Drinking a Shipyard Smashed Pumpkin. It is a lot better than the Pumpkinhead that I had. The taste is a little strong but good. The pint is 9.0% ALC.?VOL. I'm starting to feel it and I'm almost done with it. If you like pumpkin beer I suggest it. It comes in a single bottle, but it is good.

Originally Posted by dmaul1114 Had a Green Flash Le Freak ale last night

I'm having a Le Freak tonight. It's not bad - but like I said about it earlier in the thread - for me it's just too much - it's like I can distinctly taste both (the Belgian taste at first then the ipa seems to come out a bit more towards the end for me) and I sorta wish it was one or the other. It's a slooooww drinker for me too - high abv in beer keeps me honest.

I have been drinking a good bit of local. My friend's brewery has an awesome Octoberfest and also a great Helles Lager going on right now! I'm putting a Hop City gift card at the top of my list! My crafty ass just got finished making a two growler/growlerette neoprene carry bag as well.

Just picked up a case of the Sam Adams winter brews at Costco. I think I remember this comes in a half case too. Six different beers. No nasty cranberry lambic this time which is fine with me. Didn't they take it out last year or two years ago? I'd be happy to never see it again. Also saw Chimay blue 750s for 9.99 - wondering if that's a seasonal thing or year 'round since we just got big bottles in our state this year and it's the first I'm seeing of them.

Drinking a Chatoe Rogue Pumpkin Patch Ale. Has anyone tried this before? A lot of the pumpkin beers seem lacking or to strong in taste for me this year. Even ones I have had in past years. This is the first time I have tried this beer and the first time I have even seen it. It is good however the taste isn't that strong, but what taste is there is really good. It is not sweet like most pumpkin beers.

Last weekend had some Stone Sublimely Self Righteous Ale and Stone Russian Imperial Stout--two of my favorites.

This week been having some Kirkland's Beer (Costco brand). It's all kind of mediocre (IPA, Pale Ale, German Lager, Amber Ale), but not shabby for the price--think it was $18.99 for a 24 pack. Out east it's brewed for them by the place that does Saranac, out west by the place that does Gordon Biersch from what I read online.

Yeah I get the Kirkland Signature beer pretty regularly as my second/third beer of the night. Especially after my palette is shot by some big DIPA or something I just go to these if I want another beer. Yes Matt Brewing does east coast - they also do Saranac. I would guess the recipes for the beers were created by Gordon Biersh though because they all seem to have that German taste to them.

Had a Thomas Creek Octoberfest last night at a block party in our neighborhood. The lady hosting the party works for a wine/craft beer distributor here and was pushing some of their wares. I've had Thomas Creek's DIPA and wasn't real impressed and well I wasn't too impressed with the Octoberfest either. But I may have made a free beer/wine hookup so that's cool!

Oh - and I've been drinking the Sam Adams winter brews from the pack. Ok but not that great really - they are currently serving the position of the Kirkland Signature second/third beer spot.

Having a Southern Tier Iniquity Imperial Black Ale - man this thing is great. It's probably about a year old. Dry hopped character has probably faded a bit as it's not too hoppy. It's just an awesome beer though. I've found the few black ales I've had I have liked.

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Just a heads up for some cheap decent beer glasses from New Belgium. Well - not super cheap - and I'm not positive they are decent but I'm sure they are ok. I have 40+ beer glasses - half of which are specialty glasses (tulips and such) - so I surely don't NEED any more but couldn't pass this up. They are 8.99 and free shipping plus a free $1 donation to one of 4 charities.

http://shop.newbelgium.com/store/mer...tegory_Code=GW

Oh yeah - and if you add anything else - I added a 2.00 sticker - it tacks on UPS shipping at the tune of ~10 bucks! Obviously I dropped the sticker from my cart...

Had the Trader Joe's 2012 Vintage Ale last night. It's pretty solid--a Belgian Style ale brewed for them by Unibroue.

Also grabbed a sixer of Kennebunkport Brewing Co. IPA. It was ok, not bad for $6.99 a sixer.

Happy International Stout Day! Not sure but I'll probably have an Old Raspy since it's already in the fridge.

http://www.stoutday.com/

Also OooOoooOOooo

http://www.lafindumondeday.com/

Had some Founder's Backwoods Bastard - Scotch ale aged in oak bourbon barrels. Got a growlerette of if yesterday and had it last night. Real nice beer - perfect for this time of year. Warming and sweet and malty. Also picked up a growler of a local vanilla porter from Avondale Brewing. I've had their Jack Daniels barrel aged version of this and it was great. Hoping this regular version is about as good.

Got a 750 of a new brewery in the state they were showcasing at Hop City yesterday. Element Brewing outta MA - got their Red Giant - an imperial/double red at 8.1% ABV. They were doing free samples and free pint glass with purchase so I couldn't help myself. It's a nice beer though - I'll sit it aside and probably have it in 6-12 months (though having a sample of the fresh one it was well balanced and had a pleasant bitterness). It's nicely packaged - corked and completely wrapped in a printed paper.

Well - we just polished off our second growler of the Vanillaphant vanilla porter from local brewery Avondale Brewing. What a great, easy drinking beer. Love the hint of smoke it has in it!

Having another local (Huntsville) beer tonight - Blue Pants Black IPA - they say it's balanced - it's not. It hop overload. I'm not really complaining but it's the hoppy-est black IPA I've ever had. Wasn't expecting it. Not a great after dinner beer really. The bitterness lingers in a sort of unpleasant way. It's a new release from them in a 22oz so I wanted to give it a try as I've liked a couple of the other beers I've had from them.

