for those interested:

http://www.brewingnews.com/nipac/

Three Philosophers is outstanding IMO.

I bought a bunch of microbrews for SuperBowl, and am gonna review as I drink them



Grozet Gooseberry and Wheat Ale. This is an excellent, unchallenging ale. Goes down very easy and would be even nicer in the summer. The fruity taste is subtle and doesn't ruin the essence of the beer and is an excellent change up.



DogfishHead Jiahu. DFH is my favorite brewery, everything I've had from them before has absolutely hit the spot. This was disappointing tho. It takes very lagery. Like a good lager, Stella Artois quality perhaps, but nothing I haven't seen before, and nothing you can't get elsewhere. Didn't justify the cost.

Racer5 is definitely my favorite IPA

Green Flash IPA is also pretty good and hoppy


Thirsy Bear Brewery in San Fran also had a pretty good one last time I was there

haakee took my money the other night, I don't like him

but his beer recs are solid. almost everything from Ommegang is v good, I have stopped buying a lot of Belgian imports (like Chimay) b/c Ommegang domestically produces beers that are similar in quality and a lot cheaper.

from Cantillon, I would recommend trying something fruit flavored, I think thats where their "wow" beers really show up, especially their Lou Pepe line. I have a bottle of the Rose De Gambrinus sitting in my fridge, but I've never tried it. but, if you don't want something fruit flavored...it can be a lot much. but the label is awesome!



also $7 for the Rochefort is fine, pick at least one up.

Anyone else going to the Extreme Beer Fest next weekend in Boston? I'm hitting up the 'Night of the Barrels' for the second straight year. Last year I got into a conversation with Jim Koch and he brought up that this fest, specifically the Friday night 'barrel theme' was the best collection of specialty/extreme/unique beers in the world; I'd recommend it for any beer lover.

http://beeradvocate.com/fests/ebf?info=fri

Especially looking foreword to these:
Samuel Adams Utopias aged on Cacao Nibs
EBF special! Sweet fire, with rich malt, wood complexity and subtle chocolate finish thanks to taking some Utopias that was still in wood at the Boston Brewery and adding some cacao nibs; the raw ingredient for chocolate. It was then aged for a few months. The result: the warm, sweet flavor with hints of vanilla, oak and caramel of Utopias is richly highlighted by the cocoa flavor and aroma from the nibs. It brings a whole new decadence to the world's strongest beer! 26.0%

Ten FIDY Imperial Stout, Barrel Aged
This immensely deep and viscous stout is the beer equivalent of a milkshake made with malted-milk balls and God's chocolate ice cream. Ten FIDY's huge-but-comforting flavors hide a hefty 10.0% and 98IBUs. This version is aged in a whiskey barrel from Stranahan's Colorado Whiskey (Denver, CO) to create an even trippier extreme beer spiked with oak and bourbon notes. A very rare treat.


Cherry Behemoth
3Fs took their barleywine, added some sour cherries, and then aged it in a Woodford reserve whiskey cask for 1 year. 13.0%

I wish I could go, I'm going skiing. I've been to 2 of their events before and they are a good time. hopefully they will have those sugar waffles...mmmm

What a great thread!

I don't have detailed reviews like some of the others in this thread, but I can share a picture of one of my favorite possessions (some of you from STTF have seen this already):



My favorites shown in no particular order:

Newcastle
Heineken
Leinie's Creamy Dark
Sam Adams Cream Stout
St. Pauli Girl Special Dark
Warsteiner Dark
Guinness

Other favorites not shown:

Mississippi Mud Black and Tan
Shiner Bock
Leinie's Big Butt
Pete's Wicked Ale
Bass Ale

Miajag,

They have Stone in DC now, so if you are down this way you should be able to find some pretty easily in a specialty shop like Chevy Chase or at a Whole Foods.

cha59,

From left to right and top to bottom, the brewers of your beers are all import or national brands: Euro, AB, SABMiller, SABMiller, Sam Adams, is that Warsteiner (?), Euro, Dos Equis I want to say has a big helping hand from AB, SABMiller, Euro, Euro, AB, SABMiller, Sam Adams x 6, and I don't recognize the last one.

You've got a variety of styles, from lager to stout to wit, but not a single local brew. Local isn't always better, but do you live on an island, or what?

I live in a Minneapolis suburb. Grain Belt is originally a Minnesota brew. Leinenkugel's is brewed a few hours east of me in Chippewa Falls, WI and is not available nationally. They have several very good beers.

I you ever get around central Wisconsin, I highly recommend touring the Leinie's brewery. The tour is free and they give you two glasses of the unpasturized beers of your choice at the end of the tour. I had Creamy Dark and it was the best beer I've ever tasted. Pasturization is detrimental to the flavor of beer, but it preserves it.

Yes thats Warsteiner Dark.

As far as local brews - Summit is brewed in St. Paul and I am not a fan of any of the Summits I've tasted. Gluek brewery in Cold Sping, MN makes several unimpressive brands as well. We used to have Scmidt brewery and Hamm's brewery - both in St. Paul. Neither brewed anything I particularly liked. I am not aware of any great microbrews near me.

