The Beer Geek Thread

[brewmaster]

Smuttynose Farmhouse Ale. What a pleasant surprise! If you're a fan of Saisons, this is an easy beer to like. 9.3% ABV is very strong for a Saison but the beer hides it well. $5.99 for a bomber at Market Basket makes it an easy choice and I'll be grabbing a bunch more to keep in the beer fridge.

on the Smutty. Glad to hear my buds there are getting cred for the great beer they are brewing.

I soo wish I could sell a beer that had a haze like that. No Brit will drink one because they think the beer is bad if it has a haze....silly Brit beer drinkers.

[Slyder]

I soo wish I could sell a beer that had a haze like that. No Brit will drink one because they think the beer is bad if it has a haze....silly Brit beer drinkers.

They must have a heart attack when someone breaks out a Lambic

[brewmaster]

They must have a heart attack when someone breaks out a Lambic

Some know about Lambic beers. Belgium is only 2 hours away by car if you are in London... plenty of Belgium beer there. Problem is most Brit's aren't interested in beer above 5% abv.

[GTStang]

Honey Brown Ale:

[ZX-12R]

While on the subject of Saisons, here is Hennepin from Ommegang. This bottle was brewed in NY but I also have one waiting in the fridge that was brewed by their parent company Duvel in Belgium. This beer is a fantastic example of a Saison with a noticable Belgian influence. This beer looks great, smells great, tastes great, and finishes great. It's highly effervescent and extremely refreshing. I think the yeast at the bottom of the bottle adds to the flavor so I make sure it's stirred up before I pour it.

[cbr_chick_nh]

We should have a NESR beer night... Strange Brew perhaps... Yum

[ZX-12R]

The next group (from left to right)...

Oskar Blues - GUBNA Imperial IPA: This is a very potent double IPA (10.0%) that is perfect for any hop fanatic. I've had it on draft in several left coast bars but this is the first time I'll be trying the can.

Oskar Blues - Ten Fidy: 10.5% Russian Imperial Stout. I've never had it before and I was excited to find it. The general consensus is it's a fantastic stout. I can't wait to try it.

Sixpoint - Diesel: An excellent dry hopped stout.

Sixpoint - Bengali Tiger: An excellent American IPA. I actually picked this up by accident. I meant to get Sixpoint's Righteous Ale which I haven't tried yet but I thoroughly enjoy the Tiger so I'll survive.

Narragansett - Bock: I haven't had this but enough people in this thread were excited about Narragansett's new offerings so I decided to try them out.

Narragansett - Cream Ale: This is the one people were excited to try and now you can finally get it in NH.

Harpoon - Leviathan - Barleywine Style Ale: I've been looking for this beer for a while. It's a 10% English Barleywine. I've been on a barleywine kick lately and this one has eluded me until now.

Unibroue - La Fin Du Monde: A world class Belgian Tripel from America's hat.

Ommegang - Rare VOS: A spiced Belgian Pale Ale that I haven't tried yet.

Unibroue - Éphémère (Apple): One of the few beers from Unibroue I haven't gotten around to trying yet. I normally don't go for fruit beers but I figured I've passed it by too many times that I might as well give it a shot.

[ZX-12R]

I started with the Oskar Blues - Ten Fidy Russian Imperial Stout and I can safely say it's as good as its reputation. It pours like a thick pitch black liquid with a dark brown head that forms several seconds after pouring. You can tell from the smell that it has lots of chocolate and dark malts with a sweet and almost bourbon like nose. The taste is as complex as the nose with a rich and sweet dark fruit flavors from the malts followed by a coffee like finish with a bitterness that is just right. The 10.5% alcohol is very well hidden by the powerful flavors and gives your mouth a nice warming sensation. The thickness of the beer coats your mouth so the excellent flavor lingers while it slowly fades away.

Unfortunately this beer is pricey but I found it at a shop that's known to be expensive. Rumor has it you can find it for a fair bit cheaper so I'll continue the hunt since this is a beer I could drink a lot more of!




Edit: This stuff is rediculous! I went and bought a bunch more to keep me satisfied.

[ZX-12R]

I got around to trying Narragansett's Cream Ale and Bock. I was underwhelmed by the cream ale as its flavor was a lot lighter than I care for although I should have known that since cream ales are like that by design. The flavor wasn't bad at all just nothing special. I would definitely drink it if it were offered to me but I wouldn't go out of my way to buy it. The Bock on the other hand was quite good. I've heard people describe it as heavy but it's a lot lighter than what I typically go after. I would have no problem with this being a session beer.

[burtonboarder23]

just wrapped up brewing a raspberry wheat, came out just below 5% which was right where i wanted it to be. Have a bottle sitting in my fridge right now, going to test it tonight since i have zero patience and have been waiting for over a month and a half to try this out as its my first all grain attempt. Will post up a couple photos once i cracked it.

