Maybe I'm not looking hard enough, but I never see any love for Berkshire Brewing in this thread. They are one of my favorite breweries hands down. Their Lost Sailor IPA is what put me on to English style IPAs and it remains one of my favorites to this day. Not to mention not a single one of their beers is less than great (can't speak for the black and tan).

Yeah, nice. That'd be sweet. Let us know how they are

I've got a couple of Chicagoland friends who have repeatedly vouched for Mad River's quality, but I've never had any myself.

Well, it's not like it's a bottle that you knock all the way down on just one sitting. It's in liqueur strengths (twenty something percent ABV, I think) so it'll keep for a while. You sip it like whisk(e)y, you don't down it like beer, not even sip it like imperial stouts or barleywines. With that said, 200 dollars is a pretty steep price for one. It was available here some years ago with a price tag of eighty euros or something, I think.



Like I said before in this thread, they don't replicate the recipes, they just "take inspiration". Replicating that stuff would (aside from being highly impossible due to lack of knowledge and availability of ingredients) produce highly undrinkable beer. The "ancient beers" they "replicate" have all been highly attuned to the taste buds of the modern, American craft beer drinker.

RE Sam Adams Unity: But could you really sip it like liquor? I was under the impression beer isn't exactly something you can open, close and store like a bottle of scotch.

I know someone who has partaken in the Utopia before. He told him he and three friends split the cost and shared the beer. Other than being a novelty and saying he'd done it he said it was completely not worth with. I say to each his own but I'm inclined to agree with the not worth it sentiment.

*Utopias

It's not only highly alcoholic---the weakest batch ever still being around 24% alcohol---but it is also bottled flat, or still; there's no carbonation. Carbonation is pretty much the only reason most beer can't or at least shouldn't be opened, partially consumed, and then left alone for a long time. With Utopias, you don't have to worry about losing carbonation as there isn't any.

Technically, whisky and other distilled liquors still suffer some degradation (due to oxidation and evaporation) once a bottle has been opened but it takes a fucking long time. That same glacial degradation is the only issue Utopias has once you open it. As with a pricey bottle of Scotch or cognac, there are people who spend years slowly drinking down a single bottle of Utopias, with only minimal changes in flavor.

I would be interested in pooling resources with a few people to share a bottle of Utopias over a few years, but that's only if I could actually find it for $200 or less. As it is, the only time I've ever actually seen it in a store it was closer to $300, and the anniversary one was nearly $treefidy. There's a lot of beer, whiskey, and whisky I could get for that money and I suspect I would find most of them more enjoyable than Utopias. Utopias fans say it is akin to a sweeter whiskey or brandy crossed with a fine, very sweet English barleywine; its detractors say it tastes like a $30 cognac with maple syrup added for a $200+ price tag.

In my case, I have not commented because I don't think I've ever seen their beer in a store before. I've lived most of my life outside their distribution range.

They look like they have pretty solid ratings all-around though, I'll keep an eye out.

Never thought this could ever exist - Sriracha beer!

http://www.neatorama.com/2014/12/08/sriracha-beer/

Not too surprised that this is happening. Sriracha is really trendy and there have been a fair amount of chili and hot pepper beers hitting the shelves in recent years. Rogue is a solid brewery that makes some good beers but they also make some whacky shit. I remember a beer that they put out that was something like bacon maple donut flavored.

Stopped in a bar with the gf while bumming around Chicago on Saturday - and holy sweet fuck, they had Darkness 14 and 13 on tap. Two of my friends camped out overnight to get some at the brewery release, so I was well aware how highly-regarded it was. Tried the 14 and it definitely lived up to the hype; reminded me of a mellower BCBS with more dark chocolate instead of salted caramel. Hopefully I can back there while they still have the 13 (and Backwoods Bastard, no less) on tap. Hell, they even had bombers of BCBS Coffee and Rare available, albeit at a skullfuckingly high price.

