Yeah. Dark Horse brought 99 if you can believe that.

Was a great time. Bell's bourbon barrel cheery stout was my favorite

the Bourbon County Cherry I got one glass of is maybe my all time favorite beer (or at least my favorite in that style, tough to pick my favorite stout vs favorite IPA etc)

just wish it was...buyable

Grand Rapids Brewing Co had a Porter aged in Woodford reserve barrels which was unreal.

So many good breweries in Grand Rapids

for the grind tonight, the name stuck out to me, pretty sure I saw the name somewhere. will report back later

not sure why my pic is sideways - good 7.5 - 8 rating, would be happy drinking it anytime

Haven't looked in this thread in a long time. Stopped reading it back when you couldn't post itt unless you were brewing your own nasty concoction. lol. Nice to see we're allowed to post beer made outside our garage!

I try something new every time I go to the liquor store. The best beer I've tried recently was Boulevard's Dark Truth Stout (89 BA) 9.7 ABV. Loved the smoky ambiance and it went down smooth for being nearly 10% ABV. Reminded me a lot of St. Bernardaus Abt 12, which might be my favorite, but it was noticeably less expensive.

Hey! It's not always nasty!

Anybody had Fat Head's Headhunter IPA? I've been wanting to drink this for about a year now and it finally hit Florida distribution. I'm going to snag a 6-pack if it hits north FL.

no there aren't. Just keep quiet and move along

FYP. grab some if you can find it, its incredible.

Yes, it's one of several excellent Ohio IPAs: Head Hunter, Columbus IPA, and Brew Kettle White Rajah.

I believe it comes in 4-packs, though.

Holy ****! This IPA is amazing. I scored a 4-pack yesterday and all I can say is wow. This has the biggest citrus/orange punch I've ever seen. And it goes down dangerously well. I really hope we get a steady supply of this because it's damn good and not unreasonably priced at $12/4. (Definitely on the upper end of IPAs I buy but for $3 a bottle it's worth it)

Signs that beer is on the way down in America. You're all doomed.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/...turday&modapt=

That drop is entirely from Macro breweries. The type of beer we all enjoy is continuing to grow at a rapid rate.

Tried this the other day:


Three Philosophers Quadrupel Ale 9.7% ABV



Really liked this a lot and a very smooth feel to it, the cherry flavor was def an added bonus and quit enjoyed it...will have again soon

3 Phils is phenomenal. Around Thanksgiving my friends and I will be doing a 5 year vertical tasting, of which I am bringing the '09,'10,'11.

:0

Yea, I am probably getting the short end of the stick here as I am bringing all the old bottles. But I am trying to get my cellar under control so this is a good way to do that.

We also have a plan to do a Sierra Nevada Bigfoot vertical later this year as well. I am not even that big a fan of that beer but I buy a couple every year bc its cheap and ageable. I have 2 each of 08, '09, '10, '11, '12 I didnt buy any this year.

I'm not all that crazy about Bigfoot either. I think it's actually American barley wines in general. But having just moved I discovered my new local shop has a pretty decent vintage collection and picked up a 2008.

Actually, come to think of it, I'd take suggestions from the experts here about vintage bottles that are worth seeking out and or aging.

Anybody? (I'm on the east coast if that helps)

Is there a guide or anything on what beers to age and how?

Yea same here, American Barleywines are not really my favorite. There is something about aged, oxidized high Alpha hops that turn me off some are better than others though. I guess thats why I wasn't floored by Ruin10.


There can be alot of different opinions on what to age, for how long, and under what conditions, but I'll share my line of thinking.

Its always a crapshoot when aging beer, you have no idea how the beer will age, you can guess but you never really know. The best candidate for aging are beers with 9%+ ABV, and not DIPAs of that strength as you'll just be aging those hops out. Think about Imperial Souts, Belgian Strong Ales, Barleywines, Old Ales, Lambics (an exception to the ABV rule).

The best way to start is go pick up 2-4 bottles of the same beer, for example, get yourself a couple bottles of Old Rasputin from North Coast. Drink one of them Young and cellar a few others, then try them at different intervals and take tasting notes each time to see what has changed and what hasn't.

You really should age the beer in a stable temperature environment, ~55f is pretty ideal. For some people thats not reasonably possible, I have a large kegerator that I can fit alot of my cellared beers into. Give this a read.

http://beeradvocate.com/beer/101/store

Beer Advocate will also state if a beer is suitable for aging or not.

One other thing you can do while you're visiting breweries or at a beer event. Ask them which of their beers are suitable for aging. Most established breweries will have tried it themselves and can give you a window of how long is optimal, perhaps with different amounts of time for different beers.

