guess i'll add them to my list to stop at when i'm in Columbus this summer. Was planning to hit Hoof Hearted and Columbus brewing at a minimum.

I completely don't understand the love that Hoof Hearted gets. Have had several of their canned beers as well as several on tap at their brewpub, and none were great.

Wolf's Ridge makes awesome beers and is an excellent restaurant, too.

I suppose I'll do a quick little Portland write up. I didn't spend a ton of time there so not the same experience as mullen. We got there around 1:30-2 and left at ~7.

First stop was Bissell Bros, which tbh is in a bit of a lame location on the outskirts in a new little commercial district they're starting. Some d-bag worker gave me **** for almost walking on some newly laid brick that was not marked off and when I apologized he said "you're not sorry, just excuses" so I beat his face in.

The tap room is pretty nice. They had cans of their flagship IPA "Substance" and their rye ale "Lux" available. Nice to see cheap 5oz pours available. I started with a 5 oz pours of Lux and Substance. Lux I really liked, I'm generally a fan of rye beers. I'm actually drinking one now. ~5% abv, tad spicy, good bitter hop flavor. Enjoyable. I guessed centennial when I tasted it, site says centennial and mosaic. Really not getting much mosaic so I doubt they use a ton. There's a subtle bit of citrus to it. Next 5 oz was the substance which was pretty good but doesn't really stand out compared to Tree House or Trill. Really nice feel and I'd say a little more bitter than the other thick/creamy NEIPAs. Would have liked some cans but between me getting there and trying it and going up again they had sold out. Bit surprising given there wasn't really a line and I saw tons of cases of Lux left. Oh well. Not super bummed about it.

Got another two 5oz pours: Baby Genius (4% hoppy blonde) and Barrel Aged Umbra (7.5% whiskey BA stout). Baby Genius is amazing. Prob the best beer I had from them. My buddy had a 5oz pour on his first round and opted for a 10oz pour of that for the second round. The BA stout was good. Must not sit in the barrel too long, as the abv matches the non-ba version (or am I newb here?) and the barrel flavors weren't crazy. It was a nice stout. Doesn't compare to the big hitters in that arena though.

After bissell bros we grabbed some lunch at an oyster joint called Eventide near downtown. Only had one beer here, Austin Street Rally IPA. It was delicious and refreshing. Bit of a spicy bite to it in the taste, but very refreshing and delicious. Hit the spot. Only real knock on it was it was a tad thin and undercarbonated imo. I just looked it up, and it's only 3.8%! Wow. Shocked by that. The food at this joint was a mixed bag. Actually first off our waitress had a california accent and it was sorta off-putting. Anyway, the oysters were awesome. Very good. We also had this scotch egg with smoked blue fish thing that was great. But we also had a lobster roll each (kinda like half size, it was tapas portions). Jesus. I mean, it tasted ok, but the lobster was warm with some chives and extra bs seasoning in it and it was grinded up or something, and the roll was this cold asian style steamed bun. Sorry I'm a purist. The lobster should be cold and in tact and the bun should be a toasted hot dog bun. Apparently this is hugely popular there. Look at this ****:



gtfo.

after that walked a few blocks to Oxbow's tap room. Sorta tucked away and it was sort of a weird vibe and too dark and spacious imo. Their Crossfade blend of hoppy brett beers is quite nice. I only had a sip of that. I opted for a light Italian style lager that fit the bill of an easy drinking beer but it was nothing special. Overall wasn't a huge fan of this joint.

Then just walked around a bunch and explored the town. Stopped off in Liquid Riot, another brewery/bar. I had a flight of 4 beers (a mexican lager, an ipa, a brett beer collab with allagash, and a dry irish stout). These were mostly forgettable/not very good except for the Allagash collab which was quite nice.

And that was it. Drove home after this. Picked up a cold brew iced coffee for the drive home which cost ****ing $4 wtf. Overall I enjoyed portland but was maybe a tad underwhelmed. But not like I had a ton of time there. I'll do it proper some other time.

I did pick up some more beer in a store. I got:

Lone Pine Brewing Portland Pale Ale: had one last night. Totally fine but totally forgettable.
Maine Beer Co Woods and Water IPA: just had one with dinner earlier. Eh. Kinda lemony and bit piney. Not much smell. Pretty underwhelming. Maybe least favorite hop-forward beer I've had from them.. either that or Peeper. Certainly no MO.

