The 2019 Fort George 3-Way IPA is out. Somewhat reminds me of their City of Dreams IPA, kind of a West Coast Haze type of thing, but City of Dreams is actually much better than this. I'll give it another chance, but so far I'm not digging it. Definitely a step down from the 2017 and 2018 editions.

Yea it sucks.

Had it on draft at the Ruse release party, still sucked.

Still a good easy shelf option around the pnw I guess, but GN cans are so easy to get around here now there's really no point for me.

It's unfortunate, Ruse's best stuff is close to GN quality, Fort George's own hazys are generally better than this years (I like most field of greens, crysknife, etc. better than this 3way), cloudburst does suck though. Been there twice while in Seattle and never enjoyed it. Who knows how much influence they really have in collabs though.

Super quiet recently. Nothing too exciting, but some beer updates for me:

- Was recently in Sweden and Norway for vacation, and **** me beer is expensive there. A ~12oz pour of a craft beer is like $10-15 a pop. We're not talking about super fancy **** either. There were a lot more places that had 3F and Cantillon and that ilk, though. Had myself a 3F A&G (2016/17 IIRC). I have one or two of these in the basement as well. I think I actually like american wild ales more, this perhaps too graham crackery for me. But still a very good beer. There was a beer bar in Bergen that had bottles of Black Project for onsite, which is crazy to me - I didn't notice that until we'd had our last drink for the evening, though. I was wearing my HF shirt, naturally to get street cred from fellow beer nerds, and he'd been there and we chatted that up.

- Joined the Funk Factory magnum club. This gets you magnums of 5 or 6 of their beers. I normally think the magnum thing is a bit silly, but you get a 20% discount at the brewery which I go to about every other week. These beers were all made in the gueuze style, and they're getting better at what they do.

- We truly live in the golden age of beer. Even compared to a few years ago... I go to my main beer bar here in Madison and there are always like 10 killer taps. The best breweries really are getting creative with expanding their foot print. Craft beer week doesn't even excite me in the least these days. There are some super rare beers you can get at some of the events, but it usually requires going to some place that's crowded as ****. It's hard to have the energy. I've ticked plenty of boxes, and in general you can get great hazies and stouts anywhere these days.

These are currently on tap at my favorite bar:

2017 Ten Fidy: Bourbon barrel aged

2016 120 Minute IPA

My liver is quivering.

Surprised the thread died down so much. I don't have any new beers to add though, but I gotta say 3 Floyds in cans is quite the thing.

Ha! 2016 120 Minute IPA is my kind of beer. Haven't tried 2017 Ten Fidy: Bourbon barrel aged though. Your specific thoughts?

Absolutely delicious, but not cheap. If you enjoy that style, I highly recommend trying it.

Hot weather has me drinking a lot of:

- session IPA
- NEPIA
- session sour
- sours

Amongst the IPAs, it's hard for me to think anyone will get any value out of anything I post because it's all local stuff and the trend is to produce slightly different hop bills every week so stuff is close to one-off for the year. Tons of great stuff from Pipeworks, Transient, Alarmist, Phase 3, More, and others. There's just a lot of good stuff out there. Seems like "good" NEIPA in specific is now fairly solved and public knowledge?

Amongst the sours, the biggest thing I can say is that I've really been impressed (probably due to the unexpected-ness) of the Half Acre sours.

For people in Chicago:

Old Irving taproom is pretty nice. Food is better than it has to be. Beer is good. Loud, kid friendly. Has a couple bags setups. Has board games at the front. Nice space, though no outdoors area.

The new setup at Half Acre Balmoral (seating for ~120, bags, lawn bowling, smaller menu for food and drink outside but you can order other stuff inside at the bar too) is pretty nice. They did a good job setting up trees so you don't feel like you're just in their parking lot.

Dry Skies Brut IPA from Ninkasi is a hit with me! (2019 seasonal release). Had it on draft at the local hipster bar and sucked down multiple rounds with relish. Highly recommended for IPA lovers.

Style: Brut IPA
ABV: 6.8%
IBU: 35
Release date: 2019
Available: seasonal
Malts: 2-Row
Hops: Crystal, Azacca, Citra, Chinook, Simcoe, Citra (DH), Huell Melon (DH)

Has anyone used Tavour? I'm not affiliated with them in any way.

