The New Prog Beer Snob Thread

[SteveSly]

I find sours to be very hit and miss. Here in Kalamazoo Bell’s makes several. The most popular is Oarsman Ale which I don’t like at all, in fact I think it is one of the weakest beers Bell’s has ever made, but it is by far their best-selling sour. Bell’s also makes a sour called “Wild One” which is outstanding. The pucker factor on that one is off the charts, but for some reason it hits the spot for my taste buds. Unfortunately they only occasionally bottle it, and it is always a limited bomber release, so about the only place you can normally get it is on tap at the brewery. Oarsman on the other hand is available everywhere.

I recently had a sour Gose from Victory that I really liked although the name is escaping me at the moment. Founders has made some good sours off here and there. There is also a brewery here in Michigan that specializes in sours called “Jolly Pumpkin” brewing. Some of their stuff is pretty far out and I find their products to be hit and miss, but they are probably the kings of sour beers in the state right now.

[polmico]

My local beer shop gets Jolly Pumpkin with some frequency. I can't recall anything specific from them, but I'll keep my eyes open next time I walk down there.

[MYSTERIOUS TRAVELLER]

been imbibing the beers from the Alaska trip

Attachment 10556

this Porter was meh... kind of light and fizzy. Not very deep

[MYSTERIOUS TRAVELLER]

Attachment 10557

this Stout was really rich and thick with great depth and a definite hop presence not usually found in Stouts

because it is so good, I'm hesitant to say where it is from...

[moecurlythanu]

^ Does it make you think of John Denver?

[MYSTERIOUS TRAVELLER]

it's a band name

[Firth]

Drinking a Manor Hill local farm brew. An IPA from the Mosaic hop, nice and fairly unique flavor and balance.

[Zeuhlmate]

Have you noticed that Belgian Breweries have have started to make beers with much more hops than they use to.
IPA's, Dark IPA's and the 'usual'types + lots of hops.

I like that, was a bit fed up with the overly sweet types.

[TheH]

^ Does it make you think of John Denver?

It rather makes me think of the Simpsons..

[moecurlythanu]

It rather makes me think of the Simpsons..

It's Oregon.

[MYSTERIOUS TRAVELLER]

my wife and I just completed a double-blind evaluation of Brown IPAs from the east coast

Dogfish Head
Sweetwater
Smuttynose

were represented

I ass-u-me-d that Dogfish Head would run away with the contest since we have drank Indian Brown many times and feel it to be one of the best hoppy beers on the planet

Dogfish came in 2nd

Sweetwater Hash Brown out of Atlanta, GA was the winner

[Dave (in MA)]

I forgot what I've been drinking.

[moecurlythanu]

Sweetwater Hash Brown out of Atlanta, GA was the winner

Sounds like something on the menu at Waffle House.

[SteveSly]

my wife and I just completed a double-blind evaluation of Brown IPAs from the east coast

Dogfish Head
Sweetwater
Smuttynose

were represented

I ass-u-me-d that Dogfish Head would run away with the contest since we have drank Indian Brown many times and feel it to be one of the best hoppy beers on the planet

Dogfish came in 2nd

Sweetwater Hash Brown out of Atlanta, GA was the winner

I had some of that in the Atlanta airport back in March when we were flying to Florida. We had a couple hour layover and they had it on tap in the bar. I was really impressed with it. In fact I have liked everything I have tried from Sweetwater. It is not available in Michigan, but have had a few of their brews when in the south.

[philsunset]

Just had a Oak-Aged Vanilla World Wide Stout from Dogfish Head. A new variant on WWS. You got your stout with vanilla and oak bitterness. At 17.2 ABV it's not a beer to take lightly. I guess I liked it. Will have another some time.

[MYSTERIOUS TRAVELLER]

^^^
that stuff is super expensive eh?

[MYSTERIOUS TRAVELLER]

dunno if I posted this before, but in case anyone wants to do this kind of thing or wants to know how we do it:

DOUBLE-BLIND BEER EVALUATION

Evaluations are to be done between identical styles only!
Example: Chocolate Porters cannot include an Imperial Chocolate Porter. The Imperial Chocolate Porters would have a separate evaluation from the regular Chocolate Porters.

