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Today my lovely girlfriend gave me an Electric Nurse DIPA in the Christmas calender. It was thick and oily, 8% ABV, had negligible carbonation and tasted of citrus and Christmas trees. Very drinkable.
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Dec 5, 2014 14:21
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Why are so many of the top rated American Pale Ales actually IPAs? Surely, if you're 6.5% and 50+ IBUs you should be in the IPA category no matter what your branding says?
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May 11, 2015 14:55
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HatfulOfHollow posted:Branding. IPA is a marketing term at this point. The majority of the craft beer market are not whale-hunting neckbeards. It's regular people who would rather buy a Sam Adams or Sierra Nevada variety case than Bud Light. And to the vast majority of these people the only beer styles they're really care about are "summer wheat", "stout", "IPA", and ~insert wildcard here~ because that's what in the variety cases they're used to. Either my reading comprehension is lower than I thought or you've misunderstood me. I'm having a hard time understanding why things like Zombie Dust are categorized as APA instead of IPA, when they are clearly IPAs. Surely it would make better sense from a marketing perspective as well if the IPA label is so valuable?
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May 11, 2015 15:36
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I had some Ægir India Pale Ale from a tap today. Pretty standard medium gravity peach and citrus affair. No head to speak off. Pleasant, but I actually enjoyed my Brooklyn Lager more. Maybe I'm just getting tired of hoppy beers.
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May 14, 2015 15:01
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Is fisting especially big in Chicago?
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May 15, 2015 03:47
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Bought a bunch of Burning Sky Saison Provision since I'm a tart/funky Saison fan, but the first bottle unfortunately had a lot of diacetyl. It was bottled quite recently (09/05) so I'm hoping the bottle condition just kicked it up and it will age out. Otherwise it was a pretty decent beer. Fruity. It was a bit lighter in body/strength than what I expect from a 6.5% Saison, but that's fine. No real oak character even though it is supposedly oak-aged, but I spoiled myself with a Side Project Biere Du Pays last Sunday.
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May 24, 2018 18:22
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Spuckuk posted:Burning sky are normally really good, sucks if you got a duff one They are good, but they're no Buxton. I will give the bottles a month and try again though, I have never had this issue from them before.
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May 25, 2018 09:46
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Dany is a saint for putting up with people memeing about quality control issues he licked years ago.
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May 25, 2018 15:26
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Lots of breweries go through periods where they have QA issues and have to take the brewery apart. Huge breweries even. Most brush it under the carpet. If they can afford it they might issue a recall. Dany generally sent people a new bottle if they contacted him personally, which he should get some credit for. I've not had a single bottle that was in any way weird since 2014, but I've definitely had gushers from top tier places like Side Project. Nobody reacts to that poo poo anymore because it happens to the "best". I know there was some specific part of the brewery that had an issue, but as far as I heard they'd been working for months trying to find what was causing it and Shaun Hill had nothing to do with it.
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May 25, 2018 17:49
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danbanana posted:Man, Peche N Brett is a shadow of its former self. I hate being that guy but this is a completely different beer than it was 4-5 years ago. Gone is the ripe peach flavor and canned peach scent. This is tart, with only a faint fruit or brett brux aspect. Not a bad beer but definitely not the top tier it used to be. In general I get much less of the old "bruxy" barnyard / leather brett aromas in beers there days. I kind of wonder if it is that my palate has changed and now I'm just used to it (kinda like when everyone were upset about how strong garlic was in the 80s, but now everyone has garlic in everything), or if the beers themselves has changed as more cultures became available and restrained, fruit-forward brettiness got popular. I've not had Peche'n'Brett, but BFM v225 and Orval seem a lot tamer these days.
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Jun 3, 2018 00:11
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I made a New England Pale Ale knowing that I don't have the ability to keep oxygen to a minimum or keg, and the beer was wonderful for about 4 days, but now it is a murky brown mess. 
