Here is my list of beers from pale ale to triple ipa that I rate at least as good as what I've had from great notion (which is about 12-15 of their beers of which I really like 4-5, we're meh on 4-5 and absolutely hated 4-5 including double stack which is gross).

Holy mountain:
Astral batch 1/2
Cone and cone batch 1
Wet wired (with cloudburst)
Five of swords
Lush land

Skookum:
K'pow

Matchless
Fresh fluff

Fort George
Field of green
3way 2016/17

Structures
Die in haze
Juice willis (although memory probably got .25 from baller can)

Fremont
Cowiche canyon
Some taproom only hazy stuff is also pretty solid

Cloudburst
Bone clouds n harmony
Wet bandits

Block 15
First two batches of intergalactic hop shop
Sticky hands tropical slam/Brewers cut


Four winds:
vexillum

Urban family:
Galaxy death

Some of the Reubens releases are good too but they are all over the place for me between releases going from pretty solid to me.

I've not had that Four Winds beer, but I can say H've had a number of their beers, and while their sours/saisons were pretty good, their beer I've had doesn't even belong in the highest of high caliber beer.

But speaking of Canadian beer, has anyone had anything from Superflux? I wouldn't go so far as to say it's better or even as good as the best American hazys. But, it is so far above Four Winds hoppy beers I've had that I can't even have a comparison.

It's worth getting if you come across it. Canada is actually doing some good ****, but it's very one-off. But there's a few of these guys that get it.

Haven't had superflux, overall agree the beer I listed is far better than most of four winds hoppy beers.

Boston/New England bros, Springdale is starting distribution early next year: https://boston.eater.com/2017/8/7/16...ston-beer-news. I've been really pleased with everything I've tried from them and given that they are an offshoot of Jack's Abby, I'm a little surprised this didn't happen sooner

got some of the dogfish head 120 minute, its interesting

Interesting is definitely my 120 minute experience too.

60 minute was one of the early gateway beers of my craft beer life, but man I don't care for 60, 90, or 120 these days. 60 is just mediocre all around, 90 is too malty sweet for me (which is common in doubles, which is one reason among many I tend to prefer singles over doubles) and then 120 is just an absurd beer. I wouldn't say it's bad as such, just not enough going on to justify that price point and ABV.

I don't think even 2 Hearted can hang in today's game. Really the only mass produced IPAs I ever buy are the Alpine stuff (Windows Up mainly) and Born Yesterday. Here, I'm referring to mass produced as stuff that's distributed in most of the states, so stuff like FFF and Surly doesn't count.

Also, Brewing Projekt out of Wisconsin! Doing work.

Yeah as someone outside of 2 hearted's distro, you can send it all to me.

I know the consensus on the Eclipse stouts is overpriced and relatively mediocre, but I got talked into giving a second chance to the 2017 Willet barrel version while I was buying a Willetized coffee stout and it was really good.

Also got a couple FW 21st anniversary ales which are phenomenal imo. Didn’t care for the 20th last year.

Jake,

Do you know what 2017 colors are? Or are there even multiple ones out? So much effort to figure that stuff out!

Stoutheads,



Imperial Mexican biscotti cake break. This was great. Super smooth, nice coffee flavor with some cinnamon spice. Really liked it.



Tried the tequila barrel abyss. It was ok.

Also tried big Bad Baptist for the first time. Like a big chocolate coffee kinda mocha flavor. Super smooth, really enjoyed it a lot.

El D,

Yeah there are multiple colors again - the Willet one is “metallic copper” (3rd from the right).



Also mildly embarrassed to admit that I paid up for all of the Evil Twin/Westbrook collabs after loving that original Mexican Cake one. The Maple and Dbl Barrel are both fantastic (as they should be for the price).

Had an Evil Twin Even More Jesus tonight, I bought some beer off a guy and he kindly just threw it in. I enjoyed this one, it was really big, bold and astringent. Different from a lot of stouts I've had recently, kind of a throwback in some ways (at least for what I've drank).

Also had an Outer Range double flannel double IPA (NE style). They've been doing really good stuff, if you're ever up in Frisco (near Breckenridge in Colorado) check them out. They're also on tap at a lot of good Denver area beer bars and a few breweries too.

Been a long time but I recall Jesus being a quite bit harsh compared to biscotti break. Both are still ridic deals in their 16oz can formats. I see both at like $16/4pck of tallboys.

I also had a really nice evil twin ipa recently, lost souls. Galaxy and Simcoe, quite delicious. Actually brewed in Boston unlike most of their beers.

Having my first Fantome saison tonight. I know fantome can be divisive but God damn I am loving this. Got a slight funkiness and kinda minty.

Jake,
My experience with Eclipse stouts has been pretty good. I've had the Elijah Craig, which I thought was fantastic, and the Vanilla, which I thought was ok. Definitely hard to justify a ~$30 price tag on either one, though.

I also recently opened a Firestone XXI:



Thought it was really good.

A few other beers I've opened recently:



I loved this last year, and this year's is great, too. I liked this much better than the Triple Barrel version.



