Beer talk

Scored two cases of Marin Brewing's Triple Dipsea, it is by far their best beer but they only make a small batch once a year. I cannot fathom why they avoid success.
 
+2 on anything Russian River (Pliny the Elder) :thumbup:
+1 Bouldvard Smokestack Series (long strange Trippel)

Oskar Blues makes some great beers. 10 Fiddy is their imperial stout (10.5% ABV) Gordon is a red/Ipa, Old Chub scotch ale and Dale's Pale Ale. All in cans.

O'Dells makes a number of great beers and they consistently have something new going on or coming out.

Hopluia from Spilker Ales is a great beer if you're in the great state of Nebraska.

Of course, with a 7 gallon stock pot, a turkey fryer and $25 worth of ingredients, you could just make your own. :D
 
Spilker Ales? Not sure I've heard of that. May have to look it up...

Had a Boulevard Irish Ale last night. A bit hoppier than I remember other Irish ales being, but it was still good stuff.
 
A friend of my Dad was over and left a "Shiner Black Lager" in the fridge. I drank it the next day and the first drink I thought that's strong and bitter. By the next drink I was loving it! The best beer ever!:thumbup:
 
Tasted this one tonight - The St. Bernardus ABT 12.

Wow. Deep brown in color, "earthy" and fruity aroma, nice white creamy head (at least for the first pour; I had the 26 oz all by myself :o) Taste: fruits again (grape, lychee?), robust, complex, very little bitterness.

Usually, when I drink a big bottle like that, I skip dessert...with this one, it's the whole dinner I should've skipped! Very nice brew indeed. The good news is I have a second bottle in the cave :thumbup:

Free pic:

StBernardus.jpg
 
Toondawg said:
+2 on anything Russian River (Pliny the Elder) :thumbup:
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I tried a Pliney the Elder on tap at a local bar the other day as I had heard so much about it in the beer/homebrewing circles. I must admit that I'm not a huge fan to be honest, but I don't like many IPA's anyway I suppose.

Pliney:
Huge citrus/pine nose and tasted quite similar (pine, citrus. Kind of like when you chew on young pine needles, with some grapefruit in there), but not too bitter with a grainy/grassy lingering taste. Very crisp mouth feel though which was nice considering it was 8%. As a IIPA, I was hoping for more malt...

Dogfish head's 90 minute IPA on the other hand was excellent. Nice amber/copper color, white head, nice amount of carbonation. Again it has the usual citrus/pine smell, with a nice level of bitterness. It has a decent amount of malt sweetness added to it to counteract the large amount of hops in the beer. I'm a big fan of malty beers (scotch ales and dopplebocks being my favorite styles), so I usually shy away from IPA's, but the imperial IPA's tend to have that malt backbone that really helps to balance everything out and this one had it perfectly, nicely sweet with a good full, smooth body.
 
Serious question for you fellows who drink beer:

Why does a six pack of your typical domestic beer(Coors light in this case) taste quite delicious one day.. And you go and sample another six pack a week later of the same brand, type and temperature of beer, and it fails to meet those same taste expectations?.

This has happened to me several times over the last month or so. Any assistance would be appreciated.


Anthony
 
There's no taste in Coors Light :p I just wanted to deliver the first punch :D

Seriously, it happens all the time. MY taste is influenced by a lot of external factors; what I ate (or not), the group of people I'm with, temperature of both the liquid and ambient, time of the day, what we do (firecamp or restaurant or...). Not to mention variation in batches, even with industrial beverage, is not only possible but inevitable, IMHO. That's part of the fun tasting different stuff; well, it's part of MY fun :)
 
It can also be the age of the beer and or how it was stored. I just got two 4 packs of a MN brewery Surly, one is Bitter Brewer and the other is called Furious.
 
db said:
It can also be the age of the beer and or how it was stored.
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Good point; under strong light, even the brown bottles have a hard time keeping the hop from developping a skunky taste. Keep you beer in a dark, preferably cool place!
 
Couple more things that might effect the taste:

What glass you drink it from. It's a shame to see people drinking decent beer (ok, maybe not Coors:)) out of the bottle when the smell, and how the beer is delivered to your palate is such a huge part of the taste.

Also, if you smoke, that will effect the taste somewhat considerably.:)
 
Had a Left Hand brown ale recently. It's been a while since I had a brown ale. This one had good flavor, but just seemed a bit... weak. That could be due to having drank imperial stouts almost exclusively for a couple weeks beforehand. Also had Left Hand's Sawtooth ale, which was a bit of a disappointment to me. Just seemed weak.

I am happy to report that I have not experienced any skunky, light American beers for quite some time now :D
 
Okay, time for a report on a couple new ones. Had a Chimay Grande Reserve. A good old Belgian trappist ale. These never seem to disappoint, and this one was also excellent. Heavy, yeasty, and delicious!

Second new one was a Boulevard Saison. I had no idea what to expect when I opened up this one. Tastes to me like a heavily hopped pilsner. A very good beer, but probably not worth what I paid for it. Pilsners aren't m favorite style either. Worth it if you like that style.
 
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That's $88 of Hair of the Dog beer from their 4/25 dock sale. Pricey stuff, but tasty. A sixer of Adam (strong old world beer - dark and thick and hints of smoke, leather, tobacco . . 10% ABV), a sixer of Fred (strong amber ale, hints of dried fruit and mild alcohol burn - 10% ABV), 3 bottles of Blue Dot IPA (lots of hop flavor and aroma with a complex fruity body unusual for an IPA), a $14 12 oz bottle of Matt (11.5% ABV, this one will be a surprise), and a bottle of Rose Cassis - brewed with black currants.
 
Alas, in a city with a fine history of brewing like St. Louis, the standard seems to be "Bud Light" drunk straight from the "longneck".

Sad. The boys at Anheuser still do recall how to make beer; they occasionally put out a run of some "legacy" beer or other that's quite good.

I admit I almost choked over the above comment using Coors light and "beer" in the same sentence....
 
A.W.U.K. said:
Might have been Marston's Pedigree. The only commercial beer in the world still brewed in wood.
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Not sure entirely what you mean by commercial, but I have drunk several cask ales from a variety of microbreweries that have been fermented/conditioned in wood. There is also many many pubs in England that still pump from a cask. :)

Oh and I had Damnation by Russian River on tap at the local bar a few days ago. Delicious. Slightly notes of biscuit, pear, and apricots with a good amount of spice. It had hazy straw color and a nice, thick, creamy white head. Quite a nice example of the style and would recommend it to any Belgian ale lover!
 
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