Beer! Glorious Beer Thread!

[Tokitoki]

Just picked up Blue Point's Mosaic IPA as well as Green Flash West Coast IPA from the Fairway in Harlem. They have a pretty good beer selection they keep in the cold room with all their meats, cheeses, etc.

I have a strong feeling Blue Point's Mosaic won't be as good as Founder's, but it's worth a shot.

[Day]

I didn't realize it was a high-demand beer, but yeah I've had it. It's a good beer, but I didn't know it was a "sell out" beer.




You're still welcome

Hahah yeah thanks, best beer recommendation ever And yeah dude at peace st. talked like some shops wont even sell that Cold Mountain, he said they raffle it and stuff.... Idk he coulda been lying I guess lol. I cracked it open last night. It is really good, I must say. I dont know that I'd go overboard entering a raffle or hunting down the last one in the city... but it was really good.

[barcasmith]

Pina colada~







jean grey phoenix

[Fairy-Killer]

I'm still pretty new to this whole beer thing, but I've been picking up some really good brews where I can. Some of these beers might not be available to you guys outside the greatest state (Texas).

Left Hand Milk Stout Nitro
Old Rasputin Imperial Stout
Left Hand Wake Up Dead Nitro
Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Stout
Saint Arnold Pumpkinator
Saint Arnold Bishop's Barrels (Various numbers, gl finding them ever)
Saint Arnold Divine Reserve (Various numbers, again, gl finding)
Buried Hatchet Stout
Real Ale Coffee Porter
Real Ale Sisyphus 2014 (Only year I have tried)
Founders Breakfast Stout
Prairie Bomb
Prairie Evil Twin Bible Belt
Saint Arnold Christmas Ale
Saint Arnold Sailing Santa 2014
Karbach Hop Delusion

[Mellema]

I'm still pretty new to this whole beer thing, but I've been picking up some really good brews where I can. Some of these beers might not be available to you guys outside the greatest state (Texas).

Left Hand Milk Stout Nitro
Old Rasputin Imperial Stout
Left Hand Wake Up Dead Nitro
Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Stout
Saint Arnold Pumpkinator
Saint Arnold Bishop's Barrels (Various numbers, gl finding them ever)
Saint Arnold Divine Reserve (Various numbers, again, gl finding)
Buried Hatchet Stout
Real Ale Coffee Porter
Real Ale Sisyphus 2014 (Only year I have tried)
Founders Breakfast Stout
Prairie Bomb
Prairie Evil Twin Bible Belt
Saint Arnold Christmas Ale
Saint Arnold Sailing Santa 2014
Karbach Hop Delusion

Real Ale only distributes in Texas. St Arnolds is in Texas, Louisiana, Colorado, and Florida. Southern Star is in Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Alabama, Florida, Indiana, Tennessee, and South Carolina.

Thankfully, Founder's has been shipping a lot more beer to Texas the past couple years. And Left Hand distributes to over 30 states now I believe.

At my bar I always try to bring in a decent selection of craft beers, but it's a college bar so most of what we sell is liquor and main stream beers.

[Tokitoki]

Anyone have experience home brewing? Fiancee got me a book for my birthday that breaks down everything you should be doing and why so you can understand the processes and come up with your own changes to make your own beer rather than follow directions on a kit.

Just curious if anyone else makes their own beer and if they've ever made anything good. My cousins brew some of their own stuff a few times a year that comes out decent. My dad used to as well, but hasn't in a decades. Luckily he still has some things stored away I'm going to take a look at to see if I can clean and use. Going to start looking at equipment pricing after I go through his stuff and maybe make up a Christmas list. Any recommendations on websites/stores would be appreciated.

[6souls]

I had the Surly Doomtree tonight, pretty good. Tastes like Lift Bridge Farm Girl.

http://scontent-a-ord.cdninstagram.c...77400696_n.jpg

[Pirian]

Anyone have experience home brewing? Fiancee got me a book for my birthday that breaks down everything you should be doing and why so you can understand the processes and come up with your own changes to make your own beer rather than follow directions on a kit.

