My Favorite New Beer

[Hoax]

Well yes, its a Russian Imperial Stout.  Those are quite different from say, a Dry Irish stout (like Guiness), or an Oatmeal stout.  I'm just saying of all stout types I've tried, regardless of style, its one of my favorites ;).  Here in Berkeley theres a couple of places where I can get it served on nitro tap from a keg.  Dear god is it great.

Speaking of great Russian Imperial Stouts, Stone Breweries Imperial Russian Stout is really really fucking great as well.  Grab it while you can, its only a seasonal release, so it wont be around to much longer I believe.

Tell me more.

[Samwise]

Jupiter (on Shattuck, right by the downtown Berkeley station) has Russian Imperial on tap every now and then.  It seems to sell out quick though.

[rattran]

I like Two Brothers stuff, but it's hard to find out here (Rockford) and half the time I do find it it's 'off' Sorta old-tasting/skunked. I still pickup the occasional 6 of 'The Bitter End' or their Heavy Handed seasonal.

Places that sell beer are for the most part fucking morons, like the local grocery store chain "Logli" that has lots of six-packs and cases of various Bell's stuff (from Kalamazoo) that says right on the packaging KEEP REFRIGERATED sitting in the aisles.

[Hutch]

It just seemed that Midwest beers weren't being fully represented.

Goose Island, out of Chicago. I always keep some Honkers in the fridge.

[CmdrSlack]

I like Two Brothers stuff, but it's hard to find out here (Rockford) and half the time I do find it it's 'off' Sorta old-tasting/skunked. I still pickup the occasional 6 of 'The Bitter End' or their Heavy Handed seasonal.

Places that sell beer are for the most part fucking morons, like the local grocery store chain "Logli" that has lots of six-packs and cases of various Bell's stuff (from Kalamazoo) that says right on the packaging KEEP REFRIGERATED sitting in the aisles.

Wow, Logli is still around? That was my childhood grocery store when I was in unincorporated Rockford back in the early 80s. I actually fell out of one of their shopping carts and split my head open on the bottom rack part.

That explains a lot, I guess.

I live a ten minute drive from the brewery. I get growlers once a week. It's glorious. Two Brothers also has a homebrewing supply shop, so it's a great place to hit up as far as I'm concerned. It sucks that you can't find the fresh stuff. My store gets beer on Friday that was bottled Monday.

[stray]

I've dropped Guinness for a bit, and am now sipping on Belhaven. The two together probably make a good b&t.

There's only one decent microbrewery around here (more up in Austin). You guys are lucky.

[Yoru]

Jupiter (on Shattuck, right by the downtown Berkeley station) has Russian Imperial on tap every now and then.  It seems to sell out quick though.

That's because Russian Imperial Stout is the shit. I remember it going out pretty quick at Toronado as well.

I have a few minutes, so here's a quick tour of the Beers of Iceland.

Víking - Pale lager. Lightly carbonated, primarily sold in half-liter cans and on draught. Basically no hops or other flavors, goes down like sour water. It's shit, and the only reason to drink it is if you like hangovers.

Egils - Pale lager. I haven't had it, but it's reportedly a slightly higher level of quality than Víking. There's several varieties, but most places just carry Egils Gull. Also, all the variations are basically just pale lagers.

Thule - Pale lager. Very lightly carbonated and has a hint of actual hoppy bitterness in with the sour water flavor. Draught and half-liter cans. Also, shit.

Kaldi - Pale lager. Might've seen a picture of hops once. Tastes kind of like an American pale ale. Still, shit.

Skjálfti - Medium lager. This is a newer beer brewed only in Selfoss and is currently pretty difficult to find in pubs. Not heavily carbonated, but it has a strong bitter flavor from the hops, with a fairly thick maltiness underneath it. Decent, but not amazing.

You can also get some Danish imports like Tuborg or Faxe, but they're not terribly amazing either. Fortunately you can get Guinness in some of the pubs here, and Beamish at the liquor stores.

Edit: spelng

[Sky]

I'll tell you which retailers (I'm one of them) carry it.

Retailing? I need to read your blog 

I was so out of the action this summer, didn't make it to VT to check on the Long Trail summer brewmaster pick, he was doing Hefeweizen two years running. And I don't think Saranac did their Hef this year. I've tried over a dozen Hefs and nothing even compares. Don't know if it's the freshness or what, I get them from the brewery in both cases (at the risk of being punny).

Fiancee got a mix pack for me the other day. Always fun when she picks the beer. A marginal Hef (forget the brewery), a Long Trail Harvest, pretty fresh and tasty, a Saranac Imperial I haven't cracked yet, but I suspect it's an older brew and the Imperials at 9% are just too alcoholic tasting for me to enjoy. I agree with rattran, it's definitely risky buying non-local microbrews at our local beer outlet, who knows how long some of that piss has been sitting around?

