Yeah they're a great store, so are the other locations. But it's still just a bottle shop, and by the time they get out of Vermont they're going to be overflowing with beer.

Beer peeps,

It’s picture time again. I’ve somehow approached lol levels again, though I know this is NOTHING compared to many of you.



Some tilquin geuze and almanacs in the back.



Halia and Oude Tart in the back. Willetized, fortunate islands, and a couple almanacs in the six pack.

Thanks for the reply, bummer.

Another question for Boston beer peeps. I'm going to Boston for work in a couple of weeks. Is there a bar or tap room near Copley Square where I can sample some good NE IPAs?

Five Horses Tavern in the South End is probably the best/closest option. If you’re willing to uber Row 34 is the best option overall.

Cool, thanks! Row 34 looks like great food too.

For the Vermont road trip guy I’d strongly recommend cutting out about half those stops and enjoying your time a bit more, but that’s me. Interested in post trip write up as I’m kinda doing a similar trip with many fewer stops with my wife and her parents in July. I would note that I’ve not been to Prohibition Pig but the food at Three Penny taproom looked great and their tap list was stupid, including among others Solitide and Society. That was 2.5 years ago though.

Open to suggestions. We did this partially for location. I’ve been to Revolution which is ok but don’t love the vibe as it’s more a family restaurant imo. Pipeworks and Half Acre are a bit out of the way and in not a nice area afaik, and the likes of FFF, More, and Mikerphone are way out of the city. Mikerphone we did hit up on the way in and it cost us some rush hour traffic but the beer is so good.

Also interested in beer bar recommendations in Boston as I loved the city but the craft bar scene seemed weak. Bukowski Tavern was nice, but would be open to all the refs people have. I’ll look up the ones folks suggested.

I'd actually say Half Acre is in an awesome area. I've only been to HA twice, but I remember them having a lot of one-off beers I hadn't seen elsewhere (in contrast to Revolution, which really isn't worth visiting IMO). It gets super crowded, so better to go on off hours.

Bad Apple and Fountainhead are right by Half Acre and both are very much worth a visit, especially Fountainhead.

More generally on Chicago: when I lived there I went to beer bars way more often than breweries. Chicago just doesn't have that one knockout brewery that dominates over others IMO. Villains and Map Room were my favorite beer bars, YMMV.

The Goose Island on Fulton is definitely worth a visit even though they have weird hours. BCBS always on tap and a bunch of other small batch stuff whenever I've gone.

Goes without saying that if you can make it down to Indiana, Three Floyds is worth the trip. The food there is great too!

Stopped in Eureka, CA at the Lost Coast Brewery & Café. Had two of their IPA's; Indica India Pale Ale (see link below) which I enjoyed. Perfect West Coast IPA, citrus and piney flavors with great smoothness and aftertaste. Wonderful.

beeradvocate.com/beer/profile


I also had the Revenant IPA which is also very good. More malty flavor and not as crisp as the Indica. Both are worthy IPAs to try if you get the chance. Only beers I tried with the meal, but if these are representative of the quality then the rest of brews are probably good also. Food was good also and a real mix of patrons. Great place.

+1million. I don't know who told Spivey it was in a bad area, but they're horribly wrong. That stretch of Lincoln Ave is all residential around it and there's Bad Apple+Fountainhead like you noted. The production brewery is a bit out of the way, but its also in a residential neighborhood.


Personally I wouldn't really recommend going down to FFF. It's about 45 minutes each way and it's not all that impressive. Plus, it's pretty easy to get the main FFF beers on tap around Chicago without having to do the trip. Lone Wolf in the West Loop always has a bunch of lines running and Hopleaf always has Zombie Dust on tap. Of which, I will also say that Hopleaf is a required visit.

While it was several years ago, Lost Coast was probably my least favorite brewery we visited when a friend and I did a north coast brewery tour, which included: Lagunitas, Russian River, North Coast, Eel River, Lost Coast, Redwood Curtain, Mad River, and Sierra.

The feeling I got tasting there was just that everything was pretty average and nothing was out of the ordinary or something I hadn't seen from them on store shelves. Contrast with Mad River nearby, who had some really wild (some chili beer that was way too spicy for me, but props for trying) and delicious (barrel-aged special release barleywines/stouts I didn't even know they made) stuff available.

Yep this is fair, Lone Wolf is a great bar. Across the street, Haymarket is maybe a 6.5/10 for beer but IMO easily a 9/10 for bar food.

Sour fans,

This is not the one.



Paradox skully #57 pina cielo.

Pineapple aroma. Pretty fizzy. Some pineapple, pretty tart, pretty acidic, no cinnamon I could tell, a little bitterness, pretty thin. Like drinking a lager with some pineapple flavor. Big pass for me.

Appreciate the correction on Half Acre. I misspoke and think I was referring to Off Color, near Pipeworks. Will have to hit up Half Acre though we get good distribution of their stuff in Madison. Off Color looks like they opened a tap room up in River North where my friends live so I may have to hit that up as well.

Edit: I’ve been to Lone Wolf, I wouldn’t rate their beer selection when I was there. Zombie Dust was on tap but otherwise pretty meh. Green Street Meats and Hi-5 are right there though, and Green Street Meats has an awesome vibe and solid enough beers.

I don't know why, but I forgot about mentioning this. Definitely hit it up. They allow you to BYOF and they even have a direct phone line to Pizzeria Bebu (which is kinda around the corner from them)


edit: I should note that the Half Acre facility you likely want to go to is the one on Lincoln Ave and not the Balmoral spot. The balmoral spot is great if your a local, but if you're visiting then it's just too out of the way and with little around it.

Just posting to mention that Beachwood's Mocha Machine is a perfectly balanced coffee porter that can't be faulted in anyway. Will be headed back to Yard House for some more.

Rodenbach Alexander fans,

Not bad, but too sweet!

Yeah but at least it isn't a total gross vinegar bomb like a lot of Flanders red are.

Stabn: fair point

Baptista fans: tasted Baptist vs Baptista last night. Wow, Baptista really blows Baptist away, and I like Baptist just fine. But vanilla, spice, chocolate, coffee, just all the flavors so much bigger and richer in Baptista. Has an almost creamy latte-like flavor to it too. Stopped by target on the way home to grab a couple more. Pics for the lolz:



1 for 4 on correct Baptist/Baptista price labeling.

I like Baptista a lot, but I think I prefer Big Bad Baptist.

I'd go Double Barrel > Big Bad > Baptista >>> Triple Barrel

I thought the triple barrel was pretty overrated, but coconut is polarizing for me. That said, I love these guys - Baptista is generally off the shelves around here within a week of dropping.

Seattle resident about to spend a week in New Mexico: Albuquerque, Taos and Santa Fe. Any beer spots in those cities worth checking out? My tastes run more to Belgians and darker beers, and living in the PNW I get my fill of IPAs. Still, I'd be interested in adding any unique/local bars/breweries to our list.

For Belgian style beers in Albuquerque, go to Monk's corner. They are the taproom for Abbey brewing, which is a brewery in Northern New Mexico ran by Benedictine monks. My cousin runs that place, his name is Chris, very nice guy.

Other favorites in Albuquerque are La Cumbre (try their project dank, en even if you are not really looking for an IPA) and Marble.

In Santa Fe you must try Rowley Farmhouse Ales. It is a bit out of the main plaza area, but well worth the visit. Pretty close to Meow Wolf too, in case you were planning to visit that.

I haven't been to many breweries in Taos, but Taos Mesa and the Ale House are both decent.

Cool, thanks. Those sound great.