damn, I heard sixers are going for $20 this year

2/5/2013 2:07:10 PM

yeah i think that's right. that's still a better value than if they bottled this in 22oz bombers

2/5/2013 2:21:52 PM

My brother got me a "Beer of the Month" service for a year, for my birthday. 12 beers each month. All Belgian. Awesome.

2/5/2013 2:48:23 PM

Quote :

"yeah i think that's right. that's still a better value than if they bottled this in 22oz bombers"

I hate this trend of $15 bombers.

2/5/2013 3:00:47 PM

Hopslam notwithstanding, anything else worth checking out right now?

2/5/2013 3:06:57 PM

yeah...i'm impartial about bombers for the most part. i tend not to buy 6-packs often and when my ex and i lived together a bomber allowed us to open a beer and each have a glass. i won't open a bomber by myself that often, so now that i live alone i rarely drink at home.

i'll still spend ~$15 for a seasonal, sour, or barrel aged bomber. but will rarely go over $10 for a common style. that's why beers like OHB Seven Devils and FH BBL People's Porter at $8 are such a huge steal around here.


once session IPA season comes back around my 6-pack habits will change when i load up on Little Hump, All Day, and Fractional

Quote :

"Hopslam notwithstanding, anything else worth checking out right now?"

it's somewhat a transition period. Most of the spring seasonals will start rolling out. it's usually my least favorite time of the year for beer.

2/5/2013 3:11:57 PM

CBC just released their Groundhog Day beer, an imperial Stout. Pretty damn good

They will also be putting out their Spring Bock in April.

2/5/2013 3:18:32 PM

Is Black Note already out in NC? I figured it would have been on the same truck as Hopslam but no dice.

2/5/2013 3:22:28 PM

from what i was told the allotment for the state was so incredibly small that some stores weren't even going to bother putting it out. my local said he might get 12 bottles if he was lucky.

2/5/2013 3:29:51 PM

Quote :

"I picked up a case of Hopslam @ $14.99 ; and 3 four packs of Black Note @ $15.99 at Food Lion of all fucking places."

i hate you.

2/5/2013 4:27:48 PM

lol sarcastic cat is sarcastic

2/5/2013 4:37:34 PM

2/5/2013 5:03:52 PM

Black Note did drop in NC already; when I worked rotating shifts, it was easy to get beer because I went during the day but now the M-F/8-5 is making it difficult.

2/5/2013 5:42:43 PM

i think jester king has gone into the business of hiding bodies

2/5/2013 5:53:17 PM

4 cases (12 each) made it to Charlotte and they went to Duckworth's and Saucer. They'll never see the sales floor of Saucer I guarantee that.

2/5/2013 5:59:38 PM

don't be too bummed out if you don't get black note

i've had it a couple of times, and never been blown away by it.

ymmv

2/6/2013 9:25:14 AM

though i am kind of over the grapefruity hopped IPAs I will pick up a bottle of fresh batch Maharaja when it lands. That's always a great drinking IPA.



ISO: Zombie Dust

2/6/2013 9:50:31 AM

I snagged a bottle of supplication, a big bad Baptist, and a barrel aged Bigfoot yesterday
I really want to drink the supplication now. Should I cellar it?

2/10/2013 3:56:13 PM

haven't had it before? drink it - the fruit side is only going to decrease with time

also: https://store-54e42.mybigcommerce.com/bottle-logs/

[Edited on February 10, 2013 at 4:07 PM. Reason : a]

2/10/2013 4:05:31 PM

Says batch 10, which doesn't show in the logs

2/10/2013 4:41:33 PM

Went to Church Key in DC, absolutely insane bottle list at that place

2/10/2013 7:04:09 PM

Finally had a Hopslam in Fredericksburg today. It was easily one of the best IPAs I've had, but people go way too crazy for it...I mean it's not that good

2/10/2013 8:16:56 PM

Quote :

"I snagged a bottle of supplication, a big bad Baptist, and a barrel aged Bigfoot yesterday I really want to drink the supplication now. Should I cellar it?"

I've had it cellared and fresh and it doesn't really matter, it's amazing either way. Batch 010 was bottled 2/17/2012, those ^^^^ bottle logs are ancient and Russian River hasn't updated in forever. As of last June (2012) they went to bottle dating instead of batch #'s. So anything with batch # you can assume is pre-June 2012.

