It's an acquired taste? That's like asking why you would make scotch peaty or metal abrasive.

U_S, it's not so much rare as it is literally non-existent. Founder's does not get distributed in Maryland at all. You've gotta go up to Pennsylvania to find it.

The first time I drank Guiness, someone told me it was an acquired taste but I was in heaven. The first time I drank Samuel Adams I hated it. Eventually I started drinking bitter beers and thinking I had started to enjoy it but really need to trust your instincts.

Different strokes for different folks. I typically don't drink pilsners, stouts, porters, or lagers... but I'll drink the fuck out of IPA. Generally, if a bar doesn't have an IPA or at least a pale ale, I'll be drinking whiskey instead of beer.

Having a taste for bitter beer is like having a taste for spicy food... you kind of like a *little* bit of the flavor at first, but you become numb to it after a while and require more and more to get the same effect over time. I've been drinking IPAs for so long now, I don't really taste the bitterness anymore... the hops hit more like citrus rind than anything else.

So upon moving into this new apartment, I discovered a Lost Coast Brewery Indica IPA pint glass in the cabinet. Either one of the previous occupants hauled this over from the US, or there's somewhere here with both a good beer selection and glassware that can be bought (or stolen, I guess). Really hoping it's the latter.

'Scuse the double post, but I had an actual decent Korean beer today! The grocery store around the corner had 7Brau* IPA. "IPA" might be a bit of a stretch for it, as it was maybe more of an American pale ale and was only 5.5% or so. It did have some sort of strange lingering chemical taste at the very end, but it had a pleasantly citrus hop aroma, a nice medium body, fairly low carbonation mouthfeel that gave it a bit of English character, and decently bready malts. It's definitely not world-class stuff and is fairly expensive at around $2.50/can, but I was pleasantly surprised for sure. This could be a decent session beer if it were cheaper, but as it is I'll probably drink this fairly regularly, at least to get the night started before switching to less tasty options.

*No, I don't understand the name, either. Koreans have a weird fascination with naming things as just jumbles of numbers and letters/words.

Finally got around to trying Founder's Curmudgeon after hearing a few friends praise it to death. I enjoyed it, although for my tastes it's a bit too sweet and cloying with its heavy handed molasses and caramel notes. Couldn't see myself having more than one of these in a single setting but really goes well with the right meal for sure.

Not a big fan of Curmudgeon and I have a hard time describing why. Really hit or miss and when it misses it misses big time.


I wish Sweet Repute hadn't been so damned impossible to find, that's the Founders beer I was most interested in.

I got some Unibroue Trois Pistoles for my drinking pleasure tonight. Never had it before but when this is on the pack it's just too hard to pass bye, so pretty!!

I wouldn't even consider most IPAs or DIPAs, regardless of supposed IBUs, nearly as bitter as whatever sours and Belgians I've tried. I'm willing to concede that I simply don't have the palette for those and that's that. Indeed, a well-crafted IPA is one that is either focused on being crisp and dry almost to the point of being comparable with a pilsener, or having a malt backbone to smooth out the hops, or using a unique combination of hops to bring out the citrus in the taste with the pine and resin relegated to the nose. If it smells and tastes like an old sock, then it's just plain not worth having.

The first installment of Bell's Planet Series, a tribute to Gustav Holst's The Planets, should be on my local shelves in the next few days. The opening cut is Mars - The Bringer of War. Naturally, a DIPA.

Not a terribly huge fan of Trois Pistoles either; when it comes to dark Unibroue beers I prefer 17 Grande Reserve, Le Terrible and Maudite. The 17 is particularly great. The original 17 beat the likes of Chimay Blue and St. Bernardus in a few contests for the Belgian dark ale category, three years in a row. That is, the same batch won three years in a row; they didn't make a new one for each year's contest, they just used what was left of the original. Damn good stuff and a wise decision to re-brew it.


