NT, What Beer Do You Drink?

[troublebound666]

Good deal, man. Thanks for the info. 

You bet. It's my pleasure.

And holy crap...how could I forget about probably the best restaurant/beer bar in town?

If you eat out at one place with an absolutely ridiculous tap selection that's good for the kiddos...Hops & Pie.

https://www.facebook.com/HopsandPieCO?ref=br_tf

Their FB page is updated with new taps every day plus the slice of the day and the sandwich of the week. I've NEVER had a bad meal or experience there. Amazing staff, great atmosphere, insane food.

 

[wallyhopp]

Today marks the beginning of my beer fridge cleaning efforts. I had to buy one more stout (ten fidy) to make it an even 16 (20 if you include the non stouts)

List in Spoiler.. Beer Name BA score (out of 5)/ # of reviews/ and BA Score out of 100

Spoiler

1 FW Parabola 4.61/4592 100
2 Deschutes The Abyss 4.52/2858 100
3 Founders Breakfast Stout 4.52/11717 100
4 Prairie Bomb! 4.5/2417 100
5 Oskar Blues Ten Fidy 4.38/7107 97
6 Founders Imperial Stout 4.36/5750 97
7 Evil Twin Imperial Biscotti Break 4.38/2558 97
8 Stone IRS 4.34/6911 96
9 Prairie ET Bible Belt 4.34/1233 96
10 Evil Twin Aun Mas Cafe Jesus 4.32/369 96
11 Evil Twin Even More Jesus 4.3/810 95
12 Clown Shoes Undead Party Crasher 4.20/379 93
13 Port Brewery Old Viscosity 4.15/1637 93
14 SN Narwhal 4.14/3220 92
15 Marble BBA Imperial Stout 4.17/94 92
16 La Cumbre La Negra 3.66/11 83
*Year of beer will be added some

Not sure of the format. Any final suggestions? Do I do 1 vs 16 like march madness? Do I pit the coffee stouts together? Region vs Region?

 

[jbug88]

i need to take a pic of my beer fridge ala Wally...

 

[lifestooshort80]

picked these up. don't know if i want to open the velvet merkin yet lol.

 

[jbug88]

Merkin is hitting huh? Time to stock up. Have every other Proprietor's release this year.

 

[based mod]

Picked up Merkin. Not sure why when I didn't like it last year

Bevmo bumped up the price to $17.50

 

[neosole89]

Patiently waiting for Velvet Merkin to hit Norcal.

 

[wallyhopp]

And away we go..

Jbug88, take some photos. I love seeing the "cellar" stash aways, as well as the daily drinkers..

Today I did pick up some random six packs for the week and a half ahead..
- Santa Fe Freestyle pilsner. Its approaching 3 months old. Still quite solid. I love this seasonal
-Elevated IPA four pack.. A must
- Flying Fish Oktoberfish seasonal. I;m really liking this one above Shiner and Sam Adams
- Sierra Blancas (Nut Brown) now labeled Bone Chiller Brown Ale. An award winner I'll be revisiting
- Single of Weihenstephaner Oktober Festbier and Guiness' Foreign Extra Stout. Heard solid things about Both

I took the first step in my 16 stout challenge. 2-3 a day for the next 8-12 days. I went ahead and decided on going 16 through 1 in descending order... First up today was La Cumbre La Negra, an oak aged Russian Imperial Stout, and a Marble Bourbon Barrel Aged Imperial Stout.

The countdown begins

#16

La Cumbre La Negra- Oak Aged Russian Imperial Stout. 10.5% abv, 3/8/14 bottled date
Somewhat above par smell of chocolate and roasted notes. Taste is quite a bit of bitter hops, along with a thinner mouthfeel of slightly oak tasting chocolate malt flavor.. 10.5% seems non existent here. I had this back in March when it released, and the ABV heat was a bit extreme. This time around it seems subdued. I'm glad I aged this for as long as I did. If it ages 1-2 more years, it may improve a bit, but the mouthfeel may never fill out... BA has this around a 83 with a dozen reviews.. I'm liking this one more to a 91-93 range beer. Thinnish mouthfeel is its downfall

#15

Marble Bourbon Barrel Aged Imperial Stout. 11% ABV, 11/20/2012 bottled date. WOW FACTOR! