All the Chimays are great, but the blue is by far (?) the best, especially when aged. In fact, it's the only one that can stand aging. The white loses its fresh hoppiness while the red turns rather thin raisin juice. But the blue just keeps becoming a more complex mix of dark fruits, Belgian toffee and dark maltiness.

Uhm... interesting... Thanks, guys!

Looks interesting...and I'm sure it'll be next to impossible to get once it's bottled.

Drinking some Woodchuck Smoked Apple Cider at the moment. It's interesting. Pretty tasty stuff. Like Woodchuck's normal sweet/straightforward profile but with a pronounced scotchy/barbequey smoke going on. Pretty unique at least.

Disappointed that last weekend's beer haul turned out a little lackluster, but will head over tomorrow to pick up a few Firestone brews. Never tried anything of theirs before, so I'm looking forward to it. Anyone got any favorites from them?

I really like that smoked cider actually. So strange but so appetizing. Then again I tend to like smoked beers, so it was less strange to me than it might otherwise have been.

Amager / Jester King Danish Metal - Imperial Stout, 10% Limited Edition, Brewed once

I like it, name, taste, smell, look, well actually no matter what beer goes good whit metal music, but I didn't listen anything actually, I was watching movie and had this one, decent. Good it its taste like 8% but has 10% I like it, great balance taste, after taste and it holds long , nice head

HaandBryggeriet Norwegian Wood - smoked ale 6.5% Norway

One of best surprises, discoveries. Great beer, great ale, descriptions says its like rauchbier, but it ois not, great, bitter taste, smoked, but not as rauchbier, great dark, muddy color, excellent. I want more. and I wish it had raucbier price

The wine/cheese bar down the street from me has Gumballhead and Robert the Bruce available as takeout singles or as part of their build-your-own-six pack options. Glorious.

What the hell, I don't think I've ever once seen a Three Floyds beer anywhere in Brooklyn. This is strange to me.

I'm pretty sure they only distribute to the Midwest, unfortunately.

Yeah fishman you be shit outta luck there man. I'm pretty sure they only have a five or six state distribution range. But if you ever get the chance I would jump on it. Very, very good beer, least most of their stuff is. I know I really didn't like Jinxproof but that's the only one of theirs I had that I genuinely didn't like and didn't even bother finishing the six pack I bought.

Bah. BAH.

Right, just got back from a little hole in the wall drive through bottle shop in my local area, that to be honest has a great, albeit small selection of beer. They have some really good Belgians, as well as New Zealand/Australian and American beer, so I will be going back again. Here's what I got;



Samuel Smith India ale, Garage Project Pernicious Weed and an Temple Brewing Company Anytime IPA from Victoria here in Oz. They also had a Imperial Red Ale, called Invasion by Black Market Brewing in California. Will grab one of them next time as I've never seen that anywhere before. Looks interesting at around the 9% mark.

Just wondering, have you ever tried Garage Project "Beer"?


I assume it was made to sell at unadventurous bars, to sit nicely next to green bottle skank and other safe brews for the punters. Hell, they sell it at my work. It's design has always made me think of this...

Mini-haul for today:

Sierra Nevada Stout
Unibroue 17 Grande Reserve
Firestone Walker's Reserve Porter
Lagunitas Hop Stoopid

The SN Stout is super highly rated on BA... as I only paid $2.15 for it, it'll be the steal of the century if it lives up to expectations. It's weird, though, SN in general is super available around here and yet I hardly ever see the Stout for sale.

Anyone have any AleSmith favorites? I'm looking to branch into a few new breweries...

EDIT: The SN Stout is indeed good, though I don't think it's anything to rave about. Solid, tasty, well balanced, but it definitely falls short of the Imperial Stouts I've been drinking recently in the flavor amplitude department. For the price it's pretty great, but eh...I guess if I'm going to drink a stout I want it to be robust and a toastmonster, nothing less.

Well, it's just a stout. With those specs, it wouldn't even begin to compare to imperial stouts. It's a quaffer, not a sipper.

Regarding Alesmith, well, can't go wrong really though I found the Speedway not as good as it is claimed to be. Old Numbskull is a great American barley wine, perhaps not as great as Old Guardian (belgo or otherwise) or Tenaya Creek's Jackalope, but pretty spectacular and Wee Heavy is good as well. The IPA and the ESB - Anvil - are great in their own class and the Winter YuleSmith is a great imperial red. So, you know, can't go wrong really.

Thanks MacMoney. Good to know AleSmith is a solid bet, will check out some of their stuff next time I have a chance. I loved the Old Guardian, so if their Old Numbskull is anywhere close to that I'll be right well served.

Behemoth and Hopslam in Chicago this week, with Founders Canadian Breakfast Stout tapped at a few local bars...Goddamn, wish I had the money for all of those.

I drank my bomber of raspberry Dragons Milk last night, I gotta say not a fan. Now I really enjoy me some Dragons Milk but something about the raspberry flavor just didn't sit well with me. It didn't really taste like a nice refreshing berry flavor like one would expect, instead I got a syrupy gross flavor and yeah, kinda gross. I know Gnu has had it but has anybody else tried it? Thoughts?

I definitely see what you mean about it being sweet/syrupy and not fresh/tart, but I don't think the latter combo would have played well with the creamy barrel-aged flavor. I still enjoyed it, just found that you had to sip it very slowly like a liqueur.

Oooooh yeeeeaaahhh! If you never tried this baby before, you're in for a treat! This is cleary the best Unibroue on the market. I'll be doing a vertical of the U17 soon. 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014.

As for AleSmith : I second MacMoney for the Wee Heavy Speedway Stout and Old Numbskull as solid suggestions. However I guess I am a bit more enthusiastic about them than him. Their regular IPA is outstanding too if you like the style.