In other news, it is about that time of year---fall and winter---when I get to start pulling things from the cellar. And by "things" I mostly mean barleywines, quads and the occasional imperial stout. I'm most looking forward to 1-year-old Goose Island Bourbon County Barleywine (September 2013), 2-year-old Goose Island Bourbon County Stout (September 2014), and 2-year-old Dogfish Head Olde School Barleywine (November 2012). I've had both the Olde School and Bourbon County Stout with two years on them, and they were excellent. Bourbon County Barleywine was new last year, so this constitutes a cellaring experiment. I expect flavors of milk chocolate, toffee, caramel, and melted nuts drenched in caramel, approximately in that order. It was quite sweet when fresh, so it is entirely possible it will be cloying after settling down for a year. We will see.


In news you can all relate to better than my totally bitchin' beer cellar, Goose Island has announced this year's Bourbon County lineup. This year's Proprietor's Bourbon County Stout (Chicago-only) will be made with panela sugar, coconut water, Cassia bark and cocoa beans. Goose Island's Bourbon County Vanilla---long considered their best or second-best variant and highly sought after for the last four years---is getting a reboot, this time being aged in rye whiskey barrels instead of bourbon. These two will be in 22oz bottles, while regular Bourbon County Stout, Bourbon County Coffee Stout and Bourbon County Barleywine will all be available in 12oz bottles in four-packs. I would love to get my hands on one bottle of Vanilla Rye but chances are a bit slim. Personally I will be happy with either a four-pack of the regular or (preferably) the barleywine.


http://www.chicagotribune.com/lifestyle ... story.html

Hey Goose Island is pretty sweet! I like their stuff and it's uber easy to get here obviously. Never had anything but their beers, guess I should try and branch out though.

...those are beers though

Ohhh shit, I thought you were talking about bourbon... sshhhhhhhh it's been a looonnng day.

How, exactly, does one melt a nut?

The other night I went down to the pub down the street with some coworkers. It was actually pretty decent, beer-wise. Drafts were lacking but they had some drinkable stuff in bottles (Fuller's London Pride, Newcastle, some German and Czech lagers) at around $7/bottle, which is pricey of course but not anywhere near as bad as I was expecting based on research I'd done before coming here. The real gem, though, was the house beer. This bar is called WA-Bar, which is a chain I suppose, so their house beer is called WA-Beer (they've also got a dark). Apparently, rather than brewing it themselves or selling some rebranded Korean junk lager, this is actually some sort of cheapo German lager they buy in bulk. At $3.50 for a massive glass of the stuff, I have definitely found my drinking out staple in this town.

It also helps that the bartender is super friendly and was bringing us plates of nachos and rounds of Jim Beam shots all night, too.

http://www.gooseisland.com/beers.html#bourbon-county

Goddammit these sound great, and I'm jealous I'm not helping you sample/finish them off

For commercial beers my fav is "Bohemia Oscura".

Alllllright, there's a new bar here in Cheonan (that is, sadly, out in the middle of bumfuck but maybe I'll take a cab). There are apparently a couple other bars in high-traffic areas of town that serve up some of the more well-known Korean craft beers, but this one actually has its own house brews that sound somewhat promising and aren't too expensive. Here's the tap list:



And the bottles, which isn't really much to write home about but is better than average:



Looking forward to giving this a go sometime, maybe as a celebration once I get my first paycheck?

Visited some Michigan friends last weekend and picked up some interesting beer from Short's, a Michigan-only brewery:

Nicie Spicie: A wheat beer with lemon flavored with pepper and coriander. Spiced beers as such can be rather hit-or-miss (as was the case with the Jalapeno beer I had a few weeks ago), but this was quite good as the spices sort of float on your tongue/throat on the way down as opposed to being overpowering. Novelty, but in a good way.

Soft Parade: High-gravity ale flavored with blackberries, strawberries and blueberries. Haven't actually tried it yet - I'm not a huge fruit beer fan save the odd summer shandy, but the higher ABV (7.5%, at least relative to most normal fruit beers) should make this interesting.

