You Will Drink Good BEER ... And It Will Be Delicious!

[Orpheus]

Sam Adams just doesn't make anything that exciting. I can't recall seeing anything really super flavorful or crazy from them--no imperial stouts, no DIPAs, no real hybrid styles that might make you interested. Yeah, they make a good amber, a good Octoberfest, some ok IPAs--but we're at the point where I can get any of the basic styles like that from any number of local brewers and they'll be cheaper and fresher. They need to do something crazy, and they're just not going to.

[Norah]

Also, Boston Lager is kind of gross.

[Orpheus]

Also, Boston Lager is kind of gross.

I like it as a beer alright, but it has given me a headache literally every time I've drank it.

[Norah]

me too

[doug rr]

I noticed at the store today that green flash in again selling west coast IPA as a 6 pack instead of that stupid 4 pack

[E.H. Ruddock]

Got a surprise beer mailing from a west coast rmer today. Drakes denogginizzer and Auburn ale house imperial IPA. So cool.

[dpupenya]

Hope Dev doesn't get jealous

[Dev]

Hope Dev doesn't get jealous

too late.

[@SkitchP]

I just bought a bottle of Dogfish 120... and really, i dont even like it that much. I am not sure why I bought it.

[PHATJ]

Picked up two bottles of this yesterday. I drank one last night, the other will be aged for about a year. It is such an incredibly flavorful beer. I highly recommend it.

"Our 27th Anniversary Imperial Porter was brewed with Theo Chocolate’s cocoa nibs, pomegranate molasses and select spices, blended with apricot puree, and then aged in bourbon barrels. The result is a truly exquisite ale with bold chocolate character, inspired flavors of fruit, and just a pinch of spice. The perfect way for us to celebrate our golden birthday with you! (Released August 2015)"

http://www.deschutesbrewery.com/beer/black-butte-xxvii/

[oasisfan35]

I just bought a bottle of Dogfish 120... and really, i dont even like it that much. I am not sure why I bought it.

I'd cellar it for a few years.

[B]

Here's what I got to at the World Beer Festival. Most of them are NC Breweries, and I was dealing with stomach issues which put a major damper on my drinking.

1. Lincoln Brewing 16th Saison
2. Green Man Porter Rich Dark Ale
3. Lagunitas Little Sumpin'
4. Crank Arm Holy Spokes Smoked Porter <- favorite of the night
5. White Street Grapfruit I-Plie
6. White Street Cask Conditioned Belgian Blonde (with Ancho Chiles and Oak)
7. D9 Viking Fraoch Scottish Sour <- great if you like sours
8. Foothills Bourbon Barrell Aged People's Porter <- painfully over bourboned
9. Sonoma Habanero Lime Cider <- best cider I've ever had
10. Four Saints Amber
11. Fullsteam Igor
12. Fortnight Coffee Amber
13. Ponysaurus Fig Saison
14. Devil's Backbone Schwarzbier
15. Ballast Point Grunion Pale Ale
16. Regulator Hazelnut Brown
17. Bold Rock India Pressed Apple
18. Blind Squirrel Nut Brown

[E.H. Ruddock]

So, nothing i recommended.

[PHATJ]

I need more fridge space.

[PHATJ]

I spent the afternoon at this event today. Indeed Brewing Company in Minneapolis. They do a two day event to celebrate their yearly (extremely limited) release of their "Rum King". It is an Imperial Stout aged in Rum barrels and it is absolutely delicious.




Rum King Imperial Stout

Style: Imperial Stout aged in rum barrels
Description: Complex notes of toffee and vanilla lure you in, with a roasty-toasty, malt-forward body burly enough to un-shiver those timbers. Make way for Rum King, a pitch black Imperial Stout aged in freshly emptied rum barrels. Smooth, assertive, and nearly ‘Navy strength,’ this seaworthy and spirited brew is a bold character to be reckoned with.
Availability: October — Bottle (750 mL), Draft

10.5% ABV
70 IBU

[dpupenya]

FALLBROOK, Calif. (AP) — Amid severe drought, the water board in this Southern California town imposed restrictions on Fallbrook Brewing Co., just as the tiny brewer doubled capacity to meet demand for its craft beers.
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To cut monthly water use by about 10 percent, owner Chuck McLaughlin bought an extra 310-gallon tank to catch water used in the brewing process to reuse it for cleaning equipment. His new brewhouse includes a chiller that uses two-thirds less water than his old one.

As a small business, there's no extra money to pay potentially thousands in fines if he exceeds the limit.

So far, "it's been very close," said McLaughlin, whose brewery is run out of a former consignment shop in Fallbrook, a town of 30,000 people about 60 miles north of San Diego.

California has more craft breweries — small, independent beer makers that use traditional ingredients — than any other state. More than 570 are in operation and another 240 are slated to open, according to the California Craft Brewers Association. Craft breweries contributed $6.5 billion to the state economy last year alone, producing 3.5 million barrels.

A typical craft brewery uses up to 7 gallons of water to make 1 gallon of beer. Some in California have decreased that ratio to less than 5-to-1, but they are still being asked to cut back to meet the state mandate, which aims for California's overall urban water use to go down by 25 percent when compared with 2013.

No other state in the drought-plagued West has taken such action.

Breweries are digging wells, installing wastewater treatment plants and seeking exemptions from local water boards that control water use and can impose fines. Some are shelving planned expansions.

If Mother Nature doesn't bring significant showers and snowstorms this fall and winter, some breweries may be forced to leave the state.

Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. and other established California breweries, such as Stone Brewing Co., recently opened plants on the East Coast. But they say the motive was not the drought but to cut transportation costs to those markets.

Still, "a lot of brewers are looking to open up new breweries and a lot of them have concerns over water availability in the state of California," said Cheri Chastain, Sierra Nevada's sustainability manager. "Drought has the potential to move a lot in the industry outside the state or prevent it from growing."


Officials in the city of Chico told Sierra Nevada this spring to drop its water use by 32 percent. The nation's largest private craft brewery already had cut its usage by 25 percent and said further cuts would hurt production. The local water board agreed to exempt the water it uses to produce beer and asked Sierra Nevada to work toward reducing water used for its restaurant and landscaping by 42 percent.

Bear Republic Brewing Co. has taken some of the most drastic measures. The company last year pulled out of 15 U.S. markets and four countries after the Northern California town of Cloverdale informed the brewery it did not have enough water to sustain it.

But instead of moving, Bear Republic spent $466,000 to dig two wells for the town of 9,000 residents. It spent an additional $4 million on its own water treatment system, which uses electrically active microbes to purify wastewater, allowing the brewery to recycle up to 25 percent of the water it uses for equipment cleaning.

"We have to make sure to protect our future, not only for the community but for our 157 employees who have a home here — just packing up and leaving would be devastating to them," owner Richard R. Norgrove Sr. said.

But he adds: "We also have to look to the outside world to see where we're going to build our long-term growth if we can't do it here."

That could mean building a second plant where there is ample water.

Stone Brewing Co. in Escondido is spending $1 million on expanding its $8 million wastewater treatment system installed in 2008 and aims to use only 3 gallons of water for every gallon of beer it produces.

"We don't have any prediction on what's coming down, and we don't want to get penalized," said Pat Tiernan, chief operating officer.

Tiny breweries like Fallbrook Brewing Co. can't afford those options.

McLaughlin could find relief by moving his brewery to the neighboring city of Oceanside, whose water reduction target is 20 percent — compared with 36 percent for the town of Fallbrook. Each district's reduction target is based on how much water that district used per person in 2013.

But like many craft brewers, McLaughlin believes the local community is what makes his beers stand out.

No stranger to water woes, the town was depicted in Frank Capra's 1952 film, "The Fallbrook Story," about ranchers fighting the federal government over water rights to a nearby river.

Today it is best known for its annual avocado festival, where children outfit avocados with tiny wheels to race them in the "Avo 500." One of his brewery's most popular ales is a saison infused with local avocado-blossom honey.

"'Be social. Drink local.' That's our motto," he said. "We wouldn't consider moving outside of Fallbrook. We'll just pray for rain — maybe hire a rain dancer."

[E.H. Ruddock]

So Bud and Miller are one company now.

[dpupenya]

Still awaiting anti trust I think. The Clydesdale can't ride Bob Eucker into the sunset just yet

[oasisfan35]

So Bud and Miller are one company now.

Also it is SABMiller, they may have to sell off the MillerCoors portion before moving forward.

[B]

So, nothing i recommended.

The Devil's Backbone is the only one you recommended that I'd never tried before, and despite feeling like shit at that point, I still got one. I wish I could give an assessment, but I really wasn't enjoying beer that night.

But I tried, brother. I tried.