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

[quote name='Rumors']@ wv
Try original sin

Also if you haven't had orchard on draft yet do it[/QUOTE]

Thanks ill check it out. And I love Orchard and Bold on draught!
 
My favorite beer/lager is undoubtedly Landshark. It's described as "Island Lager", although I'm not quite sure what that means. I just know that it's good before, during, and after it goes down.
 
Went to Frankenmuth Brewery last weekend and picked up the coolest growler in my collection so far also individual numbered. Kinda of expensive at $40 but it came filled with their Batch 69 IPA. Also picked up there 150 anniversary Dark 1L bottle another cool bottle similar top as the growler, which I have yet to try.

photo.jpg
2013-01-25_21-35-45_348.jpg
 
Anybody here drink Lagunitas? Was able to get my hand on there Lagunitas Suck I.P.A about a week ago(very hard to get up here in jersey). It was pretty good ,but not as great as thought it would be. Also just had a Dogfish/Victory/Stone Saison de Buff collaboration. Very good. If you can find, it's worth a try.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
[quote name='motorkill']Anybody here drink Lagunitas? Was able to get my hand on there Lagunitas Suck I.P.A about a week ago(very hard to get up here in jersey). It was pretty good ,but not as great as thought it would be. Also just had a Dogfish/Victory/Stone Saison de Buff collaboration. Very good. If you can find, it's worth a try.[/QUOTE]

I Loved Lagunitas Sucks! Snagged a 6pk a few weeks ago in Denver. Pretty scarce there. 2 stores I went to were out and saw only a few at the next two I was at.

Have you had Firestone Walker Double Jack IPA? Bought a 4pk of that as well and man is it delicious. One of my favorite IPAs now :D

Anyone have Lugene Milk Stout from Odells? Big fan of that as well.
 
The sucks is impossible to get up here. My brother, cousin, and best friend have been on the hunt for it with no luck at all. I got lucky grabbing one.

I have not had the Firestone Double Jack but have had there UnionJack ipa. It was quite good. Im going to a beer expo tomorrow and FireStone will be there. Maybe they'll have samples of it and then I can try it.
 
Bell's Hopslam was just released, its a delicious double IPA at 10% alcohol. I'm lucky and have a local bar that serves it on draft.

Here are the places they ship to...
Hopslam will start shipping to areas in Michigan, Indiana and Ohio the week of Jan. 7.

It will begin shipping to Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, Missouri and Arizona the week of Jan. 14.

It will then start shipping to Florida, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Washington DC, Kentucky and Pennsylvania the week of Jan. 21.
 
[quote name='combatrhombus']Bell's Hopslam was just released, its a delicious double IPA at 10% alcohol. I'm lucky and have a local bar that serves it on draft. [/QUOTE]
I missed Hopslam this year. The places that sell it in my area sell out quickly. :(
 
Yeah, Hop City (best local beer store) posted they had it on their Facebook site twice, and then that it was gone in less than an hour both times.

I stumbled across some in a smaller beer store last year. It is very good, but not worth the effort to track down IMO. It's one I'll buy despite the price (think it was $18 for the sixer last year) if I see it, but there's too much good beer out there to put any effort into finding limited releases like this.
 
yep - I didn't get any Hopslam this year but I didn't try - I do have some from the last two years though! (what crazy fool ages DIPAs?!?) and threatened to break one out but just didn't. Our Hop City sold out in less than an hour too.

I had a year and half old Terrapin/Heavy Seas Free Spirit Farmhouse with sunflower and elderflower - it was ok - nothing special really. Awesome label though - and wax sealed - who doesn't love wax sealed! (it's actually sort of a pain to deal with but it looks cool!)

One of our local breweries Good People just released their latest can offering - their pale ale - nothing super exciting but I'm looking forward to picking some up just because it's a new release for them. Also had a strawberry saison from a local brewery Blue Pants up in Huntsville. We bought two bottles when they released it a half a year or so ago - it's like super crazy strawberry - ok for a glass but I certainly wouldn't want any more than that at a time.
 
