The Beer connoisseur thread
12-27-2017
, 10:15 PM
12-28-2017
, 10:49 AM
This was a relief. Box from Belgium survived the single-digit temperatures here:
12-28-2017
, 02:18 PM
Avery Vanilla Bean Bourbon Barrel Aged Stout
Gave this a shot on a whim, might be the best beer I've ever had.
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/30/155431/
The scent is intoxicating, I ended up not drinking the last sip so I could enjoy the lingering scent for hours. It's pretty pricey, I think it was $12 for the 22oz bottle but might be worth it. I've since tried Dragon's Milk which is also really good, and a lot cheaper, but IMO this is even better. Shockingly smooth for such a high alcohol content.
Would love recommendations for others.
12-29-2017
, 03:21 AM
12-29-2017
, 03:23 AM
12-29-2017
, 10:43 AM
12-30-2017
, 12:35 PM
Quote:
And now for something completely different. I'm taking a long break from alcohol (3+ months) and acquired a bunch of non-alcoholic beers to review. Here are the contenders:
Diving straight in, from last place to first:
Weihenstephaner Original Helles Alkoholfrei: Man. Weihenstephaner make decent beer in general so I thought this had a chance to be drinkable. I almost gagged when I took a mouthful. Vinegary, tastes like sour malt mash. Absolutely disgusting. Spat my mouthful into the sink and tipped the rest of the bottle in.
Budweiser Budvar B:Free: More of the same. Filthy stuff. Marginally better than the Weihenstephaner. I wasn't as close to vomiting. They're both completely undrinkable though.
Clausthaler Classic: It's a measure of progress in non-alcoholic beer that when I tried some a few years ago I remember this being maybe the best. It's still sour and thin and pretty gross though.
Schlossgold Alkoholfreies: I reckon this is the first one that if you gave a pint of it to a Real American at a pub in like Billings Montana or somewhere, they wouldn't twig that it wasn't real beer. It has a lot less of that sour-mash edge and they've hopped it a bit more generously, which helps mask the flaws. That said, it's distressingly metallic and has a hard finish. Still not in drinkable territory.
Bitburger Drive: Now we're talking. Still a metallic finish, but can pass for a mass market lager. You want it to be really ice cold, though. At about the quality level of the Coors Lights and Bud Lights of this world, which is to say, it's ****, but drinkable.
Holsten Alcohol Free: This was actually my reason for doing this. I'd had one of these the other day and thought it was sort of drinkable. It tastes like if you took a normal pilsner (it doesn't say, but I feel like they may have used the traditional Saaz hops) and diluted it slightly with soda water. As with the Bitburger you want it ice cold, and I'm not going to pretend it's actually good, but it's not the worst drink ever on a hot day. Even after I start drinking again, I can see myself maybe hitting one of these at lunchtime if I have to return to work or whatever.
Diving straight in, from last place to first:
Weihenstephaner Original Helles Alkoholfrei: Man. Weihenstephaner make decent beer in general so I thought this had a chance to be drinkable. I almost gagged when I took a mouthful. Vinegary, tastes like sour malt mash. Absolutely disgusting. Spat my mouthful into the sink and tipped the rest of the bottle in.
Budweiser Budvar B:Free: More of the same. Filthy stuff. Marginally better than the Weihenstephaner. I wasn't as close to vomiting. They're both completely undrinkable though.
Clausthaler Classic: It's a measure of progress in non-alcoholic beer that when I tried some a few years ago I remember this being maybe the best. It's still sour and thin and pretty gross though.
Schlossgold Alkoholfreies: I reckon this is the first one that if you gave a pint of it to a Real American at a pub in like Billings Montana or somewhere, they wouldn't twig that it wasn't real beer. It has a lot less of that sour-mash edge and they've hopped it a bit more generously, which helps mask the flaws. That said, it's distressingly metallic and has a hard finish. Still not in drinkable territory.
Bitburger Drive: Now we're talking. Still a metallic finish, but can pass for a mass market lager. You want it to be really ice cold, though. At about the quality level of the Coors Lights and Bud Lights of this world, which is to say, it's ****, but drinkable.
Holsten Alcohol Free: This was actually my reason for doing this. I'd had one of these the other day and thought it was sort of drinkable. It tastes like if you took a normal pilsner (it doesn't say, but I feel like they may have used the traditional Saaz hops) and diluted it slightly with soda water. As with the Bitburger you want it ice cold, and I'm not going to pretend it's actually good, but it's not the worst drink ever on a hot day. Even after I start drinking again, I can see myself maybe hitting one of these at lunchtime if I have to return to work or whatever.
