I knew something had to be amiss, spidercrab would never play us like that with a beer photo

I wish I knew more people around here into saisons and sours than hype whalez and NEIPAs... what I bring to shares vs. what's available is very similar to your experience.

In the past couple of weeks I had a local blender / new saison place's beer with a strong pickle off flavor, that also hit me the wrong way and doing some searching after that, it looks like that is likely acedic acid from (probably unwanted vs. the desired?) souring bacteria. This was a base saison with mangoes. IANAB so idk really anything about the souring process other than the steps in general, so I can't contribute more on why this was. Really vinegary though, I am guessing we tasted the same thing.

Beer thoughts:

- Went to Chicago this last weekend to visit a friend and stopped in Mikerphone. They don't open until 3pm on Friday which sucks because that means you're definitely gonna hit ****ty traffic getting into downtown Chicago, but it was worth it. Picked up a few bottles. Had a couple of IPAs of theirs and a small pour of Imperial Smells Like Bean Spirit Cafe Con Leche. That's a lot of name. But it was pretty good, maybe a touch sweet but a good share beer I think. I got 3 bottles of the normal Imperial Smells Like Bean Spirit (one for our host, 2 for us) - interested to try those. Their IPAs were really, really good. It's hard for me to be impressed by NEIPAs these days but they were among the best I've had, and I think the best in the midwest.

- As for Hill Farmstead, I think they're the best brewery in the world by a large margin. Their beers are pretty much perfect across the board. The only bad one I had was "Convivial Suarez", which was a Grassroots offering. But Brother Soigne was also Grassroots and was outstanding. I like all of the non-BA saisons a lot. I've had a Juicy, Vera Mae, and BA Dorothy and they were all incredible as well. Love these guys, though I've not had any of their BA dark beers. I'd love to try M&C 10, specifically, but so it goes.

Beer nerdery these days seems all about pastry stouts with low bottle counts, despite the fact most of these breweries couldn't brew and barrel age a base stout beer that even approaches BCBS. But, that's fine for me, because the HF shelf saisons are pretty relatively easy to trade for now.

I agree with the first part, all the low bottle counts drive the values up incredibly high.

The 2nd part I find to be hit or miss. When they hit, some of those BA stouts (pastry or not) are incredible, some of the best beer I've had. Recently, Side Project's Derivations, the two I had might be the best two stouts I've ever had (no pastry there though). When they miss it's awful. In either case I find myself scratching my head on why people would wait overnight or spend several hundred dollars on the bottles.

I like BCBS a lot too, but I've noticed (coincidence or not) that some of the recent BA stouts I've had that I prefer over it have some oats in them and, a lot of chocolate malts and were barrel aged for 12-18 months before being blended (I'd imagine BCBS is 12 months and then it's blended, but no oats there and not a chocolate bomb. The recipe is public, or at least an iteration of it from the last few years).

Someone was asking about coconut beers, and I'd pretty strongly advise against trading/spending what it takes to pull Prop 14 or 13. Those bottles are just so old that the coconut is gonna be pretty gone. I recently traded for and drank a Vanilla Rye and it wasn't the same beer it was 2 years ago.

But you know what is amazing and is far easier to get? Bourbon Paradise. Speaking of Bourbon Paradise, Prairie (and American Solera) are both getting distributed to Wisconsin now. I'm giddy. In fact I bought 3 AS bottles just now.

Beer thread help out a newbie. I’m still relatively new to the variety of beer types and profiles out there. I’ve definitely drank my share of macro and mid sized brewery IPAs etc, past year or so got into BA bourbon stouts but that got old quickly. Too sweet and couldn’t really enjoy a full bottle.

I just bought today beers in pic below. I’d like to try some saisons, farmhouse/Wild ale, sour ales. Also looking to try some old world styles that haven’t really made it across. This is why I got the rauchbier which I find intriguing. It may not travel well but thinking about a short trip to Berlin for a few days followed by a trip to Bavaria centered around one type of Bavarian beer like rauchbier in Bamberg.

Sorry for the wall of text. I’ll try to post pics and my tasting notes as I try these.

Thanks

Highly recommend Prairie Paradise Coconut Imperial Stout. Here’s it’s under $10 and not too hard to find.
I know you said that you don’t like porters but I really liked Oskar Death By Coconut.

Based on that selection of beers I'm guessing you're in Texas.

Saison Dupont is a classic belgian farmhouse beer, bready and clovey. It's kind of the benchmark of that style, and a very good beer to have.