Someone mail me beer for Christmas

Wouldn't bother with the coffee bombers at this point, the youngest they could be is 2 years old; that beer hasn't been in bombers since 2012. The coffee flavors are probably really faded by now.

Ah, is that the one variant that doesn't age well? Those were $50 so I probably wouldn't bother with one anyway, hahaha.

Fifty eh? I remember back when bombers of Bourbon County Coffee cost $12.99-$15.99 in the Chicago area. They jacked the prices up for 2012 to about $25 but then cut them down a lot last year, when four 12oz bottles went for about $25.

Yeah but that's liquor store prices not bar prices. Aside from that the area Gnu was in combined with CBT and yeah $50 is about right.

Have either of you guys seen Central Waters Bourbon Barrel Stout yet? It should be hitting the Illinois market soon.

Nope, I just recently realized that Central Waters has a pretty respectable selection of limited release beers like that too. What price should that be, and how hard will it be to find? (IE, we talking Three Floyds sellout rates or what.)

Got these from a friend. The Inédit Damm Estrella was a pretty wicked barley wine, easy to drink, sort of a mix between white and blond. The nut brown ale was out of this world too and the scottish ale (local microbrew) was decent enough.

Shouldn't be Three Floyds hard, no. Price of a four pack should be between $12-$16 if previous years are any indication. I couldn't get any last year as I was out of town the month before and after it was released, but it's not usually like BCBS where it's all gone the same day. I've seen it last on the shelf for a few weeks before disappearing.

I really don't like their barleywine though. The stout is great, barleywine is a disappointment.

Samuel Smith Oatmeal Stout needs to be your next purchase my friend, delicious beer. Their Yorkshire Stingo is also great albeit more expensive.

I'll see if I can find it!

Speaking of oatmeal stouts, have you tried this one? http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/194/2704/ I'm pretty sure it would be available for Eastcoasters.

Don't believe I've ever seen a St. Ambroise beer in the DC area. Shame, since apparently they're pretty damn good.

I'll keep an eye out for it, definitely saw it all over the Midwest when I lived that way but never got around to trying it.

Their IPAs (normal and double) are also two of the best ones in their price range. $12 for 6 bottles usually.

Mmmm, those look yummy.

Having now had Avery Rumpkin two times, I must reiterate that it's a beer everybody should try if they see it. Unless you hate pumpkins, pumpkin pie, and rum. It shouldn't be more than (*gulp*) $15 for a 12oz bottle and many places sell them for less than that. The good news: besides being delicious, unless you're a complete alcoholic you should be completely satisfied with only six ounces. In other words, you can comfortably split that one 12oz bottle with one or two other people. It's usually around 16-17% alcohol and very, very sweet. Treat yourself and a friend to a bottle over the holidays.

There needs to be more beers aged in rum barrels. And brandy. I don't even like brandy but it does nice things to beer.

I had a Rumpkin on Thanksgiving. It was great stuff, but man, it was heavy! After a big meal, it was just way too filing and I couldn't finish the bottle.

Alright, here's for my bi-weekly shitty Korean beer analysis:

Sapporo - Holy fuck, what a shitty beer. This is basically Coors Light with a slightly more pronounced rice shittiness to it. Never pay money for this.
Suntory - The Premium Malt's (sic) - Now this one, on the other hand, is real tasty. As depressing as it is that I'm calling just a well-executed pils "tasty" this really is. Very nicely hopped yet crisp and with a straightfoward malt backbone. This can be somewhat expensive in Korea but I can get 500ml cans so will be revisiting this'n.
Queen's Ale - Extra Bitter Type - I think I brought up Queen's Ale before. It's a faux micro brewed by a Korean macro. The blonde type one is alright, but has juuuust a hint of "are these real malts or extracts?" going on that sucks some of the fun out of it. The ESB, on the other hand, is more strongly hopped and generally just tastes a hell of a lot better. It's slightly more expensive than the blonde at stores that stock it, and it's harder to find in bars, but worthwhile since it's usually by far the best thing in its price range.
L - Dark Lager - This stuff's supposedly brewed in Germany but I've recently discovered that a lot of European breweries brew stuff exclusively for Asian export that ranges from passable to total shit. This one's alright, slightly more maltiness going on than your typical macro lager, but still not much to write home about. Metallic, bland, etc.
L - Weizen - Now this, on the other hand, is actually pretty fucking good. Maybe I'm just so starved for decent beer that I can't even judge things anymore, but hell if this isn't one of the best straightforward wheat beers I've ever had. I'm still not totally huge on the style in general, but this stuff's like $1.50 for a 500ml can and is quite tasty, so I will definitely be revisiting this.

