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

Today, I went to an Acme that I haven't been to, in search of Stone's Vertical. I didn't find any of that, but what I did come across was an alcove of the largest selection of beer I've ever seen. Started with a display of DH Punkin ($8) and only got better from there. A full shelf of singles, as well as a good selection cold, lined two walls of the beer section. Stone, Ommegang and Chimay had great showings, saw Piraat Triple IPA, Gulden Draak, Rogue's, Unibroue, and many others I can't recall now. Beneath that was an overwhelming selection of 4-packs and sixers.

On a little shelf separate from the others, I was pleased to see small singles of Chimay, Orval, and Trappist Rochefort, and other hard-to-finds. I left with only a Trappistes Rochefort 10, but I'm going back on Saturday to see what else I can grab.
 
There are a couple of good places to get beer around here. One is beer crazy that sells all their beer by the bottle (it is the same price per bottle if you buy 2 or 12.) It is nice to try new beers without being commented to a six pack, they once told me that they had to stop selling Budweiser because it kept on getting old on them. They also sell homebrew equipment and ingredients but I haven't dabbled in that yet.

The place to grab a craft beer is El Bait Shop. They have over 100 craft beers on tap and a couple hundred more in bottles with new seasonals added on tap all the time.

Right now I'm enjoying my favorite cheap beer like usual Hamm's.
 
[quote name='sendme']Most places I goto don't have microbrews and if they do it is schlaflys. Atleast out of the bars I go to they don't.[/QUOTE]

Schafly's isn't a microbrew. It's the second largest brewer in St. Louis. They just have a horrible marketing division and distributor. That and they like to charge microbrew prices for an average lager.
 
Yeah, I had a few Schafly's when in St Louis for a conference last fall and thought they were all pretty crappy.

Hit the liquor store on my way home tonight and picked up a few beers I'm looking forward to trying.

Stone Vertical Epic 9-9-09
Stone Juxtaposition Black Pilsner
Lagunitias Little Sumpin' Extra! Ale
Clipper City Heavy Seas Prosit! Imperial Octoberfest


Also, I'm thinking that Dogfish Punkin may have just gotten a price drop this year. After getting it for $8.79 at Kroger, it was $8.23 at this liquor store ($7.99 if you pay cash--all the stuff is a bit cheaper paying cash at Green's).
 
This time of year my favorite brews are Shipyard Pumpkin head (locally brewed but wicked good) and Sam adams octoberfest although right now I'm drinking Newcastle which tends to be my general favorite 'beer'
 
The Vertical Epic is damn good. One of the better Porters I've had. Lots of burnt chocolate flavor, and then some bitter orange in the finish.
 
I cannot find Stone's 9/09/09, at all. I've checked the places I suspected most of carrying it, but nothin'.

However, this DH Punkin is mighty fine :)
 
had some Stone Old Guardian barleywine tonight. It's their early 2009 run. it was pretty nice - a bit of the hop on the nose but mostly the sweetness from the malt but you could really tell the hops on the back end - typical Stone - but we love it. This was good but I think I'd maybe go with Bigfoot for being the better barleywine.

Hey dmaul - I'll be stopping at a Green's in atl on my way back from Asheville in about a week (if I haven't spent all my money already!) Which one do you suggest? I've read the reviews on beerfly but thought I'd ask you since you seem to be a regular. Def want to pick up some of the stone vertical as I've heard lots of good about it. Do they still have the stone 13th anniversary also? I'm coming from Birmingham and while we've recently gotten lots of great beer into the state there is a lot we still don't have. Any tips for Green's would be appreciated!
 
Picked up a 12er of ESB Red Hook Longhammer. It's probably my favorite IPA that I can find in a grocery store. Other than Sierra Nevada of course
 
I've only been to the Green's on Ponce De Leon in Midtown. I think it's considered the better of the two in ATL since it has a small, walk in Belgian beer cellar room that I don't think the one on Buford Highway.

They had a ton of Vertical Epic, so their should be some left when you stop by.

