I do have a bottle left that I didn't drink.......and I'd be up for a trade depending on where you are and what you have.

cool thanks for the responses. very helpful.

so at lunch today i had Raging Bitch by Flying Dog. would that be considered hoppy? it tasted like it would be to me but then i go to Beer Advocate and some of the reviews i read were calling sweet and malty.

i'll definitely try Stone Arrogant Bastard and Spaten Optimator to give me an idea of the differences.

also i had Ommengang's Rare Vos at lunch today and it didn't seem very exciting. kinda bland. but i did have it after the Raging Flying Bitch, so maybe that affected the taste.

The Raging Bitch is a Belgian IPA where they try to merge the styles. Belgians are sweet, somwehat fruity (for trippels, anyway) and very alcoholic (to me, they always taste a bit astringent), so the idea is to get a sweet taste with a hoppy finish.

so i've tasted probably 15 different beers in the last 10 days or so.

my favorite so far is St. Bernardus Abt12. the word that comes to mind is balance. not too fizzy like some of the Belgians I had like Westmalle Tripel, Rochefort 6, and Maresdous Tripel. altho those might not be fizzy to conniseurs, to me they were bubbly enough to be a negative.

also it's not too sweet. so while i liked Three Philosphers and the La Trappe i had the other day, they were sweeter and heavier. St. Bernardus however i can drink all day - and probably end up ****faced if i did since it's 10% alcohol.

at the same it's complex/flavorful enough without being too heavy or sweet. i tried Ommengang's Abbey Ale, which is a dubbel but nonetheless, and it wasn't as flavorful. Rochefort 10 however i think has more flavor and better taste but i can't see myself having more than one Rochefort 10 because of it's richness and i think it's a bit fizzy from what i remember.

ok that makes sense then.

btw if any of you guys live in NJ/metro NYC or are ever down here for some reason, you should check out the Super Buy Rite liquor store ion Jersey City at the entrance of the Holland Tunnel. amazing selection of beers. Whole Foods on Bowery is awesome too of course but i think this one has more selection, and has a huge selection for 4/6 packs too.

picture i took of one of the sections. there are two other sections plus the fridges for the cold beers.

Keep it on ice for now. I'm in Boston, just moved here from Australia so I have absolutely nothing to trade.

But let's say you want to trade, what would you be interested in?

Awesome beer aisle picture.

I'm drinking Lagunitas Lucky 13 right now and it is seriously phenomenal. Lagunitas seems to never dissapoint me. Wish I was on the west coast so I could visit the place.

Something unique to Boston, that doesn't distribute in the midwest (so I can't get it here). In summer or warm weather a good hefe would be great, in fall--a good oatmeal or imperial stout, or a porter. Let me know--I wll save this bottle for a while.

Drinking a Black Butte right now from a Deschutes sampler 12 pack (this 12 pack is awesome) and making plans to brew a Simcoe/Centennial IPA and a Kiwi Sour on Sunday, hope they turn out well! The sour will take forever, even with a re pitched sour yeast cake with a bunch of bugs and brett and Wyeast Rosalaere Blend.

The first beer I brewed was a kiwi wheat and it came out pretty bad lol. How many lbs of kiwi you planning on using, I think I used either 5 or 6 in mine and made a kind of tea out of it.

There's also a very good chance you can pick up something similar in Boston. The style is 'black ipa' (sometimes referred to a 'Cascadian dark ale' up here in the NW).

Something here is assuredly available at any decent beer store near you.

http://beeradvocate.com/beer/style/175

Black IPA has little in common with a hoppy porter.

Meh, I think they can certainly have a lot in common, but I was going on the original post in which he stated:

Really the whole 'black IPA' category is so wide right now anyways, there's huge variation among what has that label. I assume this is the original beer in question:

http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/147/70246

Reviews seem to lean towards it just being a big black IPA.

Drinking a Spaten Optimator now. Honestly, I was expecting a much sweeter malty beer. Malts are there but not nearly as sweet as something like Ommegang Three Philosophers or St Bernardus ABT 12.

Just to be a nit, a beer can be very malty without being sweet. Sweet or dry beers are the result of a bunch of different stuff, but malty beers can be both sweet and dry, as can hoppy beers.

I understand that, I was basing my pre-judgement on an earlier post about malty sweetness and that Spaten Optimator was my best option.

Frequently a malty beer that isn't sweet gets referred to as "bready." Some of the bigger English Ales fall into that category but I'm at a loss to name a specific one right now (it's pretty early at my house.)

Anyone else think of one? Brooklyn's Backbreaker Ale qualifies, but it was a limited release and long gone.



edit: I just Googled "bready english ale" and the first two beers mentioned are St. Peter's Organic English Ale & Samuel Smith's Organically Produced Ale. I'd agree both of them qualify.

How would you describe the taste of Fat Tire by New Belgium? I feel like this is a super malty yet not so sweet beer. The taste reminds me of walking into a homebrew shop and smelling all the freshly ground grains.

cool story

Biscuit-y

Actually I had to look up the label as I thought it was a different beer.

BA says biscuits.

that's why beers have dozens/hundreds of reviews on BA - 'cause no one person is completely right.

im having the samuel smiths TADDY PORTER right now.its my first ever porter style beer im drinking and i find it awesome.lots of coffee,tobacco,roasted bread,maltyness stuff going on with a slight hint of liquorice and a nice slightly bitter aftertaste.at some points a little metallic but in an absolutely positive way.im drinking this way to fast and should probably let some of it sit in my glass and warm up a bit