2/11/2013 12:48:58 AM

Quote :

"don't be too bummed out if you don't get black note i've had it a couple of times, and never been blown away by it. ymmv 2/6/2013 9:25:14 AM"

somewhat ironically, two days after posting this, a surprise box showed up on my doorstep with blacknote and hopslam.

2/11/2013 8:28:15 AM

Quote :

"but people go way too crazy for it...I mean it's not that good "

exactly. The Hopslam bonanza has to slow down some year, right?

2/11/2013 2:03:19 PM

not sure if that will happen. The whole Hopslam obsession comes from people who aren't regular craft beer drinkers. Or they get most of their "craft" from the small selection at the grocery store. They don't know any better and to them the DIPA is still the "it beer style". I think that's why you've seen most people in the craft circle move away from the IPA/DIPA craze, but Hopslam is still almost unobtainable.

2/11/2013 2:16:24 PM

well i don't know if i completely agree with that. it's now moved up to top 10 on BA (which of course fluctuates with recent beer releases) but i wouldn't consider all those reviews to be non-craft beer drinkers, considering they took the time to rate it.

personally it's not for me. in fact i'm not even a huge fan of Heady Topper either. I still think Pliny (Elder & Younger) are the best with the likes of Zombie Dust are really the superior IPAs. but tastes differ and no single person is the authority on what's the best and what's not, we all like different beers i'm sure.

2/11/2013 4:03:14 PM

i'm not saying that the beer's reputation will go away or that it's undeserving of a high grade, just saying that until there is a new "it" beer or beer style the fringe craft beer drinkers will still come out of the woodwork each year to buy up all the hopslam.

i honestly haven't had one in two years because of this.

2/11/2013 4:05:57 PM

one of my friends on untappd followed up a 3.5 star rating of hopslam with a 4 star rating of sweet josie.

2/11/2013 4:13:43 PM

Quote :

"i'm not saying that the beer's reputation will go away or that it's undeserving of a high grade, just saying that until there is a new "it" beer or beer style the fringe craft beer drinkers will still come out of the woodwork each year to buy up all the hopslam. "

yea, i have that sentiment with Pliny, it comes to our market every 5 weeks or so and sells out in hours. sometimes i seek it out, but most times i'm just as content drinking local Avery Maharaja or Odell Myrcenary.

[Edited on February 11, 2013 at 4:27 PM. Reason : .]

2/11/2013 4:27:12 PM

well if he's comparing one beer to the other, i guess that's his taste profile, i can't really argue against that.

if he's comparing Sweet Josie against other brown ales then a 4/5 is justified. it's a top notch award winning brown ale.

2/11/2013 4:28:17 PM

had my first Oskar Blues Dale's Pale Ale brewed from the new facility in Brevard, NC. my god was it fresh. can't wait for these things to hit the market. will become a fridge staple for sure.


also had an OHB Redeemer, the DIPA released in January. It was quite good. huge nose of true west coast hops. not bad for $10 a bomber.

2/13/2013 8:46:23 AM

We got Brevard brewed Dales in 19.2 ounce cans a couple of weeks ago here in Raleigh

[Edited on February 13, 2013 at 6:35 PM. Reason : add another note]

2/13/2013 6:32:34 PM

Henry Weinhards Woodland Pass IPA tonight...... not too bad.

2/13/2013 7:38:04 PM

another successful Sour Sunday



Brewery Vivant Escoffier
Bruery Rueuze
Bruery Oude Tart
Cascade Blueberry
Cascade Sang Noir
Epic Elder Brett
Abbaye de Saint Bon-Chien 2006
Founders CBS (palate cleanser )
New Holland Blue Sunday Sour x 2
Cisco Lady of the Woods
Jolly Pumpkin La Roja
Cuvee Rene
Evil Twin Without You I'm Nothing
3F Golden Blend
Boon Oude Geuze Mariage Parfait
OHB Lindley Park

2/18/2013 8:47:37 AM

I had a Hopslam on draft and a Black Note in a bottle immediately after work today...tomorrow is going to be interesting.