But one ray of sunlight here: Battery Steele Brewing Kineo IPA. I had a can last night as a night cap while watching tv. It kinda blew me away and was prob the best beer I had yesterday. Lotta pineapple including that puckery feeling you get with really good fresh pineapple. Awesome feel. Solid balancing bitterness. Glad I have 3 more cans left. Canning date is 4/24/17 so prob won't sit on them too long. Really nice find.

Trillium Beer Garden now open!

hmm, all i've heard is positive things so far. I had a Konkey Dong (limited release a few months ago) that was really good, and their recent release Key Bump (Triple IPA) is supposed to be great.

Solid TR. BB guy sounds like a douche. Guess when you sell as much beer as they do you get to do whatever you want. Baby Genius gotta be the GOAT session summer beer, I'd buy several cases a month if I could.

Concur on the Oxbow tap room, it's an alright quick stop to dry some of the funky stuff but overall I maintain that their beer is overpriced and got a bit of a pretentious vibe from that particular place. Allagash is better.

Slightly ashamed to say I thoroughly enjoyed the lobster roll @ Eventide. I mean it's a ton of warm lobster and brown butter. It's more of a hipster interpretation of a lobster roll though. Also had some crudo special when I was there that was insane.

I think you'll enjoy a full weekend trip more. I really enjoyed popping into the local bars just walking around the city which pretty much all have tons of local stuff that can nicely surprise you. Also a bunch of NE stuff I can't normally get my hands on so that's less relevant to you but still.

CT style lobster rolls (warm lobster served w/ tons of melted butter on a toasted hot dog bun)>>>>>>>>>>>Maine style lobster rolls. Who doesn't like warm lobster and butter? Its a much better combo than mayo.

Yeah, I didn't think Key Bump was that good either. Probably my mouth is broken.

I suppose I can also do a TR for Portland since I went this past friday/saturday.

Headed up with my brother and stopped at Deciduous along the way. Was really really awesome. Place was borderline empty on Friday at 6ish and everything we had was basically great. Tried a flight of Morphology #3, Stack 1.0, Glaze (a Gose) and Renascence (porter). Highlight for me was the Morphology #3 which is an elite DIPA imo. Left with growlers of that and the Stack. Also grabbed a bottle of Frangosta and Nelson Sylph which I've yet to crack. Then we ate dinner at the pizza place next door which was pretty phenomenal given the location.

Got to Portland around 8 and we headed to Thirsty Pig which was a fun time. Not too crowded and an expectedly awesome tap list. This was the first time I'd had Bissell so I went right for the Substance and thought it was really, really good. I guess I disagree with what was posted so far because the flow/evolution of the taste and mouthfeel when drinking this beer is something I really enjoy. Also had Fiesta...Forever which was a Jalepeno Gose that I was told was also BB but weirdly there seems to be little record of online. Anyway, this was good and interesting but I definitey didn't want more at the end of it.

Fron there we went to Novare Res where I had the FW XX Anniversary Ale which was a boozy hot mess that I couldn't finish. This place was confirmed awesome and had an intimidating tap list I wish I could have spent more time there/gotten there earlier but we were kinda beat at this point.

Saturday Morning we went to Bissell and I stood in line for an hour while my bro (not really a huge beer guy) walked around town and then came back to mule for me. We got a bunch of substance and Baby Genius. As an aside, I was not as wild about Baby Genius as apparently everyone else is - it was described somewhere as Eureka-like so thats what I was expectig but I found it a little too citrusy/acidic to be on that level. Definitey good but not a banger for me. So if anyone wants to hit me up for a trade or whatever feel free to PM me (I have quite a bit of it).

After grabbing cans it was still like 45 minutes from the tap room opening so we went for a hike outside of Portland. Then we drove back to Austin Street and Foundation. I grabbed growlers of Patina and Rally from Austin St, which I have since tried and they are both awesome. Patina is especially drinkable.

Had never had Foundation before and have to say that after having had Bissell and Deciduous it was a bit of a letdown. Epipheny is very good but not special in the scheme of the beers I'd had. Venture left a similar feeling. I guess I'd lump these in with how I feel about reg Fiddlehead and Sip in that the hype seems mildly outdated goven the current landscape. Had these in a flight with Riverton Flyer and Afterglow which were meh at that point. I did grab four of the Epiphany and Venture to take home since I've found it's best to give beers a second chance sometimes, especially when my palate was probably a bit blown out at this point and flight tastings can be kind of misleading/messy (for me at least).

We headed back to the Bissell tap room at this point since I've never had Reciprocal or Swish so I got 5oz pours of each. We we kind of standing in a crowd and felt a little anxious to get going so while they were both really really good as expected, I felt too rushed to form a nuanced take on them.