What are people drinking for thanksgiving? I'll be traveling around the state to visit family. At my family get together we'll probably pick up another Sam Adams winter brews case since it's got enough variety to keep most folks happy. I may pick up a bottle of wine as well. At my wife's family gathering we won't be drinking anything alcoholic...

I'm also on the hunt for some Sierra Nevada Narwhal Imperial Stout and Clown Shoes Porcine Unidragon RIS (smokey and barrel-aged!)

I like trying different IPAs but I prefer more of a piney after taste as opposed to grapefruity. Lately I have been drinking Victory Hop Devil and it seems perfect for me (and relatively cheap... only $8.99 per six pack versus 10.99 for Dogfish 60 and 11.99 for Stone IPA). I bought Sierra Nevada Celebration and Sierra Nevada Northern Hemisphere 22 oz bottle... very muched liked the Hemisphere. Also tried Lagunita's Daytime IPA - but was a little more citrusy than I like.

Does anyone have a favorite "piney" IPA that they like and is available in NJ? Thanks

Stone Ruination is probably my favorite piney IPA. Green Flash West Coast IPA is another good one.

Having some Ballast Point Victory at Sea Coffee Vanilla Imperial Porter. Great dessert beer. Only complaint - and it's a very minor one - at 10% the alcohol is present. Not bad though and the complexity is worth it. Gets great reviews too. Picked up a growlerette of it (it was cheap for Ballast Point I thought at only 7.99) and picked up a growler of local/regional beer Straight to Ale Laika Imperial Stout (not quite so cheap at 19.99)

I tried the Blue Moon seasonal the other day and I wasn't a fan at all. Very odd taste. :/

But, I did have a few good ones on Saturday. I went to a place in Gurnee, IL called Timmy O'Tooles and man was their beer selection awesome. It was expensive, but it was huge. I only had two beers. The first was a Three Floyd's Robert the Bruce (Scottish ale) which was pretty good. The second was a random pick: some random Chicago pale ale (Finch or something?). That was also pretty solid.

And last week I stopped in Munster, IN at Three Floyd's on the way home and picked up a bunch of stuff. Gumballhead, Dreadnaught, Jinx Proof, Alpha King, Pride and Joy and Zombie Dust. All really good stuff. Gumballhead is my favorite though, seeing as I love wheat beers.

Also, the Sierra Nevada winter seasonal is pretty good. I'd reccommend it. (I love all Sierra Nevada beers.)

I don't try as many beers as I did over the summer, but I'm getting back into trying some cool stuff. I'm also thinking about starting to brew my own beer, but I'm not sure where to start. Anybody have any suggestions? Keep in mind that I'm in college, so spending hundreds of dollars isn't really in the game plan. :p

Do you have a local beer store that offers home brewing classes? Hop City here in Atlanta does, usually around $20-25. I've not bothered as I'm in a small condo and don't have the space or type of stove (have a ceramic top stove) etc. needed to do it. Would stink up the whole place and probably the hall and piss of the neighbors too!

I'd love to get into it someday, but probably not until I have a house and can get a big single burner portable stove and do it in the garage or something.

Originally Posted by dmaul1114 Do you have a local beer store that offers home brewing classes? Hop City here in Atlanta does, usually around $20-25. I've not bothered as I'm in a small condo and don't have the space or type of stove (have a ceramic top stove) etc. needed to do it. Would stink up the whole place and probably the hall and piss of the neighbors too! I'd love to get into it someday, but probably not until I have a house and can get a big single burner portable stove and do it in the garage or something.

I never thought of that. I know that Binny's doesn't do it, but we do have a Friar Tuck here in town. They sell all of the stuff to do it, so they might offer classes. The next time I stop in I'll ask about it.

It's a shame, last year I had a professor that was really into beer. He often told us about his homebrew. But at the time, I wasn't really into it that much. Now that I'm starting to really get into it, he's gone. Damn.

Excellent suggestion from dmaul about the classes. You can also usually get most if not all of your supplies from a local beer/brew store or it might actually just be a homebrew specific store (we've had a brewing-only store here in AL since the 70s even though homebrew is illegal here - since they don't sell alcohol they don't get "investigated" by the beverage control board). I've heard many folks on a budget or having tight space considerations talk about getting a mr. beer kit (I know they are considered lame) and then using it with other non-mr beer recipe kits or even building their own recipes - even all grain. It's tiny and cheap (well relatively - homebrew really isn't cheap or quick if you do it right.) I haven't ever brewed but have lots of friends that have been brewing for close to 20 years. Midwest Supply also offers pretty good pricing on kits - they've been a big name in homebrew for a long time. A few times a year I threaten to get in to homebrew but I have so many hobbies as it is. Maybe one day...

http://www.mrbeerfans.com/ubbthreads...n_Recipes.html

Just had a Stone Smoke Porter w/chipotle peppers. The chipotle taste is mild, not over whelming at all, but you defiantly feel a mild kick of it in the end. I like it. They have a vanilla bean porter that I think I'll pick up next time.

Speaking of Stone, I have a Stone Vertical Epic that I picked up around Feb that's just begging to be cracked open. Gonna open that sucker up on 12-12-12 .

I want THIS on 12/12/12!

http://beerstreetjournal.com/westvle...ine-on-dec-12/

Our state will be getting some and we don't have a total wine so it should be at various other beer stores in addition to total wine.