Beer! Glorious Beer Thread!

[Shiroikage]

I do rum and coke or rye and coke as my secondary.

[pahnphoenix]

I used to do goose and tonic but it seems to give me worse hangovers than anything else I drink. never really been a martini person, but then again, I've never really given them a chance.

take vitamin b. incidentally, homebrewed beer (and unfiltered beer, generally) is said to yield less of a hangover because of the vitamin b in the spent yeast still present in the bottle.

speaking of which, i had a homebrewed barleywine earlier tonight, and it was awesome. i doubt i'll be as lucky with future beers i make, but this one turned out great.

[sekaran]

Got back from dinner and had a few of these.. (not my photo but whatever!)

http://img340.imageshack.us/img340/1...remenspour.jpg

Delicious. At first I didn't see the label and was wondering why the waitress gave me a bottle of ranch dressing.. lol

[Zoolander]

Tried this Dogfish Head Beer last night, was pretty good. Grabbed a Palo Santo Marron too, always a good beer. Love seeing different Dogfish beers on tap.

http://www.starchefs.com/gallery3/al...80_1_50_50.jpg

[pahnphoenix]

had a bottle of cantillon iris 2007. here's a pic of it i found online:

http://www.inbirrerya.net/wp-content..._beer_full.jpg

i'd take a pic of it in my duvel tulip, but my laptop's webcam sucks.

edit: oh, and i loved it, as described in the somewhat precious, despicably written review that i linked. shit is crazy.

[Bingbong]

Going to a Xmas party later this week, and the guys there always bring the typical holiday beers... the Sam's winter's, Fezziwig's Ale, whatever Harpoon puts out his time of year etc etc. Any suggestions on the lager/ale end of things that you can probably get in the Boston area?

I was scrolling back, and I saw the Mad Elf ale, but the labeling made it look really local. But something along those lines would be great.

[Skyylya]

Just tried this beer, Southern Tier brewing company Un-Earthly pale ale. it's an imperial double pale ale.

very good, and like 7.50-8.50 for a 22oz bottle.

Also tried this one from Lagunitas brewing company called Hopstupid, only 3.99 for a 22oz bottle and a pretty decent ipa for the price.

[Skyylya]

dbl post

[Zoolander]

Southern Tier makes pretty solid beers, see them in normal bars around here lately. I am actually starting to love that even normal bars that never used to carry good shit are now putting a lot of craft beers on tap. Shit is awesome. If you live in Brandon, you gotta try some Cigar City Beers if you haven't already, brewed in Tampa so you would obviously have it around you. Jai Alai IPA dude, very well respected IPA and generally reasonable for a 6 pack (still not cheap). Im about to go to the brewery later today and see what they have in the tasting room. Online it says they have a Vanilla Maduro Brown Ale...I fucking love vanilla and I love the Maduro Brown, so should be good. Also kinda random, but over thanksgiving I had an IPA, and then when I switched over to the Maduro Brown it tasted fucking amazing, like flavor was stronger and stood out more maybe due to the sharp contrast in flavor and biterness between that and the 90min IPA I had before. found it very intriguing.

Gunna go to Total Wine too and see if I can find some rare and good ass beer for the girl. Shes tried too many damn beers, just about nothing I get would be new so Im tempted to just get some Ruination IPA, Hopslam, 120min if they have(?), and anything else that catches my eye. Total Wine is like being a kid in a candy store, except 100x better.

[Pirian]

You're really not going to find anything "rare" at Total Wine, but they do have a much better selection than everyone else except beer specialty stores. Later today I'll post some suggestions that Total Wine most often has. Just woke up and can't think of the names of any of the beers I'm trying to think of

[Zoolander]

Yea rare was the wrong word. Idk, she'll suck my dick for a 6 pack of Hopslam so its not a big deal. Shes a hophead like me so its not too difficult to get some good shit, I know most of the good IPAs out there. I still know jack shit about Belgian styles and some others though. I am starting to think I've never had DFH 120minute (its so hard to remember every single beer I've tried lol, but that one is rare) so I'm hoping they still have a bottle of that. Been a long ass time since I've had Stone Ruination too so really looking forward to my little trip to the store after my last final of the semester. But yea, Ill gladly take some suggestions you have.

Edit: oh yea, I prolly sound like a fuckin CCB employee at this point, but their Tocobaga Red Ale is the fuckin bomb. I have no idea why they havent bottled it yet (I heard the next batch was getting bottled), you can find it at random bars in Tampa (I got it at World of Beer at one point, along with Dunderbak's). Its a great hoppy red ale, balanced so well and still a well hidden 7+% abv. That is my hope for going there today, that its on tap and I can get some to go.

Its BA score average is 4.33, thats extremely fucking high lol, like as high as it gets almost. http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/17981/61877

[Shiroikage]

I see your 4.33 and offer up a 4.41.
http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/1141/10325

[pahnphoenix]

4.3 is good enough for me tonight.

re: southern tier, check out oak aged unearthly if you like NQ unearthly. their oak aged cuvee series is good too actually. re: lagunitas, great beer for great prices. really, it's hard to go wrong picking up any random lagunitas bottle. lucky 13 and undercover shutdown are personal favorites.

edit: speaking of great prices and southern tier (those 2 noun phrases don't normally go together), their 2XIPA is a really solid value. usually around $10/6pk if i'm not mistaken, which is amazing for an 8% (D)IPA of its quality.