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Jun 7, 2018 17:39
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For a beer place selection is key, but I am really sick of bottle shops who stock hundreds of different cans and bottles all from the same local-ish breweries or one or two huge distributors. It's not enough to have a wide selection, and as far as local offerings are concerned I'm going to be drinking their new stuff fresh in a pub. When I go to the bottle shop I'm going to be scouring the shelves for a bottle the likes of Jolly Pumpkin, Prairie or Side Project, and maybe a fresh chilled can of a decent IPA or kettle sour to bring with me to the park or beach. As far as customer relations go you can be a pro or you can be friendly, both are pleasant approaches, but don't try to bullshit the customer so you can get a bottle off the shelves. Recommending some 3711 French Saison with a poo poo rating from a distributor that gives you a good deal when they ask you for something like Saison Dupont or Blaugies is not going to fly. You should know the difference, and have good alternatives that people are actually excited about. thotsky fucked around with this message at 17:02 on Jun 10, 2018 |
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Jun 10, 2018 16:59
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danbanana posted:Don't use ratings when making decisions about what to stock! Definitely use ratings when deciding what to stock! Not knowing what is hot and considered good in the beer community will be a major hindrance. Sure, there are gems with middling ratings, but Orval is rated highly for a reason. Stock it. danbanana posted:The best shops are ones that filter out the noise and believe in the products they stock. True, but that almost never happens. If they can fit it they get all the stuff their distributors have for them. I'd rather not have to wade through a lot of poo poo to get the bottles I want, but if that's something we can't get away from at least make sure there are some gems to be found. Getting some highly rated stock is an easy way of making that more likely. I only go to my bottle shop because I know they get some pretty good Belgian and American stuff through Mikkeller once in a while. The standard local microbrew stuff I can go drink in a brewpub, or brew myself. thotsky fucked around with this message at 19:09 on Jun 10, 2018 |
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Jun 10, 2018 18:40
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danbanana posted:I also think that using systems that are corrupted by neckbeards trying to hype their stuff for trade value is an excellent way to to educate people who don't give a poo poo about that stuff! Why not just stock pastry stouts and hazy beers? It's not like anyone could possibly want anything else! There's more to those systems than the Top 250 or whatever. You can still stock a lot of different styles. The point is that when I go out to get my Saison I don't want some local startups babbys-first saison using the easiest loving yeast or just throwing a bunch of sugar and Citra at their standard Belgian recipe and calling it a day. If I select at random that is what I am likely to get. I want to be able to choose between the classic Belgian examples and those from the American breweries using mixed fermentation and oak to lead the style. Both tend to be highly rated. That mix of classics and the vanguard should honestly be how any curated bottle shop should work. The awful truth is that craft beer is saturated to hell with really mediocre beer, and while ranking sites might very well be flawed using them as a guideline is a hell of a lot better than shooting in the dark, basing your choices on pricing or trusting a single individual with a vested interest in shifting their stock to make your choices for you.
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Jun 10, 2018 20:02
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meatloafkitten posted:stock shelves from the back Please don't make me remove a bunch of bottles from the shelf to get to a fresh one in the back. I'm not going to want to buy the 4 month old IPA if a 1 month IPA is available.
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Jun 11, 2018 00:27
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meatloafkitten posted:When the typical customer buys a gallon of milk, they don't dig around to find the freshest gallon; if they check the date, they're typically going to be satisfied as long as they know they'll be able to finish it before it expires. I do. Why would I not want to buy the product that will last me the longest? If I knew for a fact I'd finish it I might not care, but I usually use it in cooking and I decide what to cook on the day so there's no guarantee. Even if I did I would probably select the better deal on principle as it takes three seconds tops to scan the jugs available.
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Jun 11, 2018 22:25
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Aramoro posted:Yeah I don't really know why the APA label faded away, American Hops just make such a significantly different style of beer it feels really disingenuous to just call them IPA's. Also not a huge fan of ABV creep, but Fullers ESB is tastier than London Pride, so if you guys can just stop in that 5-6% range you're golden.
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Jun 12, 2018 13:40
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A lot about the NEIPA craze is pretty good. Lowering the bitterness has opened the style up to people who up til now would not drink IPA because of it, freshness is being taken more seriously and most breweries no longer rely on heaps of medium crystal malt to give their IPAs body. Still, I feel like most NEIPAs lack the crispness of the better west coast style examples. I know "juice" is the stated goal, but it does make NEIPAs somewhat less refreshing. Saisons are able to combine protein-heavy grainbills with really dry quenching finishes. I hope NE style pale ales end up going for that as well.
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Jun 12, 2018 14:14
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Spanish Manlove posted:A lot of that is because saison yeasts are voracious monsters that will ferment DI water. I love it. Same. I think Trillium is probably going the right way by adding a bunch of dextrose/sugar to their beers, but I've not had their beers to confirm. In either case the ABV is just too drat high for drink-ability. 6-7% is plenty for an IPA I think.
