Just tried Old Rasputin based on the rec here, and it's now one of my favorite beer's. The bastard is black as night and pours like thick coffee, but has a great balance of flavor. At 9%, a 6 dollar four pack is a decent deal.

If you can find it, get India Pale Ale IPA (nicely redundant) from Odell Brewing Company. It's the first IPA i've had that had a Hop flavor rather than mere bitterness.

Some really great selections in this thread. The list below our my favorites for each type and are in no particular order.

Deschutes Black Butte Porter - Though it offers a thick tanned head it is light in carbonation. The nose contains hints of black licorice and roasted malt while the taste offers chocolate and coffee. A quicker finish for what one might expect, though still full in flavor throughout.

The brewery as a whole is one of my favorites. Great contrast between their Cascade Ale, Mirror Pond, and seasonal Brown Ale.

Samuel Smith Oatmeal Stout - The pour looks like a perfect cappuccino with a full head. Sweet in the nose with traces of caramel and chocolate. The taste includes beyond the characters present in the nose, vanilla and small traces of molasses. The finish is very creamy yet velvety, long lasting, and perfectly balanced between sweetness and bitterness.

Anderson Valley Boont Amber Ale - This beer has an almost perfect copper color. The nose is of tropical fruit and rich hops. The flavor contains apricot, tangerine, and caramel. Medium to full body, it has a good crispness while finishing full and creamy.

This is another outstanding brewery which offers exceptional brews in all of their offerings. I especially like their Winter Solstice Ale as well as their ESB.

Lagunitas IPA - A bright golden color with a full white head. The nose is extremely complex going from citrus to floral. The taste ranges from pineapple, apple, to grapefruit with crisp hops and a long finish. though bitter (it is an IPA after all) it is far less then most and actually rivals many Pale Ales in this regard. I was blown away when I read that this beer contains 43 different hops and 63 various malts. Thus the complexity....

SteelHead Extra Pale Ale - This beer pours cloudy with an orange/gold hazy color. Tropical citrus scent highlights the nose of this beer. The taste starts tart and citrus, then evolves with floral notes and finishes with a slightly spicy pepper characteristic. Crisp and well carbonated, this beer is quite refreshing.

Asahi Super Dry - Very simple Lager that is clean and crisp with an instant finish. There is nothing fancy about this beer whatsoever. This is why I like it. It doesn't disrupt the palate when enjoying subtle yet rich foods (think sushi....obviously).

Miller Highlife - This beer needs no tasting notes. Though grouped under Pilsner, it is really the champagne....

I live in Blaine so I will probably check out Barley Johns sometime. It sounds good.

I got some Surly Furious the other day. If you like bitter beer I suppose it would be really good, but I don't care for it much, other than the fact that it does seem strong. I did grab a couple more Surly Bender 4-packs and that stuff is the best!

Hey fools!

Some good recs in here, good to see!

Here are some beers I tried a little while ago that I never got around to posting. BTW, I think Rogue might be my favorite brewery in the USA!

Mocha Porter, which was good. I like a "meaty" beer sometimes.


Bullfrog something or other. Good stuff, nice ale. Smooth, with a nice body.


The big daddy. Only seen this at their Public House in Portland. I think it was $15 a BOTTLE, but damn, I liked it A LOT. Comes in a sick ceramic bottle.

They have the big one at the brewery in Newport as well. Mocha Porter and
Imperial Stout (11%!) are highly recommended. I'm a sucker for Dead Guy as well.

For widely available beer, Bell's still takes the top spot for me.



This one is especially nice. Really great for sitting at home when it's cold outside. A bit pricey around where I am at about $12/6 pack.



The first taste I had of this stout made me giddy.



I've had several of the Ommegang offerings, but this Abbey Ale is still my favorite. I have their Chocolate Indulgence brew waiting in the fridge though.

Looking at where some of my favorite breweries are (Bell's, Great Lakes, Three Floyds), I really wish I lived somewhere around Chicago so I could do weekend beer tours.

If any of you live in or close to Indiana, I'd highly recommend Rich-O's Public House. http://richosnewsletter.blogspot.com/

They have an excellent tap selection, great food, and they rotate their stock frequently.

Hmm, I have been in a big Hefewiezen stage drinking either:

Weiweihenstephaner Hefeweissbier
Ayinger Brau-Weiss
Paulaner (whatever their hef is called)

I have DogFishHead Red and White waiting in the fridge which is a Whitbier with a small amount of added Pinot Noir juice that is ages in Pinot barrels.

I went through a major belgian stage, but have been finding the residual sugar oftentimes too much lately. I just can't take the high alcohol content and the sugar in combination. Weird that I am not digging beers that I loved a year ago all of the sudden. Unfortunately I don't have a real strong affinity for any other variety, so I pretty much have been drinking only Hefe's and feel like I need to branch out more. I am not a huge hop guy, but woudl love to find some strong non-sweet beers beyong the standard stouts.

Also, check out The Happy Gnome, in St Paul. They have Surly "Two" on tap and if you're a foodie, you'll love the food.

Two is *really* black. I think the happy gnome is the only place it's on tap right now in the cities since it was the anniversary ale, so hurry over there.

Funny that you live in Blaine; I live in **** Rapids.