12-30-2017
, 02:35 PM
Quote:
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.
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.
12-30-2017
, 07:40 PM
Continuing the emptying of the archives. Two absolutely god-tier beers:
Hard to imagine a better barrel-aged stout, and I couldn't tell it had any age on it at all. Flawless.
Then this amazing beast:
Every time I have it, I think to myself, "Don't think there's a better geueuze out there." Just amazing.
Hard to imagine a better barrel-aged stout, and I couldn't tell it had any age on it at all. Flawless.
Then this amazing beast:
Every time I have it, I think to myself, "Don't think there's a better geueuze out there." Just amazing.
01-01-2018
, 06:08 AM
01-02-2018
, 06:12 AM
01-02-2018
, 04:09 PM
Quote:
I'll start by saying I went with 5 guys total. 3 of whom are married with kids, 1 is my brother in law, and myself. I am extremely into beer, my brother in law and 1 other guy think they're into beer, and the other 2 want Budweiser and Yuengling with a lime. So we 1) weren't looking for a crazy time with strip clubs and all that. We all went to college together and haven't seen each other in a while and just wanted to be funny *******s together. 2) Beer was not everyone's priority.
This is all a blur so names, places, time may be backwards but you'll get the gist.
Night 1
So the first night we got there fairly late and the best man was dead set on going to Porthole. Not my scene at all but I can see why he had heard about it as a place to go. It's on a dock sort of with boats docking and coming and going. Beautiful view. But I was excited to drink Maine beer and this place had Shipyard (which isn't good) and generic **** wasn't my scene. However, anywhere when you're with your best friends who you haven't been together in forever and literally anywhere is good. I kind of took control of the next place and from Porthole we went to Novare Res which is an awesome place. It was really really hard to find, so we had to enlist the help of some 40-something women who were extremely happy to walk us to the bar (which to be fair we probably would never have found without them) and they were flirting hard along the way. We all had a laugh though and they were harmless. Novare Res had almost a Belgian/medieval feel to the place and they had a big patio/deck with cornhole outside. Hipster central, but fairly quiet when we were there. The tap list was great with beers from all over the world represented. I remember having a pretty standard pilsner but it was from Slovakia with Italian hops. Really great place to go with some friends though and it was especially perfect on night 1 to catch up, laugh, play cornhole and catch up.
Day 2
By far the highlight of the trip. We can drink, but as a group, we don't go college-level blackout hard much these days and nevermind back to back so we knew we had one crazy day as a group in us and this is was the day. We started the day at Liquid Riot which was a short walk from our hotel, in fact, everything was a short walk from our hotel (Mariott) but this was super short. They make their own beer, which was good, and had great food. The place had a huge couch and wood stove and it was a cold, rainy day so it was really perfect.
We had a really nice dinner planned this night at Street and Co.. Street and Co was right next to a simple bar Mash Tun which had 20+ beers on tap from Maine, Vermont, and a few random New England places. Plenty of Bissell, Oxbow, Austin St. Maine Beer Co, Hill Farmstead, Lawson's etc. Loved the vibe too. It's the kind of place you start or end a night, not a place you hang out all night. The seafood at Street and Co. was absolutely fantastic. The beer there was only bottles and cans that were nothing remarkable, but they did have something from Maine Beer Co, just can't remember what I had. But you are going for the food, not beer, if you choose to go here.
I think we had some places in mind to go after but after leaving the restaurant there was a divey, country-themed bar that looks like a ****ty bar you'd see near a college that advertised pickle back shots. One of our guys was from Kansas and loves picklebacks so we ended up going in here on a whim. They give you bacon in a red solo cup everytime you order a beer. The beer wasn't great here, but by this point I had a solid buzz on off good beer and was more about having a good time with my friends. We ended up leaving and when we went to go back in they wouldn't let us. And no one really knows why. The memory was already fuzzy. So not being allowed to go back in we had no plan and there was a "club" type place across the street. Again, not a fancy club or anything, just something you'd find more in college. We went in here and I don't remember a thing after.