I had Bruery's Autumn Maple yesterday before the Super Bowl. It is brewed like a pumpkin beer but they used yams instead. It was pretty solid and my buddy and I drank the whole bottle real quickly.

Also tried New Belgium and Elysian's Trip Blonde. Not a fan of it at all. Probably my least favorite NB beer along with Mothership Whit. It had too much of a honey taste. They brewed it with chamomile and honey and man it was a bit too sweet for my liking.

EDIT: Also had Great Divide's new seasonal Orabelle. 8.4% Trippel. Very light in color, very tasty beer. I only had one bottle left though cuz the damn liner broke and I lost all the others :bomb:. I highly recommend this beer if you are into Belgian Dubbel, Trippel, and Quads. :D
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Had a SixPoint 3 Beans Porter. Really damn good. Im not a coffee drinker but I really enjoyed the coffee taste and the sweet hint of chocolate really compliments this porter. Loved it.
 
My first double post! Had a Terrapin Wake-n-Bake Coffee Oatmeal stout. Real strong coffee taste and aroma. I really liked the aroma but the coffee taste was really strong. Still enjoyed it though.
 
[quote name='combatrhombus']Bell's Hopslam was just released, its a delicious double IPA at 10% alcohol. I'm lucky and have a local bar that serves it on draft.

Here are the places they ship to...
Hopslam will start shipping to areas in Michigan, Indiana and Ohio the week of Jan. 7.

It will begin shipping to Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, Missouri and Arizona the week of Jan. 14.

It will then start shipping to Florida, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Washington DC, Kentucky and Pennsylvania the week of Jan. 21.[/QUOTE]

I saw a TON of these at the Binny's here in town, but I didn't get paid until today, so $16 for a six pack was a bit out of my price range. But after all the comments in this thread, I might have to give it a try. :)
 
i drink cheap stuff. i enjoy 40 ounces of malt liquor like OE and King Cobra (i like the new label as well)
picture.php

i also grabbed the Sam Adams Spring variety pack and im pretty happy with that except i hate the maple pecan beer but really enjoy white latern because it tastes alot like Blue Moon.
 
I'm actually drinking the Maple Pecan right now. It's ok - nothing special and I'm not a fan of added "flavors" to beer especially in the form of "natural flavor" but I usually keep some of the Sam Adams seasonals on hand. I had some Bulleit bourbon earlier and just wanted a bit more to drink so I opened a Sam Adams.

I tried one of my year old Hopslam - it was nice. I've had a year old before (maybe last year or a year before) and they definitely lose a lot of hop character - the malt sweetness hits you first but you do get a bit of hoppy bitterness after that.

I got a Mr. Beer kit today. I finally broke down and decided to try some "brewing" of my own (I'm not sure if you can call using the included "hopped malt extract" brewing...) I've been reading stuff at mrbeerfans.com for a while now. I guess this is a super cheap way for one to try it out and see if one is interested.
 
Picked up a growler of Tommy Knocker Imperial Nut Brown Ale, a bomber of West Coast Brewing Palate Wrecker and a 4-pack of West Coast Brewing Double Stout Black Ale.
 
[quote name='bordjon']I got a Mr. Beer kit today. I finally broke down and decided to try some "brewing" of my own (I'm not sure if you can call using the included "hopped malt extract" brewing...) I've been reading stuff at mrbeerfans.com for a while now. I guess this is a super cheap way for one to try it out and see if one is interested.[/QUOTE]

Let us know how that works out. I can't possibly have a full brew setup in my apartment, so I've been looking at those Mr. Beer kits for a while now. I'm thinking about grabbing one with my next paycheck.
 
I'm curious how the Mr. Beer kits actually work and how well the beer is. I'm looking to save up for one of the beer start kits with the jugs and 5 gallon buckets, etc... I've seen started kits go for around $350, I'm thinking I can piece it together for cheaper, a few of my friends have these and brewed some good beers. They typically brew a case or two. I probably won't start this project until next year but I'm going to start research and saving in May.
 
