Went to Bend this weekend for a bachelor party. Bend Brewfest was taking place and that wound up being my least favorite beer-related activity of the weekend - super crowded, long lines for the larger/more popular breweries, then you get to the front of the line and discover they're serving only like 2-3 beers which may or may not actually be ones you're interested in trying.

Bend itself is awesome though. We stayed near downtown on the river and tons of breweries and other stuff is all within 20 minute walking distance. My parents live nearby so I've been there a lot, but staying in town was a bit of a different experience and I highly recommend it.

Highlight for me was at Deschutes, they had a smoked gose that was super delicious, kinda tasted like smoked gouda a little bit, perfect light tartness and really full flavor. Everything we tried at Crux was also really good.

Just got a glass of Westbrook Mexican Cake (2016). It's an Imperial Stout infused with chocolate and peppers. This year's batch does not bring the heat as much as previous renderings. Still a tasty offering from Westbrook.

Completely agree on the lack of heat this year. It also seems more forward on the cinnamon.

Tasting tonight: Nomad's So-Cal-Iente, a black rye IPA with chillies and orange zest.



Co-brewed with the guys from Stone.

Great beer. Exactly as advertised and beautifully balanced. Thankfully the chillies are extremely subtle, just the slightest hint. The orange zest is great. Very drinkable. Hard to fault. One of the best beers Nomad have ever produced.

Stumbled upon some imperial biscotti break at a local place. Amazing

Tried a couple Avery barrel-aged imperial stouts this week:
- Vanilla Bean Stout: very nice, rich, vanilla is well balanced, think $15/bomber at usually-not-cheap local shop is pretty great value for this
- Uncle Jacob's Stout, batch #5: not so into this. At 17.1% abv, it's SUPER hot and numbed the roof of my mouth a little (does not hide it like Bruery/BCBS-type beers do), overly roasty flavor to the point of being a little bitter

Uncle Jacobs varies so much from year to year (I wanna say my fav year its abv was in the 14s), but Avery does have a problem smoothing out their stouts once they get >14%. I actually think Uncle Jacobs is the best barrel aged stout/stronger ale beer that Avery makes. That said, I'd definitely sit on any of their bigger beers for at least a year or two. I had a 2013 Rumpkin earlier in the year and it was incredible. I can barely even drink it fresh.

Just opened the westy 12 I've been meaning to drink for a while

it's very good, very similar to the rochefort 10 and probably slightly better, but i don't think it's better enough to justify the extra cost in getting it

Anyone had the Strisselspalt hop before? Had a beer from a new brewery tonight - Torrside Imperial Strisselspalt. It's called a double IPA but had an extremely malt-forward and sickly profile and an aroma/scent like kirsch or something. Not sure what's done by the hop there, and what's just the brewery (the beer is 2 months old, so pretty fresh) - so I'd like to know.

Picked up three new beers yesterday, Oskar Blues Pinner a sessionable ipa with passion fruit, decent, not too sweet.
Two from Clown Shoes, a DIPA and an Imperial stout. Never had anything from them so interested how those'll be.

I've never used that hop in my brewing and don't remember ever having it, either.

I would guess, based on the very scant evidence in your post, that the beer you had was oxidized as all hell. I'm not a "Hoppy beers must be no less than 12 hours old" guy, but I've had relatively young beers that have been absolutely wrecked by oxidation.

12 hours is way too old to really enjoy the freshness and dankness. I prefer to stuff my face in a bag of hops and just chew.

To my delight, I recently found out that they distribute to Colorado and I picked up a bottle of this. Never had it, was tasty, I agree not a lot of heat, I was getting plenty of vanilla in there though. It reminds me of Mexican Chocolate stout from Copper Kettle, but Westbrook's was a bit better.

They basically release their stuff when it is just barely drinkable for some people lol.

I have a nice collection of Avery big beers that are 1-5 years old, really enjoy their boozy stuff after a year minimum. UJ, Beast, Rumpkin, Pumpkyn, some of their newer one offs like Old Perseverance.

Beers like Samael seem to endlessly improve.

Could be oxidized like RDH said, but that usually will make the beer taste stale/cardboard-like. From what I'm reading on kirsch (haven't had it before), that's not the type of flavor you're getting.

It could very well be the hop, it seems like an odd choice to use for a DIPA, it's a low alpha acid hop and one of the flavor descriptors is spicy. That looks more appropriate for something like a saison or pils.