PREPARATION:

Blindfold
Identical glassware
Pen and paper marked in sections (example: R, RC, C, LC, L for a 5 brew evaluation, adjust as necessary)

Evaluation partner leaves the room
Write initials of each brew in the evaluation with marker on the bottom of the glass
Line up glass and brew with corresponding initials
Open all brews within 30 seconds and let breathe for 1 minute
Decant each brew carefully so as not to create too much of a head into glass with its corresponding initials
Put bottles/cans in a place where they cannot be seen by partner
Decanter leaves the room
Evaluation partner returns and mixes up the glasses in a completely new order without looking on the bottom

EVALUATION:

One partner is blindfolded while the other hands glasses in random order to them
They smell, then taste the beer and comment while the other writes down the comments in the appropriate section of the paper (example: the first beer came from the Right Center position so the comments are written in the RC section)
After all beers have been commented on by the first blindfolded partner, they switch places
After all beers have been commented on by the second partner they switch places again for the ‘rating’ round where numbers from 1-10 are assigned to each beer
They switch places for the ‘rating’ round

Averages of the number ratings are tallied and in the case of a disagreement, the comments are considered to determine the placements of first, second, third, etc..

[Shadowfax]

I drank my bottle of Founders Doom last night. My wife dropped out after a glass because she is not a Hop Head....yet (will drink Heady Topper on tap)
A little sweet but good barrel flavor and nice kick.

My wife brought home a 4-pack of Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale, Blackberry Porter, which had a ton of Blackberry flavor but the barrel is ever so subtle. I like all of the Alltech Kentucky beers. I was introduced to the original a few years back in Savannah on tap at World of Beer.....drove across town to buy a case but now I can get it more local.

[philsunset]

^^^
that stuff is super expensive eh?

Same as the regular World Wide Stout and 120 Minute IPA from Dogfish Head

$216 per case
$36 per 4pk
$9 a bottle

I'm good with that since the ABV is so high one would generally only have one bottle. A cheap date. Avery stuff (Tweak and Uncle Jacob's Stout) goes for $12-14 per bottle.

[polmico]

Support your local breweries:
http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/...ntent=20170728

[Jerjo]

Support your local breweries:
http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/...ntent=20170728

There's a smart phone app called Craft Check that will verify if the beer you're buying is actually an independent craft brewery or just a shell owned by one of the majors.

[adap2it]

Support your local breweries:
http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/...ntent=20170728

It's a bit of a conundrum...do you stop drinking any "crafty" beer? What if you love it? What if big beer bought ALL the craft breweries? IMO, small craft brewers do not start out with the intention of staying small and would sell to the highest bidder. That's business....

[oilersfan]

There's a smart phone app called Craft Check that will verify if the beer you're buying is actually an independent craft brewery or just a shell owned by one of the majors.

Pretty sure its only for IPhone so I haven't tried it yet.

Does it differentiate between majors? I mean, to me at least there's a helluva difference between a brewery owned by Duvel Moortgat (such as Ommegang and Boulevard) and one owned by AB-Inbev (such as Goose Island).

[Jerjo]

Pretty sure its only for IPhone so I haven't tried it yet.

Does it differentiate between majors? I mean, to me at least there's a helluva difference between a brewery owned by Duvel Moortgat (such as Ommegang and Boulevard) and one owned by AB-Inbev (such as Goose Island).

I tried it. It gave thumbs up to Ommegang but a huge thumbs down with a stern warning for Goose Island.

[polmico]

It's a bit of a conundrum...do you stop drinking any "crafty" beer? What if you love it? What if big beer bought ALL the craft breweries? IMO, small craft brewers do not start out with the intention of staying small and would sell to the highest bidder. That's business....

With Wicked Weed, yes I did. There is a law in NC which limits self distribution. Over 20k barrels of production and a brewery must use InBev to distribute. This law is harmful for local entrepreneurship. Wicked Weed didn't care, harming locals in the process. So yeah it does matter.