In a couple paychecks I still plan on heading out to that big grocery store and doing a decent-sized beer run to pick up some good Belgians and American craft stuff.

4 La Trappe Dubbel pack:









http://www.latrappetrappist.com/en-en/trappist-beers/la-trappe-dubbel/
I only know the Quadrupel so let's see!

Hah, I used to work at an asian fusion bar and people would just go through that sapporo and kirin ichiban like crazy alongside their comparatively fancy food, just because it was "exotic."

The weird thing is that the vast bulk of cheapo Asian beers are total garbage, but there are a few genuine diamonds in the rough. The two that come immediately to mind are that Suntory Premium Malt's beer, which really was a pretty damn good pils, and this weird Vietnamese beer I had once called Dai Viet, which was some sort of dark ale that was almost like a milk stout mixed with a wee heavy or something, but super easy to drink.

Nice one Basque! Don't think I've ever had the dubbel by La Trappe, and the glass that comes with that four pack looks awesome. I wanna get me one.



Got one of these for my birthday. Bridge Road bling IPA three pack, that comes with a Spiegelau IPA glass. The beer itself is quite good, plenty of sharp, bitter hoppiness, without sacrificing balance and that citrus aftertaste. Pretty good session IPA, on a warm afternoon.

One more "for Asian export" beer under my belt: this one is a 500ml can that simply says "Merry Christmas Beer" with a cartoon Santa riding a reindeer and some snow in the background. It's "Imported from Germany!" but this big Korean label is covering up the information in English. Anyway I did some snooping and I'm 96% certain this is Privatbrauerei Eichbaum's Winterbier, rebranded for export. It's a super malty, butterscotch-sweet Marzen that's actually super fuckin' tasty, though perhaps a bit heavy on that sweetness. Far, far better than I was expecting. I'll go back to the store where I got this maybe a week or so after Christmas to see if it's been marked down a bunch.

Same here. I'm finding myself a bit more envious of the glass than of the beers, but I'm confident they will be good. Keep us posted, Basque!

And Happy Birthday, Crushed!



wai no pictor

So my girlfriend gave me my Christmas present early:



That one in the middle is Fat Pug milk stout, which I've never heard of but looks excellent. Going to try the Lupulin Maximus tonight and will let you fine folks know the outcome.

Thanks mate

Got my Xmas beer shopping done today and walked out with these;



Saison Dupont Belgian, Dogfish Head 90 minute IPA, Ommegang Three Philosophers quadrupel (with cherries) and a Founders dark penance BIPA. Really keen to get into the Ommegang and the Dupont.

Ever had the 90 minute or Ommegang? Both phenomenal beers. I had both fairly early on in my serious beer drinking career and loved them but I think both have held up remarkably well. Truly world-class stuff.

Man, turns out shitty companies like Brew Dog have started to get copycats. I was killing time at the airport the other day and found an Italian beer called "Punks do it Bitter". I was hoping to get something close to an English bitter or ale, but no it was that American-style Brewdog-esque ultra-hopped IPA, where you can taste nothing but hops and it starts to hurt your nose after a while. I guess the "punk" part in the label was a dead give-away.

Never had either, but have seen loads of praise for them, so thought I would check them out. The Ommegang sounds amazing.

It's Xmas day here now as well as I'm posting this (well... 2am exactly), so merry, beery Xmas y'all