We tried to go eat at Duck Fat after that but the wait was over an hour so we ate at the place next door which was whatever. Then we drove home.

I would definitely do some things differently if I were to go back - namely split Austin and Foundation with Bissell on different days. My earlier hot take on them aside, I couldn't think of a good reason to drive to MBC since it was a non Dinner release day and everything else they have is widely available near me. I regret not trying any Orono at the places I went to since I didn't really know what it was (think they had Ozone at Thirsty Pig). My brother had Woods and Waters that night and I tried it - would concur with the earlier review.

Mullen,

I wasn't clear, the real jerk dude didn't work for bissell bros. He was either a city worker or contractor for the general property. Just some dude who was obv bent out of shape that people kept walking on bricks that he failed to make clear were not for walking.


I agree with butter over mayo and the toasted hot dog bun is universal so CT has no claim to that. But cold obv better than warm. If you do go the mayo route it has to be on the side cuz if it's pre-mixed it'll be too much mayo.

And whatever that eventide thing is it's neither... It's a ****ing lobster hot pocket.

Also, girlfriend is throwing a bachelorrette party at our place this weekend so gonna do Vermont with the dog (even though I have too much beer already). Wanted to go camping but doesn't look like the weather will be very good.

Going to try to pull off River Roost, HF, Foam and BBCo. Might stop by Fiddlehead at some point if they have Second Fiddle. So maybe another TR coming up.

Blasphemy!

Brag: Found out recently that a cousin of mine is one of the owners of Deciduous. Great beer, confirmed proud!

Here is the lineup of beers for The 2017 Fat Head's Heavyweight Brewer's Brawl

Bottlehouse
Spring Gruit - Farmhouse Gruit w/ herbs and spruce tips, collaboration w/Spice Acres
Nocturne - Blackcurrant Cider
Brett Syklist - Brett Pale Ale

Brew Kettle
2016 Championship All For One Triple IPA
Trebu Cliché Saison 7.8% ABV 32 IBU

Brick and Barrel
Bitter Chief IPA 7.3%
Big Chief IPA 9.3 %
McTavish Maple Bourbon Wee Heavy 9.5 %

Brim
Gouden Donder Belgian Golden Strong
Erie Street Double IPA.

Butcher and the Brewer
Sticky Fingers - DIPA - 10.2%abv 100+ibu's
Keep on Keepn' - Session IPA - 4.8%abv 55ibu's
OYO-Aged Midnight Oil - Bourbon-Aged Imperial Oatmeal Stout - 13.1%abv 65ibu's

Collision Bend
Lemon Wit
Infused Stout

Columbus Brewing
Easy “Small Batch” IPA
Lucy Belgian IPA

Cornerstone
To Be Announced

Goldhorn
Dead Man's Curve IPA
Polka City Pilsner

HiHo
Hey Jon, Hey Jon DIPA
Turn Up the Beet Saison

JAFB
Harvest Saison
Farmyard IPA
Colombian Coffee Porter

Lagerheads
Wild Banshee
High 5

Lavery
Out come the wolves double IPA
Belfast Black Smoked Porter

Masthead
Tasmanian IPA
Pils
Imperial Coffee Stout.

Millersburg
Alegria
Nuthouse Peanut Butter Porter

Noble Beast Brewing
Say When Peppercorn Saison 6.9% ABV 26 IBU
Evil Motives IPA 7% ABV 65 IBU

Platform Brewing
Jaskulaid
Darn Putin Imperial Stout
Hop Ramble

Portside
Sea Grass Gose
Pastoral Pines Saison
Extra Juicy IPA

R Shea
Chocolate Hazelnut Imperial Stout 9.25% ABV
KnockOut DIPA 8.00% ABV
Orange Mango Citra Shandy 6.00% ABV

Sibling Revelry
Coconut Porter
Sybil Imperial Dark Ale
Pale Ale

Terrestial
Joey- Rye IPA (8%) (simcoe, citra and mosaic)
Cocoa Wheats- (4.5%) (cocoa pebble dark American wheat with coffee)
Provincial Stout- (9.5%) (imperial smoked stout with maple and oak)

Willoughby
Nut Smasher
Vietnamese Nut Smasher

Wolf’s Ridge
Clear Sky Cinnamon Toast Brunch (2)
Dire Wolf Canis Mexicanus (1)
Terre du Sauvage Gold (1-2)



Last year's winner was Willoughby's Nut Smasher, which was very good for a 5 ounce pour. I'm not sure what the new Vietnamese one is all about. I'm looking forward to trying Cinnamon Toast Brunch from Wolf's Ridge, and Out Come the Wolves from Lavery, mainly because I really liked that Rancid album growing up.

Just a heads up to PNW people, get as much of the fort George/great notion/Reubens 3-way ipa as you can now that it's on shelves.

Better than most treehouse/trillium/etc. (imo) and just sitting in grocery stores for $11/4-pack. It's insanely good.

Recent beer tasting notes:

- tried a few of the collabs out of Sierra's newest Beer Camp pack, which has some heavy hitters: Surly, Tree House, The Bruery, Mikkeller, and Boneyard among others. I found The Bruery one to be quite disappointing (beer is "raspberry sundae" but while that's a beer The Bruery is totally capable of nailing, this felt like boring generic raspberry flavor), a friend who's really into IPAs tried the Tree House and Boneyard ones and wasn't super impressed. I tried the Garage Project collab too (porter w/ vanilla) and it was okay. I've been bullish on Sierra in the past but I'm starting to lose my love for them.
- had BA Old Rasputin (XIX, I think the newest iteration?) on tap, not good at all
- followed it up with BA Ten Fidy, which I found disappointing out of a can previously - it tasted good compared to the Old Rasputin but still wasn't terribly awesome

BA Ten Fidy and even moreso regular Ten Fidy need age on them imo. They're almost like black ipas fresh, so overhopped. But they age pretty nicely and turn into solid beers imo.

FWIW plenty of locals here disagree with me on BATF, they like it fresh and liked '16 over '15, I had em side by side with friends and we loved '15 and weren't impressed w/ '16 (hoppy booze to us and we like both of those things!).

nice report Jake. Look forward to hearing about Vermont.

Just hit up Trillium as I'm visiting a buddy in NY this weekend, figured I'd bring him some. Despite my dislike of most mosaic bombs, picked up a 4pck of DDH Melcher Street (double mosaic dry hop IPA) and Upper Case (DIPA with mostly Mosaic but some citra, columbus, and galaxy too). Figured I'd keep a couple of each and give my buddy the rest.

DDH Melcher: pretty good all things considered. Really nice feel, good carb, and while the bitter resinous qualities are there, it's lacking that overly berry flavor and metallic aftertaste I often get. Not my fave ever but def a solid beer I'll drink again.

Upper Case: Not sure if I've tried this before. Perhaps. Regardless, this I REALLY like. It has pilsner malts which gives it a bit of a unique character for Trill IPAs, sweetness cuts through some of the biterness. This is quite tropical. Maybe a tad bit of alcohol astringency on the finish. It is 9% which is on the high side for what I like to drink for my hoppy beers. Also maybe too sweet for some.

during my NYC visit, didn't sample of ton of local beers, but tried a few:

- had some nondescript NEIPA from Interboro at a place near my buddy's apartment in the upper east side.. can't remember which one. Was fine but nothing remarkable.
- After that we headed to a show in brooklyn and Interboro's tap room was right near the venue. It's in East Williamsburg. The place was pretty nice and lowkey. I had a Louder Than Bombs, a DIPA with citra and simcoe. I liked it quite a bit, two of my fave hops. Wouldn't go out of my way for it because it's not any better than some of the local stuff I get, but it was quite nice.

- Other Half IPA. Just their straight up IPA. Think this is the 2nd or 3rd OH beer I've had, and not gonna lie this is ****ing killer. Had multiple pitchers with friends at a beer garden called Greenwood Park. Burger was mediocre but this beer was bangin. Total west coast bitter piney/grapefruit hop bomb with a tad more malt than is currently en vogue. Absolutely loved this and it'd be a regular in my fridge assuming this is something they have available very regularly. Pretty much a flawless beer for what it is. Only complaint is at 7% it added up pretty quick and I was pretty drunk by the end of our stay there.

Interboro's a solid spot. Grimm is opening up their physical brewery right in that area sometime in the near future too. That should be pretty dope.

Think your preferences make sense given that Interboro's style while very good is just a poor man's TH/Trill whereas Other Half makes stuff besides faceless NEIPAs.

Local beer place just posted this on facebook:



I had no idea Zima still existed, and I'm tempted to get a 6-pack for novelty's sake.

I'd pass on the Zima but def. pick up those Jolly Ranchers

Watermelon is repulsive

Anyone in PA or any close areas that get Troegs, if you haven't tried their Nimble Giant dipa it is delicious and I recommend it.

Any must stops in the Clearwater, FL area? I'm here until Sunday. I've hit up Rapp Brewing Co and Big Storm Brewing Co, both of which were enjoyable.

Cigar city would be the standard recommendation