Enjoying my last can of Citra now. Probably my favorite OH beer from the haul. If there's any flaw, I'm getting like a very slight skunk/metallic undertone, like you'd get with a Beck's or something. First can wasn't like this, so could very well be my mouth.

Yeah I didn't get that from the Citra (April canning)

Recently tried the new Tilquin beer - Mure (blackberry). I was previously under the impression that I prefer gueuze to fruited lambic; I tend to like Tilquin gueuze more than Tilquin Quetsche (plums), for example. But I really enjoyed this. It's not very carbonated, which I guess is a fault, but I'm not even sure I minded. Very happy with it.



It's time for Founders Harvest Ale:


This is probably overstating it, but this might be my favorite Founders beer. (At least I can buy it off the shelf if I get lucky, in contrast to KBS.) It's a great pale ale. California people - how has your Founders experience been?

Dark Horse Plead the 5th:


Sometimes it's nice to open just a standard non-barrel aged stout. I don't know what year it's from, but it's really good.

Yeah think it was just the gum I had chewed on the drive home.

Ended up having another can of Green diamonds. Straight from the can. This stuff is really good. I'm enjoying these beers with a little earthiness to them a bit more than the pure juice bombs.

Spider,

Where do you get all this stuff?

Those crazy SOBs at EEB are at it again. Can't wait to see what they come up with next. Spoilers for the sensitive folk.

Whilst you were drinking and making merry out front, this was going on out back. Arduous preparations for our next batch of meat beer, a thing since 1500.

Tony! Merci buckets for your skunnin' services! This year's batch of PORTER COCHON is officially underway!

When is the next release for Good Morning? Would anyone be interested in trading a growler for a Vanilla Rye?

Got in line at 9am at Other Half and was out by 10:15 with a case of El Dorado, 4-4 packs of AGE, and 1-4 pack of Doug (why not). Nice and easy

Just arrived in Brussels for a 36-hour stop. Dinner is Nuetnigenough followed by Moeder Lambic. Obviously have very high hopes for the evening!

moeder lambic is obviously awesome. I would also recommend hitting up Le Poechenellekelder

I buy a lot of stuff from online shops. Too much stuff.

Couple of things that I found interesting recently:
1) For some unknown reason, Ohio apparently got several kegs of Alesmith Vietnamese Speedway Stout. I was in a grocery store today and they had it on tap. I was tempted to get a growler until I found out that it was $29.99. (I didn't try a glass because it was 9 in the morning.) Feel like I may end up regretting it because I love regular Speedway and I'm unlikely to come across that variant again.

2) It seems that U.S. distributors of Belgian beers are getting upset with websites that are selling these beers to U.S. addresses, because it violates their distribution agreements. So, for example, Etre Gourmet is no longer selling Girardin for U.S. shipment:



It will be interesting to see if that becomes a bigger issue. And I'll use that as a reason to stockpile more foreign lambic while I can. Convenient how that's always the end result.

3) Ohio politicians are acting like maybe they're willing to lift the 12% cap:
Hope it happens.

4) This beer is fantastic:



Only problem is that they inexplicably changed from 16 oz cans to 12 oz bottles. 16 oz cans are the GOAT beer container.

Tonight's debate beers (including the GOAT beer container):


2013 bottle - really nice combination of juicy and tart cherry.



GOAT container, and just a really consistent, tasty beer. For me, when I'm wandering around a beer store not really sure what I want, this is probably the most common purchase - I know exactly what I'm getting and I'm rarely disappointed.

Fat heads is 5 mins from me, they have some good stuff.

+1 to 16oz cans being GOAT.

Awesome, thanks

Moeder had Fou on draft last night! Was beyond exciting for me haha.

Yup.

Bought a 4-pack of these recently, and really enjoyed it. Pricey, but good. $13.99 for 4. Not sure I would pay that much for it again, but a solid early offering from LHBC.

Funny how people look at pricing. It's super context sensitive. You guys draw your lines on what to pay for beer based on what beer costs. In Australia craft beer is brutally priced, partly because of niche market/economies of scale, but mostly because taxation ramps up savagely as ABV increases. As a result, there's a local brewery that makes 16 oz IIPAs (8.8%) and they retail for like $US 9.30 each. The thing is, I just pay it. It's what good beer costs. You would too. (It's not just beer, a fifth of Smirnoff is $26.20 at the cheapest place in town).

Point is, what it costs to buy your fave beer instead of settling for second best is trivial in terms of what you shell out for other things, but there are other ways people assess price. I was trying to explain that to my boss at my last job when he was under the impression he could sell some random app for $5. He was like "this is easily $5 of value" and I was like "sure, cool, I get that, but that just isn't how the app store works. People expect things to be free".

For comparison, I could buy 300 oz of Victoria Bitter, a famously bad beer here (think PBR) for $US 35.50. So basically I can get 96 oz of the IIPA or 300 oz of **** lager for $36 ish. I'm not sure the ratio is the same in the US? Maybe more like double the price for good beer?

Well, I can get 360 oz. of crap beer in the US (e.g. Natural Light) for $15, or get 72 oz. of good Imperial IPAs for $15. That's a 5 to 1 ratio in raw beer quantity. But by an ABV comparison (4.2% vs. 9%+), that makes it closer to a 2 to 1 ratio. Crap beer is overly cheap in the US; it's much, much cheaper than good craft beer. Regardless, we are extremely lucky our government thinks taxing alcohol heavily is a bad idea compared to much of the world.

But least your minimum wage is $12.28 US/hr though. The US minimum is only $7.25 with some states being higher.

Edit: And shouldn't your math be 300 oz./64 oz. = 4.69? I thought you said a 16 oz. can was $9.30US.

I tried the toaster pastry tonight. I really quite enjoyed it.

Made an effort to try the Lagunitas Born Yesterday this year after missing it last year. Worth seeking out.

I thought that was a 1 time release?

They definitely brewed "Born Yesterday" again, but I wonder if it's the same exact recipe. I remember last year there was a label online that had some lower ABV (6.2% IIRC) but the beer was actually somehow 7.5%.

This time there is a label on their website saying 6.5%. I will try to find it this weekend. I'm thinking I'll get four 6packs if I find it.

Hotlinked from their site (bad?):



On another note: Smuttynose Finestkind IPA is really, really good. Total Wine in socal is the only place I've seen it, and it's currently the only beer I definitely buy when I see it.

I hope I can find some more born yesterday, that was my favorite beer last year.

Their website has a pretty good beer finder that was helpful for me. Seems like a of places in SF got it, I was just lazy and I wanted something in my neighborhood.

Edit: beer finder doesn't seem to be showing much now, so maybe this wasn't helpful

Price went up a buck or two. 10.99/6. Picked up four 6 packs. ABV this time 6.5, so same as the label I posted earlier.

Hopefully it tastes as good as last year now that I have 24!

SN celebration was there too but I didn't get any.

Smuttynose is pretty underrated in general. Their brown ale is fantastic.