For my money Speedway Stout is the best regularly available stout in the market. If there are any CA people here let me know as I’m always in search of their variants. Love me some Hawaiian Speedway.

Diablo - Do yourself a favor and pick up som BA VaS. Great beer and good value at $16/4.

The blends (e.g. A&G) vary from batch to batch intra-year as well: ***warning*** dangerous and expensive rabbit hole! I recommend never clicking on lambic.info. Lots of info here and an active FB group as well: http://www.lambic.info/Brouwerij_3_Fonteinen#Beers

Of course I've clicked on it - I'm drinking out of a lambic.info glass in that picture!

More of a forum fyi, but cool glass! I like it.

Beer peeps,



Nice hoppiness, nice peachy mango tropical flavors, but just OK. A little too much mango flavor throws it a little out of balance. $11/6-pack.

El D (or others),

Recently noticed that Sierra sixers are down to $7.99 here in KY. Same price in CA?

Craft hasn't had to compete on price basically ever, but with more nationals and regionals seeing slumping, flat, or negative growth, it's coming. It's honestly hard for me to look at a six pack of something standard like an IPA from a local listed at $10.99, and then look over at Celebration or Hazy Little Thing or Torpedo and go with the local.

Rdh,

7.99-8.99 yeah. And that’s also what 21A and some other CA beers cost. I just reviewed HLT and wasn’t that impressed, but celebration is great!

It's been a good week for beer drinking in my hood.

But this was probably the highlight:



2017 Atrial Rubitice latest batch
2016 Cantillon Kriek


Both rate pretty close to perfect 5s in my book. The Cantillon is certainly the best Kriek I've ever had and probably a 5/5 and I think Atrial is probably the best fruity sour made in the US and a near 5 also. Getting both at the brewery in the same afternoon was a treat.

Other highlights:

2014 Bourbon County Coffee Stout: 4/5, I think it had lost some coffee in the aging
2017 Bourbon Country Barleywine: 4.25/5, not a huge barleywine fan but this was good ****

And tonight:



Isn't the easiest getting Treehouse down in Austin. Have had Julius once and loved it, never had Alter Ego, pretty pumped!

I'd argue this the other way. It's hard not to pick the local. Of course, a lot of the locals that make the more NEIPA styles are charging closer to $14-16/4pack. I guess that's not entirely price gouging but that style is supposed to be more expensive.

But, while I'd still rate beers like Narwhal among the very best in their style I don't think the Sierra Nevada hops really pass the bar. If I'm gonna get national distro California hops it'll be Born Yesterday when it's out or the Alpine stuff. Maybe some Stone stuff, but even that less now. The trouble with buying cross country hops is a lot of them sit on shelves so if it's not a seasonal release like Born Yesterday then you really don't know how long it's been there. It could easily be 4 months, especially since a lot of the big time producers don't always put born on dates on them.

Speedway is really good, but it's price point is ****ing crazy. I'm not even sure I like it more than fresh Breakfast Stout. Fresh Breakfast Stout is also so damn cheap and not that alcoholic. You can't really drink Speedway on a weekday, I can have a Founders Breakfast Stout on a Tuesday and it's not a deal. I also think I'll take Imperial Biscotti Break over Speedway.

I did get a bottle of Rye Barrel-aged Vietnamese Speedway Stout recently in a trade. Looking forward to trying that one, maybe tomorrow or Saturday. I've only had non-barrel aged VSS once or twice, but really liked it. Way better than the other vintages imo.

Question: do you guys think ginger beer is beer? It has appeared on my lists, so have bought it, but I feel it's more like cider. And that's not among my favorites.

There are two very distinct drinks: alcoholic ginger beer (which is, I think, actually brewed) and non-alcoholic ginger beer, which is basically a soft drink like lemonade or cola or whatever. I think ginger ale is also in the latter category.

I wouldn't classify even the alcoholic stuff as beer. It shares a name but it's not brewed in the same way if at all. Traditional ginger beer is actually pretty interesting: read here.

But it's definitely not cider. That very much requires apples (even in the American sense that calls apple juice cider and cider hard cider).

I'm also all ready for football tomorrow with Treehouse

I'll say, after drinking a decent amount over the past couple weeks, after drinking Trillium mostly - Treehouse is a clear cut above. I was wrong about that.

told ya so (though I hate doppelganger).

I really don't think Trill IPAs are anything special in today's absurd environment. They're very good but plenty of local options on par. Lamplighter and Mystic come to mind. Medusa Brewing is doing some limited canning and I picked up a 4 pack of their Hidden City (el dorado IPA). It's very, very good.

That being said I almost went to Trill today to pick up some PM Dawn and Pot & Kettle.

thunder, thanks, nice read!

Back to the beer niche

With a pace of three or more non-alcoholic beers per day (good stuff!), having 30-40 to choose from, some expertise is inevitable, I guess.

I think something about Trill IPAs is particularly fatiguing after a while. I do think they are noticeably better than almost any shelf beer, but they all tste like the same generic “Trillium” beer to me now, dry and slightly acidic. I also feel like the fairly consistent malt bill and religious use of CTZ doesn’t allow for different hops to be showcased as truly different beers. Even Headroom this summer was just like Trill beer with extra galaxy on top.

TH is not only better on an individual beer basis but the difference between Sap and Julius and Green and Bright feels much larger than between any two Trill IPAs. My tastes are probably just changing though.

Sour fans,

Had any of these?

Just got back from Denver and had both of the epic ones. (Assuming the 2nd to last on the right is the pineapple I had).

I liked them both. Nothing outstanding, but definitely worth a taste. They had a Syrah one in the taproom that was the crowd favorite. If you see that one I’d def grab it.

I agree with this analysis. Trillium IPA are boring and have little going for them other than availability. TH still feels like a treat

Trillium is still an elite IPA brewery. I give a slight nod to Treehouse but I also don't get it nearly as much. But DDH Congress St is as good a beer as any out there. I also love Citra Cutting Tiles and plenty of others.

Had my first Hidden Valley the other night and was completely blown away. Described as a sour DIPA and it certainly ticked both boxes for me. Starts off almost cotton candy like and fades into a nice full body DIPA

Do you mean Hudson Valley?

I’ve had their sour DIPAs are a little much for me. Just super sweet with all the lactose and vanilla. Definitely appreciate the style and technique but it’s something I’d split a can of for dessert probably.

Yes, Hudson Valley. That's what posting from bed gets you. I've only had the one can, Graven Image, but it was really good and certainly unique in an IPA world where every seems to be trying to do the same crazy things, it stood out for me. Not saying I'd want to drink them all night, but as a last beer of the night it was very impressive. I'm sure the novelty wears off but the one I had was memorable and I'd like to try more.

Had this on tap not long ago and enjoyed it (link below). I rate the malty taste about medium - I don't care much for heavy malted beer. This seemed to have a good balance with some hoppy flavor coming through. Any other winter ales out in the forest that are worth more than a sip or two?


elysian-bifrost-winter-ale

Zeno,

I feel similarly about heavy malted beer, but I think this winter ale is pretty tasty: https://www.anchorbrewing.com/mobile/beer/christmas_ale

You might still be able to find some on the shelves.

BrewDog Nanny State 0.5%



The aroma is really intriguing, citrus and mango. You want hops? You've got it! Special beer, maybe not very much taste immediately, but it comes forward in the aftertaste, a feeling of subtleness yet to be discovered.