2/18/2013 6:21:34 PM

What's a good sour for me if I don't think I really like sours that much? I had a bottle of this year's The Dissident, and it was fairly good; with a few more bottles, I think I could come to really enjoy it. Of course, a few more bottles are not easily obtained for another 10 months or so. I tried the Drie Fonteinen Oude Kriek on someone else's recommendation and found that one to be way too sharp and tart for my tastes.

tl;dr: Any entry-level sours that are similar in profile to The Dissident and not too overwhelmingly sour or funky?

2/18/2013 6:48:18 PM

Rodenbach Grand Cru
Tilquin Gueuze
Timmermans Limited Edition Gueuze
Jolly Pumpkin La Roja

those should be some of the easier ones to find. two are flemish reds, two are traditional gueuze blends.

2/18/2013 7:03:45 PM

Second Rodenbach Grand Cru. I enjoyed Cisco Lady of the Woods also, and I'm a sour novice.

On a related note, I grabbed a Lips of Faith La Folie today.

2/18/2013 7:34:21 PM

Lady of the Woods is one of the most sour sours i've had. It's delicious, but could be too much for someone trying to get into them. definitely don't pass it up if you ever see it on the shelf.

2/18/2013 7:37:35 PM

I think I may have posted it in here, but it actually was too much for me at first. After letting it warm I thoroughly enjoyed it though.

2/18/2013 7:50:30 PM

Entry level sours go for Oud Bruins, not Flemish Reds. Flemish Reds are the more sour of the two. Gueuzes are good but can be pretty sour, krieks can go either way, sometimes sweet, sometimes sour.

You'll want to look for Liefmann's Goudenband or Petrus Aged Pale, both regularly available. My favorite shelf gueuze is Girardin Gueuze 1882 (Black Label), if you go red, Cuvee Des Jacobins Rouge

Jeepin4x4, that's a pretty sweet lineup, you got a tasting group or a beer buyer as a friend? Or just a bottle share among friends? You got me craving a Sang Noir now, one of my all time fav's.

[Edited on February 19, 2013 at 12:10 PM. Reason : .]

2/19/2013 11:57:40 AM

^basically just a group of us who get together every month or so. usually based around the Sour Sunday theme. but as you can see we welcome all types.

the last time there was only 4 of us. I think there was about 12 of us this time

2/19/2013 1:16:23 PM

saving my CBS for my birthday in a month how was Rueuze? I have it in my cellar and was thinking I might let it develop a bit more... i really enjoyed Oude Tart although it wasn't that sour for a flemish red, and had Golden Blend last month and wasn't terribly impressed, I thought Tilquin was better.

oh yeah, and Denver's getting about 8 kegs of Pliny the Younger dropping in this week

[Edited on February 19, 2013 at 1:39 PM. Reason : .]

2/19/2013 1:31:16 PM

this was my first time having Rueuze and actually preferred it over the Oude Tart that I brought. Definitely recommend it.

the guy who brought the CBS is actually the GM of the shop we were at. He brought it as a "palate cleanser" best cleanser ever, haha. The maple nose of the CBS has really fallen off though. It's got a very woody/barky nose to it now

2/19/2013 1:43:41 PM

Sucabaaaaaaaaaaaa

2/20/2013 11:04:45 AM

^^^Any info on where Pliny will be? Trying to help a friend get a taste.

2/20/2013 6:52:51 PM

4 tappings in the next week between the two places in Denver, possibly 1 or 2 more, have your friend bring cash to the events as it's the best to get your drink and get out of the way.

First come, first serve, I'd suggest getting there at least an hour early for any of these places.

http://fallingrocktaphouse.com/category/pliny-the-younger/
http://www.thecheekymonk.com/entertainment

Falling Rock Tap House:
Saturday 2/23 12:30pm (doors open at 11am)
Sunday 2/24 1:00pm (doors open at 11am)

Cheeky Monk:
Monday 2/25 6:30 PM
Thursday 2/28 6:30 PM
$10

[Edited on February 20, 2013 at 6:57 PM. Reason : ,]

[Edited on February 20, 2013 at 6:58 PM. Reason : .]

2/20/2013 6:54:56 PM

new Bruery Sour in the Rye is really good.

2/20/2013 11:07:13 PM

FYI, The Vine is now available for purchase online.

Just ordered The Vine, Apricot, Vlad & Noyaux in one order.

2/21/2013 6:26:33 PM