CAG Beer Drinkers Unite! Beer Snobs and Cheap Ass Drunks Welcome!

Rodimus said:
Had the Game of Thrones beer last week called "Take the Black Stout." Chocolate and caramel finish. I'm not a huge fan of stouts but it wasn't bad. Probably wont buy it again but I at least had to try it.

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I had a couple of those last fall, not a bad brew but not great either. Worth picking up if you're a fan of the series anyway.

 
I lucked into Stone Enjoy By 2/14/14 on tap yesterday. Stopped at a bar to grab a beer and some late lunch to wait out some traffic. My university closed early for snow and traffic was balls around campus for a couple hours after.

Damn good beer. Had some last year in growler and later batch in bottles. Glad to stumble into some this time as I didn't have time to hit up the beer stretch e day they got it in.
 
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Picked all this up over the weekend in Denver. :)  A lot of it was for me but some of the extras were for my other 2 beer drinking buddies. :)

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Somehow miraculously I managed to get 4 bottles of Pliny.  2 of them went to friends and I kept 2.  Can't wait to try Crooked Stave's Nightmare on Brett. :D

 
Got a six pack of Hopslam thru a trade yesterday along with an assortment of 3Floyds and Pipe Works brews. Very excited to finally try some of this stuff.

Nugget Nectar has made its way to Jersey once again. Awesome stuff! An absolute hop bomb.

 
So I was able to buy one 12 oz bottle of Dogfish 120 minute for $9 at the local liquor store that had received one case.  Not sure what to expect as I have never had the 120 min before and the guy at the store said that he thought they went too far with it and it tasted more like a barley wine.  I bought it anyway.  It says it ages well but not sure I'll be able to hold back from drinking it...  is it worth it to wait?

 
cheapfrag said:
So I was able to buy one 12 oz bottle of Dogfish 120 minute for $9 at the local liquor store that had received one case. Not sure what to expect as I have never had the 120 min before and the guy at the store said that he thought they went too far with it and it tasted more like a barley wine. I bought it anyway. It says it ages well but not sure I'll be able to hold back from drinking it... is it worth it to wait?
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I personally think IPAs are best when they're fresh. Even if it does age well, I can't see an IPA getting better over time. Of course, I've only ever had 120 Minute on tap, so I couldn't tell you for sure.
 
I don't care for the 120 minute, love the 60 and 90 though.  Just too much alcohol taste in the 120 for my liking, with the 16% or whatever ABV it is.

I've been drinking more of the "session" IPAs lately--the various 4.x% as we've been trying to cut down on our alcoholism some. :D

Stone Go To IPA, 21st Amendment Bitter American, Founders All Day IPA and Red Brick Hop Circle are all solid.

On a high ABV note (10.5%), Stone's limited release Burning Rosids Imperial Cherrywood-Smoked Saison was pretty damn tasty.  It was a tribute to one of their brewers who passed away, with proceeds going to a couple of his favorite charities.

 
Access_Denied said:
I personally think IPAs are best when they're fresh. Even if it does age well, I can't see an IPA getting better over time. Of course, I've only ever had 120 Minute on tap, so I couldn't tell you for sure.
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Agreed but the 120 is more malty then hoppy and like dmaul said is pretty boozy, so I think the 120 is the exception to the rule. Let age kill a little of that booz. I have a 120 from 2012 that I plan on opening when i get my hands on a 14 120.

 
motorkill said:
Agreed but the 120 is more malty then hoppy and like dmaul said is pretty boozy, so I think the 120 is the exception to the rule. Let age kill a little of that booz. I have a 120 from 2012 that I plan on opening when i get my hands on a 14 120.
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Talked to the beer guy at the store that I bought it from and his opinion was that aging it would lessen the hoppiness of the beer, making it more like a barley wine. His suggestion was if I wanted is at its hoppiest to drink it sooner rather than later.

 
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That's probably true.  Just don't go in expecting a hop blast regardless, as it's far less hoppy than the 90 minute or even the 60 minutes since the malts and alcohol overpower the hops.

 
So I had the 120 minute last night.  I had thought it would be darker and less carbonated.  But it fit right in with the 60 minute, 90 minute line of dogfish beers.  Stronger but also sweeter than the others.  It was nice finally having one, but it's not one that I will be craving in the future.

 
Each ticket holder is allowed one bottle of Dark Lord. And generally, a ticket holder has 2 tickets, one for the buyer and one for a guest. And since most people buy a guest ticket, there's one bottle for every 2 people.
 
