I'd vote for the WC over the imperial as well

I got a 4 pack of the Oskar Blues Ten Fidy imperial stout (10.5 abv, get it?). It was pricy ($16 for 4) but I tried it the other night and really enjoyed it. Reminds me a little of Founders Backwoods Bastard scotch ale.

Beer drinkers,

Started out Super Bowl Sunday with a chocolate stout faceoff. Young's Double Chocolate (~$12 4-pack of 14.9oz/440ml nitro-cans) vs Sam Smith's Organic Chocolate ($3.50 18.5oz/550ml bottle).



I've been a fan of the Young's for a long time, and I'm also a big fan of Sam Smith's oatmeal stout, so I figured I'd give this a try.

Young's: Pretty mild taste. Nice head. Very rich mouthfeel. Subtle dark chocolate smell and taste. Very creamy, milky taste. Little bit of coffee. Overall, a really delicious beer.

Sam Smith's: Wow. This was just not good. Intense milk chocolate smell and taste. Super sweet, and an artificial tasting chocolatey sweetness at that. Thin, syrupy and carbonated mouthfeel. Really pretty bad. Drank about half the bottle before throwing the rest away, and only drank that much to give it a fair shake for this evaluation.

Bleh game so far. Here's what we're drinking:



Growler is Good Life Comatose, an Imperial ipa.

LOLSUPER BOWL watchers,

Faceoff number 2: sculpin IPA vs 21A brew free or die IPA



Two of my faves. And both delivered, straightforward and delicious IPAs.

Sculpin is slightly milder flavor, a touch less hoppy, and a little more citrus character. 21a is a tad hoppier and slightly richer flavor. Overall slight edge to 21a but both are delicious and pretty similar.

Elysian Hop Czar
New Belgium Rampant Imperial IPA

Over and over and over and over son.

And skittles.

HAWKS HAWKS HAWKS

Fantasia confirmed DOMED. Hell of a game. When it hit 29-0, we went from hoping for a SB win to hoping for a shutout. What a night.

Final tally:
64 oz Boneyard Hop Venom
16 oz Double Mountain Vaporizer
12 oz Lagunitas Sucks
22 oz Stone Enjoy By 2-14-14
750ml Petrus Aged Pale
22oz Upright Fantasia

(Might have been a Coors Light mixed in; can't quite remember)

My super bowl lineup was pretty IPA heavy. I went with brews from Washington and Colorado to go with the theme of the Super Bowl Teams. I didn't go for any special releases or anything barrel aged etc. Was just going for stuff that I can enjoy all day and through the game since I started drinking at noon.

Washington based brews for Seattle Seahawks

Pike - "Naughty Nellie" Golden Ale
Scuttlebutt - "Gale Force" IPA
Scuttlebutt - Porter (didn't get to)
Red Hook - IPA (didn't get to)
Pyramid - "Outburst" Imperial IPA

Colorado based brews for Denver Broncos

New Belgium - "1554" Dark Ale
New Belgium - "Rampant" Imperial IPA
Avery - IPA
Great Divide - "Titan" IPA
Great Divide - "Hercules Double" IPA
Great Divide - "Colette" Farm House Ale (didn't get to)

This was my first year doing the home state/city beer theme and it went over pretty well. We are going to keep it going and it was cool thinking about future match-ups and regions. Every one is pretty much rooting for the Chargers to be in the next 5 super bowls now

I'm praying for a day when Boneyard bottles RPM and Hop Venom. Some of the best IPAs I've ever had.

I just picked this up as well and quite enjoyed it!

Yeah, so the Biscotti Break was too much, and I'm feeling a bit sluggish today. The first 8-12 ounces were really great, and I was thinking to myself, "Self, this was a pretty expensive bottle (~$25), but I would totally buy it again." But there was a hint of something artificial tasting, and the last 12 ounces got progressively less good. I drank the last 4 ounces or so just out of obligation.

So overall, I'd say this is a really excellent beer to share among 2-4 people. Not so much a great beer to drink on your own.

I just added you.

