Yeah, I had a really good sour (not sure what specific variety) at a restaurant here a few months ago but can't for the life of me remember the name - very light and refreshing, almost like drinking a white grapefruit juice/7-up cocktail.

Oh, and one last (I hope) question about the Bourbon County Stout release - is that only in Illinois/Chicago area or nationwide? At the very least, will I have a shot at getting some if I stalk a nice liquor store in Milwaukee on the 28th?

Bourbon County Stout, Bourbon County Coffee Stout, Bourbon County Vanilla Rye and Bourbon County Barleywine are all nationwide. Vanilla Rye is in single 22oz bottles, the other three are in four-packs. Bourbon County Proprietor's is Chicago-only, single 22oz bottles. Generally, four-packs of the Bourbon County variants run somewhere between $19.99 and $24.99. I don't know what Vanilla will cost; the original Bourbon County Vanilla back in 2010 was $12.99 but I expect this release will be closer to $19.99. I never saw (or even looked for) Proprietor's last year but I'm told it was close to $30.

Goose has been debuting drafts of Vanilla Rye at festivals in the last few weeks. So far, word seems to be that it is good but not as good as its 2010 predecessor.

Currently drinking a Rogue Santa's Private Reserve ale, and I'm liking it a lot. Pretty damn tasty, awesome amber colour and nicely balanced.

Dogfish Head's Festina Peche is good, but it's a seasonal and might not be available now.

I've really been wanting to get into trying some of those IPA's and craft stuff, but I've been preoccupied trying to get a good taste in liquor down since I've turned 21.
Any recommendations for starters that aren't wicked expensive? As far as non-frat piss beer goes, if I had to pick two favorites, it'd be Heineken and Pilsner Urquell. A couple of the local liquor stores have a pretty impressive selection of IPA's and such, but it's a bit overwhelming going in totally blind.

I'm pretty new to IPA's and Pale ales myself, but here are some good defaults:

Dogfish Head 60-minute IPA
Stone IPA
Bell's Two-Hearted IPA
Lagunitas IPA

Three Floyds is an Indiana brewery that has a very limited distribution, but make some of the absolute best pale ales I've ever tasted. If you can manage to find some (they only distribute in the midwest, not sure where you're from)

Zombie Dust pale ale
Gumballhead ale

I'm also assuming since you said "craft stuff" that you're interested in non-pale ales - I was introduced to craft beer via porters and stouts, so here are a few that won me over:

Fuller's London Porter
Founders Porter
Buffalo Sweat Oatmeal Cream Stout
Founders Breakfast Stout
Stone Smoked Porter

I'm from downstate Illinois, I'm pretty sure I've seen three Floyd's at one of the bigger stores I check out frequently. Next time I'm at Friar tuck's I'll keep an eye out for those dogfish and gumball head brews, I'm almost positive I've seen those in there too, there's so much to choose from I end up getting tunnel vision halfway down the isle. I think they used to have a pick four deal which would be ideal to test some of these out..

Oh, nice - I live in Oak Park (will be moving there on Sunday, to be specific) so I'm rather looking forward to only being an hour away from the TF brewery. EoH and I are actually planning on hitting it up for a case or two sometime next month.

Heh, quite a few Illinois people in this thread. Have to say, as an East Coast native the craft beer scene here in the midwest seems to be underrated, or at least overlooked.

Anyone into amber/red ales? I picked up a four pack of Great Lakes Nosferatu for the first time this year and, good lord, they really need to make this beer year-round. Malt-forward and bold with a bite, though well-balanced and not like an IPA.

Speaking of TF, I was talking to the owner of a bar yesterday and it just so happened I was in Munster (where the TF brewery is actually) so I brought them up because the guy had 6 cases of the stuff just sitting there. He told me that TF has become stingy assholes as of late and that he can't even get Gumball Head, Dreadnaught, and something else that I forget, point being is he was telling me that they've let their popularity go to their heads and are treating even local establishments like crap in regards to distribution. So that makes me a little unhappy and doubtful of the the success of the pilgrimage to Mecca.

Also TF is apparently going to be making whiskey soon too, so yeah.

/thread

Went to a new bar last night and they had a couple of beers on draft by Craftworks, which is the oldest/most respected craft brewery in Korea. It's still a small operation that doesn't bottle and has dogshit distribution, so I went ahead and dropped $12 on a glass of their oatmeal stout.

Definitely a huge step up from the disappointing Tap Five stout I had a few weeks back. Delicious roasty malt flavors, hints of espresso and chocolate, though it was a bit thinner in the body and light on the oatmeal compared to what I've come to expect from a quality oatmeal stout. Still rather tasty, but not mind-blowing enough for me to drop another $10-12 in the same night to try one of their other brews. At some point I'll actually hit up the brewery in Seoul and try some more.

