kick - I've been to enough parties where they have watered down black label beer. The designated driver could drink 6 and still be good to shuttle everyone home. Thinking of something in the 5%-7% range. • Reasonably inexpensive - I'd love to spend ~$80-$100 or so.

Wanted to find out if anyone is familiar with a turnkey brewpub equipment company called Specialty Products International, out of Chapel Hill NC. They market a set of brew equipment that brews, ferments, and serves out of the same vessel. They use a malt extract they sell, eliminating grain storage and grinding. The total time to produce is only 6 days, which seems short. Anyone used this? Anyone know someone that does use this? Anyone tasted the end product? I'm interested in opening a brepub, and find this intriguing. Thanks, Doug

Stopped in last week to the The Grey Lodge for a special promotion with Dogfish Head beers, "Minute By Minute" a vertical tasting of DFH's 60 Minute, 90 Minute and 120 Minute IPAs, as well as its Old School barleywine. Impressive stuff. The 60 Minute is an almost perfect ale, good balance, great aroma and good hop character. The 90 Minute is so much more assertive, pretty ballsy, with huge gobs of hops (the 90 Minute was actually served thru DFH's Randall The Enamel Animal, its last minute dry-hopping tap attachment), but an alluring quality that made it a fascinating glass of beer. The 120 Minute IPA , at a whopping 21% ABV, was syrupy sweet with a open-faced slap of hops that seemed to go right to my head-ouch. A beer worth sipping slowly and a challenge to savor in a busy bar. The Old School , however, at a mere 15% ABV, was quite nice, if anti-climactic after the 120 Minute, but it was a really terrific barleywine, raisiny and mellow, with great hops sitting in the back, so to speak. But what really was impressive about the Grey Lodge that night was the REMAINING taps of beer, a really strong lineup including 2004 Sierra Nevada Celebration, Grolsh, Magic Hat Participation Ale, Lancaster Alt, Troegs Oatmeal Stout, Red Hook Hoptoberfest, and a gravity pour cask of Flying Fish Grand Cru, and the usual Yuengling and mass beers. But Jesus Christmas, how's a guy supposed to enjoy all that in one brief visit (I live 40 miles away, mind you)?!?!?! Kudos to the Grey Lodge!

Hurricane. Surprisingly smooth. Good kick afterwards, though they don't quite give you the "fuzz" of St Ides or Colt 45. I'd give it big props for offering both small mouth and the god awful big mouth versions. For $1.50-$1.75/40 oz, there's no better deal in America than the Slurricane. In Canada, during a ski trip last winter, our group became addicted to these forties called Labatt Wildcats. We were completely amazed that they were even rated by strength, so that some of the girls or weaker drinkers could stick to the lower alcohol grades, such as wildcat strong force or wildcat sevens (if they felt like partying). The big-time drinkers stepped right up to the wildcat tens. I wish they had these in the States. Refeshing, and easy on the wallet.

Hey there, beer fans! I did a search to find info but am overwhelmed by the new search engine. Forgive me if this is a repost. What thinks the beer demi-gods of Magic Hat brewing Co in South Burlington, VT? I've had #9 which would have been better in the summer being that it tasted like cherry/raspberry lemonade. Quite refreshing. Fat Angel "a paler shade of ale" tastes of a lighter Sam Adams, just right with pretzels and football. The label looks like subway graffiti, at home in the 'hood with my beer. Their website click me now is quirky and educational, listing the bitterness level of each brew.

FINALLY!! new beers at bottleworks

I was at a local watering hole last week with a buddy and we both tried a milk stout out of the Greensboro area called Duck Rabbit. it was rather good and full bodied, and like it says in the title: milky. I was wondering if anyone else had tried this beer, I think it is only available on tap right now? I liked that it was dark but also had a bright and clean taste to it. Is this something beer experts frown upon, namely a stout should be good and heavy or is it ok for it to taste "light."

Over the past several weeks I've been trying some various brews from craft and micro breweries. Well I've like some and hated others. So I'll throw out here what I've had and liked or not, and would like some suggestions on what else to try. Great Lakes Oktoberfest - loved this Red Hook Hoptoberfest - terrible Dogfish Head Punkin Ale - not too bad, but nothing particularly special Great Lakes Eliot Ness Lager - decent (but hard to judge after drinking the very hoppy Red Hook first) As for some of the better macro brews I like: MGD Bass Ale Labatt Canadian Ale Labatt Blue Dos Equis Corona Honey Brown From what I've had, I'd say I tend more toward Lagers, but do like some Ales too. More important, is that I do not like very hoppy beers (like Red Hook) and prefer the sweeter, maltier ones. I'd like to try some wheat beers as well as some of the good malty craft/micro brews. All suggestions are welcome.