Speaking of Fantome, this is the first time I've tried Pissenlit. Typical Fantome experience where I enjoyed the last half of the bottle much more than the first half. But definitely not as good as some of the other varieties I've had. Will probably open at least one more Fantome during the holidays.



I don't know if I just wasn't in the mood or if this isn't that great, but I wasn't feeling this at all. Poured out dead flat. Definitely would not buy again at $20 for a 500ml bottle.



Digging deep into the archives for this one. 3 Floyds collaboration with The Bruery, this version was brewed at 3 Floyds. (I believe there was an infection problem with the version brewed at The Bruery.) Bourbon barrel aged porter, with cherries and vanilla. Also poured flat like syrup, but I loved it anyway. I happened to be in Chicago when they released this at the brewery a few years ago, and it was the only bottle I had. This was one of the fun ones that makes me feel not so bad about my enormous hoarding problem.

Spider,

I had the mikhail today and thought it was just ok I think it was only (!)16$ for me. For me that Baptista is really great but I’m a sucker for cinnamon.

With it being Christmas, I've been rather generous to myself in terms of which beers I've been opening.

Beer list includes:

Huna '16 - Still had pretty good spice notes. I normally don't love cinnamon/chili pepper beers, but this is one of my favorites, 4.5/5.

Cycle Fire Dog - Good, pretty whiskey flavored more than the bourbon notes. Little coffee. Don't need to drink again, around 3.75/5.

Cellador Wild Saison with Apricot - Really good. Tart but jammy, rather than acetic. Didn't know much about this brewery until a recent trade, but enjoying it. 4.5/5.

Jester King Montomorency vs. Balaton - One of my favorite beers in the world. I generally think that tart cherries make the best sours, and something about this one is just in another league. The finish gives it the perfect cherry pie flavor. 5/5.

Side Project Fencerow - Pours a super deep red, like a wine. Good raspberry flavor, not too sour like some SP beers can be. Very good, but somewhere in the 4-4.25 range.

2nd Shift Vanilla LSD - Take the very good base beer of Liquid Spiritual Delight and add vanilla. Yes we can! Way better than FOb3 don't @ me. 4.5/5.

Stoutheads,



$11 for 12oz, 16%. I dig it! Ton of vanilla, some oak, and then some chocolate/coffee/chicory stuff. I’ve had a few drinks...

Yea it's definitely on the harsher, more astringent side. It's like the non BA RIS equivalent for when you have a BA stout that is just so boozy. I happen to be good with both in most cases, so I really enjoyed it for what it was, but definitely not everyone's cup of tea.

Oh man, I had that JK recently and it was amazing.

There was an interesting thread today in my beer trading group about Fencerow, apparently many of them are tasting like actual mustard. As a homebrewer of 10+ years and drinker of thousands of beers, I've had many off flavors, but never mustard. When I asked about it, they said likely something to do with the berries and acid/vinegar, but probably a half dozen people all said straight mustard, crazy!

El D, I really want to try that beer, I've had aged WW Stout and absolutely love it (and have a couple of old bottles in my cellar building up to a vertical), so the vanilla sounds interesting.

I personally drank Upland Teddy Bear Kisses and Brooklyn Chocolate Stout this evening. Brooklyn was far better, TBK was just OK. But they went really well with this chocolate bobka a local baker made for xmas, so damn decadent, just called out for drinking stouts with it. Gonna open an imperial saison I made recently next, sort of a Dupont Best Wishes clone. Night cap.

How two notable beers today.

Tilquin Quetsche. It was quite good. I didn't absolutely love it tho. Started off too tart but got a lot better with some air in it. I had to store it on its side to which meant some sediment kicked up which maybe didn't help.

CBS. More like csb. Not a great beer. Chocolate overwhelming. Maple flavor is off a bit. Just not my jam.

This just threw a big wrench in the works. I'm trying to clean out the fridge of beers I've been avoiding, so this was tonight's sacrifice:



A Triple IPA from Hoof Hearted. I don't like Triple IPAs, and I generally don't like Hoof Hearted beers. So I assumed I'd open it, try it, and quickly dump it down the sink. Instead I thought it was great and finished the thing easily. 16 oz can of 11.5% and my in-laws just arrived. Now I'm feeling like I want to open up a big stout, and a calm night seems like it's about to go off the rails.

Edit: Just opened a 2017 Bourbon County Stout, so we'll see if there's going to be an airing of the grievances.

Not super into this year's version of BCBS

I also didn't like it nearly as much as last year's.

So far this year my BA stout drinking has been full of duds. One random Clown Shoes shelf beer, breakfast exorcism or something like that, has been the lone standout.

So over the past two days my cousins and I drank enough good beer to kill a small army.


We had this from treehouse. Surprisingly Old Man, an ESB, was the favorite. ESB’s are always hit or miss but this crew loved it. I’m partial to Sap.

KC - we also had a CBS. Not our favorite. I let it warm up and really tasted no maple.

Also had a breakfast stout from Clown Shoes. Thought it was very solid.

And my buddy from Seattle sent me a few bottles of Freemont. Idk if there’s Washington folks in this thread but damn is this a good beer. I’ve got the coffee variant waiting for me for NYE

To be consumed.