We've started a tradition of hitting the local bar & grill on Thursdays for a cheap meal, 25¢ wings ftw. Problem is they only serve american lagers (ok, molson canadian and labatt's blue, but eh). Criminal, but that's mainstream america, I guess.

[CmdrSlack]

Retailing? I need to read your blog 

Heh, well I'm currently fighting my service provider to de-404-ify it. My debit card number changed during a billing cycle and although they have the new info, they're still balking on stuff. I have to call and sit on hold, so I've been lazy on that.

As far as Scandinavian beers go, the big producers tend to make shit. However, there are some brewers in Norway, Sweden and Denmark that import their stuff under the "Scandinavian Craft Brewers Guild" label that are really good. Mikkeller, Haandbryggert, Nils Oskar, and Nonske O (don't know the unicode for the O with the slash through it) all make some great stuff. Saisons, IPAs, Stouts, Porters, etc. All great. They're spendy for a single bottle (about $8.99 to $11.99 in these parts), but worth seeking out if you really like good beer.

[Teleku]

Jupiter (on Shattuck, right by the downtown Berkeley station) has Russian Imperial on tap every now and then.  It seems to sell out quick though.

Jupiter has Old Rasputin on Nitro tap every day.  It's one of there beers they always have (and always on Nitro!).  They also always seem to have Guinness and Old Speckled Hen on tap. 

I fucking love Jupiter's.  If any of you are ever in Berkeley, you need to stop by.  My current bus route from work to home has me catching a connecting bus at a bus stop almost directly in front of Jupiter's.  I also always have about 25 minutes to wait for my connecting bus.

That combo together = 

For my wallet =   

Edit:

Also, Yoru, your experience seems to be confirming a trend I'm seeing with Scandinavian beer.  Recently a friend of mine from Norway was visiting, and we had her try a number of the beers here (I try to hit Europeans with them as much as I can, to try and destroy the stereotype, heh).  I only had her drinking basic stuff like Fat Tire and what not.

Her reaction to every new beer pretty much went like this:
Her: *Takes a drink* "What the fuck!"
Us: "Whats wrong, don't like the taste?"
Her: "Why does your beer have so much flavor?  Beer shouldn't have this much flavor!"
 

I gave her an IPA for comedic effect.  That was funny.

[Yoru]

Scandinavians are allergic to flavor. You see the effects of it in most of their food, too.

That said, there's little rays of hope. Ölvisholt Brugghús, which produces Skjálfti, opened less than a year ago, and from what I hear, the owner wants to try to introduce a number of different ale-type beers if he does well. He put out a lager first because that's what the market's used to; even with the relatively mild hoppiness/maltiness, I've still heard complaints about it being too thick/rich from a number of people.

I'd like to hear from some of the Irish/Scottish folks on here about their export beers, since there's an outside chance I can snag those at the larger liquor stores.

[Teleku]

Out of curiosity (I must have missed it if you posted about it somewhere), what are you doing in Iceland now?  Thought you were in SF as I recalled...

[Yoru]

Out of curiosity (I must have missed it if you posted about it somewhere), what are you doing in Iceland now?  Thought you were in SF as I recalled...

I switched jobs a few months back and since then I've been all over the place, inside the US and out. Things are settling down now, so I'll be remaining in Iceland for the foreseeable future. It's a pretty fortuitous time to be an expat.

[Teleku]

Jurassic Beer

Thought that was pretty cool.  Need to see if I can find any locally.

[Samwise]

Everyone knows that Vikings don't drink beer, they drink mead.  How's the mead in Iceland?

[WayAbvPar]

This isn't beer, but I just invented (or at least independently thought up) a new drink:

Highball full of ice
Jigger of 10 Canes Rum (which is a great pure cane sugar premium light rum if you've never tried it)
Juice of Lime Wedge
Fill with Jones Berry Lemonade Soda
Stir

The best part of 10 Cane rum is that the bottle looks like it spells IOCANE from a distance (or when you are too drunk to see very far). I wonder if that was intentional?

[Abagadro]

Luckily I've built up a resistance. 

[MrHat]

I just had an Old Rasputin Russian Imperial with dried fish (russian also).

Fucking awesome combo.

[CmdrSlack]

Seriously, check out Mikkeller and Haandbryggerit if you think all Scandanavian beers suck.

These guys are in an early 90's US craft brew renaissance right now.

[Tarami]

Scandinavians are allergic to flavor. You see the effects of it in most of their food, too.

That said, there's little rays of hope. Ölvisholt Brugghús, which produces Skjálfti, opened less than a year ago, and from what I hear, the owner wants to try to introduce a number of different ale-type beers if he does well. He put out a lager first because that's what the market's used to; even with the relatively mild hoppiness/maltiness, I've still heard complaints about it being too thick/rich from a number of people.

I'd like to hear from some of the Irish/Scottish folks on here about their export beers, since there's an outside chance I can snag those at the larger liquor stores.