Day 3
This was brewery day. I woke up feeling absolutely awful but I was obviously not going to Maine and missing breweries. But before the breweries my brother and law decided to go on a random adventure. A band we love, The Ballroom Thieves, and have gotten to know pretty well frequent Maine and told us we must go to a bar called Ruski's and order a Joe Moran. They said do not ask any questions just do it. So at around 11am we ubered to Ruski's knowing nothing about where we were going or what we were doing. It was the ultimate New England dive bar, like something our of A Perfect Storm. About 6 people in there, and you could tell these were 6 people who go there everyday. When we ordered the Joe Moran we were asked if we wanted it hot or cold. Should have just stopped there. Don't get a Joe Moran, or do, idk. It makes for a great story but boy was it rough going down.
The first brewery we hit was Bissell . They had a Baby Genius/Substance release so the plan was always to go that day at noon. No one was in the mood but everyone rallied. Our hotel gave free shuttles to all the breweries which was awesome. The release was actually so painless and we got there just in time because the line was 5x as long by time we left. I had a flight and the beers were spectacular. It's also right next to a high end wine place apparently, where some of the guys got **** for their wives, a chicken place, and a distillery. It's in it's own part of town that they are pretty much developing as they go. There's a music venue right there too, which you could probably time a good show around.
From there we went to Foundation. I'd had some of their stuff before, and I know Epiphany is hyped, but their stuff was a little underwhelming imo. Their Cosmic Bloom was pretty good but the IPAs were more malty and west coast than what I prefer, especially coming from Bissell. Another really cool place to hang out though. Right behind (literally in the same complex) from Foundation was the hidden gem of the weekend. Austin St is run by a female brewer (I think) and only had 3 beers on tap and 1 in cans but I really liked all 3 and again such a cool place with cool people. This day ended with another trip to Mash Tun and then gradually hitting random bars on the way back to the hotel.
The next day guys had early flights and we checked out and got on the road for the 6 hour drive home. But we had an amazing amazing time. We also had a lobster roll at Gilbert's everyday. I know the stereotype about lobster rolls so was suspect but damn if it wasn't the best lobster roll I ever had. Highly recommend it as a hungover lunch spot.
So in all it completely depends on what you're looking for. I had researched places and there were a ton of things I wanted to do and places I wanted to go, but the weekend just kind of took on a plan of its own, and I ended up loving every minute of it. Definitely left me wanting to go back like I said in the post above. If you want strip clubs and crazy **** like that Maine might not be the place, but for awesome beer, awesome food, and stuff that is all relatively close to one another and walkable (or a $10 uber "out of town") then I can't recommend Maine enough. I realize that is extremely long, so if you have any specific questions I'd be happy to answer them
tl;dr
- easy access to great breweries
- something for everybody, beer lovers and non beer lovers alike
- no need for an itinerary if you just want to let the night take you
- awesome restaurants
I'll start by saying I went with 5 guys total. 3 of whom are married with kids, 1 is my brother in law, and myself. I am extremely into beer, my brother in law and 1 other guy think they're into beer, and the other 2 want Budweiser and Yuengling with a lime. So we 1) weren't looking for a crazy time with strip clubs and all that. We all went to college together and haven't seen each other in a while and just wanted to be funny *******s together. 2) Beer was not everyone's priority.
This is all a blur so names, places, time may be backwards but you'll get the gist.
Night 1
So the first night we got there fairly late and the best man was dead set on going to Porthole. Not my scene at all but I can see why he had heard about it as a place to go. It's on a dock sort of with boats docking and coming and going. Beautiful view. But I was excited to drink Maine beer and this place had Shipyard (which isn't good) and generic **** wasn't my scene. However, anywhere when you're with your best friends who you haven't been together in forever and literally anywhere is good. I kind of took control of the next place and from Porthole we went to Novare Res which is an awesome place. It was really really hard to find, so we had to enlist the help of some 40-something women who were extremely happy to walk us to the bar (which to be fair we probably would never have found without them) and they were flirting hard along the way. We all had a laugh though and they were harmless. Novare Res had almost a Belgian/medieval feel to the place and they had a big patio/deck with cornhole outside. Hipster central, but fairly quiet when we were there. The tap list was great with beers from all over the world represented. I remember having a pretty standard pilsner but it was from Slovakia with Italian hops. Really great place to go with some friends though and it was especially perfect on night 1 to catch up, laugh, play cornhole and catch up.
Day 2
By far the highlight of the trip. We can drink, but as a group, we don't go college-level blackout hard much these days and nevermind back to back so we knew we had one crazy day as a group in us and this is was the day. We started the day at Liquid Riot which was a short walk from our hotel, in fact, everything was a short walk from our hotel (Mariott) but this was super short. They make their own beer, which was good, and had great food. The place had a huge couch and wood stove and it was a cold, rainy day so it was really perfect.
We had a really nice dinner planned this night at Street and Co.. Street and Co was right next to a simple bar Mash Tun which had 20+ beers on tap from Maine, Vermont, and a few random New England places. Plenty of Bissell, Oxbow, Austin St. Maine Beer Co, Hill Farmstead, Lawson's etc. Loved the vibe too. It's the kind of place you start or end a night, not a place you hang out all night. The seafood at Street and Co. was absolutely fantastic. The beer there was only bottles and cans that were nothing remarkable, but they did have something from Maine Beer Co, just can't remember what I had. But you are going for the food, not beer, if you choose to go here.
I think we had some places in mind to go after but after leaving the restaurant there was a divey, country-themed bar that looks like a ****ty bar you'd see near a college that advertised pickle back shots. One of our guys was from Kansas and loves picklebacks so we ended up going in here on a whim. They give you bacon in a red solo cup everytime you order a beer. The beer wasn't great here, but by this point I had a solid buzz on off good beer and was more about having a good time with my friends. We ended up leaving and when we went to go back in they wouldn't let us. And no one really knows why. The memory was already fuzzy. So not being allowed to go back in we had no plan and there was a "club" type place across the street. Again, not a fancy club or anything, just something you'd find more in college. We went in here and I don't remember a thing after.
Day 3
This was brewery day. I woke up feeling absolutely awful but I was obviously not going to Maine and missing breweries. But before the breweries my brother and law decided to go on a random adventure. A band we love, The Ballroom Thieves, and have gotten to know pretty well frequent Maine and told us we must go to a bar called Ruski's and order a Joe Moran. They said do not ask any questions just do it. So at around 11am we ubered to Ruski's knowing nothing about where we were going or what we were doing. It was the ultimate New England dive bar, like something our of A Perfect Storm. About 6 people in there, and you could tell these were 6 people who go there everyday. When we ordered the Joe Moran we were asked if we wanted it hot or cold. Should have just stopped there. Don't get a Joe Moran, or do, idk. It makes for a great story but boy was it rough going down.
The first brewery we hit was Bissell . They had a Baby Genius/Substance release so the plan was always to go that day at noon. No one was in the mood but everyone rallied. Our hotel gave free shuttles to all the breweries which was awesome. The release was actually so painless and we got there just in time because the line was 5x as long by time we left. I had a flight and the beers were spectacular. It's also right next to a high end wine place apparently, where some of the guys got **** for their wives, a chicken place, and a distillery. It's in it's own part of town that they are pretty much developing as they go. There's a music venue right there too, which you could probably time a good show around.
From there we went to Foundation. I'd had some of their stuff before, and I know Epiphany is hyped, but their stuff was a little underwhelming imo. Their Cosmic Bloom was pretty good but the IPAs were more malty and west coast than what I prefer, especially coming from Bissell. Another really cool place to hang out though. Right behind (literally in the same complex) from Foundation was the hidden gem of the weekend. Austin St is run by a female brewer (I think) and only had 3 beers on tap and 1 in cans but I really liked all 3 and again such a cool place with cool people. This day ended with another trip to Mash Tun and then gradually hitting random bars on the way back to the hotel.
The next day guys had early flights and we checked out and got on the road for the 6 hour drive home. But we had an amazing amazing time. We also had a lobster roll at Gilbert's everyday. I know the stereotype about lobster rolls so was suspect but damn if it wasn't the best lobster roll I ever had. Highly recommend it as a hungover lunch spot.
So in all it completely depends on what you're looking for. I had researched places and there were a ton of things I wanted to do and places I wanted to go, but the weekend just kind of took on a plan of its own, and I ended up loving every minute of it. Definitely left me wanting to go back like I said in the post above. If you want strip clubs and crazy **** like that Maine might not be the place, but for awesome beer, awesome food, and stuff that is all relatively close to one another and walkable (or a $10 uber "out of town") then I can't recommend Maine enough. I realize that is extremely long, so if you have any specific questions I'd be happy to answer them
tl;dr
- easy access to great breweries
- something for everybody, beer lovers and non beer lovers alike
- no need for an itinerary if you just want to let the night take you
- awesome restaurants
Which hotel gave the free shuttles to breweries?
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