The Awesome Beer Thread

[Merusk]

In NON awesome beer related news, Rogue is apparently also a terrible place to work on top of being a producer of iffy beer.

http://aleheads.com/2013/06/17/we-do-not-plan/

What an awesome ad. It's the best possible way to recruit the stupid 18-20 year old with a chip on their shoulder who'll surely destroy their infrastructure when he's fired. It's brilliant!

That's what they were looking for, right?  Not an actual professional but a way to sabotage the business and get insurance cash?

[TheWalrus]

I make a point to try a random beer that I've not had before when I go to the store. Without exception, every Rogue I've tried has been spectacularly shitty. I thought it was their specialty.

[sickrubik]

I make a point to try a random beer that I've not had before when I go to the store. Without exception, every Rogue I've tried has been spectacularly shitty. I thought it was their specialty.

Like any brewer that puts out a lot of beers, some are great, and some are okay.

But, Rogue has always been known for being a shitty place to work.

I am disappointed to learn that people think dogfish head is gimmicky. I really like their 90 Minute IPA.

Eh. Disregard most of that. There's a big anti-growth division in beerheads lately. There's a real "I liked them more when they were underground" attitude when it comes to the likes of Dogfish, Stone, etc.

[sickrubik]

ARISE. Just had to share... been a rough few weeks for me, but this filled me with excitement.

[Mithas]

Funny that this thread comes back today. I decided to drink on a weeknight and have the hangover from hell. Thinking about beer is making me a little queasy.

Anyway, what do you win?

[sickrubik]

The missus also won a spot. We have the opportunity to buy 6 bottles of Citra each.

http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/kern-river-citra-double-ipa/117845/

http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/14064/56082

[Mithas]

Nice. There seems to be a trend towards Citra hops lately and I am a fan. Schell's brewery put out a Citra Pilsner that was awesome. Looks like a great beer, wish it was available here.

[sickrubik]

It's only available at the brewery. Their production, and thus, distribution is pretty limited.

Citra is indeed huge, and can work really well. In general we're seeing a shift towards other styles, especially farmhouse/saisaon ales, but big IPAs are still The King.

And tonight, going to a 20 Tap Takeover of Firestone beers, including a ton of really good sours. Good friday.

[Teleku]

I miss US/California craft beer.   

[sickrubik]

I miss US/California craft beer.   

Where are you?

[Teleku]

Poland.

There are lots of tasty Central/Eastern European lagers to be had here, as well as some great Baltic Porters.

But unfortunately, nothing beyond that.  Hell, not even any German beers (Paulaner Hef is all over the place, that's it).  I went into a big beer shop, and asked if they had any Spaten.  Even showed a picture to the guy in case it was a verbal translation issue.  Told me he had never seen/heard of it.   

Getting this job and traveling so much has a been an amazing eye opener about how far beer in the US has shot ahead compared to most places in the world.

[Bunk]

Anyone else tried Guinness's new Black Lager? I rather like it and I'm just trying to validate my taste.

[Teleku]

I thought it was ehhhhhhhhhh

But I only had one bottle.  I should probably attempt to get a six pack over the course of a weekend to make full judgement.

[Samwise]

I had a bottle a while back and remember being very unimpressed.  Shame because I really like schwarzbiers as a general rule and there aren't very many of them.

[Mithas]

Craft beer really has exploded in the US. I often wonder how much the market really can support. Something like 8 breweries in the Twin Cities metro have opened up in the last 3 years or so.

[Samwise]

The market can't support more than a couple of Budweisers, but it can support a very large number of very small breweries.

I was reading a book a while back about companies that made a conscious decision to stay small rather than trying to claim bigger chunks of their market, and there was a chapter on Anchor Brewing.  Supposedly once they got to a certain size and were still having trouble meeting demand they said "nope, we like what we're doing, we don't wanna be Budweiser" and they actually helped other craft breweries get up and running to help meet some of that demand.

Of course I've heard other craft brewers say the Anchor guys are a bunch of dicks, so grain of salt.   

[Mithas]

I've tried a few of the "craft" attempts by some of the macros. They aren't horrible for the most part, just a little off. They are applying large scale production methods to small scale brewing and it doesn't quite work.

[Sky]

Helped my neighbor split some wood.

Had a couple beers with him, he drinks Bud Light.

Notice a twelvie of Shiner Bock in the corner (his daughter recently moved to TX).

He says the wife won't let him touch it.

I had a sad.

[Ruvaldt]

Notice a twelvie of Shiner Bock in the corner (his daughter recently moved to TX).