I remember ordering a glass of Three Floyd's Robert the Bruce at a local bar, and I thoroughly enjoyed it, as its flavor was much more robust and generally pleasant than what I have experienced lately regarding Scottish ales: Convoluted flavors that did not synthesize well together.

Lately, I've noticed Pabst Blue Ribbon growing on popularity where I am currently at, as I've been seeing plenty of people walking with the thirty-can packages. Funnily enough after drinking a can of Pabst Blue Ribbon, I start to feel what is the beginning of a "heart burn" sensation.

Otherwise, I'm excited to return back to Ohio and try Great Lakes Brewery's Great Lakes Christmas Ale. It has yet to disappoint me.

Currently enjoying a nice bomber of Dreadnaught courtesy of the Gnu. Mmmmmmmmmm beer.

Awesome, glad you like it. This War Mullet is pretty good - Though I can't really taste the difference between it and Zombie Dust; WM is maybe a hair maltier but I'm not really sure. Granted, I'm not very knowledgeable about IPA-tastes at the moment.

Dogfish Head's Midas Touch (only Ancient Ales brand I can find at my small-town ABC) is insanely frustrating to me - it's delicious, much moreso than some beers, and highly alcoholic, sold in 4-packs and 9% ABV. But it goes down like water. So then you're feeling the buzz halfway through one bottle and can't drink all of them at once unless you want to basically black out, but it's too good and then it's over too fast. The ancient peoples knew how to make a fucking beer I guess!

I dunno man, Midas Touch is tasty but it's also cloying as hell. I can barely finish one without getting a headache from all that sugar.

If you haven't by now, try the Torpedo Extra IPA from Sierra Nevada. And Back in Black, Black IPA from 21st Amendment.

And if you're into dark ales, I'm always quick to recommend Old Chub Scotch Ale by Oskar Blues.
Via Beer Advocate (where it got a sturdy 90):
From the Oskar Blues website: "This jaw-dropping Scottish strong ale (8% ABV) is brewed with bodacious amounts of malted barley and specialty grains, and a dash of beechwood-smoked malt."

Bodacious. So it wasn't just me that thought of "chub on." Can't say it gave me chub, but I was well swerved after a couple of these.

Yep, that's a corker. While we're at it, definitely try Ballast Point's Big Eye IPA. Crisp, hoppy, full citrus and pine/resin notes, but damn enjoyable session IPA.

It's pretty rich, but I like the taste enough - certainly pretty sweet but it's a sweetness I can get behind. I've never really tasted a "perfect" beer, but it's a fresh taste compared to what options I've had otherwise lately.

If you haven't bought this year's batch of Boulevard Bourbon Barrel Quad (BBQ) yet I would go ahead and do so. It's a quad aged in bourbon barrels with cherries blended with an incredibly miniscule amount of sour ale. The cherries and whiskey are more forward this year, with a bit less toffee and oaky vanilla.

Also I finally managed to find this year's Founders Backwoods Bastard. A touch hotter than last year's, great on a cold night.

I went out looking for three Floyd's or dogfish head yesterday. No luck on either but I did find some Founder's Porter that I'm really liking, the only other dark beer I've had is Guinness, which I don't remember being very fond of. It looks like dark coffee when poured in a glass, really tasty stuff. I'm not familiar with all the diffrent flavors and varieties, but this tastes like a dessert beer, if there is such a thing..

There are plenty of those. Just like dessert wine, dessert beer is a thing. Usually they tend to be rather big and bold, because after a full meal, you need big and bold flavors to punch through to the taste buds. That's why desserts tend to be rich and sweet. So think barley wines, imperial stouts and porters, quadrupels.

Good call, man - I started out on craft beer with Founders Porter, and to this day it's my favorite porter alongside Edmund Fitzgerald. That said, if you want a real dessert beer, check out Founder's Breakfast Stout - you can thank me later.

Mmmmmmm that breakfast stout is the shit man, I really should buy some for the holidays. I bought some Left Hand Brewery - Milk Stout Nitro yesterday. Pretty tasty stuff but I think I need to let it warm up just a touch before I drink any more of it. The longer it sat in the bottle the better it tasted.

Yeah, I liked that Milk Stout when I tried it a few days ago. Did you do the "official" way to drink it? Apparently you're supposed to pour it really fast (ie, just upend the bottle over the glass) to activate the extra nitrous or something, and it makes for a much smoother, richer taste.