I don't care for smoked beers a lot so Rauchbier isn't my style, but in general those are some good breweries and beers. In your neck, American Solera and Jester King are worth trying for good wild ales. Both are among the very best in the country at it.

Nit,

I wouldn’t worry about it too much and just start trying some saisons and sours. If it’s on the pricey side, do a quick search here and/or beer advocate to make sure everyone doesn’t say it sucks.

Do that and post some thoughts here, and people can guide you to stuff you’re likely to love.

I enjoy pretty much every wild ale I try, so that’s an easy one.

Beer peeps,

Was just trying to do a little grocery shopping and got waylaid.



Pretty good selection for the grocery store bar. And a $1 off happy hour!



Finally trying CBS. I like it fine, but I think I prefer KBS and definitely prefer coffee BCBS and even regular BCBS. I just prefer more of the coffee flavor over the extra maple sweetness. I mean, this is definitely a tasty beer. Just don’t really love it is all. I do really like the creamy mouthfeel, very smooth and enjoyable drinking for something this big and sweet.

Edit: how much was retail this year? $8/8oz seems like a pretty good price no?

I thought DuPont would be a good measuring stick.

I’ve never had a Rauchbier so curious if I’ll like it. Really intrigued by some of the non standard German. Styles and this definitely fits into that.

Thank you for for the local beer recs, exactly what I’m looking for.

El D truly a jack of all trades. Can you help me do my kitchen backsplash.

Seems like a good price I paid $20 for a bomber.

Looks like you’re at WF. I’m not a fan of the bar flies at WF. Never made sense to go to WF to hang out and drink.

Now that being said I love getting a beer to have while shopping just need to navigate the bar flies who think I’m weird for getting a beer while shopping.

Nit,

I don’t know anything about home improvement or much about fixing stuff, you’re on your own there. I figure people train long and hard to become expert at plumbing, car repair, construction, etc, so I respect their expertise and let them do it.

I can tell you this, though. If you see some supplication or consecration, get it. They’re great!

I suspect that’ll be a little more challenging in Texas than in sf, though. Just read a description, gonna grab a prairie ace next time.

Bode - I’ve got some beers from Portland if you want to trade. Feel free to DM me. I’ve got some Swish, Substance, and Venture from Foundation.


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Regarding coconut beers - the Bruery thread on BA (which is prone to occasional takeovers by super nitty arguments) recently had a coconut tangent with people bitching that a recent beer, Mounds of Coconut (BA imperial stout w/ toasted coconut), didn't have enough coconut flavor. It drew enough attention that Patrick Rue wrote an interesting post about it:

So So good. Reciprocal is pretty great too and all they're stuff is really good. Great place

Agree. While they do some good stuff I think they're one of the most overhyped breweries out there

Second the Bourbon Paradise recomendation for coconut beers. That is one of my favorite Prarie's ever, but it may be harder to find now. Regular Paradise is a great beer also, no shame in that.

I got a bomber of coconut VAS a few months ago and drain poured the whole thing after a few sips. It sat in my fridge for a few months and had a terrible astringent flavor and the coconut tasted like cheap coconut extract. Not sure if i got a bad bottle or if this is just how it is.

Last snow from Funky Budha in Florida is a great coffee/coconut porter that shouldn't be too hard to get ahold of.

This isn’t bad but not living up to expectations. It’s probably the only somewhat available local NEIPA. It’s good but not fantastic, just seems to be lacking something.

Beer peeps,

Had a couple beers tonight.

SARA quality of life - barrel aged dubbel with cherries. Damn is this good, but most everything they do is.

Alpine Nelson - rarely see this anymore. Such a good, clean ipa. Love it.

I mainly read this thread as beer porn and to maybe get some inspiration here and there to try new stuff, as the selection of beers over here is vastly different than in the states. (Although I just thought doing some sort of exchange might be fun, but you guys would likely get shorted).

I am just getting into home brewing, and was wondering - I couldn't find a home brewing thread around here, are none of you guys brewing yourself? Hard to imagine none of 2+2 is, but I didn't find one in neither EDF nor in OOT.

Had Ballast Point VAS Coconut last night. Thought it was great, had two.

Upcoming lineup at my house:

- Death by Coconut
- Coco Van
- Coconut Jones Dog

In non-coconut news, tried Permanent Funeral
and was very impressed. More fruit/sweetness than I expected from the smell and from 3F in general. Though I really liked it with some super cheap greasy pizza, I liked it even more when I ran out of pizza.

Next up in the non-stout division at home is Fire Skulls & Money. Really excited to be getting more TG stuff in Chicago.