Just curious if anyone else makes their own beer and if they've ever made anything good. My cousins brew some of their own stuff a few times a year that comes out decent. My dad used to as well, but hasn't in a decades. Luckily he still has some things stored away I'm going to take a look at to see if I can clean and use. Going to start looking at equipment pricing after I go through his stuff and maybe make up a Christmas list. Any recommendations on websites/stores would be appreciated.

Shit how did I miss this? Sorry this is like a month late, but here ya go:

I don't brew right now, but I have a load of brews under my belt. When I started brewing I skipped the baby steps and went full-grain brews right from the get-go and I'm really glad I did. If you want to do full grain then you'll need extra equipment to mash, and depending on what kind of mash you want to do. I'm not sure which book you have, but this is probably one of the best books out there http://www.amazon.com/The-Complete-H.../dp/0060531053

As far as equipment goes, check out http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/ for the specific names of everything you need, but then check out amazon and the other aggregate seller sites for the best price. Also look for the closest homebrew shop near you and check out what they have. I've actually found a lot of my local shops to be pretty much the same as amazon and cheaper for certain things.

Finally, download beersmith. It is absolutely the best app out there for formulating brews, and takes away all the mathy bits you would have to do if you want to start out with the right amount of each type of grain in order to end up with the correct protein composition. It is also a very powerful tool for figuring out how close you are to whatever style you're doing, or if you're completely doing your own thing then it can help you there, too. The program will seem a little intimidating at first with all the names, but google is you friend and the thing is made for all levels of homebrewers, so you don't have to know each specific part, and as you get more comfortable in your brewing process, you can add more stages, yourself.

edit: oh, beersmith isn't a free app unfortunately, but there is a trial period on it and you can find it elsewhere on the internet ::coughcough::

[Tokitoki]

Thanks for the info. I was talking to my fiancee's uncle over Christmas who brews and he recommended the same book. I have a different one, but I'll probably be picking up that one as well.

Going to make a fermentation chamber from my old college mini fridge and check out a few more things before I get into it. I've got a few food grade plastic pails from the grocery store as well.

I haven't looked into exactly what I'd like to brew yet, since I'm still organizing everything, but I'll probably be back at that point as well to ask more questions.

My fiancee's uncle said he'd try to give me some extra stuff he's got as well. He may be more excited about it than I am.

[Pirian]

Brewing is a lot of work, and it is most fun doing with a friend (added that it is always nice having a 2nd pair of hands). The absolute most important part of brewing is knowing when you need what parts of equipment sterile, and making sure sterilization happens. Beyond that, it is hard to mess up, and even with you do mess up, the end result is still usually pretty good.

As for a fermentation chamber...unless you're lagering or live in a particularly cold/warm climate, as long as the temperature is stable around 70 degrees then you should be fine. I personally have never used a fermentation chamber. Your fiancee's uncle is probably going to cover a lot of this, but don't rely on those small 1-way valves. They are great for most beers, but then you'll decide to do a Belgian, or some other beer with a very highly active yeast beer, and that thing will blow off and you'll risk sterility and have a huge mess on your hands. Instead, get some flexible plastic/rubber tubing and connect one end to the hold on the rubber stopper and submerge the other end in a bucket of water to create a blowout bucket like this:

Spoiler: show

Sounds like you have a good resource with your to-be uncle, but feel free to shoot me any questions

[Kyte]

Is the left hand milk stout nitro worth the hype? It's a tad expensive but I'd like to try it if so.

[Pirian]

Is the left hand milk stout nitro worth the hype? It's a tad expensive but I'd like to try it if so.