As for me, I just finished a bottle of Simple Malt's Wee Heavy Bourbon Aged which was phenomenal.

Sounds good! This bottle was the 2011, by the way. I hope that's a good thing?

Dunno if it's similar to Unibroue's La Terrible, but that one is goddamn delicious. I meant to post about it here a while back but kept forgetting. Probably my favorite Unibroue I've had up till now. Dark, figgy/pruney, deep malt candyness! A lovely, decadent ale.



I wish I could find the Don de Dieu more easily 'round these parts. I grabbed it once back in the fall but since I had it with a celebratory meal I didn't get to really savor it. When I went back to buy more, the only store I've seen it in had closed I think I might have another lead on it, though...

Unibroue Grande Réserve 17 would be right up your alley then. It's been a while since I had one, but St-Bernardus Abt 12 would be a good comparison I think.

La Terrible, I seriously cannot remember the last time I saw a bottle somewhere. I think the last batch they released was around 2011 :\

Wow, really? Haha, maybe I should snap up a couple while I can, there's a store near me that usually has them, along with more 17s, Siegneuriales, Eau Benites, etc. Haven't tried either of the latter two, though.

Enjoying the Firestone Porter at the moment. Really nice stuff, rich aroma (semi-chocolately, malty, Tootsie Roll-ish notes), medium body, smooth and creamy. Again, not as robust in the palate as a lot of the dark ales I've been drinking recently, but excellent for its style!

Oh, and I never pick up St Bernardus because in my area they're always really expensive (say $5-7 for a 12 oz).

Interesting article about an anti-craft beer ad Budweiser ran during the Superbowl:

http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2015/02/valuable-lessons-i-learned-from-budweisers-hypocri.html

Baha! "Do you like beer that tastes good? What are you, a fucking virgin? Move aside, gaylord, there are horses on the way!"

Hahaha!! That ad was great, and the article was spot on too. Reminds me of what one of our Australian macro beer companies would definitely do - after all here is (one of) their commercials for a pretty terrible beer in my opinion

That was interesting, thanks!
Someone is getting hurt and scared... LOL!

The VB ad is much better than the desperate, condescending Bud one. VB, a beer for everyone to drink. Which is true. I personally occasionally drink VB, as well as any complex craft or import beer. That, and it clearly had a sense of humour about it too.

Must be just my personal bias against VB then

Dudes, as someone who is still pretty new to drinking beer, what are some good techniques to stopping the Froth Assassination? 'Ya know, when you take a swig of beer and it froths up and spills all over you? I get frustrated so much over this. Always having to grab a tissue and wipe it off.

This is normal for men of a certain age, no worries. Some people prefer a warm washcloth, if that helps at all.

...Um, I dunno, drink and pour your beer more slowly? Don't add soap to your beer?

Ha! That stupid commercial! I think it was a total misfire and I'm not saying that as a craft brew fan, and the fact is that I like a Budweiser if I'm in a position to pick between macro brews. But, come on, give me a reason to drink your beer! The message that they seemed to be conveying was "our product probably won't stand up if you look to deeply, but this for those of you who don't expect much". I just don't think you are giving beer drinkers a reason to pick your product. That's what advertising is supposed to do!

God, this Lagunitas Hop Stoopid I'm drinking right now is so fucking good. This is my second time cracking one. On the first pour I get an absolutely gorgeous tropical bouquet, with notes of passion fruit, lychee, guava, damn even strawberry?? Lots of extra subtleties that are hard to pin down. So incredibly yummy. Palate is more passion fruit, grapefruit, lemon & lime. Juicy yet drying in the finish, with an aftertaste of sour breadiness. There's so much hops in this thing and yet hardly any true bitterness at all. Truly a grade-A brew. And bombers are like $5 around here. Amazing, I have to make a point of grabbing this more often.

Mail me some

Next week is payday, and perhaps I will do a massive beer haul.

Noo I can not mail beer the FBI will find mee!!!!1!

Seriously though, maybe you could try grabbing a home brewing kit and experiment with making your own? Might be an interesting project and could yield some just-as-good-or-better results than what's available around you. And of course it will get you extra laid whenever you bring a ladyfriend back to your pad. "See that cardboard bucket over in the corner? There's beer in there. I'd give you some except it tastes like crap right now. Your hair's real pretty."

Any of you Yanks familiar with either Alameda, Caldera or Hop Valley? Got my hands on a variety from all three and while they've got pretty good scores on RB (I find the UI on BA to be too messy to bother with it) but was wondering if anyone has any personal experiences.

Regarding the Bud commercial, I found it rather amusing.



Say what now? Never had this issue. Like the abhorrent(?) fish-man told you, try pouring more slowly. Sips, not swigs.

Oh, I've thought about it, for sure. There's a homebrew supply store in Seoul (only one in Korea afaik) but shit's stupid expensive. I think it's around $300 just for a basic equipment setup, plus really expensive ingredients and bottling supplies. Also I'm more than halfway through my contract now and since I'm not 100% sure I'll be in the same apartment next year, I better just wait on it. Seoul and Busan at least have vague hints of a craft brew scene and (pricey) actual bottle shops, so all of my woes may drift away depending on where I end up.

Rofl! What's the problem, BloodSacrificeShaman?


I do agree.


That's what I have been thinking about during quite some time:
http://viviendoapesardelacrisis.blogspot.com.es/2013/05/el-do-it-yourself-de-la-cerveza-mejor.html
Any experiences on this? I would like to try to do a Trappist Dubbel beer, if it's possible.

I'm taking a brewery tour there on my birthday.

Holding off on trying this Hopslam until my friends come down for the weekend. Impatience! Anyone else here find any?