For me, I've got Baptista ~ Double Barrel >> Big Bad >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Triple Barrel

I wish I had bought more Double Barrel last year. I thought this year's Triple Barrel would be comparable and it's not even close. I opened a bottle last week and didn't even bother finishing it. I don't know what it is (my guess is rum), but it is definitely not my jam.

Other than the Triple Barrel Baptist, I've been running pretty good recently:



This is the Fantome I mentioned recently. Just their basic saison, but it's one of the best Fantomes I've ever had. This brewery has enormous variance, but when the bottles are good, they're fantastic.



This was fine, but I don't think I've liked any Sculpin variant as much as the base beer. Apparently BP used a different yeast for this version (Brux Trois yeast), but I don't know anything about it, and I'm not sure if that had anything to do with my not liking it.



Founders CBS. Was good, but I don't think it's as good as, say, Baptista or beers like Parabola that you can get off the shelf. I might even prefer KBS. Again, it was good, but so sweet that I had to drink it across 2 nights. I probably wouldn't buy again at $25/bottle.



This was killer - just fantastic. Tart and refreshing saison, where the grapes really made a positive contribution. I only had one bottle of this and man would I buy more if I saw them. I did not want this one to end.

Agree with La Cumbre and Rowley for sure. Rowley brews their own beers and usually has great guest taps. Also hit up Bosque Brewing Company in ABQ for their IPAs, and Fire & Hops in Santa Fe has a decent tap list as well.

So I'm pretty biased and live about a block from The Hopleaf, but I want to double down on the area around Half Acre. Not only does Lincoln square offer (at minimum):

Half Acre
Bad Apple
Fountainhead

If you're looking for bars, there's also nearby:

The Globe Pub
The Long Room

And the seemingly ever-growing Ravenswood corridor of breweries, brewpubs, etc:

Empirical
Dovetail
Begyle
Band of Bohemia

And you can take in some food at:

Budacki's Drive In
Spacca Napoli

It looks like the area by the other Half Acre is also starting to have a few more brewery options as well, with at least Hop Butcher For the World (which I think does not sell on premises?) and Spiteful. But yeah that one is in a bit more isolated of an area.

Cit,

Everything you noted I think takes neighborhood bias out IMO. It’s just a great beer area of Chicago and should be where people start and somewhat end with beer in Chicago. Years ago I thought Logan Square was going to be that, but, Ravenswood/Lincoln Square has to be the best area for beer in the city. You’re lucky to live around there.

Eclipse fans (or Eclipse-curious people), futures are on sale which is the best way to buy Eclipse in bulk.
- pay 50% now
- pay the remaining 50% upon shipping (within California) in October, or I guess you can probably pick up in Truckee if you're around
- get a significant discount off retail price ($20-$23 per bottle instead of the $30 you see on store shelves)

Some of these look intriguing (I'm looking at you, maple barrel) but I have too much beer in my apartment

Oh my, some of those look great. I would definitely be a buyer if I were in CA. But instead I'm in OH, where it's currently snowing.

Goofy,

I assume that doesn’t include shipping. Mocha barrel, coconut barrel, and vanilla rye are tempting, though now 50/50 is $24.99 at wf and $26.99 at k&l and available all the time, so I doubt I’ll bother. On the other hand, $20 for some of this is starting to approach reasonable pricing!

Beer peeps,

Anyone seen pint glasses like this before?


It’s taller than it looks in the picture and really narrows a ton at the bottom. Looks pretty cool, but I kept thinking it would knock over easily.

It did have a pretty heavy bottom part of the base, but still seemed like an odd glassware choice for a beer bar.

Looks like a Dogfish Head glass I have:

Spider,

Just like that. And I was indeed drinking an ipa (mikkeller windy hill w/ passionfruit - really good) in it.

Yeah, my first thought was a knock-off of the Spiegelau IPA glasses, although no idea if a glass shape can be protected in order to spawn cheap knock-offs.

I have those glasses at home, think they're just generic

Yea that's an "ipa" glass, narrow bottom is supposed to promote a larger head, but no one wants head on their ipas these days

Malice,

It just seemed really easy to knock over!

Indeed.

Nowadays the fancy breweries seem to be trending towards teku/tulip/wine type glasses, these are what we usually drink out of, including that ipa type glass

Malice,


That’s what I see the most often around here lately.

A joint venture between Ecliptic and Reuben's has come up with something they call the Crimson Star Hazy Double Pomegranate IPA. It is very good, and really potent. That is all.

Yea, it's pretty damn good, my wife works with them pretty frequently so we got to try it early.

Man hazy IPA’s are great but they look like 3 day old mop water.

Yea that one especially, the pomegranate gave it an ugly twinge, but it was delicious

I love that look!

So another group of strangers on the internet do a secret Santa every Christmas and we just decided to done in the spring because why not? We ever do anything like that around here?

Anyway this porch bomb just landed. Aside from Pseudo Sue and Zombie Dust these are all new to me. Been wanting to try the 450 so pretty excited about that. Anyone had any of the others? Looks like a solid haul. Excited to dig in. Love trying new stuff

Deth's Tar is not quite BCBS levels but it's ****ing on point for a ****ing canned bb stout beer. Untitled Art's stuff is hit or miss, I've been skipping them recently especially on the hoppy beers because for the price point (around $15/4) their IPAs just don't play - so I've not had the Cryo Haze.

East coast peeps,

Anything amazing in this list?

Triple Crossing BeerBattle Creek DIPA
Triple Crossing Beer Waxing Poetic
Dancing GnomeExquisite Beast, DIPA
Dancing GnomePocket Sign IPA
Dancing GnomeTiny Moving Parts Pale Ale
Dancing Gnome Double Lustra, DIPA
Magnify Brewing CompanyFrench Toast DIPA
Magnify Brewing CompanyPeak of Righteousness DIPA
Magnify Brewing CompanyImpatiently Waiting
Magnify Brewing CompanyMaine Event
Magnify Brewing CompanyBuzz Words, Imperial IPA

Double Lustra is one of the best beers I've ever had