Amongst my favorite beers. This stuff is so delicious.

tsc,

sorry I find it hard to believe that the Rogue Imperial Stout justifies that sort of price. I'm almost unwilling to try it, just because $15 is ridic. Is it really any better than say, North Coast's Old Rasputin, which goes for about 1/3rd of that? Doubtful.

also, nice pic of the chocolate stout with the mocha porter description. GOD.

I doubt it. Old Rasputin is very very good, and like you said the price difference is pretty crazy. but, most 750ml bottles you guy are going to be (per ounce) more expensive than something that comes in a 10oz or 12 oz bottle. not sure why that is. perhaps b/c there would be a huge price shock if these ultra-premium breweries put their beers out in traditional 6 packs. they would be selling like $12-$13 6 pack. I'm sure thats part of the reason why they sell Rasputin in a 4 pack...most people just don't want to break the $10 price point....but its easier to spend $6 - $8 on a 750ml partly b/c the form factor is different, and that probably helps with the perception that it's "better than regular beer" etc

I'm sure some of that is correct, with respect to the $10 price point and the perception of bigger bottles being cooler. I rarely see anything >$10 unless it's a belgian (or dogfishead, who I also think overprices there stuff).

fwiw, more than a few breweries put out smaller bottles of their stuff. Stone has most of their offerings in 6 packs. Duvel/gulden draak/piraat are all available in smaller 11.2 ounce bubbleneck bottles. You can get 4-packs of Unibroue stuff. To be honest, I love that Old Rasputin comes in 12 oz bottles (I can buy singles at my grocer), because I don't always have someone to share a 750mL bottle with, and downing that much high ABV beer isn't always desirable. Sometimes I just want one pint to cap a tiring day or something.

yeah, I did wish more beers came in standard 12 oz bottles, b/c 750ml of 9% can often be too much.

I'm not sure who else (besides Stone) sells 6 packs of 12 ounce bottles...I think all those others you mentioned come in 4 packs or smaller bottle sizes to keep the price down. (I think, anyways)

Delirium, Ommegang, Three Philosophers and Old Rasputin all come in fourpacks of 12 ouncers. Just gotta find the right store.

i've never seen 4 packs of delirium, but I know BevMo sells the 12 oz bottles (or something close to 12)

They're expensive ($14 where I live), and I've only seen Nocturnum and Tremens.

I routinely get 750ml bottles for 5-15 dollars. Most of the time, I only get one, drink it with a friend, talk about the beer and how to reproduce it in a homebrew setup and then keep it in memory.

The Sprecher Bourbon Barrel Imperial Stout is $15/750ml where I live and I would pay more, if there was any left at the liquor stores I go to.

The Sam Adams Bourbon Barrel Imperial Stout is $20/4 pack.

If you think a beer is too expensive, don't buy it or split a bottle with a friend. Some things are overpriced, some are worth it. If you find a 750ml bottle you really like, you can generally buy it by the case and pay significantly less per bottle.

if anyone likes japanese beers (Kirin, Asahi, etc), try out the rice beers. much smoother and a bit stronger than the standard J-beers we get. the one I found in the bay area, Koshihikari Echigo is damned smooth and awesome with sushi or japanese food. it can be a little hard to find, though. a few japanese restaurants will carry it, but most stick to the macros. I think Whole Paycheck carries it (the san mateo store does) as do most little japanese markets. haven't really seen it anywhere else, though (bevmo does not have it). it's about 4 buck a bottle retail or 7 in restaurants, but it's about 18oz instead of 12, ad has, I think about 6-8%, so one bottle is equal to 3 normal beers.

You can find four-packs of Piraat and Gulden Draak, to name two more. Worth a try if you can find them.

hey man, I typed that when I was hammed, my bad.

As for the Imperial Stout, duuuuude, if you like Stouts, this **** is the mother****er then. It has a very strong taste. A MANS beer.

TBH, I can't say I really LIKE Old Rasputin. It seems ok, but I prolly need to try it again.

Also, LOL at you pussy's that can't drink a big 9% beer all by yourself.

Try the Sprecher Bourbon Barrel Imperial Stout or the Sam Adams Bourbon Barrel Imperial stout; it blows away all other stouts that I've ever had.

Right now I'm at the beginning of a beer drinking phase. Reading this thread inspired me to go to Bevmo to get the kind of beer you can't find at the supermarket. They have a lot of beer. I see IPA being thrown around a lot in this thread so I picked up some Chocolate IPA. Then put it back down after looking at how much dust collected on it. Got Stone IPA instead. Sierra Nevada Pale Ale too even though you see that at the supermarket. Almost got the Celebration kind until one of the workers pointed me in the right direction. Some Chimay too oh wait it's $5 a bottle my taste is not sophisticated enough to pay that much just yet. Lets try this Pyramid Heffeweizen instead.

Tried the Pyramid first. Nothing special about this one. Kinda boring actually. Drank the Sierra Nevada next. Better aroma, better flavor, and more bitter. It's alright. The Stone IPA last. The smell was certainly different from the other two. Taste of hops linger in your mouth. Pleasant beer. Enjoyed much more than the other two beers.

Maybe next time I'll look into the Arrogant bastard and Chimay.

SNPA is an american pale ale, where the celebration ale is the SN IPA. If you like the IPAs more, I'd suggest picking up the celebration ale because it wont' be around much more (until next year).

Thanks for the info. I'll look for a case the next time I'm out shopping.

i really like cherry wheat. granted i only had it one time but cherry is one of my favourite flavours