RE: DFH 120 - it's been several years but I remember it being syrup and super sweet. It wasn't very beer-like to me. Maybe one day I'll try another one.

Got a couple Enjoy By 4-20-14s and had one 5 days after bottled on date. It was nice. It didn't blow me away but it was very drinkable for a ~10% abv beer.

I too have been drinking a bunch of the session ipas. Love the Founders All Day and Terrapin's Recreationale.

We stopped alcohol for a short bit because of a detox diet thing we are doing but it's slowly crept back in over the past couple of weeks. It's not quite as frequent as it was though. Like I didn't have anything tonight ;)

We have a coffee oatmeal stout planned for brewing in the next few days. It's a Sammy Smith oatmeal stout clone that we are going to cold brew some coffee and add to fermentation.

 
Thanks for reminding me about Enjoy By. Looks like Indiana got it this time as well; I'll have to pick one up tonight. Also, I tried a Sixpoint Resin this weekend. It was OK, but way too hoppy for my tastes (103 IBU).
 
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Grabbed a big case of Sam Adams IPA Hopology at Costo.  It has Double Agent IPL, Roggen Wolf (a new Rye IPA), Tasman Red IPA, Third Voyage (double IPA), Grumpy Monky (Belgian style IPA), and White Water IPA.
 
Also nabbed a 4 pack the had of Stone Bombers for $16.99 that included the Russian Imperial Stout, Sublimely Self Righteous Ale, Arrogant Bastard Ale and IPA.  Great price for four of my favorite beers.
 
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Ooohhh that Sam Adams pack sounds nice! I'll give it a try even though I've sworn off Sam Adams. My wife mentioned the Stone 4 pack and I'll definitely be picking one or two of those up - def a great price.

I've made some whiskey sours the past few days with fresh lemons - man it's awesome! Also I see a mention of Gulden Draak - I had a 2009 one the other day for my birthday. It was real nice and mellow. So easy to drink I could have had a few.

Brewed a Sam Smith Oatmeal Porter clone and added some cold brew coffee to the fermentation. I'll probably bottle it in a few days. The lower abv (appx. 5%) will allow us to try it relatively soon.

 
Anyone going on a Founder's KBS hunt?  I have three liquor stores, I frequently attend with two having my name and number.  Called a few yesterday and no luck.  Hopefully I will get a call by Thursday. Getting KBS is almost like catching a unicorn.

 
No KBS hunting for me. I was lucky to get a 32oz growler fill of it a few years back and it was awesome but I'll let others have a try from here on out. I don't do Hopslam hunting either anymore for the same reason. I even have some Hopslam from like 09 and 10 I think hanging around. Silly me - aging Hopslam! (a 5 year Hopslam vertical *would* be pretty interesting though.) But I'm not against hunting down those elusive brews by any means and I certainly wish those searching the best of luck. Bell's black note is out now too. Maybe one day I'll get to try a taste of Pliny the younger or a Dark Lord but as of now I'd probably chose a trip to on the bourbon trail to hunt down some Pappy Van Winkle instead.

 
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Same here.  I've had most of the rare stuff like KBS and Hopslam that comes out around me, so I don't bother hunting for it anymore.  If I stumble into some on tap or whatever, great, but I just don't have the interest in waiting in line for tickets, calling around etc.  I've never found any of the rarities to be worth the hassle.  Great beers, but none are in my top ten or anything.  I'm kind of at a point of mostly drinking my favorites and not trying that much new stuff anymore--at least in terms of buying beer for the house.  I still try new stuff on tap and restaurants/brew pubs etc.

 
combatFlexo said:
Anyone going on a Founder's KBS hunt? I have three liquor stores, I frequently attend with two having my name and number. Called a few yesterday and no luck. Hopefully I will get a call by Thursday. Getting KBS is almost like catching a unicorn.
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Weather permitting, I may try to hunt it down.

 
Just got a bottle of Firestone Walker Parabola and the Prairie/Evil Twin Collabo "Bible Belt".  Can't wait to try both.  I am going to try and get a 2nd Parabola to age though.  Love Firestone Walker's beers.  Quickly becoming my favorite brewery.  Right up there with Odell's.