Granite City brewery/restaurant has awesome unpasturized beer on tap.

Surly, Schell's.. Barley Johns, Town Hall, The Herkimer...and there are a number of stores that carry excellent beers scattered all over the metro.

http://www.mnbeer.com

cha,

Ever had anything from Surly? They're not distributed down my way, but I've heard nothing but good things about them, and I really respect their decision to can their beers instead of bottling them.

I've never noticed Surly, and if it is in cans only, thats probably the reason because I'm a bottled beer nit and don't care for the flavor of canned beer.

Schell's doesnt have anything I like very much. Thanks for pointing out the others. I'll have to try those.

Rock Bottom is another great place to get fresh, unpasturized beer. I love those brewery/restaurant places.

That MNBeer is a good site - thanks for the link.

Ok, I cant take it anymore, I'm off to the liquor store.

As a brewer, I can tell you right now that Surly Bender and Furious are better beers than everything in your fridge. *Way* more flavor and things going on in those beers. The 2007 snowstorm, the maifest, the zommerfest and pretty much every winter seasonal blows away your fridge too.

Once you develop your palate, you will wonder how you drank the stuff you've been drinking now.

Go read the beer judging certification program beer style guidelines and try some of the "commerical" examples of the different styles.

Awesome thread. Not a lot of european bears (yes it is spelled like that) though. Apart from Belgium ones. And especially not a lot of lagers mentioned.
Thought I'd share some of my favourite lagers that might be possible to get hold of internationally.
Krusovice: My favourite Czech lager.
Baron Trenck: Another awesome Czech, a bit darker and not as "flowery" as most czechs.
Einbecker
Spaten two really nice german lagers that are relatively different from eachother.

My two favourite swedish (being swede and all) lagers would be Hell from Jamtlands bryggerier and Nils Oscar Pils, but I doubt the are easy to get hold of anywhere.

RunDownHouse and dvs - ty for the Surly suggestion. I got a 4 pack of Bender. I drank the first one from a can and liked it, except for the can.

I poured the next one in a frosty glass and it was some of the best beer I've tasted. This is the only way to drink this stuff IMO. It is unpasturized and reminds me of beers I've had straight from the brewery (microbreweries and after my Leinenkugel's brewery tour).

I got some other beers from Lake Superior (Mesabi Red and Oatmeal Stout, which are both good) and Flat Earth (Element 115 and Belgian Style Pale Ale, which I haven't tried yet). The Surly is the best so far.

yes, i had some fred the other day.
that was gooooood.
i'm going to keep coming back to this thread for a while.

Waited outside the beershop this morning because they had gotten 60 Duvel Triple Hop (only 300 total to Sweden). Luckily I got there early enough and left with this bottle:


Also managed to pick up on of those Ommegang a lot of you seem to like, very hard to get hold of here. Last beer I got was a Braunstein Heritage, a danish ale, ehich I know nothing about. I missed out on XS imperial stout and Pale ale though, but I don't know anything about them either, but they seemed very popular.

I would definitely consider myself a big-time hop-head... I always go for the strong pale ales and IPAs. If you're like me, then I'd suggest these two:


^^ Loose Cannon Hop3 IPA
- Very Hoppy, and noticeably citrusy


^^Anderson Valley Hop-Ottin IPA
- Can be tough to find, but very tasty

Just got invited to this today, looks yummy. San Francisco Bay Area if you're interested.

http://www.celebrator.com/features/b...sary_20th.html

I would just like to say that Duvel is the foamiest beer I've ever drank. I kept trying to pour a little in my glass whilst playing poker the other night, then spilling foam all over the place when it over flowed.

I don't drink alcohol these days, but when I did I went through a serious strong beer phase. I never got into the Belgians because I like a beer to knock my palate flat on my ass.

Some of my favorites were:
Stone Double Bastard
North Coast Old Stock Ale
Unibroue Terrible
Flying Dog Gonzo Imperial Porter
Hair of the Dog Adam, Fred, & Doggie Claws
any micro barleywine on tap
any micro strong Scotch ale on tap
any micro imperial stout/porter on tap

Also I heard that Hair of the Dog brewed some ridiculous beer that was like 30%+ alcohol called Dave, created through some sort of re-freezing process. Only served on tap at the brewery or something, though I think it was just a 1-batch experiment. I would have liked to have tried that.

Ugh, reading this thread makes me want to drink again.

Yes! "Beer from a can, for a glass". Since you live in the cities, you should check out these two brewpubs.. they are staples of any beer lover, local to Minneapolis.

Town Hall Brewery
1430 Washington Ave S
Minneapolis, MN 55454
(612) 339-8696
townhallbrewery.com
Get the oatmeal stout and the IPA.

Barley Johns
781 Old Highway 8 SW
New Brighton, MN 55112
(651) 636-4670
Start with a "Dark Knight" and then ask what's popular. They had a dubbel and tripel, which were both really good.


Both of these places have awesome food, the latter more than the former. Both also sell growlers of beer, town hall is cheaper.

Shoot me a PM if you go to either of these places, I don't get to this forum very often.

Yeah you have to be very slow and hold the glass like 45°, one of the best belgian beers imo.