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Jun 12, 2018 14:31
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It's pretty common in Europe, especially Germany and Belgium. The arguments for are pretty convincing. It inconveniences parents, and disproportionately women to disallow kids at these kinds of festivals. Organizers want as many people as possible to come to their events. The arguments against are usually either based on moral panic (which is a bit weird coming from beer people; do they never drink around their kids at home?) or come from people who straight up dislike kids. I sympathize with the latter group, but kids are a fact of life and we don't often get to deny people access to stuff just because we don't like the color of their shirt or whatever. A third argument against is that it would be boring for the kids, but toddlers won't care, and for older kids you could provide activities if you wanted to. In the aforementioned countries having games and ferriswheels is commonplace. thotsky fucked around with this message at 17:50 on Jun 13, 2018 |
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Jun 13, 2018 17:46
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MunchE posted:Gotcha - if your child shrieking ruins my day, I should stay home. If you've got this much hate and anger saved up for children you really should.
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Jun 16, 2018 10:42
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Had some Rodenbach Alexander tonight. It was very good. I'm usually worried about drinking flanders reds as they can easily get too acetic and I've also had some bad experiences with diacetyl, but this was excellent. The cherries were restrained in a good way; you could tell they were there, but it was very much a beer and not fruitjuice with yeast as seems to be the current trend. Clean lactic sourness balanced by a sweetness that was not overtly caramel. No hops or bitterness. Perhaps a hint of tannins from the oak, but subtle. The brett was fruity and subtle as well, with no barnyard aromas. That's not to say the beer did not taste of much, it actually packed quite a punch, but a lot of thought had clearly gone into balance.
thotsky fucked around with this message at 02:30 on Jun 17, 2018 |
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Jun 17, 2018 02:23
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State booze monopoly is doing an auction right now where an aged bottle of that is an item. I've placed a couple of bids.
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Jun 17, 2018 02:32
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Furious Lobster posted:Doesn’t Rodenbach pasteurize everything? I think so, but this is likely the only way I will get to try one. I don't think it was more than 3-4 years old so hopefully still good although not a brett bomb.
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Jun 17, 2018 02:55
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internet celebrity posted:Cantillon. Drie Fonteinen. Tilquin. Duchesse. Cuvee Rene. BFM. De Ranke (sometimes). Blaugies. Au Baron.
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Jun 19, 2018 21:56
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Half of those are not even sour...
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Jun 19, 2018 22:58
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I do wear high heels, but I'm not Italian.
thotsky fucked around with this message at 23:53 on Jun 19, 2018 |
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Jun 19, 2018 23:43
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Spanish Manlove posted:The secondary market is a bunch of retards. I am a retard for buying this poo poo, but I'll host a beer dinner with it, share the love (and recoup my losses).
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Jun 26, 2018 16:30
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West Coast grainbill with the addition of enzymes to dry it out further, then hopped like a NEIPA? Sounds kind of interesting. Also just sort of sounds like someone dry-hopped the poo poo out of a cream ale / blonde ale.
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Jun 28, 2018 08:13
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I'd rather drink a rauchbier than anything with peated malt in it. Also, putting smoked malts in scotch ales is an abomination.
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Jun 30, 2018 10:15
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Tekus are pretty cool looking. I bought into the whole Spiegelau beer glass thing, but at this point a bunch of them are chipped and with breakage you never quite have a full set for each style. I mostly just use the Spiegelau classic tulip beer glass. It works well for most styles. Also, while I love my Spiegelau Authentis wine glasses, they're more functional than pretty. The Zalto universal glasses are lovely, and I wish I'd gone for those for both wine and beer just based on their looks, but they're really expensive. thotsky fucked around with this message at 23:40 on Jul 4, 2018 |
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Jul 4, 2018 23:35
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That is gross.
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Jul 7, 2018 01:03
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Celebrator is weird. I mean, it's made with a lager yeast but it tastes banana-y like it was made with a weissbier or belgian yeast.
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Jul 15, 2018 23:46
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Nah, Celebrator. Got three of the small plastic goats on my keychain by now. I get a bit of caramel and a lot of munich malt like qualities, but the banana esters really throw me for a loop as I was not expecting them, although I have gotten the tinyest hint of that kind of thing in some czech pilsners from time to time. I've had a bunch of the Schneider Weisse Tap beers, and they are somewhat similar I guess in the yeast expression, but they're much more overt and I expect that of a weisse.
thotsky fucked around with this message at 00:08 on Jul 16, 2018 |
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Jul 16, 2018 00:03
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If the brewery is good, and I have not been there before, I would not mind a flight as long as it is a good deal. I would certainly still want full and half-pours to be available if there are specific beers I want to try though.