On a side note.  I'm very excited I am going to Santa Rosa in October.  Russian River Brewing Company :D

 
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The only downside of Trader Joe's is that their selection rotates very quickly, at least at my closest location.  I'll pick up a bottle or two of something, finally try it, and when I go back for more -- they're out of it or have rotated new stock in its place.

So if you find something of theirs you like, do not hesitate to get as much of it as you can justify.  Luckily I managed to grab two more bottles of their 2013 Vintage Ale before they disappeared; decided to leave one on the shelf because I hate being "that guy."  At $5-$6 per 750ml, I will continue to try out their stuff.

For a little bit of something different, I picked up a half-rack of Third Shift's Amber Lager at just over a buck per bottle.  I'm generally not a fan of bitter hop flavors but this one has a really nice balance.

 
Lucky for me I've landed 2 bottles of KBS this year.  Stores only selling one bottle to a customer going for $7-9 a bottle.  Looking forward to trying it, since I'm virgin to it.  Will not be going on an all out hunt next year.

 
Speaking of lucking into good beers on tap, had Stone Enjoy By 4/20/14 IPA and Stone Matt's Burning Rosids Imperial Cherrywood-Smoked Saison with dinner on Friday. They had the Game of Throne's beers on tap tap, and some other good stuff. Will definitely go back there. I bought a bottle of the Game of Thrones Fire and Blood Red Ale at the liquor store last night as I didn't get a chance to try that one Friday. Had a bunch of Take the Black Stout last fall, which was delicious.
 
Just now found out Yuengling makes their own BBQ sauces. Any particular stores can you look for them in PA? My friend (who lives on the other side of the state) said he found them in a local grocery store but was hoping a chain might stock it as in my area there aren't too many non-established grocery marts. I see they sell them on their site and Amazon but want to see if I can chance it locally so I don't have to pay more than I have to.

 
While I was in Boston in April for PAX East I had some pretty good beers. Went on a brewery tour that included Beer Works, MeadHall, Night Shift, and Idle Hands. Idle Hands was interesting, tiny brewery lots of good beers. I did try Sam Adams Utopia at Meadhall and holy cow $25 for 1 oz. But it was good stuff, and its 27%

Recently I went to Growler Guys and grabbed a Growler full of Dunkel from Aying Brewing in Germany 

 
Picked up a case of the Sam Adams Latitude 48 deconstructed at Costco. It's pretty fun trying the single hop stuff with all the rest of the recipe of lat 48 staying the same. Neat idea.

Our COS that we made out of a Sammy Smith oatmeal stout clone turned out great. Has a very smooth, creamy mouthfeel almost like a nitro.

Just did our second annual father's day brew - this time a 3 Floyds Xtra Pale Ale clone. Should be nice for summer and be ready pretty quickly since it's not very high abv.

 
Last April, when I was in Toledo, OH, I went to a local bar/tavern called the "Durty Bird". One block down from the Toledo Mudhens field going away from the convention center. They had a local brew called "Conway's Irish Ale". Needless to say, me and the fellas I went with were at the Durty Bird a few times before heading back south. That Irish Ale plus their killer Chicken Sandwich (named... you guessed it... the "Durty Bird") made for a fantastic meal. I've been dying to go back. The waitresses were hot and the beer was cold. Life was good.

 
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Had Dogfish Head's 120 last night.  I'm not really an IPA person, but I did like it.  Not sure if I'll pick it up next year or not.  I didn't even know it was out till the one place that got it in the area sent me an email Friday.  They were letting people buy 4 at a time only come Saturday they changed it to only 2 at a time due to the demand.  If I do decide to pick it up next year I'm getting put on the list for it.  I'm keeping my eye out for the Dogfish Head Pumpkin beer to be listed and the Goose Island Bourbon County Stout to come up on the list now.

I'm also tempted to make a trip down to Nashville to get a case or 2 of Yazoo.  I was down there in March for a Blues and Predators game and really liked the stuff.  

 
Fat Tire used to be one of my favorite beers then for some reason I don't remember I didn't drink the stuff for a couple of years. Drank it again a few months ago and drinking it right now while watching the world cup and I got to say, it's back as one of my favorites. Hopefully I can find one of those variety packs. I've tried the ranger and if I remember correctly I wasn't a fan of it but I'd love to try the other two.

 
The Ranger was my least favorite as well, but I'm just not a huge fan of pale ales. Plus my variety pack doesn't come with Shift. Instead it has a Pilsner called Blue Paddle which is quite nice. The Snapshot is good too, I do like my wheat ales. On top of that it's on sale around here for $13, which is a great deal for a 12 pack. Plus I like the cans. They're easier to store and dispose of.