Mmmmmbeer823 (E. Shaw)

Can't even remember the beers I drank last night, but had an eclectic mix iirc:

Faced a 7 month old Heady Topper. Still fairly delicious though hops very faded
The Long Thaw White IPA by Harpoon
BCBS Coffee
Zure Van Tildonk by Hof Ten Dormaal--quite delicious. Sour and medium body/tart
Eclipse Makers Mark Barrel--best of the Eclipses I've had this year
Oude Tart by The Bruery
Stone Enjoy By 2/14/14

Stone is releasing a new Session IPA in March, pretty excited

Tweet from Stone

Anyone who's in the distro region for Sixpoint want to send me some Hi-Res? I'm in Southern California so let me know if there is something you can't get that you want from here and I'll send it in exchange.

Took this over a week ago so can't remember detailed tasting notes but definitely coffee, caramel, chocolate, some nuttiness and well... glazed donut. Sweet but not overly so. Delicious.

when I can finally get some weather to ship in, I'll gladly ship you a 4pk

Alright cool. PM me and Let me know what you want in return from out here.

Damn. That looks and sounds great!

just had a bud light, it was pretty bad

QFT, bud lights ahhhh. gotta drink em sometime in farm town, OH

I need to establish some trading partners because you guys are posting some intriguing ****. I can't complain, a lot of goods floating around Naptown where I am. is trading common elsewhere, or are any of you guys habitual traders?

All,

http://www.sfbeerweek.org/schedule/

Lots of tap takeovers, beer tastings, beer dinners, etc Feb 7-16 in the Bay Area. This was a pretty small thing a few years ago and now has turned into a giant event.

So far, here's what I'm planning on:

Pre-beer week event:
Friday, February 7: 3pm
Housed In a Barrel: Sipping Session with Cascade Brewing, Gather barside to engage in wild talk with Cascade’s Preston Weesner, a master at sour storytelling. We’ll be pouring the following rare offerings so pucker up:

Live: Cinnamon Apple-NW Style Sour Barrel-aged Blonde Ale
Live: Wolfberry-NW Style Sour Barrel-aged Wheat Beer with blackberries
Live: L’Agent Orange-NW Style Sour Blenders Reserve Series

13th Double IPA Festival
February 8
11:00am - 5:00pm
The original kickoff to SF Beerweek, Over 50 Double and 30 Triple IPA's on tap.

Probably will check out a Goose Island tap takeover and try to taste some of the BCS varieties I haven't tried.

If anyone happens to look at the schedule and see any breweries you think are must-tries, please let me know!

Really looking forward to this:

The Bruery Grand Tasting 2014
Thursday, February 13th
Once again Fat Angel is teaming up with The Bruery, one of California’s most innovative and sought after breweries, to do another in-depth, mother of all beer tastings. This year we’ve decided to bump the number of beers tasted to 20, side-by-side in 4 separate flights. This tasting is not for the faint of heart, even the hardcore beer lovers at last years event needed to dig deep to work through 16 beers! We’ve brought back a few favorites from last year and added a whole bunch of new ones. The beers being poured are:

Saison de Lente
Shegöat
Batch #1000: Bryeian
Humulus Lager
Tout Mais le Coller
The Wanderer
Ichigo Highway
Sour in the Rye w/ Kumquats
Mischief Gone Wild
Oude Tart w/ Sour Cherries
Sans Pagaie
Burly Gourd
Chocosaurus Rye
Acer Quercus
A Stein’s Throw
4 Calling Birds
3 French Hens
Smoking Wood
Melange #1
Grey Monday
The tasting will consists of 20 beers, in 4 separate flights, in 3 ounce pours (plus a surprise!). The ticket cost is $69 (tax and tip not included)

trip report?

I would guess someone like Rundownhouse would know, but I would be curious to know how many of the old bottles are still being kept by GI. last year in NYC they had a GI event where they brought a bunch of the BCS variants they hadn't made in years - but obviously they can't keep doing that b/c those beers were made once and supply must be dwindling. I wonder how many they keep around.

KBZ, the rumor is that they hold back a good amount every year for events like this and what not. I used to know a GI rep and he told me how much was held back, but we were doing an Imp Stout tasting and were well into it when he told me