Beer snob discussion thread

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I
I Wear Pants
Posts: 16,223
May 14, 2011 2:35pm
BORIStheCrusher;768045 wrote:How is this? I've had Back in Black a few times which is decent but nothing else from them.
I actually liked it a lot. Probably get it again.
Curly J's avatar
Curly J
Posts: 7,282
May 16, 2011 8:55pm
'ETBing' this thread in honor of AMERICAN CRAFT BEER WEEK !!!
O-Trap's avatar
O-Trap
Posts: 14,994
May 16, 2011 11:28pm
Having a Long Hammer IPA.

Disappointingly weak for an IPA. I feel like I could have a beer immediately afterward and enjoy it. That should NEVER be with an IPA.
Curly J's avatar
Curly J
Posts: 7,282
May 17, 2011 12:43pm
Never had anything from Redhook. I checked out their website. Found this concerning their IPA
Long Hammer takes the traditional IPA brewing process one step further by dry hopping, or adding hops at the end of the brewing process with Cascade hops to give a wonderful hop aroma but not the overpowering hop taste.
WTF, no hop taste. If you ask me the Cascade hops should be the flavoring hops too. 44 IBUs seems kinda low to me for an IPA...But what do I know as I'm not a brewmaster, just a brew drinker. I do know I won't be buying that IPA. (Maybe I'm just too much into Imperial IPAs)

I actually has some good IPA last night. One of my old go to beers. Bells Two Hearted Ale.
I
I Wear Pants
Posts: 16,223
May 17, 2011 5:16pm
44 IBUs? WTF? Did they water it down or something?
O-Trap's avatar
O-Trap
Posts: 14,994
May 17, 2011 9:41pm
Curly J;771194 wrote:Never had anything from Redhook.
I wouldn't start now if I were you. I wish I hadn't started, and I am me.
Curly J;771194 wrote:I checked out their website. Found this concerning their IPA


WTF, no hop taste. If you ask me the Cascade hops should be the flavoring hops too. 44 IBUs seems kinda low to me for an IPA...But what do I know as I'm not a brewmaster, just a brew drinker. I do know I won't be buying that IPA. (Maybe I'm just too much into Imperial IPAs)

I actually has some good IPA last night. One of my old go to beers. Bells Two Hearted Ale.

Hops were weak as hell. WAY too watered down for an IPA.

If you're into the Imperial IPAs, I'll recommend Maharaja again. That was a GOOD one.
Curly J's avatar
Curly J
Posts: 7,282
May 18, 2011 2:20pm
If you're into the Imperial IPAs, I'll recommend Maharaja again. That was a GOOD one.
I've had that before and it is wonderful. I don't believe I've ever had a bad beer from Avery. Their Hog Heaven is an excellent Barley Wine that has a very decent price point.



We had some some fun doing a side by side IPA tasting last night. We poured a Two Brothers Resistance and a Bear Republic Racer 5 for comparison . (Beer 'pron' shot below, left is the Resistance. Right is the Racer 5)





The Two Brothers was a lot clearer as the Racer 5 is bottled conditioned. The Resistance had a more piney and citrus on the nose than the 5 and a little more crisp finish. The 5 was more bitter and malty which was quite surprising as the 5 is brewed with the All 3 of the "Three C's" plus Chinook. Both have a 70+ IBU and are damn near the same on ABV. (6.9/7.0). I've always been a fan of the Racer 5, but was really impressed with the Two Brothers offering. I ended up liking it better than the 5 as this is the only the second time I've had the Two Brothers IPA and just noticed it's aged in French Oak. That might help with the flavor. Both were $10.99 a 6-pack so while I will continue to buy the Racer 5, I will definitely grab more of the Resistance...I guess 'Resistance is futile'. ;)