For some reason I can't get into dark Belgian ales. The notes of spice, chocolate, and dried fruit in combination with the heaviness of the beer don't mix well for me. But then again I've only two (I think). I had the St. Bernardus Abt 12, which I drank, passed out, and woke up the next day with the worst strep of my life. The other I've had was Unibroue's Maudite, of which the bottle was 2 years old. I thought it would be one of those beers that gets better with age, but it was so disgusting I couldn't even finish half of it. So it very well could be the experiences rather than the actual beers themselves.

On a similar note, I've also had liquor store employees get visibly angry with me when they try to recommend a beer and I say no after looking at the date on the bottle (which is also covered in dust). Is it my fault that I don't want to buy your shitty skunked beer?

Absolutely not. Anyone that runs a bottle shop and values customers coming to them for their variety should also be applying that to having the freshest product available. They should be in constant communication with their distributors regarding that sort of thing and if not, it's not beyond me to do that for them and perhaps influencing alternative stores for both them and myself to do business with. I get that any run of the mill ABC liquor store probably couldn't care less, but one that focuses on craft and imports needs to be so attentive. Negligence is one factor that killed the initial craft brew wave in the '90s and there's little excuse for it to still be happening today. Not when customers can be kept more in the loop than ever about what's coming off the line, where it's going, availability, and relative shelf life.

There's a huge difference between an old, skunked lager and a finely aged Belgian ale.

^ Naturally, no argument there, but that's a process better served by proper cellaring after it's purchased. Most stores I'm familiar with don't have the space and the resources to do that for an extended period of time, much less the know-how.

I'm a bit dismayed at the ever increasing "seasonal creep" that seems to get worse with each passing year. Octoberfests and marzens and pumpkin ales have been available since the beginning of the month when there's plenty of summer dog days left to go. Perhaps it's just me, but those don't exactly satiate the palate when it's still in the low to mid 80s in the evening.

I hear you about the "seasonal creep". Oktoberfests and pumpkin ales started appeared in July this year and you know that most will be gone by the beginning of September. Last year, I saw Samuel Adams explain it as having something to do with the brewing process and shelf space. They brew these beers at a specific time of year and, at least last year, found that their summer styles sold out faster than expected and they needed to put something on store shelves. Since the fall beers were hitting the shelves early, and they only brew a certain amount, they knew that those would sell out earlier, too,and, unfortunately, due to the brewing process, they couldn't just go and make more fall style beers to meet the unexpected demand. And so, what probably happens is that you have other breweries starting to release their fall styles earlier to compete. Honestly, I wish Oktoberfests and pumpkin ales would hit shelves in September. Fall styles are some of my favorites but I don't want to stock up in mid August just so I have some come October and November.

I'm torn on this because Oktoberfest is one of my favorite styles. But in reality, they should never be served before the start of the fest itself as the longer lagering process is kinda the entire point of the beer. Knowing Germany I wouldn't be surprised if it's actually illegal to serve "Oktoberfest" beers before the second week of September.

Had a Stone Ruination last night and I wept. I need that stuff 24/7. Also had a Sculpin IPA tonight. Another mouthgasm for me. Only tried the Sculpin Habanero before, and while great it wasn't something I'd drink often, but the regular Sculpin? Damn! One of the best india pale ales I've had. I saw that Ballast Point made a Sculpin Grapefruit and I'll die sad and bitter knowing that I'll probably never have the chance to try it

Actually, unless you're one of the six (I think) big breweries within the city limits of Münich, you're not allowed to call your beer oktoberfest in Germany. You'll have to call it a märzen. And well, the long lagering is the point, but these days with the planting and harvesting not dictating the realities of the brewing process, you can just start the brewing and hence the lagering a few days, weeks or months earlier and have the beer properly ready similarly earlier.

As for Ruination and Sculpin, I prefer Stone's regular IPA over Ruination and Big Eye over Sculpin, though with the latter, the Big Eye was much fresher so take that with a grain of hops.

These are what's on tonight's menu while I watch the Belgian grand Prix.