Are you looking for any specific info? Plenty of folks use Tavour in a facebook group I'm in, I haven't personally though.

Just a general is it worth it type info. Happy with the service, etc. I know there are reviews online but I'd prefer to hear takes from you folk if there any out there.

i used it once on this years BBomb set from Fremont. Everything went well, and the price was decent. packaging wasn't the greatest, but i guess it made it OK. Overall it seems like a good service, but its just as easy for me to get things through local groups/trades so i dont use it anymore.

This weekend is the biggest event for craft beer in Madison, WI, where I live.

Great Taste of the Midwest, which dates back to the 80s. It's a pretty awesome event, in an excellent park right on the water facing downtown. I've gone about half the years I've lived here. We've gone the last 2-3 but are skipping this year.

I will be going to the pre-event at Funk Factory that Friday, which has a number of absurd breweries pouring, including Pulpit Rock, Equilibrium, Mikerphone, 2nd Shift, Forager, Hailstorm, and other very good breweries.

Part of me wonders if this thread dying down is just where the craft scene is at. Maybe not, but trading/buying is a lot less appealing than even a bit ago. Pretty much every craft does the same basic styles now to varying levels of success.

A few of the beers recently that have me excited:

3 Sheeps - The Wolf - Great BA non-adjunct stout. One of the best in the country, especially for non-bomber styles. This bad boy comes in 4 packs for like $17, though it moves off the shelves quick.

3 Sheeps - Pilsner - This is a pretty good pilsner in my non-sophisticated palate for pilsners. Light, crisp, a bit hoppy and super crushable. People were saying this was a style that could take off and I was skeptical, but I'm starting to see it more. Hazy IPAs are delicious, but many of them are pretty heavy, and as a semi-old man of 35, if I have a couple earlyish, I'm gonna be tired all day.

Brewing Projekt - Everything hoppy they do is gold, but Dare Mighty Things and Irregardless are a couple recently I've really loved. Best hazy maker in the state.

Funk Factory - Likewise, everything methode traditionelllee they do is outstanding. My recent favorite is Perzik, which is aged on Wisconsin donut peaches. In fact I picked up a magnum of it tonight, which may be cracked this weekend while I watch Tottenham Hotspur crush Aston Villa.

Modern Times - Their core set looks like it's finally being delivered here. As with many of these sorts of things, it feels like a thing where a brewery may expand their distribution a year or two too late. One beer of theirs I'm really excited about, because there are very few beers like it in the beer world, is Blazing World. A sort of hoppy amber/red IPA that is actually good, it's one of my favorite beers.

Other random thought - Toppling Goliath has talked about moving to 12oz canning from 16oz. I'm all for this, mainly for weekday drinking. Allows portion control way better, especially since beers are definitely more alcoholic now than they were 10-15 years ago.

Yup. Generally heard good things and that customer service folks were quick to fix any issues. I think it's a bit on the higher priced side, but due to the volume of sales they ofte end up with very rare beers.

The SanTan(AZ) Juicy Jack is one of my favorite hazies of the summer. Am I drinking an IPA? Am I drinking pineapple-orange juice? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I dunno but it works out to be ****ing delicious. I can't remember sitting down and crushing a six pack of anything within a couple hours but I'm well on my way with this one. Cheers!

I love their stuff. It's one of my favorite breweries. I'm so excited that they are bringing a brewery / tasting room location to OC. https://wefunder.com/updates/114195-...pdates-anaheim

I love living in the Northeast

PM me if you wanna do some swaps for some West coast stuff you can't get there. I'm in So Cal.

I kinda only buy rothaus pils now.

I'm such a lazy trader but for a fellow 2p2er I would. Although outside of Monkish I don't know anything out west I want or need

Nothing from The Bruery? Bottle Logic?

I just had a killer DIPA from Green Cheek, going there is gonna be a must next time I'm in SoCal.

Just had this on draft at a local pub, very good hoppy pale ale/IPA:

og-kush/

Highly recommended.

SF friends-- I think City Beer Store has cracked my top 3 places to drink in town (caveat that I almost exclusively drink IPAs and DIPAs). Check this menu from their IPA event last night. First time I've seen Monkish or Bissell Bros in NorCal!