.
I
I Wear Pants
Posts: 16,223
May 18, 2011 5:22pm
I love those glasses. Picked up a set at Goodwill and it was awesome.
Curly J's avatar
Curly J
Posts: 7,282
May 18, 2011 8:27pm
I Wear Pants;773204 wrote:I love those glasses. Picked up a set at Goodwill and it was awesome.
Aren't they though. I got some at the place I normally buy my beer. They were waaay cheap. I'm thinking that they might have been 'defective' so they bought a lot of the bad ones and sold them at way under the Sam Adams retail price. By defective I mean their is paint in a few placed where their shouldn't be. (see the white at the end of the Samuel Adams on the glass on the left) I'm sure there are some that think that the shape and all maybe a gimmick, but do notice a difference when I use these over my regular Pint glasses.
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BORIStheCrusher
Posts: 1,893
May 21, 2011 4:30pm
Drinking Victory Prima Pils while chilling outside today. I was looking to pick up some Smuttynose Shoals Pale Ale, but the store I went to was all out so kind of bummed me out so I had to 'settle' on the Victory. I'm thinking about breaking something out of my collection later tonight but during this nice day it's going to be summer beers.
iclfan2's avatar
iclfan2
Posts: 6,360
May 21, 2011 5:19pm
Curly J;771194 wrote:Never had anything from Redhook. I checked out their website. Found this concerning their IPA

I actually has some good IPA last night. One of my old go to beers. Bells Two Hearted Ale.
Never been impressed with anything by Redhook. But I do love me some Bells Two Hearted. I think IPA is my favorite style right now, but I try alot of other as well. Another of my favorites besides dogfishhead is a beer called Modus Hoperandi from Ska brewing out of Colorado. Pretty big hop taste. I wish I still lived in Charleston as it has thee best beer store ever. They have 7 growler taps at all time and have any craft beer you can think of in bottles (or cans). They always have special and rare beers on tap too. Certainly miss the growler specials they had.
S
Sonofanump
May 21, 2011 6:54pm
Had a Truck Stop Honey Brown Ale with dinner. Interesting taste, but don't need to have it again.
C
cbus4life
Posts: 2,849
May 21, 2011 7:24pm
Curly J;771194 wrote:Never had anything from Redhook. I checked out their website. Found this concerning their IPA


WTF, no hop taste. If you ask me the Cascade hops should be the flavoring hops too. 44 IBUs seems kinda low to me for an IPA...But what do I know as I'm not a brewmaster, just a brew drinker. I do know I won't be buying that IPA. (Maybe I'm just too much into Imperial IPAs)

I actually has some good IPA last night. One of my old go to beers. Bells Two Hearted Ale.

If i was told i could only drink one more beer for the rest of my life, i would choose that one. LOVE.
O-Trap's avatar
O-Trap
Posts: 14,994
May 21, 2011 7:44pm
For me, it would be Three Philosophers from Ommegang. Mmmmmmm ...
Curly J's avatar
Curly J
Posts: 7,282
May 21, 2011 9:26pm
BORIStheCrusher;775863 wrote:Drinking Victory Prima Pils while chilling outside today. I was looking to pick up some Smuttynose Shoals Pale Ale, but the store I went to was all out so kind of bummed me out so I had to 'settle' on the Victory. I'm thinking about breaking something out of my collection later tonight but during this nice day it's going to be summer beers.

I love 'settling' with Victory. Their Prima Pils is one damn good beer. I'm not a lager/pilsner fan, but the ONLY pilsner I'll drink is Prima Pils.


Got my Beerfest Tickets for The 6th annual Jungle Jim's Beerfest on June 17th. (over 400 Beers will be there) The Wife was there last night and they had DFH on the shelves. We went back today around 3pm and the 60 and 90 Minute was GONE. The Beer/Wine Manager told me the TV show Brewmasters has A LOT more people asking for DFH. He said he had one lady that wanted him to order a case of DFH for her...through him, which he can't do. The way he explained the shortage to me was, lets say it used to be 10,000 stores/restaurants that sold it, but after the show more places wanted it and DFH/Distributors started selling it to them too. Since Production hasn't increased you now have 50,000 stores/restaurants selling the same amount that only the 10,000 did. So most places are getting less since they are spreading it out to others. Kinda crappy to the old school places that have sold their stuff for years. He also told me why you can't get Three Floyds' beers in Ohio anymore....Lawsuit. I won't get into it now as my supper is about ready. I might have to double post on this later to explain as it's not the brewers fault, but the Distributors...yea, our Country's messed up Beer distributing system once again. (watch the movie Beer Wars to find out more about that mess. I believe it's on Hulu and parts of it are/were on you tube)