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Picked up Sierra Nevada Beer Camp 12 pack today.  Going to let it get nice and could before I try them.  Only down sides are I could only get one pack and each pack has 12 different beers so the ones I really like chances are I wont be able to have them again.

 
DT778 said:
Fat Tire used to be one of my favorite beers then for some reason I don't remember I didn't drink the stuff for a couple of years. Drank it again a few months ago and drinking it right now while watching the world cup and I got to say, it's back as one of my favorites. Hopefully I can find one of those variety packs. I've tried the ranger and if I remember correctly I wasn't a fan of it but I'd love to try the other two.
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Love seeing the love for a local beer here... Love some Fat Tire! Recently got a variety pack of Sam Adams IPA's...

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The Tasman Red is good! The white water is very similar to Blue Moon

 
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One of the liquor stores in the area lets people reserve alcohol.  With it I have been able to get Sierra Nevada's beer camp 12 pack and now Deschutes' Black Butte XXVI.  I'm not a bid fan of beers aged him a bourbon barrel, but I really like this.  Only thing I'm not liking is I could only get one.  It's the 26th Birthday Reserve and is brewed with pomegranate, molasses with 50% aged in bourbon barrels blended with cocoa nibs and cranberry added.  Starts out a little sweet and fruity then finishes with a hint of bourbon and the cocoa.  The fruit is just enough to be interesting and cut back on the bourbon that to me usually is overpowering and all I taste in a beer that has been aged in a bourbon barrel. I haven't been able to taste the vanilla that is also listed as an ingredient, or any of the molasses.  The closer I get the end of the bottle the more I taste of the cocoa.  It could use a little less of a fruity taste, but then I think it would be to much on the bourbon side.  Other than this it's blended really well.  Really wish I could have got another one.  

Next on the list are:

2nd Shift Barrel Aged LSD Coffee

Charleville Barrel Aged Coffee Stout

Founders Dissenter

Perennial Savant Blanc

I'll post how they are when I get them.  I just finished the Black Butte while typing this and I'm buzzed and missing it.  I really want another one.  Not for right now, but for over the weekend.

 
My 3floyds xpa just didn't turn out so great. Just not real exciting. And a bit soapy I think.

A friend gave me a 120 min so I'm looking forward to trying that as I haven't had one in probably 5+ years.

I've been making some fresh margaritas and whiskey sours this summer. So good! Also made a elderflower julep that was awesome. St. Germaine is nice stuff but pricey!

Been brewing kombucha with my wife for the past couple months. Not exactly an alcoholic drink (0.5% abv though probably!) but still a fermented beverage and a tasty one too. It's so much easier than brewing beer haha.
 

 
Haven't had anything new recentlly. Once a week I buy a 6 pack of Narragansett and a couple Baltika #8 & #9. I like Narragansett because it's cheap, tasty to have with food, and Quint from Jaws drinks it so you know it's a man's beer. Also since they're in tall-boy cans so I can bring them to my condo's pool area where bottles aren't allowed.

The Baltika's are also a good deal at $2.50 for a standard pint bottle. The #9 is stronger at 9%.

 
Saw the Dogfish Head pumpkin beer should be out in the next week or so.  I have had 2 beers that I have been on a wait list for and I have yet to be notified.  I don't remember what they even were, I just know that they are no longer on the list.  The Dogfish head hasn't even come up on it and the employees at the store said it would be on it.  So if anyone in Illinois spots it could you let me know.  That way I can attempt to check around me.  I hear it goes fast. 

 
I like pumpkin beer but not as crazy over it as octoberfest.

Who has had terrapin pumpkinfest? I really enjoyed it last year. Weyerbachers imperial pumpkin ale was decent but not my favorite.

Any recommendations for octoberfest? I really like Sam Adams and Spaten is pretty good. Though my favorite has to be paulaner with ayinger not far behind

I tried great lakes this year and liked it
 
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Most recently I brewed a summer orange ale that is pretty much a clone of Blue Moon. I bottled it two weeks ago and decided to give it a taste today, and it's actually not bad. The aroma is great and the color and taste are pretty good. I think after another 2 or so weeks of aging it'll be pretty damn tasty. It's a nice change after my last batch of pale ale was a bit too pale. :/
 
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