It could also be a combination of a poor ingredient choice (the hop) and poor brewing practices. It's more likely to find one when the other is present.

Sour fans,



Hermitage strawberry rhubarb sour. First couple sips very tasty, nice big fruity flavor, intense sourness, and a little bit of funk. But 5oz was prob the right pour of this, not 10oz. By the second half of the glass, sourness was just completely overwhelming everything else.

I was in Jamestown, RI over the labor day weekend and a packy happened to have tons of Greysail's Captain's Daughter DIPA. Wanted to see if it was still as good as I remember. Bought two 4 packs.

First can I found overly bitter and the pilsner malt overpowering, but next 7 cans over two days were killer. Super smooth, awesome tropical and "dank" notes, pislner malts an awesome touch, and just went down so easy for an 8.5%. And despite pounding 4 straight while watching US Open, for some reason I'm not drunk.

La Chouffe is one of my favorites.
both Liefmanns were very berry with a nice sour touch and some oak cast finish.
Horny Betty was the lightest,some herbs but ending sweet with a touch of vanilla

Some more beers:

Almost made a tree house run today but decided to pass cuz I got outta work late. Wanted to try their ESB, a style I like from what limited samples I have. Fullers is obv great. That got me in the mood for something malty.

Picked up some Brewmaster Jack dipas. I think they were a bit old. Too much sweetness. Shame.

Castle Island Festbier, 4.6% marzen inspired ale. This is the best beer I've had from them. Slight floral hop notes, awesome nutty pilsnery malts. Very crushable. Will prob be even better when the weather cools.

I've had a few good sours from Paradox recently. #40 (Pineapple Upside Down) was quite tasty.

Dry Dock double apricot blonde tonight, it's a much bigger version of their flagship beer, then aged in whiskey barrels.

It's pretty unique and good, barrel character is pretty heavy up front, but this is a nice beer.

El D/SF people - stopped by Triple Voodoo yesterday briefly and they have a barrel aged imperial stout on tap which is niiiiiiiice. Barrel aged for a year and then I think cellared for another 9-10 months. Got a few bottles to go as well.

Harmonic has a new slightly sour beer with olallieberries which is also very good.

Got a couple tickets for the next event at Fat Head's - the Celebration of the Hop. Pretty much an IPA-fest, so I'm really pumped. Here's the list of participating breweries, but not the beers theyre bringing. Any must-haves that might be there?

* Columbus Brewing Co.
* JAFB Wooster
* The Brew Kettle
* Wolf's Ridge Brewing
* 3 Floyd's
* Jackie O's
* Seventh Son Brewing
* Land-Grant Brewing Co.
* Lavery Brewing Co.
* Platform Beer Co.
* Goldhorn Brewery
* Brick and Barrel Brewing
* Cornerstone
* Four String Brewing Co.
* Kindred Artisan Ales
* Loggerhead's
* Millersburg Brewing Co.
* North High Brewing
* Thin Man Brewery
* Old First Ward Brewing Co.
* Willoughby Brewing Co.
* Fifty West
* Butcher and the Brewer
* Sibling Revelry
* Fat Head's Brewery

Finally getting around to applying for a refund on my Bourbon County Stout bottles.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/dining...715-story.html

Supposedly going to be $15/bottle, but for some reason I'm a little skeptical that I'm going to get it.



Every bottle I have is dated October 23rd.

Elroy, 3F for hops you won't be disappointed.

Finally made it up to Portland, ME on Saturday. Good time. Took a 15 min ferry out to Peaks Island. Beautiful. Ate and drank a bit there before heading back to the mainland for the real reason I was there....Novare Res. Wow. Great spot. Had one of, if not the, best beer I've ever tasted. Of course, I was buzzed at the time, so YMMV. Cuvée Van De Keizer Blauw (Blue) | Brouwerij Het Anker. Whoa. Smooth, smoky, delicious. You'd never guess it was 11% alcohol. I shall def be back, and will spend the night nearby so I can really get after it.

To Ol's Mr Pink is spectacular - not sure how easy it'll be to get in the US, but don't pass up if there's a chance. Lychee and guava berliner weisse, the fruit coming through really clearly and yet subtly, mostly through an aftertaste. Smells of a holiday in the sun too, pretty much.