Got the rest of the mixed box of Latitude 48s in the fridge to drink sometime this weekend. I did pick up a mixed 12 pack of GL beers today. (yea, I can't believe it either for those that know about me/them) It was priced nice so I thought I'd give em a try and give them a fair shake. I have to admit I've been pretty unfair to them since they are over priced in my area. (IMO)
iclfan2's avatar
iclfan2
Posts: 6,360
May 21, 2011 9:31pm
Curly J, I haven't seen the movie, but the three tiered distributor channel that some states have is just plain lunacy. SC just popped the top on high gravity beers a year ago. A YEAR! I mean what the hell is the legislature thinking? They can only now sell their own beer at the brewery, yet liquor can have tastings all over, as well as wine, but beer couldn't until last year. It makes no sense. Luckily, here in NC, we have DFH all over the place.
O-Trap's avatar
O-Trap
Posts: 14,994
May 21, 2011 10:43pm
Curly J;776105 wrote:I love 'settling' with Victory. Their Prima Pils is one damn good beer. I'm not a lager/pilsner fan, but the ONLY pilsner I'll drink is Prima Pils.
For the most part, I'm the same way. Never been a lager/pils kind of guy.

Only time I go for it is when I feel like slumming it, and at that point, I'll just grab one of the big Baltikas at the store. It's cheap, and it tastes cheap, but it's still better than most of what you'd drink at big gatherings, and it's cheap as hell for the volume.
Curly J;776105 wrote:I did pick up a mixed 12 pack of GL beers today. (yea, I can't believe it either for those that know about me/them) It was priced nice so I thought I'd give em a try and give them a fair shake. I have to admit I've been pretty unfair to them since they are over priced in my area. (IMO)

For me, they're hit-and-miss. As far as a porter goes, I do like their Edmund Fitzgerald. Not as much as Southern Tier, but it's not bad stuff. Their seasonal stuff is usually pretty good, including their Barrel-Aged Blackout Stout, which I got to try this past winter.

I do agree that they can be pretty pricy, though. Some of their other brews are just not at a tier that justifies the price.
Curly J's avatar
Curly J
Posts: 7,282
May 21, 2011 11:52pm
O-Trap;776153 wrote:For me, they're hit-and-miss. As far as a porter goes, I do like their Edmund Fitzgerald. Not as much as Southern Tier, but it's not bad stuff. Their seasonal stuff is usually pretty good, including their Barrel-Aged Blackout Stout, which I got to try this past winter.

I do agree that they can be pretty pricy, though. Some of their other brews are just not at a tier that justifies the price.
You're Preaching to the choir Brother OTrap. I'm not a fan of their IPA as it reminds me more of an Extra Special Bitter than an IPA. (Commodore Perry) Their seasonal stuff is pretty decent. Actually their Pale Ale wan't too bad and their lagers I've had tonight were...well...lagers.

To get back to the Three Floyds' and why they aren't in Ohio any more. I will not name the Distrusting Companies by name, only by A and B. I was told that when Three Floyds' left Ohio, due to scaling back due to the production, they were with "Distributor A". They even wrote a letter to "Distributor A" that they are pulling out of Ohio due to not being able to make the demand of their beer in Ohio, in no fault of the Distributor. Years later when they were able to meet the demands they wanted to get back in Ohio. They looked and they had another Distributor, "Distributor B", already handling their beer in Indiana and Kentucky. So they thought we'll make it easy and let "Distributor B" handle Ohio, and the whole Tri-State region. Well "Distributor A" got word of it and filed a lawsuit against Three Floyds'. So Three Floyds' said the hell with it we won't sell beer in Ohio. This whole thing happened with them years ago in Chicago too. They found a loophole eventually and was able to get their beers back there. (it might have been under a different name. I'm too lazy to look it up right now, but you can Google that situation)
O-Trap's avatar
O-Trap
Posts: 14,994
May 22, 2011 12:07am
Curly J;776199 wrote:You're Preaching to the choir Brother OTrap. I'm not a fan of their IPA as it reminds me more of an Extra Special Bitter than an IPA. (Commodore Perry) Their seasonal stuff is pretty decent. Actually their Pale Ale wan't too bad and their lagers I've had tonight were...well...lagers.
Bingo. Their lagers just aren't any more impressive than the next. Seriously, if you ever have a hankering for a lager (for whatever reason one might), just grab a Baltika. They come in this cheap-looking bottle, but the beer is no worse than any other lager out there. Cheap Russian bastards just don't care enough to up the price.