Four Pines keller door India brown ale and a four pack of La Trappe quadrupel. Four Pines is an Australian brewery that mostly specialises in bland and uninteresting beers, but this caught my eye as it's a small batch brew, so we'll have to see. I bought two of these bottles so I hope they are okay. Nothing needs to be said about the gorgeous quad though.

i've tried the four pines range - not sure if i've had that one though - and yeah, all bland.

i bought a carton of these two days ago and have been slowly making my way through them. i normally drink more bitter pilsners, so really good for a change to have such a light, "happy" beer. literally just slides down the throat. fucking love it:

I have to be the only person alive that thinks out of all the amazing IPAs that Stone makes (probably my favorite brewer of IPAs), their regular IPA is garbage. I think their pale ale is much better, but the standard issue IPA isn't that good at all.

I found the Pale Ale to be rather regular as far as American made APAs go. Their Levitation was much better, not to mention lower in ABV. The stiff amount of pith, pine and resin is what sold me on the IPA while the Pale Ale was just a regular amount of hops along with the caramel and the caramel dominated Ruination too much.

I revisited the Stone IPA the other day to make sure I wasn't missing something and yeah...it's still pretty dull. Grabbed an Arrogant Bastard to go along with it, since I'd not yet tried that either, and that was also pretty meh. If it hadn't been for the delicious Old Guardian barleywine of theirs that I had not too long ago, I'd be tempted to give Stone the ol' and ignore the brewery altogether.

Big Eye is great, better overall than the Sculpin, I'd say. For my money it's more refreshing and has better focus/clarity in the palate.

Never had either Big Eye or Sculpin, but I concur that Stone Pale is better than Stone IPA and that Arrogant Bastard is a little underwhelming. Stone's Smoked Porter and the two variants are pretty damn good though.


Their 14th Anniversary Beer is still the best thing they've ever done.

I bought Stone's Matt's Burning Rosids Friday night and their Ruinten IPA tonight. The former was one of the best beers I've had in a while. Very smokey but still sweet with a light body considering it's 10.5% abv. Haven't gotten around to the latter however.

Going to start trying more Belgian tripels. So far EoH and I really enjoyed the Asylum Tripel Nova I bought over the weekend.

Anyone here try Goose Island's Bourbon County stout? Thing has ridiculously high ratings on just about every beer review outlet I've seen and I was wondering if it's worth the hype.

Bought a 3 beer 12 pack from Okanagan (British Columbia) this weekend. Good beers, especially this pale ale. Easy to drink and good quality for the price ($17)

I also tried this Wells IPA, not recommended, it was ok, I guess but certainly not hoppy enough. Nice can though!

Regarding Stone, Arrogant Bastard was great off the tap, a superb mixture of biting hoppy bitterness and a wallop of caramel while the bottled, oaked version was perhaps even better, though I rather like vanilla and oak in malty beers like that. Double Bastard on the other hand was way too boozy and caramelly.



Well, you should know better than to actually expect an IPA from a big English/British brewer when the ABV is so low and yet it is described as an IPA. Or at least you know now.

Haven't tried the Sculpin, but I LOVE the Big Eye. My go to IPA. Still have four or so in the fridge right now, yay!

My beer of the night. Wow just wow...

It's absolutely worth the hype once it is one or two years old. The more recent releases have been pretty decent fresh (way better than Bourbon County Stout used to be fresh), but in my opinion you don't really get the full, proper experience fresh. It's still too hot and boozy when it's young. Lucky for you, if you find any Bourbon County Stout in stores now it will be at least a year old, since last year's release was bottled in September (I think).

Nobody knows how Bourbon County Barleywine ages since they've only released it once (last year), so I can't vouch for how any bottles on the shelf taste now. I have a bottle at home I'll be cracking in a few weeks to see how it's doing. However, I loved the hell out of it fresh last year. Toffee, vanilla, caramel, chocolate, bourbon. Right now it's my favorite beer Goose Island makes.