I've hemmed and hawed around the idea of brewing for a long time. I have several friends that homebrew and several that did it for a while and quit and even one friend who owns a brewery! I just have so darn many hobbies as it is I've always said I wouldn't do it. But curiosity got the best of me. I don't have a ton of room - a 3/1 with a one car carport - no garage for homebrewing! I always said I'd just wait until we moved to a bigger house. Well - I didn't - I saw these things were on clearance for 11 bucks at Targets. I didn't find one at my Target. So I watched them on Amazon Warehouse and found a "like new" one for 23.33 (if you aren't familiar with "like new" warehouse deals - they are typically damage box items which this one was just that - had a little dent in the box.) It's the deluxe so no plastic 1 liter bottles came with it for bottling. No big deal for me as I've got several flip-top bottles and growlers that I figure I can use. I figure if I like this I can look in to more bottling options on down the line. We'll try and get the brew going this weekend. It'll be at least a month before I crack one open - 2 weeks to ferment and two+ for conditioning. I don't *think* I'll get impatient and open one before that but you never know!

If you have the space - like a garage with a sink and a turkey fryer setup or an electric eye or something like that you could do it all there and go with a 5 gallon setup. Midwestsupplies.com has a variety of starter kits and recipe kits for good prices. I also often see a groupon or livingsocial deal on midwest I think it is offering one of their starter kits at about half price 64 bucks or so (plus some shipping.) If I like brewing I imagine I'll move up to a 5 gallon kit eventually. Though a lot of brewers use multiple mr beer kegs for 5 gallon + batches - the keg will actually hold around 2.45 gallons. So it's conceivable to use a 5 gallon all grain recipe in two Mr. Beers from what I've read.

Really nice website/book that's free to read online. I've read section 1 chapter 1 so far.

http://www.howtobrew.com/
 
I will have to check those sites out, I may have a local acquaintance who family owns a local one in Michigan when the time comes. For now I'm just going to enjoy beer, disappointed my local bar is out of hopslam. But I did have a delicious Atwater brewing co. Vanilla Java Porter, one of my new favorites.

Looking for some feedback from the community. When you go to a store and can build your own six pack, do you normally grab six different beers or two of each?

I usually grab two of the same, and then 4 randoms ones. This was all before I started venturing into new beers. I really like to try everything now rather than just IPA's. I just started to really enjoy a good stout and porter (thanks Magic Hat - Heart of Darkness, Founders - Breakfast Stout, and Atwater - Vanilla Java Porter).
 
When I do a mix-a-six, it's always 6 different beers. (And 95% of the time, they're beers I haven't tried before.) Generally, if a beer if good enough to buy 2 of, I just buy a 6-pack of it. A mix-a-six is generally more expensive than a normal 6-pack, so I reserve that for new beers.
 
[quote name='combatrhombus']I'm curious how the Mr. Beer kits actually work and how well the beer is. I'm looking to save up for one of the beer start kits with the jugs and 5 gallon buckets, etc... I've seen started kits go for around $350, I'm thinking I can piece it together for cheaper, a few of my friends have these and brewed some good beers. They typically brew a case or two. I probably won't start this project until next year but I'm going to start research and saving in May.[/QUOTE]

I suggest that you stay away from the Mr. Beer kits. I have tried the pale ale and the lager. The pale ale was over carbonated and the lager was lacking in flavor. The direction were fallowed exactly for the pale ale. After doing that my friend and I decided to go with a kit like this one:

http://www.brewgadgets.com/p-141-true-brew-gold-homebrew-equipment-kit-with-5-gallon-carboy.aspx

We have brewed 5 different beers now and we are getting better. Ours cost more than the one listed and is for 5 gallons just like it. I suggest you look online for the stuff than getting it from local home brewing stores. We paid around 250 for that, the pot and one kit. It can be fun and the beer is good as long as you reach the temperature. I suggest getting a needle thermometer if one does not come with the kit.
 