TL;DR Trip Report from San Diego

I just got back from a whirlwind San Diego brewery tour the likes of which I won't recover from for a few weeks.

First stop was Pizza Port Solana beach. Unfortunately Jules Winnfield was not on tap, which I fell in love last time I was here but I still had a delicious Saison de Mule with lime along with my food. I had heard about a new brewery opening nearby so we walked about 2 blocks to Culture Brewing Co. and I had my first surprise of the trip. The space was a small store front with cinder block walls, but it had an awesome vibe and their beer was spot-on. I had an IPA, Black IPA and Black Lager and they were all very clean and delicious. This place might be one to look out for in the future.



Next stop was the obligatory trip to Stone Bistro and Gardens in Escondido. The entire place is exactly what a beer garden/big brewery should look like and I could literally spend days here. I ordered the new collaboration with Rip Current and a couple of homebrewers, the Coconut IPA, but was quite underwhelmed. Little to no coconut, which was quite disappointing. The place wasn't too busy so we got to go on the tour ($3 for a tasting glass and 4 tasters!) which was the most impressive I've been on due to the sheer enormity of their operation



The tour finished with tasters of Levitation, Stone IPA, Arrogant Bastard and their new collab w00tstout, which was a bit boozy at 13%, but I'm happy I can now say I've tried it.

The real reason for coming this far north was to visit Rip Current brewing which opened at 4 PM. We made our way over there and I got a flight of beers, mostly to try Lupulin Lust which I've heard rave reviews about.

My flight had Rail Grab Roggenbier (my first Roggenbier, it was OK, I'm not sure what I was expecting), Barrier Reef Nut Brown Ale, Lupulin Lust IPA, Raked Over Red, Rescue Buoy and sURGEing Current Session IPA. Lupulin Lust was delicious, but a little of a letdown due to the hype I heard, but sURGEing Current was good and the others were solid. Rescue Buoy could use a little work though, it's kind of a bland RIS.



The next (and drunken final stop) was Latitude 33. I hadn't heard especially good things about the place but while we were up here it was worth a trip. The beer was forgettable, but I got a cool taster out of it.



The next day was a rough one but we got up and moving early. A hike over to Point Loma and a slow start to the drinking helped immensely. We made our way to Stone's new amazing space at Liberty Station for some food and drinks. I opened up with a Bite the Bullet IPA, which was a surprise favorite of the weekend and helped with the hair of the dog. I also got a Crimson Gate Keeper, an oaked cherry porter, which was nice, but a bit much for my queasy stomach. Stone Liberty Station is a gorgeous place and would be my number one recommendation to anyone traveling to San Diego. Greg Koch knows what he is doing.




After Stone was my most anticipated brewery stop of the trip. Modern Times was founded by a former Stone marketing employee, hired brewers from Ballast Point and Monkey Paw and employed maybe the most famous homebrewer on the web The Mad Fermentationist to do R&D on recipes and start their sour project. I've been following them for a year or so and their owner Jacob has done a great job on social media, informative blog posts and the like such that my interest was definitely piqued. I got tasters of their flagships Lomaland (saison), Fortunate Islands (pale wheat), Black House (coffee stout) and Blazing World (hoppy red/amber). Their beers are great, especially Blazing World, it has this really juicy and fruity nose and taste. Really great. I also got to try their 100% Brett IPA Neverwhere which was really great and didn't taste a thing like the brett we know, it was clean like an ale yeast. Oh and the tasting room was really cool, decorated with books, bookshelves and of course a post-it note mural of Michael Jackson and Bubbles. You know, totally normal.



The next day we went to AleSmith to pick up bottles of Vietnamese Speedway Stout and Barrel Aged Speedway Stout I had bought online. I got to try Vietnamese on tap and it was fantastic. I'm a huge fan of regular Speedway, and this was better. Also got to try their Lil Devil dosed with Lactic acid which was tart and refreshing.



After AleSmith it was on to Societe Brewing. They make some of the cleanest, most flavorful hoppy beers I've had and their tasting room is awesome. The Pupil and The Apprentice are my favorite IPAs, but The Publican pale ale might be my favorite beer because of how easy it was to drink.



One last stop at Coronado Brewing for dinner and their Hibiscus IPA (ehhh, so-so) and a quick stop in Bottlecraft and my trip was done.



Yet another awesome trip to San Diego in the books. Every time I go I think I've hit every brewery but when I go back there's always some new world-class place opening up.

Wow, nice...jealous

Thanks for the info

coff is extremely spot on with that. To add a slight bit, something to consider is that you may not enjoy the taste of aged beer. I've come across with with wine a decent amount where people don't understand why they aren't liking an aged wine, and my response is that it just may not work for them.

Favorite aged beer that I've had was a 4-5 year old Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout.