Bcbs fans,

Found out my local target was actually selling the wheatwine and regular bcbs for $9.99, so grabbed two more of the wheatwines after reading some amazing reviews.

Tried one today. Underwhelming. Just kinda sweet and malty, not really my thing. Oh well.

Looking for thoughts for Portland, ME. I haven't been in a year or so. I have a ticket for Saturday's Dinner release at Maine Beer Co, so that is what brings me up from Boston.

It looks like Bissell is packaging Swish on Saturday, so I'll stop in there too. After that, I'm looking for recommendations on where I should go. I'm probably going to spend the night and come back Sunday so I should have plenty of time.

I'll probably stop at Allagash to see what they have that isn't distribute. They just finished putting Coolship Resurgam into distribution for the first time. I have a bottle in the fridge now, I would not mind getting some other Coolship beers if possible. Also, Foundation and Austin Street are right there.

I was also thinking about going to Barreled Souls in Saco on the way home. Beyond that, I could go anywhere, and would appreciate any recommendations.

For food, I'm thinking some combo of Duckfat, Boda, Honey Paw, and J's Oyster Bar. I've been to them all before and they are great. Not planning to mess with a good formula, but if there are new things I should know about, I'm open.

That’s a good start you’ve got. Austin Street/Allagash are musts. Foundation I think is a tier below but it is right there.

I would fit in a meal at Central Provisions. That was my favorite meal in Portland (went to Eventide, Duckfat, and Fore Street as well).

I loved Tandem Coffee as well.

Two recent stouts:



I think it's great that they're making so many different kinds of Dragon's Milk. It's fun to have different varieties available. That being said, many of them have been bad. I don't remember all the ones I've tried, but my recollection is that the coffee version was ok, and virtually all the other ones were not good. But at $5 or so for a BA stout, hard to complain about.

This one is worth complaining about. It was revolting. I dumped it after just a few sips, so I don't remember the different ways I thought it was revolting, just that I remember making a very solid pledge to myself that I was never buying Dragon's Milk of any variety ever again. Fortunately I bought this as a single rather than a 4-pack.

This is the one I opened tonight:



I loved it. I think I like fruit-flavored stouts more than most people (with the notable exception of garbage banana Dragon's Milk), so I'm not sure how widely my opinion would be shared. But the raspberry worked great. It's also worth pointing out how well Avery manages to make high ABV beers taste reasonable. This was a 14% beer that tasted far less alcoholic to me than the garbage Dragon's Milk at 11%. Their best example of this is Tweak at 18% or so, which I might revisit this weekend if I'm feeling frisky.

coincidentally, I had both of those beers together at a share a month or so back. I took one sip of that dragons milk and hated it. it tastes 100% exactly like banana runts. I LOVE banana runts, but not in a stout. I opened a really good coconut stout from a local brewery (Deviate) that night and the 2 mixed were fantastic!

Raspberry Truffale was great. Agree that it's scary how well Avery hides the ABV in some of those big stouts.

Another great beer from Avery I've enjoyed recently is Plank'd. Stout with coconut and aged in rum barrels. Thought it was truly fantastic.

I had a 4 pack of that banana monstrosity rattling around and finally dumped three of them last week.

My BCBS haul was pretty meager. I didn't get up early enough, and it flies off shelves pretty quick in Madison, WI. We got 1 of the Chocolate Orange, one of the Bramble, and 2 of the 2016 BCBS which I thought was pretty GOAT level. Was hoping for a 2018 BCBS, but I figure I will have it on tap at some point.

Wife and I then went to St. Louis for Thanksgiving weekend with a couple of friends for just general vacation + Side Project shenanigans. In our time there we got to split 2 bottles of 2018 Beer:Barrel:Time, tried some leftovers of Derivation 9 or 10 from someone who wanted to keep the bottle but couldn't finish it (it was rum barrel aged with cinnamon I think, and ended up being kind of a cola-flavored drink, as rum barrel aged beers often can be - a pretty big disappointment). Beer Barrel Time was extremely good and I think better than I remember last year's being (we still have a bottle of last year, but didn't get any to-go this year.) We had Peche du Fermier and Framboise du Fermier as well. The peach was one of the best sours I've ever had. Truly elite. The Framboise was ok, but too lactic as can happen with Side Project sours/saisons, and a tier below the raspberry sours that Funk Factory puts out. Hit up 2nd Shift and Perennial as well, which are always fun. St. Louis is an awesome city to visit for 2-3 days.

PSA: 2013 BCBS still bangs

did you get a chance to buy a Coconut Vibes while you were there? Buddy cracked one of his Saturday night and it is probably the best beer I've had in 2018 so far. Was initially surprised at all the hype it was getting but holy **** is it good.

No. They were out by the time I got there on Friday, and didn't get a chance to go back Saturday. I probably would have tried to go back if it was a Coffee Shop Vibes, but I don't love coconut beers - even the Derivation 8 they had last Thanksgiving had coconut and I thought it was a bit overrated. Their imperial stout bases for the Vibes beers are really good, though. I saw the crazy ratings and hype on that a few days after I left, which kind of shocked me - but those guys definitely know their way around a stout.

This has been a weak December for this thread - I'm hoping to see some good beers in here soon! I've got some good ones to post later on.

I’ve pretty much just given up on the great beer chase. Everything local is such quality now that I no longer care about the latest and greatest. 2019 is going to be a year of beer apathy for me.

I’ve never been much of a thread contributor, just thought I’d lend this lurkers dark and gloomy opinion. Happy New Years!

Cheers and happy New year to the thread!

Is that bottom one from the Bruery?

Bottom one is from BJ's. Their yearly Grand Cru.
https://www.bjsrestaurants.com/beer/grand-cru

But yeah, your right. It does look very much like a bruery label

Had no clue they did any package.

Hoagie -

Counterpoint: I think it's a lot more fun to hear about the super-fragmented local craft beer scene than an infrequent feed of people sampling the ratebeer top 100. Even if I'm not going to ever sample some local distribution only place from Phoenix, it's cool to see what's happening out there in the world. The beer world has gotten more interesting, even if some forums/etc reflect a trend toward a specific small set of beers. And, I think it's cool to see how trends coalesce around the country.

Yeah. Inside the restaurants. There is usually a cooler by the front desk. They sell various 6 pack cans of their normal rotation stuff then the Grand Cru you can buy a bottle or a 3 pack. I think it's like 12 bucks a bottle and 30 for a 3 pack so you save a few bucks if you buy 3.

I didn't drink anything too crazy around the holidays. I usually buy some saisons/farmhouses/etc but did not this year. Here's a brief roundup via memory:

BCBS 2018 (regular): I thought it was delicious again. 12oz bottles sorely missed.

Firestone Walker Dark & Stormy: ale brewed with ginger & lime aged in rum barrels. Pure curiosity in picking this one up. Tbh, it was a pretty suitable substitute for an actual dark and stormy. Not bad at all. Wouldn't buy again, though. Good holiday sipping beer.

Toppling Goliath, SOSUS, all-mosaic DIPA: wasn't always a fan of all-mosaic beers, but this is killer stuff. Just showed up in 4pks recently.

Medusa Brewing, Duchovni, Czech Pils: This won GABF gold 2-3 years ago. I've had it numerous times at their brewpub, but they just put it in cans for the first time so I picked some up. Just a super solid pils.

Jack's Abby Framinghammer, Baltic Porter (10% ABV): For those unaware, Baltic Porters are a lager (JA is an all-lager brewery). I had had a bunch of the BA versions of Framinghammer in recent years and didn't love them, but it had been a minute since trying the standard. This is really outstanding and probably the sipper I enjoyed the most over the holidays.

Think that's about it. I'm putting a plug in the jug for 3 months. See you in April.

You make an excellent point and post here. Ill sheath my pessimism for a while!

I'm currently living in Hawaii and the beer scene is way different than Michigan. The major player seems to be Kona brewing which apparently makes all of its beer on the mainland and markets it as Hawaiian. The beer is pretty average, but its perasive on the islands and at a great price for Hawaii.

Maui brewing has a couple of goodish offerings and is also everywhere on the islands at a slightly higher price point. Their big swell is my go to beach beer and runs about $9 per 6 at costco which I think is super reasonable.

I have yet to checkout Kahola brewing but they are meant to be the best on the islands from what ive heard.

Im a little shocked by the lack of small independent places here but Id imagine it costs a fortune to brew beer out here. I'm also coming from a place that has a glut of breweries which range from great to terrible.

+1, you guys inspired me to do a full New England trip centered around beer this summer. I think before I read this thread, I only had a vague idea of how cool the beer scene was in Boston/Vermont/Maine.

Don't forget NH.

I just bought myself a ticket for Extreme Beerfest next month in Boston. Never been before. Looking forward to it. The list of so far looks like there is going to be some pretty out there stuff. Curious to see how it all goes

Yes, this exactly!

Some beers I had over the holiday break:



Historically, I've always preferred Alpha King, and didn't really care for Zombie Dust at all. But randomly seeing it on the shelf in Ohio was so surprising that I bought a 6-pack. I liked it much more than I thought I would. Would buy again.



I'm a huge fan of local brewer Wolf's Ridge, and had previously been blown away by their Bourbon Barrel Aged Barleywine. So I was excited to go with my wife to their anniversary party, where this was one of their released beers. Big let down. I'm not even sure I finished it. To rub salt in the wound, I ended up seeing this on the shelf at a local beer store, confirming that buying tickets to that party was a huge waste of money.



So happy to open this favorite of mine. Oh, wait.



This is what happens when your wife sees you open a beer and reminds you that you have to go pick someone up.

Anyway, the slight delay caused no problems. Ages Well indeed - this is still so, so good. This might have been my last bottle, which is disappointing.





Did a little experiment with two bottles in the same night. The first was a bottle of regular-ass 3F geuze bottled January 2015.





The second was a bottle of 3F Golden Blend bottled less than a year earlier. (Includes 4 year old lambic in addition to the normal mix of 1-, 2-, and 3- year lambic.) The regular geuze was good, but the Golden Blend was elite. Not much carbonation, but it just felt more substantial (almost thicker) in the way that Tilquin squared seems to me. Love this beer so much.

Speaking of Tilquin, opened up a couple of bottles:





This was a bottle of the original 2010-2011 batch, which continues to be otherworldly. Exactly the opposite of the Golden Blend, in that it was super light and crisp, but absolutely delicious.



This was something I'd been excited to try - Tilquin with red currants. It was quite good, but not worth the price/effort to get. In a blind test, I'd probably prefer the Tilquin Quetsche (plums), and I definitely prefer regular geuze. Still happy to try and would probably buy if I saw it sitting on a shelf.

Finally, this just kicks so much ass:



I'm sad that they didn't distribute Hop Stalker this year, but Head Hunter IPA in 6-packs scratches me right where I itch.