It's one of the best sessionable craft beers out there, imo. It's very stouty, but not too heavy. It has a nice creamy mouth-feel that is further accentuated by the small bubbles of the nitro. I did recently meet someone that didn't love it, with their complaint being that it isn't carbonated(or I guess, nitrated in this case) enough. I would might agree with that statement, which is why I love it so much more on draft because it is more bubbly, but I still think it is definitely worth it in the bottles.

I think it is worth trying at least once to see if it's your kind of beer. I recommended it to Day and I think it turned into his favorite beer

[Tokitoki]

The Milk Stout is all my fiancee drinks in the winter now. We always have a stock of it in my fridge.

I was originally introduced to it by my cousin who had bought the regular Milk Stout and not the Nitro. Both equally great, just a different mouth feel.

[Day]

It's def worth the hype if you even remotely like milk/cream/oatmeal stouts. I also go for the duck rabbit milk stout if I'm trying to save a few bucks, great taste, missing those nitro bubbles though.

Like Pirian said it's my fave beer now pretty much aside from Founder's Breakfast which is way harder to find.

[Kalmado]

Tried Griffin Claw's Bourbon Barrel Imperial Stout yesterday. http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/pro...84/?ba=acurtis Holy crap was it great!

[Fairy-Killer]

I've been drinking Divine Reserve 15 for about a month now, and it's pretty amazing. If you're able to find it and enjoy imperial stouts, definitely grab as many as you can. Also, Left Hand Milk Stout Nitro is an awesome beer; it is definitely worth the hype it has been getting here.

[6souls]

I tried 8-Bit tonight, pretty good.

[Tokitoki]

Needs more bumps.

Got 3 6-packs of Hopslam, a pack of Oberon, and some Breakfast Stout today. Was also able to snag two bombers of Maine's Lunch APA. Missed it last time they had it.

Tia the season to get your spring kicked off right. Go find your local supply of Oberon and Hopslam.

[Dook]

Hopslam shouldn't still be kicking around, at this point it should be considered "fallen off" and tends to be held for a year or so to develope more barleywine characteristics.
Oberon though, How I love thee.

[Pirian]

Wow, this is really late into the year for Hopslam not to be sold out. Dook is probably right, though. The real bitter edge that you expect in an IPA of the style of Hopslam is probably going to have subsided, but I wouldn't have thought to age it to a barleywine-like state. Thinking on it now, I actually have had some really old Hopslam's that have gotten lost in friends collections, and they do start to resemble that profile a bit.

I just got back from a trip to Portland, ME, and visited a bunch of breweries up there. Of note, I had an IPA by Foundation called Epiphany, which is true to its name in that it is a completely new take on the IPA. Instead of the blasting you away with bitterness, they've kept it at a much more pale-ale-level of 85 IBU's, and have instead really thrown in hard on the aroma hops to bring a strong nose, and an exceptionally unique experience that I haven't had before in an IPA.

The only other brewery that we went to and I feel like writing about in depth is Allagash, because I know you guys most likely know of it I wasn't really all that excited to go there because I'm not a huge fan of what they normally distribute to NC, but this place ending up blowing away my expectations. I'm really getting into sours as of late, and I had no idea how extensively these guys have been expanding (or maybe they've always been there) in that direction. I only had their Interlude on draft, which was just fantastic, but got a bottle of their Neddles and Midnight Brett to go because apparently they close their tap room at 5. I'm saving the 2 bottles for another sour-head friend that knows a lot more about this style than I do at this point, but I am expecting good things.

The last two breweries I went to were Brissell Brothers and Rising Tide, the former of which is still probably too small to distribute and the latter you NE guys may have had or at least seen. They were both only so-so, though Brissell had an interesting Pale Ale that had a faint aftertaste of strawberries. I was a little disappointed with Rising Tide because the husband of the friend I was visiting works there, but as much as it pains me to say...man were their beers very average. Hopefully I'll be headed back up to Portland in a few months because I was so caught up in the beer that I didn't even have any seafood, and there are still a ton of breweries to check out.