We got our Mr. Beer going this Saturday. It took no time at all (like maybe all of 30 minutes) to sanitize and brew because of the simplicity of the kit recipe. It's malt extract already hopped so you basically heat it up and pour it in water fresh off the boil. Then pour that in the keg with some more water and pitch the yeast. (we used spring water.) I don't have high expectations for the Bud/Coors/Miller lite clone that the kit came with but it was definitely a fun and easy start.

We decided to pick up 12 16pz flip top bottles from our local home brew store and will put the rest in a growler or growlerettes. This way I can open one and test it. (bottling in about two weeks and then let it condition for about a month is my plan.) The keg sits nicely on our kitchen counter tucked away. I have a digital thermometer/humidity gauge sitting on top of it and I also put a small freezer pack beside it every morning. It's staying pretty consistent at 68 degrees. The yeast appears to definitely be doing its job. Summer brewing I may have to stick it in my cooler though.

My wife is pretty excited about it and has been talking about it a good bit. We have actually pretty much decided we are going to get another keg and do 5 gal unhopped malt extract kits soon. But our local home brew store sells 2.5 gallon unhopped malt extract kits which are basically for a mr. beer keg so I think we are going to try one of those next and if we like it and it goes well we'll move up to 5 gal. We can easily fit two kegs on our kitchen counter so it wouldn't be a big stretch.
 
Grabbed one of the Sam Adams spring samples mentioned above at Costco.

All decent brews, but nothing great. The Double Agent IPL is probably the best of the bunch. Maple porter is ok. The white one isn't my bag (don't like white ales) and the Alpine Spring I'd had before and thought was just so-so. Boston Lager is always good though.
 
Yeah that Double Agent is my favorite in the pack as well. It surprised me when I first had it - wasn't expecting it to be that good!

We picked up a couple of local can sixers - Good People Brewing's new offering - their Pale Ale - it's really nice. Not super hoppy/borderline IPA - just clean and crisp. In the end though I wasn't real impressed - it was just a bit boring. Also got Straight To Ale's Lilly Flagg Milk Stout. I'd had this before. It's a great beer. Not "watery" or thin - which is how many non-RIS taste to me.

Speaking of cans - I noticed Terrapin and Sam Adams (maybe there was one other?) are going to start canning beers soon. Don't know if they are completely switching over though. I saw it posted by beerstreetjournal on my fb feed.

Oh and one last tidbit - I found a Leffe tulip glass at the thrift store yesterday! Not a particularly extraordinary brewery but the glass looks nice and I picked it up for a dollar. There were also two Breckenridge Avalanche pint glasses that I passed on.
 
I didn't like the Double Agent. I'm not an IPA fan and I don't like grapefruit. The only other one I have had was the Irish Red and I wasn't sure what to think at first. Near the end I started to like it, but it left a bad after taste.
 
So I'm curious, how cold do you guys drink your beer? I've read at what temperatures you're supposed to serve certain beer types, but I just don't buy it. Warm beer just makes me want to puke. No exceptions. To me, drinking anything warmer than ice cold is just torture. (And yes, that includes hot chocolate, tea, coffee and hot cider. Bleh.)
 
[quote name='ZxT Vendetta']
EDIT: Also had Great Divide's new seasonal Orabelle. 8.4% Trippel. Very light in color, very tasty beer. I only had one bottle left though cuz the damn liner broke and I lost all the others :bomb:. I highly recommend this beer if you are into Belgian Dubbel, Trippel, and Quads. :D[/QUOTE]

Recently had Houblon Chouffe Dobbelen IPA Tripel and it's a great combination.
 