He says the wife won't let him touch it.

I had a sad.

We could always start an f13 bottle trade.  There's no shortage of Shiner here, ready for export to the frozen north at any time!  You'd probably dig the Shiner Bohemian Black.  We have nine craft breweries in DFW alone.

[Sky]

I'll be down in Denton probably the end of April 2014 for ReaperCon...one of the leading 'pro' list items for driving is an FJ cargo bay full of beer. But I'll probably fly, so blah.

Anyway. I don't know how beer exchange works. I'm local to Saranac, which has some great stuff like their Black Forest. Also Ommegang is just down the pike near CmdrSlack and Long Trail out of VT distributes this far over. Genesee is a bit of a ghetto brewery but they make a decent cream ale and their Bock is amazing (because it's $6-7 a twelvie, too)...but it's not often available.

[sickrubik]

There is quite a bit of good beer in your region. You're probably a lot more likely to get your hands on Founder's KBS and Alchemist's Heady Topper. Also Southern Tier, Ithaca, Captain Lawrence, etc.

[Sky]

Because we're a hops region. I've been considering planting some hops along the north end of the property for a while now...

[Evildrider]

Because we're a hops region. I've been considering planting some hops along the north end of the property for a while now...

Well hops to it!   

[sickrubik]

Results of my first Beer Trade, done through reddit.

[Ruvaldt]

Looks like you got someone from my neck of the woods.

The brewery that makes The Temptress is about ten minutes from me.  They make the most extraordinary version of it that is aged in a bourbon barrel.  I think it's the finest beer I've ever had.  The Temptress by itself is a little too sweet to drink on a regular basis, but it's my favorite milk stout by a mile and very nice in small doses. 

Saint Arnold's is a reasonable regional brewery.  I recognize the middle one but can't quite make it out.  Is it a Jester King?  It looks like their logo at the bottom.  If so, those guys are serious.  Sometimes they hit the mark, and sometimes they don't, but it's always an exciting beer.

Definitely open to trades, here.  We just started getting Southern Tier in DFW and I'm a little mad it took this long.  It makes me wonder what else I've been missing all these years.

[sickrubik]

It is Jester King. The beer is Boxer's Revenger. I'vel iked what I've had from them. I haven't had anything from Lakewood, nor Saint Arnold. I HAVE heard of Saint Arnold at least, and know that Pumpkinator is a lot of people's favorite pumpkin beer.

Another package to me that has a bottle of Cantillon Saint Lamvinus and a Hangar 24 Immelmann , as well as a couple of Bell's bottles.

Finalized another trade that will get me some 2012 BCBS, some 3 Floyds, Pipeworks and Revolution Brewing beer as well.

I am always up for some trading. I haven't gone through and put everything in my cellar into the list yet, but here's my list: http://www.cellarhq.com/cellar/nalarsen

[Sky]

Local distro has been getting their shit together. A couple weeks ago I was shocked to see about three times the selection of craft brews at the supermarket. I notice someone out of the corner of my eye and it's another guy just staring at the shiny new wall o beer. I wordlessly gesture at it, and he wordlessly gestures an 'I know!' and then we have a beer chat.

My last trip what did I find? A new display rack with Shiner Bock.

[sickrubik]

Fuck. Yes. Managed to snag two tickets for the 3rd annual Firestone Walker Invitational Beer Fest. THE event.

[Teleku]

Bastard.  That's what you are.  Bastard!


Seriously though, nice snag.  It's suppose to be awesome.

[sickrubik]

Seriously though, nice snag.  It's suppose to be awesome.

It's VERY awesome. I've been each year so far. Best event of the year in California.

[MrHat]

I had one of these in a draft:



Fucking amazing.  The aroma itself was super delicious and it was just bitter enough.  So good.

[Ozzu]

Had a six pack of this in my fridge last week. Absolutely delicious.

[Hawkbit]

Stouts are beyond my palate but Elysian's Immortal IPA is solid and the Valhalla Red IPA was remarkable, too. 

I really disliked Elysian when I first moved here because friends took me to the Stadiums location and there was a very high concentration of dudebro.  After being here a while, we went to the Capitol Hill location for lunch and I had amazing food, maybe the best burger I've had in Seattle.  Well worth going if you can.

[satael]

my favorite (bottled) beer lately.

[Sky]

I almost forgot to hunt down my January treat, so it's not the freshest, but still...$6 for a twelvie vs $10 for a six of Shiner or $8 for a four of Celebrator? All day long.