Landing the Whale: Beer thread

[Root]

If anyone is interested in sour beers, do whatever you can to find anything by Speciation. They've started doing more festivals and stuff.
Or if you really want, I can figure out a way to ship some things. I promise it is worth it.

So <work-filter-triggering adverb> good

[Allentown]

I remember lamenting the lack of solid domestic sour beers ~5 years ago...seems that has changed. I was completely blown away by a local brewery's gueuze: https://untappd.com/b/bozeman-brewing-c ... -2/3029224

I'll keep an eye out! I haven't noticed anything from them at our local bottle shop, but I haven't been going there as often in the last two years...
But yeah, I've noticed nearly all moderate-sized taprooms have added an entire "sour" category. Even my local pizza place often has a sour on among their ~15 taps.
Personally, I really like sours, even the mega-tart-bombs, but the more sour it is the less I generally want. For the super sour, a 4oz pour is often plenty.

So <work-filter-triggering adverb> good

I haven't been paying close enough attention to their releases to actually know for sure, but it seems like they never really release the same beer twice- they have a few beers that see multiple releases, but it always looks like they vary the ingredients. Could just be the nature of using... well... nature. It's never going to taste the same, so why bother kind of thing.
It's not cheap, though.

[Root]

@Allentown I picked up Sam Adams and Frankenmuth Oktoberfest beers this weekend. Did a blind taste test and though the Frankenmuth won hands down. Have you had that?

[Allentown]

@Allentown I picked up Sam Adams and Frankenmuth Oktoberfest beers this weekend. Did a blind taste test and though the Frankenmuth won hands down. Have you had that?

I have not, apparently. Not sure it hits distro, at least this far south?
Also, I'm not sure how shelf-stable marzen is, they have to be getting close to a year old unless they start putting them out super early? I don't know about Frankenmuth, it wouldn't surprise me if they put that out year-round, because of who they are, so it might be a case of not so fresh Sam vs fresh Frank?
I'll see if I can get some for my tasting this year, though the number of people willing & able to get in on it keeps rapidly dropping...

[Root]

@Allentown I picked up Sam Adams and Frankenmuth Oktoberfest beers this weekend. Did a blind taste test and though the Frankenmuth won hands down. Have you had that?

I have not, apparently. Not sure it hits distro, at least this far south?
Also, I'm not sure how shelf-stable marzen is, they have to be getting close to a year old unless they start putting them out super early? I don't know about Frankenmuth, it wouldn't surprise me if they put that out year-round, because of who they are, so it might be a case of not so fresh Sam vs fresh Frank?
I'll see if I can get some for my tasting this year, though the number of people willing & able to get in on it keeps rapidly dropping...

Well, my beer place just started getting both of them, so I was assuming this is the freshest of the fresh. There have definitely been no Oktoberfests in the whole store this spring/summer. I'll check the dates this evening.

I'd love to do the tasting if timing worked out. And I'd bring down some Frankenmuth as well as Silver Spruce.

[Allentown]

I'd love to do the tasting if timing worked out. And I'd bring down some Frankenmuth as well as Silver Spruce.

I just plan it for any weekend day after the beers are released, my wife will be home so I'm not trying to wrangle a toddler while drinking 10+ beer samples, and I can get >3 other people to show up.
I actually have a trip planned up to your neighborhood the weekend of Oct 5th, either alone or with my cousin (he picked the weekend then hasn't responded to texts for the last 2 weeks...) so I could potentially do it then. Would be interesting to get a almost totally unique set of tasters and see what kind of overlap I get in the rankings!

[Root]

I'd love to do the tasting if timing worked out. And I'd bring down some Frankenmuth as well as Silver Spruce.

I just plan it for any weekend day after the beers are released, my wife will be home so I'm not trying to wrangle a toddler while drinking 10+ beer samples, and I can get >3 other people to show up.
I actually have a trip planned up to your neighborhood the weekend of Oct 5th, either alone or with my cousin (he picked the weekend then hasn't responded to texts for the last 2 weeks...) so I could potentially do it then. Would be interesting to get a almost totally unique set of tasters and see what kind of overlap I get in the rankings!

I bet I could get a good group together for that. Add in some smoked sausages and homemade sauerkraut....sounds like a party.

[Allentown]

I bet I could get a good group together for that. Add in some smoked sausages and homemade sauerkraut....sounds like a party.

Awesome. The only thing that might prevent me from coming is my selfish SiL having her baby that Friday or something? Though in that case, the in-laws will definitely be in town to watch my kid...