Yeah, the IPA is too "blunt-force-trauma" and not enough complexity. Creating beer is, and should still be, an art. Their IPA seems to lack that creative element.

Again, I don't mean to throw them under the bus. They're not low quality by any stretch. I just feel the same way you do ... not worth the pricetag.
Curly J;776199 wrote:To get back to the Three Floyds' and why they aren't in Ohio any more. I will not name the Distrusting Companies by name, only by A and B. I was told that when Three Floyds' left Ohio, due to scaling back due to the production, they were with "Distributor A". They even wrote a letter to "Distributor A" that they are pulling out of Ohio due to not being able to make the demand of their beer in Ohio, in no fault of the Distributor. Years later when they were able to meet the demands they wanted to get back in Ohio. They looked and they had another Distributor, "Distributor B", already handling their beer in Indiana and Kentucky. So they thought we'll make it easy and let "Distributor B" handle Ohio, and the whole Tri-State region. Well "Distributor A" got word of it and filed a lawsuit against Three Floyds'. So Three Floyds' said the hell with it we won't sell beer in Ohio. This whole thing happened with them years ago in Chicago too. They found a loophole eventually and was able to get their beers back there. (it might have been under a different name. I'm too lazy to look it up right now, but you can Google that situation)

This kind of thing just pisses me off. I get the business side of it, but from a beer-loving side, it annoys the hell outta me.
I
I Wear Pants
Posts: 16,223
May 22, 2011 1:18am
Drank/drinkning a lot tonight. Got a DFH 90 minute 4 pack, GL Holy Moses 12 pack and a six pack of Bell's Oberon. Also made a burger consisting of two grilled cheese sandwiches as either side of the bun (with two slices of cheese on each) and two half pound burger patties with two slices of cheese on each as well as 4 slices of bacon.
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O-Trap
Posts: 14,994
May 22, 2011 1:41am
Had 5 Goose Island Honker's Ale. Certainly am not feeling anything. Not a bad brew, and I wasn't looking to spend too much. It was very good for the money.
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Curly J
Posts: 7,282
May 23, 2011 1:16am
Let me try this again since I don't see what I typed earlier. I guess I hit the wrong button...

Listen here you beer snobs, I broke down and bought a case of Budweiser tonight. Did I just say that ??? What I meant is I bought an Old wooden Budweiser box that a case of Bud came in. The Wife's Dad gave us one many years ago and we were at an antique store and found another, so we bought it. To save face I also bought an old bottle opener for the 60's, 70's, maybe even older. It's from Hudepohl Brewing which was huge here in Cincy years ago. Actually someone bought back the company/recipes and is brewing it again via contract, with it being labeled as Cincinnati Ohio.

As for beer tonight. I just finished of the rest of the GL mixed 12 pack. The Porter wasn't that bad. Now maybe on to the rest of the Latitude 48s, maybe a Tiny, maybe a Stone, or maybe monkeys will fly out of my ass. :)
I
I Wear Pants
Posts: 16,223
May 23, 2011 1:20am
Edmund Fitzgerald is a pretty damned good porter IMO.

For me tonight it's more GL Holy Moses and Bell's Oberon. Gotta drink summer beers when it's summer weather.
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gorocks99
Posts: 10,760
May 23, 2011 8:20am
Surly Furious, Spotted Cow and a new one, Hopalicious from Ale Asylum in Wisconsin this weekend. Subtle IPA that I enjoy (but they probably shouldn't market it as a "big hop" beer)
S
Sonofanump
May 23, 2011 9:20am
Curly J;777256 wrote:Hudepohl Brewing which was huge here in Cincy years ago. Actually someone bought back the company/recipes and is brewing it again via contract, with it being labeled as Cincinnati Ohio.

I always thought the Hudepohl had a taste equivalent to Busch/Keystone/Mil Best. Never liked it, but hey, you guys put chili on your spaghetti, so each his own. :)