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Jul 16, 2018 17:31
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Went to Mikkeller & Friends, Mikkeller Bar and Warpigs in Copenhagen. Man, Mikkeller has that town locked down tight, and franchies all over the world. An empire built on other peoples beer. Strange. Anyway, got to try some Tired Hands oak aged saisons on tap, which is great as that's my jam and I'd never get to otherwise. All in all pretty similar to Jolly Pumpkins Bam Biere, only more sour. I would bet they use Jolly Pumpkin isolates in their yeast blend. I hear a lot of American mixed fermentation breweries do.
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Jul 17, 2018 21:49
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Quiet Feet posted:Did some looking around on BA for milds the other day and found several imperial milds. Fancy way of writing "brown ale"?
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Jul 18, 2018 03:34
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danbanana posted:I haven't had it yet (I will definitely grab it if I see it) but I'm having a hard time thinking of a "dry" Belgian pale ale. Most Belgian yeasts add a sweetness to the beer? Most Belgian yeasts add a certain fruitiness to the beer, and that can come across as sweet, but a lot of those yeasts are also quite attenuative. Additionally, a lot of Belgian pale recipes add substantial amounts of simple sugars to dry out the beer, so I guess it comes down to which beers you consider falling withing the Belgian Pale Ale style. If you're thinking mainly of Leffe Blond I definitely get why you would consider it a rather sweet style. Orval is really dry, and some would consider it a Belgian pale, while others might say it's a historic English stock ale, or even just call it a saison. De Ranke XX Bitter is dry to begin with, and the bitterness makes it even more so, but pedants might say it's a Belgian IPA, or again, just call it a saison. Omnipollo Leon is nice and dry, but while this is usually classified as, and self-identifies as a Belgian pale it is a Swedish beer fermented with Champagne yeast. Maybe you're thinking of Duvel? I would call that quite dry considering how strong it is, and some classify it as a Belgian Strong instead of a pale for that reason. Westvleteren Blond is probably the least controversial example of a Belgian blond, and while it's got a nice full fruitiness to it thanks to the yeast, the crisp malts, relatively high bitterness and drinkable finish thanks to simple sugars comes across as dry to me, although not as much as a saison or whatever.
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Jul 20, 2018 12:13
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danbanana posted:Anyway, what I'm assuming Fat Lou is referring to is the American version of a Belgian pale ale, which is just a hoppy beer made with traditionally Belgian yeast. These- compared to your standard pale ales and IPAs- are usually significantly less dry in my experience. So to call a "brut IPA"- a new-ish style whose whole thing is to be dry as gently caress from what I understand- a Belgian pale ale is a weird thing to me. But I haven't had the beer in question so I'm just talking out my rear end. Most of the American "Belgian pales" of the kind you describe that we get over here (Norway) are usually in the Belgian IPA category. For many "dryness" goes hand in hand with attenuative yeasts and consequently a low final gravity, which these beers generally will have. I'm going to guess that Fat Lou is trying to explain the appeal of Brut IPA by referring to this aspect of Belgian IPA, but who knows. danbanana posted:E: Also, Orval isn't dry to me unless that poo poo is old. Young brett brux is very fruity and sweet to me, so regardless of how much sugar actually attenuates out, "dry" is a flavor profile to me not some brewing concept. That's really interesting. I find even young Orval to be extremely dry, because while I get the same fruitiness that you get from the young Brett, the herbal and lightly citrusy dry-hop is still present and the bitterness cancels out any difference in attenuation between a young and an old example for me. A young Orval comes across as being dry and fruity like Champagne or Cava, while an old one is more like the dryness of an aged saison. I guess some people just get more implied sweetness from fruity flavors and aromas than others.
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Jul 20, 2018 13:24
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| # ¿ Apr 19, 2024 17:59 |
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funkybottoms posted:looks like we might do a collaboration with them! we're in the exploratory phase, so where and what are up in the air- anything you feel is missing from their repertoire? Not the dude, and I have no relationship with OC, but from what I can see they've never done any english style beers. ESB's are my goto, but they're not that fashionable. Radler / Shandys are currently very popular, and OC has got their sour/saison/fruit-beer game down, so maybe something like that?
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Jul 21, 2018 17:41
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