[Reality]

anybody had flying dog's 'raging bitch'? heard good things, bought a 6-pack for 10$, because I'm a fan of Belgian ale's

[pahnphoenix]

anybody had flying dog's 'raging bitch'? heard good things, bought a 6-pack for 10$, because I'm a fan of Belgian ale's

it's too sweet for my tastes; like many belgian IPAs, it made me wish i were either drinking a good belgian (strong) pale ale or a good (D)IPA. was better on tap than in the bottle, so freshness could be a deciding factor. it's not bad though... most flying dog beer is pretty good actually (their horn dog barleywine is pretty interesting, and gonzo imperial porter is great).

if you're looking for belgian IPAs, the best i've had are stone's cali-belgique and brasserie d'achouffe's houblon chouffe dobbelen IPA tripel. the latter has only been good when i've tried it on tap; hop flavor and aroma fades somewhat quickly, and often the bottles you'll find of houblon chouffe have been sitting at the store for months after being imported. cali-belgique has been good in all formats i've had it.

also, a random belgian recommendation: fantôme saison. it's a little expensive, but worth it.

---

myself, i don't know what i'll drink tonight. cascade sang rouge is a possibility.

[Reality]

when i posted that question/comment, i had the (room temp when i bought it) raging bitch in the freezer chilling. after popping open the first one, jesus christ.. strong fucking grape fruit is first thing that comes to mind, can really taste the alcohol in it (it's 8.3% and i'm used to blue moon's 5.4%)

dunno if i'd buy this again, but i have 5 more to finish off before saturday so

[pahnphoenix]

if blue moon is what you're a fan of, there's lots of great belgian witbiers to try. allagash white is pretty common and good. southampton double white is really flavorful, though a bit higher ABV than you're used to (not as high as raging bitch though). if you end up liking a big punch of alcohol in your wheat beers, maybe look into trying some weizenbocks, like aventinus.

also, if it's not clear, raging bitch is a "belgian india pale ale" (though it's made in america). if you find yourself really liking that grapefruit taste and other various citrus type elements, you may want to look into other american IPAs, like sierra nevada's celebration, southern tier's 2XIPA, and tons and tons of others. the different hops used in these beers often taste like grapefruit, along with piny flavors or grassy/floral/herbal flavors or tropical fruit (mango/pineapple) flavors, and occasionally very marijuana-like flavors. the bitterness of a lot of IPAs and double IPAs can be a bit much at first, but people often end up loving bitterness after getting into IPAs.

(other random IPAs to look out for: russian river's pliny the elder and blind pig, green flash west coast IPA, stone IPA and ruination, dogfish head's 90minute IPA and 60minute IPA, bear republic racer 5 IPA, new england brewing company gandhi-bot, bell's hopslam and two-hearted, avery maharaja, lagunitas hop stoopid and lil sumpin wild (latter is a belgian IPA actually) among others, smuttynose finest kind IPA, there's literally hundreds of good ones).

also, if you want something with flavorful hops that's a bit mild on the bitterness and alcohol in relation to some (D)IPAs, oskar blues dale's pale ale (which comes in cans) is really good.

[Flarega]

Tonight I had Stone's Lucky Bastartd(correct spelling on bottle), Pliny the Elder, and now I'm sapping on Anchorsteam's holiday beer. All good. I've had them before though.

[Reality]

if blue moon is what you're a fan of, there's lots of great belgian witbiers to try. allagash white is pretty common and good. southampton double white is really flavorful, though a bit higher ABV than you're used to (not as high as raging bitch though). if you end up liking a big punch of alcohol in your wheat beers, maybe look into trying some weizenbocks, like aventinus.

also, if it's not clear, raging bitch is a "belgian india pale ale" (though it's made in america). if you find yourself really liking that grapefruit taste and other various citrus type elements, you may want to look into other american IPAs, like sierra nevada's celebration, southern tier's 2XIPA, and tons and tons of others. the different hops used in these beers often taste like grapefruit, along with piny flavors or grassy/floral/herbal flavors or tropical fruit (mango/pineapple) flavors, and occasionally very marijuana-like flavors. the bitterness of a lot of IPAs and double IPAs can be a bit much at first, but people often end up loving bitterness after getting into IPAs.

(other random IPAs to look out for: russian river's pliny the elder and blind pig, green flash west coast IPA, stone IPA and ruination, dogfish head's 90minute IPA and 60minute IPA, bear republic racer 5 IPA, new england brewing company gandhi-bot, bell's hopslam and two-hearted, avery maharaja, lagunitas hop stoopid and lil sumpin wild (latter is a belgian IPA actually) among others, smuttynose finest kind IPA, there's literally hundreds of good ones).

also, if you want something with flavorful hops that's a bit mild on the bitterness and alcohol in relation to some (D)IPAs, oskar blues dale's pale ale (which comes in cans) is really good.

you're a good man, i will try the sierra nevada celebration and lagunita's since those are the only ones that my local liquor store carries of the ones you mentioned. so far the raging bitch is a bit strong, but i'm not used to this type of beer.. i'm hoping to get used to it after a few more cheers!

[pahnphoenix]

you're a good man, i will try the sierra nevada celebration and lagunita's since those are the only ones that my local liquor store carries of the ones you mentioned. so far the raging bitch is a bit strong, but i'm not used to this type of beer.. i'm hoping to get used to it after a few more cheers!

no problem(:. i haven't had the regular lagunitas IPA though i like most of their other beers. i'm a big fan of sierra nevada celebration though. am still working through a 12pack i bought a week or so ago. re: celebration, don't let the box art fool you; there's no spices or anything in it. it's just a plain old IPA that gets sold around the holidays. lots of reviews mention tasting nutmeg and shit in the beer, which i suspect comes entirely from looking at the box and having some kind of placebo effect happen.