Honestly, I'm probably going to buy a case of breakfast stout when the production line ends in February. I'd totally drink that shit over the summer.

Nah I didn't I was just being a lush and drinking straight from the bottle. I still have three left and I did see that on the label so I'll try it when I finish them off. It just feels wrong to pour beer like that ya know.

Yeah but you really should pour nitro beer like that, if for no other reason than because it's cool to watch the cascading effect.



I've had two imperial stouts/porters from Evil Twin in the last month, Lil' B and Imperial Biscotti Break. Both absolutely blew it out of the park, solid home-run. I just bought another one from them, called I Love You With My Stout. If it's as good as the first two I'm going to lose my shit.

I have that Left Hand Milk Stout every time I go to this dine-in theater to see movies like Birdman and Skeleton Twins - real good treat every now and then.

Evil Twin had a huge tasting event at a bar near me a few weeks ago...Had to miss it because I was piss-broke at the time. My friends have raved about the Biscotti Break quite often...

There's a place near me that has bombers of this beer for $18; if it weren't for the price I'd get one.

http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profil ... pr&start=0


Sounds utterly delicious.

Picked up the Sam Adams Winter Favorites pack...while I've pretty much entirely moved onto buying craft beers rather than something like this, I was just really curious to see how the chocolate bock holds up now that my tastes have grown so much in the two years since I had it last (though I found a good replacement for it in Fireman's Brew, but that's a hair boozy for what I'm looking for.) And you're right Earthcubed, it's a damn shame they don't have the Black & Brew anymore.

Still no luck finding Backwoods Bastard though.

When I hung out with you in Chicago you were saying you didn't drink much beer at all. How the times have changed?

Haha! Yeah, two things happened 1: Something clicked and I got a lot more interested in the process of tasting beer/comparing flavors/etc etc and 2: I realized I don't have the money to make scotch my main alcohol intake. Also, 3: This thread does probably make it look like I have beer on the mind a lot more than I actually do because it's been a slow few days at work and I have time to post all this short bullshit.

I managed to find a few more four-packs of Backwoods, though I only bought one. I like the beer but I don't need any more than eight bottles in a year.


Boulevard Harvest Dance is on shelves now. My favorite wheatwine.

I'm all psyched for the Bourbon County beers. This is the week!

Just out of curiosity, I wonder what version ya'll are most hoping to buy. Is it the standard, this year's coffee, Vanilla Rye, this year's Proprietor's or the barleywine? If you had to pick just one this year, which would it be?

Although several have been on shelves for the past couple weeks to a month, I typically tend to hold off on winter seasonals and Christmas ales until now, the week of Thanksgiving. This just might be my favorite time of year as a craft beer drinker, as there's a multitude of beers to try and compare to the previous year's editions (specifically Anchor, whom knowingly change their recipe each year,) and I'm very partial to the spiced, "winter warmer" style.



Unlike most others in this part of the state, I'm not jumping on the bandwagon of holding my nose to their Christmas Ale that's been rolling the last couple of years in favor of 12 Dogs of Christmas (EXCELLENT stuff.) It's still a damn fine beer that's worth its reputation, and far better this year than last - seems like there's more ginger than before - and I've yet to meet anyone complain while enjoying a tall glass of it rimmed with brown sugar, which is still the most optimal way. Black Box's "Cleveland's Own Christmas Ale" and Hoppin' Frog's "Frosted Frog" also get high marks from me, and Franklin Brewing, a nano literally a few houses down from me, will be releasing their own winter warmer in bombers this coming Friday.

Planning on a pack of regular Bourbon County then hopefully a bottle of vanilla. Would like to get more to try aging but money is precluding from buying any more than that...still quite excited. Obviously I'd like to try Properietor's the most, but since I'll be in Milwaukee on release date I doubt I'll find any when I get back (shame because I do live in Chicago and just happen to be travelling for the Thanksgiving holidays.)

I've actually been pretty behind on trying seasonal holiday beer because I've had such amazing luck with Zombie Dust recently...three 6-packs in the last month and half, all thanks to my good friends at Whole Foods.

Proof that only craft is real?
http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/201 ... n_bud.html

Groovy.

Found Backwoods Bastard! The Whole Foods near my new place in Oak Park had several four-packs in stock last night...Really wanted some, but I need to save my beer money for the great BCBS hunt on Friday. Hopefully it'll still be around when I get back from Thanksgiving travels.

If I had to pick one, it'd be the standard for sure, but I'm excited to get the Proprietor's Blend and the Vanilla Rye. I wouldn't mind trying the barelywine but I wouldn't be disappointed if I couldn't get it. I generally don't care for coffee very much for the coffee variety holds little interest for me.