Otherwise I'd assume the two are probably pretty similar selection wise.

http://www.greensbeverages.com/beer-ga1.shtml
 
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Thanks - Ponce De Leon it is then. Perfect timing with all these seasonals popping up - time for me to stock up!
 
[quote name='depascal22']Walk in Belgian Beer Cellar.....that's what I'm talking about.[/QUOTE]

the cellar is pretty small--probably was a closet before. Not it's a temperature controlled room with shelves of beer on the left, right and back walls.

But they do have a lot of beer in there for the size. But it's a pretty awesome liquor store all around. Great selection of beer with very good prices, tons of liquor, decent wine selection.
 
The Lagunitas Little Sumpin' Extra! Ale is just so so IMO.

It's a double IPA, but one of the really citrusy/grapefruit tasting ones. Not bad, but not my favorite. I tend to like the more traditional, less citrusy double IPAs, or the more piney tasting ones.
 
must have a good bit of Simcoe hops in it? I'm a member of the Sweetwater IPA cult - love those citrus/grapefruit IPAs - and I think SWIPA is one of the best (better than Weyerbacher's Double Simcoe even!) I'll definitely check it out.
 
Yeah, if you dig the style, go for it. I'm more into the West Coast IPAs. Stone, Lagunitas, Acme, Green Flash, Sierra Nevada etc.

I've had the Sweetwater 420 and didn't care for it. Haven't tried their regular IPA yet.
 
Yeah, I'll give it a whirl sometime. I'm saving it for when I'm at a restaurant that doesn't have any non-local micros. Or one of the local beer festivals this fall.

I'll keep any eye out for that Terrapin, haven't tried any of there stuff yet.
 
The Stone Juxtaposition Black Pilsner is excellent. It's a collaboration with Brewdog and Cambridge Brewing Co.

Not really much like a Pilsner, very dark with a nice head. Has the chocolate bite of an imperial, but with a thinner body and a SHIT TON of hops. Hides the 10% ABV pretty well too. If you're a hop lover, give it a try if you can find it.
 
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I'll be drinking this tomorrow while I talk like a pirate:

piraat-ale.jpg
 
Picked up sixer's of Stone Leviatation and Guinness 250th Anniversary today, along with a Belgian Porter (forget the name). Will have a couple of those while watching football tomorrow.

Hitting Taco Mac (sports bar chain with 100 or so beers on tap) Sunday for NFL and some beers.
 
I miss being able to follow this thread.

Anyway, I was in Charlottesville last weekend and stopped at Starr Hill and did the brewery tour and tasting there. Tried every beer they make plus 3 limited runs that you can only get by growler or keg.

The limited releases were a Belgian-style Triple (meh), Barleywine (so-so, maybe with a lot more time it will mature), and a Saison which was excellent. I went ahead and got a growler of the Saison and will try to make a run at it with my neighbor pretty soon.

I also highly recommend Souther Tier's Mokah which is a combination of their Jah-va and Choklat stouts. It is insanely good. They also have a Creme Brulee which is pretty good, but the Mokah is one of the best stouts I have tasted in a long time.
 
FINALLY found a couple of places in El Paso to buy craft beer, orginally from WA where microbrews are almost as common as espresso stands. thank you http://beeradvocate.com!!!! picked up some weihenstephaner, stone vertical epic and dogfish head 60 and 90. vertical epic was great and now i know why my friend from MD raves about the dogfish head IPAs so much, if only i could find the 120.....
 
The Belgian porter I picked up and couldn't remember above was actually from Denmark. :D

Olfabrikken Porter. It's pretty decent. Almost more like a stout than a porter, lot of chocolate/coffee bite to it.
 
My favorite cheap beer is Mountain Creek. In fact, it's really the only beer I buy for less than $1 per 12oz. It's very drinkable as long as you don't let it get warm.
 
I'm a poor college student, so I mainly stick to Diesel, Diesel Light, Stones, Beast Light, etc. But Blue Moon is tasty.
 
SWIPA on tap was a great choice - fresh and cold is the best way to go for that beer!