I don't really know any Swedes that drink Swedish lager for good taste. That shit is for getting drunk, not for feeling sophisticated. I got several local breweries that produce meads, stouts and bitters.

My personal favorites are (mainly Scottish/Belgian ales):
Innis & Gunn
Adnams Broadside
Chimay (blue, primarily)
La Trappe
Wee Heavy

[rattran]

RISE FROM YOUR GRAVE AND etc etc.

Today I tried a Belgian Amber Ale "Green's Discovery" All natural, free of Wheat Barley, Crustaceans, Eggs, Fish, Peanuts, Soya beans, Milk, Lactose, Nuts, Celery, Mustard, Sesame seeds, Sulphur Dioxide, and sulfates. Apparently made of Millet, Rice, Buckwheat, and Sorghum.

Tastes terrible.

I'm now following it with a nice Riggwelter, which may have shrimp in it, it doesn't say, but tastes heavenly.

[Tarami]

Gah! 

Ignore me, I'm a tool. I thought this was a new thread. Damn thread necromancy!

[NowhereMan]

Recently tried Black Cat and thought it was a very pleasant brew. Their site describes it as tasting of chocolate but I'd swear I got a hint of bacon from it. Just thought I'd add a British ale none of you will probably be able to get hold of since you've listed so many US brews I'm probably not going to get to try

[apocrypha]

Black Cat & Riggwelter are v nice beers.

Of the "larger" UK breweries I've always been partial to Batemans. XXXB is one of favourite standbys and Victory Ale and Dark Lord are just amazing.

[Sky]

My amazing fiancee brought me a mix pack from the local supplier, and also a six of Long Trail's new seasonal, the Hibernator. And despite the bear on the label, I read it to mean Irish (hibernian) Terminator, YAH I AM DA HIBERNATOR! Anyway, decent brew that's a little on the bitter side for my taste. Solid B-.

[Slayerik]

My favorite New beer is Shiner Bock

My favorite old beer is Budweiser.

Fuck you all if you don't like it. ;)

[MrHat]

Dude, Shiner is fantastic.

[NowhereMan]

My favorite old beer is Budweiser.

I think you'll find it's pronounced Budvar

[UnholyB0B]

For those of you that are Great Lakes "Christmas Ale" fans I have good and bad news for you. The bad news is that the master brewer of that ale has left the company and this year’s batch reflects that. It has less alcohol and not quite the same taste. The good news is that I think the brewer is now working for Thirsty Dog and has helped make their "12 Dogs Christmas Ale."

[Abagadro]

Once again, not beer, but if you like Rye Whiskey you have to get some of this.  A guy here in Utah of all places has opened up a craft distillery and is making Rye whiskey up in Park City. He is currently aging his first batch, but in the meantime he has made a blended Rye (its a closely guarded secret as to where he is getting the components but it is a combo of 6 year old and 16 year old ryes) that is fanfuckingtastic. It's a monster at 92 proof but smooth as silk and great flavor.  If you can get stuff shipped to you it is sporadically available through KL Wines. I highly recommend it for anyone that likes whiskey.  I'd even be willing to ship some out to folks if they are truly interested.

http://www.highwestdistillery.com/award.html

[Raging Turtle]

/drinks Czech beer as often as he wants, for about a buck in a bar or 50 cents from the store   

Pilsner Urquell and Gambrinus are fine, but I'll take Kozel Cerne over them any day.  Strange because I usually prefer a wheat beer.

[apocrypha]

My favorite New beer is Shiner Bock

My favorite old beer is Budweiser.

Fuck you all if you don't like it. ;)

Shiney Bock was the first American beer I ever drank that impressed me. Budweiser though? That's not a beer, it's a yellow soft drink 

[rattran]

I picked up a 'Original 60s Formula' 6pack of Schlitz, it's awful in a very different way from modern awful Schlitz. Drank about 1/6 or one, couldn't stomach any more.

"When you're out of Schlitz, you're out of beer."

[MrHat]

Heather Ale is 

[Pig Destroyer]

Once again, not beer, but if you like Rye Whiskey you have to get some of this.  A guy here in Utah of all places has opened up a craft distillery and is making Rye whiskey up in Park City. He is currently aging his first batch, but in the meantime he has made a blended Rye (its a closely guarded secret as to where he is getting the components but it is a combo of 6 year old and 16 year old ryes) that is fanfuckingtastic. It's a monster at 92 proof but smooth as silk and great flavor.  If you can get stuff shipped to you it is sporadically available through KL Wines. I highly recommend it for anyone that likes whiskey.  I'd even be willing to ship some out to folks if they are truly interested.

http://www.highwestdistillery.com/award.html

Mmmm, sounds good to me.  How much would it run to have a bottle (or 2) shipped to Ohio you think?  K&L doesn't seem to have it atm.