[quote name='Access_Denied']So I'm curious, how cold do you guys drink your beer? I've read at what temperatures you're supposed to serve certain beer types, but I just don't buy it. Warm beer just makes me want to puke. No exceptions. To me, drinking anything warmer than ice cold is just torture. (And yes, that includes hot chocolate, tea, coffee and hot cider. Bleh.)[/QUOTE]

When I first started drinking beer about 5 years ago, yeah I had to have it ice cold. Now these days it depends on the beer. I'll have like a dos equis or modelo ice cold, but when it comes to craft beer(especially stouts and porters) I prefer it slightly cold. I feel like, you getter a better taste and aroma from the beer if it's not too cold. Just an opinion and taste I've picked up in the few years I've been drinking beer.

Speaking of drinking, had a Epic Sour Apple Saison awhile ago, and now having a River Horse Hop A Lotamus Double IPA. The ipa is great.
 
Got some Batch 19 last weekend after hearing about it a while back and thinking it was only available on tap. Local liquor store had it in 6 pack so I decided to pick some up. Overall fairly decent but didn't stand out to me. I only drank half of them and might give the other half a go some time this weekend.
 
I don't worry about temp as everything just goes in the fridge.

I agree with the above that stouts and porters sometimes are a little better a bit warmer. I still don't worry with it, I tend to drink those slower than IPAs etc. so they warm up naturally before I'm very far into a glass anyway.
 
Yeah I put it in the fridge a day or two before I'm planning on having it. I drink high grav kinda slow so it definitely warms as time goes by. It's nothing for me to take an hour or even two to drink a glass. I can definitely notice more complexity to the beer as it warms a bit.

Our friends down the street just got back from visiting family in CA for a week or two. Turns out the girl's dad lives a block from Russian River! I was talking with her husband about just happening to walk down there to get a growler of something and running in to the Pliny the Younger crowd! He didn't know really what it was all about but he didn't have time to stay and wait in line. I think I'm gonna have to see if I can get them to put together a Russian River sampler for me.
 
Yeah, I wish Russian River distributed in the east. I've only had the Pliny the Elder when I was out in San Francisco for work, and that was fantastic.
 
Had a 2011 Sierra Nevada Estate ale and it was awesome! Very complex beer for 6.7% - reminded me a bit of the two year old Hopslam I had a couple weeks ago. Not quite as sweet and a bit dryer but it was a quality beer all around. I'll definitely be picking this up every year to age now.
 
Stone's Enjoy By IPA series finally hit Georgia with the Enjoy by 4-1-13 series. Scored a Growler of it from Hop City tonight--22oz bottles were all gone by the time I got off the work. Looking forward to trying it, but will probably be Saturday evening at the earliest.

Grabbed some other promising brews as well:


Growler of Avery Out of Bounds Stout
22oz Ipswitch Oatmeal Stout
22oz Clown Shoes Genghis Pecan-Pecan Pie Porter
22oz Lagunitas Wilco Tango Foxtrot
4 pack (8.4oz cans) 21st Amendment Lower De Boom Barleywine
 
Those all sound awesome - lots of the new hot beers there. I have Hop City ATL on my facebook so I see all their new offerings and wish we could get some of those breweries here. In due time I suppose.

I opted for a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale case from Costco this time as it had been a while since I've had that and man it's so much better than the Sam Adams mix packs in my opinion. I just hadn't had it in a while and had forgotten. I'll probably stick to cases of that from now on!

Southern Tier is now in the state! I haven't picked anything up but I did put a two year old Krampus in the fridge to celebrate.

Our homebrew bills passed their initial house and senate votes and the senate bill was on the special order calendar yesterday but didn't come up yet so should be any day. On a related note, we'll be bottling our mr. beer this weekend. Picked up a case of the ez-cap flip top 16oz bottles from the local home brew store. They also said they could split most any of their 5gal recipe kits for use in a mr. beer so I think we'll get some sort of pale ale from them for our next batch.

We are heading down to Florida for an overnight trip here in the next couple of weeks so we'll be picking up some out of state beer and liquor offerings. I think I'll probably even pick up a 120 min just because I haven't had one in 4-5 years. I think we are also going to try and stop back by AL's newest brewery in Fairhope.
 