Just now getting back from Brewgrass. Highlights for me were Foothills Brewery (Seeing Double, Sexual Chocolate), the 2006 vintage Bigfoot that Sierra Nevada had, Terrapin Depth Charge, Kona's Porter with their coffee in it! It was a porter/stout weekend for me. Blueground Undergrass and the Black Lillies were great. Had a couple of baltic porters on tap at Thirsty Monk. Picked up some good beer from Bruisin' Ales and Greenlife. My wife found out she loves Founders Breakfast Stout! The rain actually held off for the entire festival but managed to stay steady the rest of the trip - but it didn't slow us down at all. Great place to visit - awesome food!

Dmaul - we actually stopped at the Buford hwy Green's instead because it was much more in line with out route (just right off 85.) Awesome selection and great prices! I spent nearly 300 bux on beer this trip - and that's not counting what we drank while we were up there! ;)
 
Glad you had a good time. Like I said, as I understand it the two Greens in ATL have pretty much identical selections, other than the small Belgian cellar the Ponce De Leon location.
 
Damn, doesn't look like many of us will get to try that Stone Kona collboration as it's a pretty limited release per Stone's latest facebook update.

"We're SOLD OUT of Ken Schmidt/Maui/Stone Kona Coffee, Macadamia, Coconut Porter at the Store and Bistro, but we're still shipping it out to SoCal, NorCal, MI, OH, AZ, MA, WA, NY, and CO."
 
Drinking Unibroue's Terrible right now. I found a nice store that had Stone's Juxtaposition and their 09 Vertical Epic, so I picked up one of each.
 
Beck's is ok as far as the mass produced imports go. Better than Bud, Miller etc., but I'm not a big fan. I'm not big on Lagers in general.
 
I saw some Beck's Octoberfest when we were visiting my mom this weekend - almost got it but got SNPA instead - not much of a selection and I'm just not real big on the marzen stuff :( We did have one Founders Breakfast Stout with us though!
 
I love blue moon, stella, yvengling, sapporo, kirin, heinys, and many imports. The only malt I drink and enjoy is twisted tea.
 
I bought a case of Jack's Pumpkin Spice Ale today, I like it but I don't think it has nearly enough pumpkin flavor. It does have a nice subtle flavor of cinnamon and other spices to it that I don't get in other beers though. Anyone have any recommendations as far as seasonal beers go?
 
[quote name='dmaul1114']The Dogfish Head Punkin ale is a much better pumpkin beer than the Jack's Spice which is an Anheuser-Busch product.[/QUOTE]
I didn't see it, but I'll definitely keep an eye out for it. Thanks.
 
[quote name='dmaul1114']The Dogfish Head Punkin ale is a much better pumpkin beer than the Jack's Spice which is an Anheuser-Busch product.[/QUOTE]

Another vote for this. I'll be drinking Punkin until the season's over.
 
i got the 250 year anniversary Guinness, everybody says its SOOO GOOOD, and wow does it suck balls. but then again i like intense beers like Arrogant Bastard, i mean it's just too watery for me...
 
Yeah, I though the 250 anniversary of Guinness was ok--but it's just a slightly different Guinness. Which means a bit watery and bland for a stout, and low alcohol compared to most extreme microbrews I prefer.
 
Big beer fan here. LOVE me some microbrews and seasonal beers, so when they combine, I'm in heaven. Doing a comparison test, in my fridge have Jack's Pumpkin Spice (not a fan), Shipyard Pumpkinhead (not so much) and Blue Moon: Harvest Moon (AMAZING!). And this is only the beginning of my pumpkin beer / seasonal beer comparison taste test! :)
 
Jacks Pumpkin Spice is made by Busch, and Blue Moon is owned by Coors, so neither are really micro brews. :D

Try the Dogfish Head Punkin mentioned above if you can find it in LA. I've been hoping Stone would come out with some kind of extreme pumpkin beer one year. It would be interesting to see what they could come up with.
 
Yeah, that's a solid one. It's there fall/winter seasonal. Kind of a more spiced version of their Delirium Nocturnum which is also damn good . As is the Delerium Tremens.
 
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