[cgeorg]

I'd love to do the tasting if timing worked out. And I'd bring down some Frankenmuth as well as Silver Spruce.

I just plan it for any weekend day after the beers are released, my wife will be home so I'm not trying to wrangle a toddler while drinking 10+ beer samples, and I can get >3 other people to show up.
I actually have a trip planned up to your neighborhood the weekend of Oct 5th, either alone or with my cousin (he picked the weekend then hasn't responded to texts for the last 2 weeks...) so I could potentially do it then. Would be interesting to get a almost totally unique set of tasters and see what kind of overlap I get in the rankings!

Which neighborhood is this? I might end up in MI that weekend for a golf thing, would be cool to meet some exodites.

[Allentown]

Which neighborhood is this? I might end up in MI that weekend for a golf thing, would be cool to meet some exodites.

I'm sure without much digging you could find out, but I'll let @Root answer here or in PM or something.

[brkriete]

I bet I could get a good group together for that. Add in some smoked sausages and homemade sauerkraut....sounds like a party.

Awesome. The only thing that might prevent me from coming is my selfish SiL having her baby that Friday or something? Though in that case, the in-laws will definitely be in town to watch my kid...

Are you guys having a sausage party? Sorry I can't come...

[Root]

Are you guys having a sausage party?

We just call that a party.

[Allentown]

So, NE/hazy/milk beer/IPAs are the new big thing in craft beer, and I'll be honest, I'm not really a fan. One is good. 6-8oz is better. More than that, I'll pass. At a beer festival this past weekend, I was actively looking for sours/saisons/kolsh/lagers after 3 samples of milkshake and NE IPA. There was one saison (was already gone) and one kolsh. Couple lagers but I was beer'd out by that point.


Oktoberfests are starting to come out, which feels early to me? I sort of expect at least a few leaves to have some color before I have any interest in them...

[Root]

Oktoberfests are starting to come out, which feels early to me? I sort of expect at least a few leaves to have some color before I have any interest in them...

No. All year long.

Also, this will probably make your eye twitch, but Hacket-Pschorr is the best (that I've tried so far.)

[Allentown]

Eh, tied with Half Acre for 4th place out of 15 last year, behind Sierra Nevada, Cigar City, Shiner, Erdinger, and Great Lakes. I wouldn't call it bad for sure. I think that's the one the local pizza place gets.

Man, now I want pizza real bad.

It's a good style, for sure, but that malty caramel-y aroma just makes me think of fall.
It's my pumpkin spice latte.

[brkriete]

We have a spot in town that does pop-up events (basically any kind of food vendor or small retail that will fit in a shed/food truck type space) and they hosted a new local brewery this weekend. I had a peach milkshake IPA and a cream ale that were both pretty good and it was also nice to just sit and hang out a little bit.

[Mattjd]

Victory Golden Monkeys.

They're good but god damn are they strong. Like $12 for a 6 pack and they 9.5% ABV!

[Allentown]

Victory Golden Monkeys.

They're good but god damn are they strong. Like $12 for a 6 pack and they 9.5% ABV!

That's a steal. I love Belgian double/triple/quads, I need to get more under my belt.
Have you had La Fin Du Monde? I don't think Brewery Vivant gets to Jersey, but if you really want I can try and send you a can...

[rjharris]

Brewery Vivant is the tits. My fiancee went to Western Michigan for her masters, and made it up there from time to time.

[Allentown]

Brewery Vivant is the tits. My fiancee went to Western Michigan for her masters, and made it up there from time to time.

Their food is legit. It's a brewery with escargot, and a full time award winning pastry chef.
What I like most about it, though, is that (besides the now 2 wild/sour only breweries we have) it's the only brewery in the area that is totally unique from every other brewery. If you randomly selected 4 beers from their tap list at any given time, you wouldn't mistake that flight as being from any other brewery in the area.


Have we talked lactose/milk/milkshake yet?
Because, I'll be honest, I'm starting to get over this latest trend pretty quick. I still don't mind an occasional NEIPA, but all oat grain bills then throwing lactose and 1B# of hops into the beer just before bottling makes it a chore to drink. I never thought I'd miss bourbon barrels... Actually, I don't. Luckily, it's almost Stout Season.

Anyone else get some Bell's Double Two Hearted? It's worth trying, I think, but it's not a Bell's Hopslam "I can't stop thinking about that flavor" kind of beer. Tasted it alongside standard Two Hearted, my first in a long time, and honestly liked standard Two Hearted better- there's a reason it's been among or at the top of the beer rankings for a very long time.