What an awesome day! Not really all beer related - but still.

We brewed our second beer today. Stepped it up to a specialty grain/unhopped extract Great Lakes Porter clone that we got at our local home brew shop. Boiling grains. Hop boil - bittering then flavor then aroma! Fun stuff really. They can half most any of their bazillian 5gal recipies.

Tried our first brew last night for the first time - the American Classic Light that came with our mr. beer kit. It had been 2 weeks primary fermentation then 2 weeks secondary in bottles. Not super carbonated - probably needs another week or so. It wasn't *bad* for what it was - but it wasn't great. Garbage in garbage out I suppose. We were certainly ready for the step up to what we did today. We know are way around the kitchen and cooking in general so it was fun and really pretty easy for us. We are already discussing all grain.

As far as drinking - I've been having bourbon the last few nights! Bulleit and some ancient ancient age ten star tonight. Bulleit 10 year is out now and I have a birthday coming up so that might just be a good gift for me!
 
Anybody try Ommegang's Iron Throne yet? Yes it is kinda cheesy to have a beer tie-in to Game of Thrones but most stuff from Ommegang is pretty tasty so I expect good things. Haven't seen it around town yet and want to know if it is even worth it.
 
I've had some good stuff lately.

Dogfish Head Aprihop--had it in bottles and a growler. Much better than in years past as it's not as sweet.

Dogfish Head Noble Rot--very good and interesting brew made with sour grapes. Kind of struck me as combo of a Flemish Sour and a Tripel

Dogfish Head Birra Etrusca--One of their ancient recipe beers. Reminded me of one of a more complex version of their Raison de Etre with the hints of raisin's fruit etc.

Dogfish Head Rhizing Bines (think that was the name--one of the Life and Limbs series)--a collboaration between them and Sierra Nevada. Reminded me a lot of Bell's Hopslam--very hoppy, with good malt balance and hints of honey.

Avery New World Porter--very good, more carbonated than most porters.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I found a belgian style yeti at a local supermarket the other day. I really want to try it any opinions on it? Believe Denver brewing company makes it, from the great divide line. It was bottled in June 2012 but its a dark beer so I'm sure it ages well
 
Great Divide is the brewery. I saw it as well but haven't tried it yet. The other version of the Yeti are great though.

Had a growler of Six Point Diesel Stout last night. It was pretty decent.
 
Belgian Yeti is Delish! Loved it and sadly I think they discontinued that one and are going to replace it.

As for me I just tried the New New Belgium Summer Seasonal Rolle Bolle. It is typical summer fare. Easily sessionable.

Also tried New Belgium Rampant Imperial IPA and their Hop Kitchen Hoppy Bock Lager.

Rampant is fantastic. Lots of hops so I really like it. Citrusy with grapefruit and subtle blueberry tones.

Hoppy Bock isn't as hoppy as I would have liked it to be and is quite lite in hue. I think it is a very sessionable beer.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I had a few beers last week over break that were pretty good. As usual, Bell's did not disappoint with the Hopslam. Also had Three Floyd's Brian Boru and Dogfish 60 Minute IPA, both of which were pretty damn good. I also tried Goose Island Baudonia, which is part of their Bourbon County Stout line. I've have bourbon ales before, but man, this one kicked my ass. My room mate (the one who ordered it) couldn't even finish.

Also picked up some bottled stuff. I stopped by Three Floyd's on my way home and grabbed some Gumballhead, Alpha King, Pride and Joy and Robert the Bruce. All very good. Also went up to Wisconsin and grabbed a New Glaraus variety pack (Spotted Cow, Two Women, Fat Squirrel and Bock). I didn't think they were too bad except for the Bock, which I thought was great.

Also, our beer wall is getting pretty impressive for a college apartment. :p We still have like 15 more in the fridge to eventually get up there.

IMG_0193.jpg

IMG_0194.jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
bread's done
Back
Top