[nilez]

I've noticed since moving to SoCal that IPA's are huge now. They're everywhere out here, it's almost like a sick obsession. I never used to be a fan of IPA's, but now I enjoy them from time to time.

But here's my question: Is this a craze/fad/obsession in SoCal, or is it taking the nation by storm? Are IPA's really that huge just in SoCal, or is it just a coincidence that IPA's became huge just as I moved to the west coast?

[drowe531]

I've noticed since moving to SoCal that IPA's are huge now. They're everywhere out here, it's almost like a sick obsession. I never used to be a fan of IPA's, but now I enjoy them from time to time.

But here's my question: Is this a craze/fad/obsession in SoCal, or is it taking the nation by storm? Are IPA's really that huge just in SoCal, or is it just a coincidence that IPA's became huge just as I moved to the west coast?

I am seeing a lot more IPA's around here as well. The last few beer festivals I went to every brewer had an IPA plus whatever else they had.

[fineout]

IPA's have gotten pretty popular recently, but also in cali you have bear republic sierra nevada and green flash which make some of my favorite IPA's and I'm sure there are more out there.

I tried a shandy made with 1/2 narragansett summer and 1/2 newmans own lemonade, a billion times better than the premade shandy's, came out so good!

[ZX-12R]

IPA's are huge on the left coast which is influencing breweries over here on the right coast. Among the outstanding ones you can find out there, a lot of breweries are adding rediculous amounts of hops just for the sake of adding hops. You end up drinking a glass of concentrated liquid pine tree.

[nilez]

IPA's are huge on the left coast which is influencing breweries over here on the right coast. Among the outstanding ones you can find out there, a lot of breweries are adding rediculous amounts of hops just for the sake of adding hops. You end up drinking a glass of concentrated liquid pine tree.

Spot on about the hops. There's a local brewery/restaurant here that serves an IPA that is 18%. They took the ingredients from the original IPA it was modeled after and doubled everything. They only serve it in a 1/2 pint glass because it's so potent. I drank one and immediately felt it, but I couldn't drink another, it's just too hoppy for my likes. Thanks for answering my question zx-12, that makes sense why IPA's are everywhere out here.

[Alilyoyo1]

OMG! BEER! and GOOD beer at that ...

[ZX-12R]

Speaking of IPAs, here is a fine Belgian example from the Van Steenberge brewery that I enjoyed yesterday:



Not overly hopped with an excellent malt foundation. It has spice notes that you would expect in Belgian tripels along with carbonation similar to Unibrou offerings. This is a fantastic beer. Van Steenberge is also known for their Gulden Draak which is a Belgian strong dark ale.

[burtonboarder23]

Here is my first all grain in primary and secondary, loving the end color.

[ZX-12R]

Here is my first all grain in primary and secondary, loving the end color.

How did you handle sparging? While I was actively brewing, I used fly sparging with a false bottom igloo cooler that I custom made. If I ever find the time to get back into it, I'm going to give the bag method a shot since it looks a lot simpler and is nearly as efficent as fly sparging.

[burtonboarder23]

Same as you, fly with false bottom

[ZX-12R]

I brought home a selection of Oskar Blues over the weekend. Ended up trying the Mama's Little Pils and a Smuttynose S'Muttonator I've had in my fridge for a while.

[StrayNut]

Attachment 31309
Freaking delicious. Sorry, uploading from phone and not sure how to rotate...

[ZX-12R]

I came across some beer worth posting about in this thread. I was in VT over the long weekend and finally had a chance to go to the Hill Farmstead Brewery which I have been dying to try out for a while now. Like the Alchemist, their distribution doesn't get them outside of VT so it's exceedingly difficult to find their beer unless you live in the area.

First up was "Edward" which is an APA:


"Abner" is a DIPA:


"James" is an American Black Ale:


And "Everett" is a porter:


All of these beers are outstanding but I particularly enjoyed Edward and Everett. If you are in the Greensboro Bend VT area, I highly recommend you check them out.

[fineout]

Got all these for a blind tasting im doing in a couple weeks

6x Smuttynose Pumpkin Ale 12oz
6x Brooklyn Post Road Pumkin Ale 12oz
6x Harpoon UFO Pumpkin Ale 12oz
4x Dogfishhead Punkin Ale 12oz
4x Weyerbacher Imperial Pumpkin Ale 120z
2x Southern Tier Pumking 22oz
2x Longtrail Brewmaster Series Imperial Pumpkin Ale 22oz
2x Shipyard Smashed Pumpkin Ale 22oz (NOT pumpkinhead, that shit sucks)
2x Wachussett Imperial Pumpkin Ale 22oz

[brewmaster]

Thats a bit too much Pumpkin Ale for me. You should do the tasting blind so everyone picks their favourite beer on taste and not who brewed it or graphics on the label. You could then reveal the ranking of most liked to least liked. Actually please post back what you find out. I am interested.

p.s.- It is a shame there are so many Pumpkin beers out already and it is just September 5th!

pps - I'm taking my crew out to a Hop Walk today, should be fun.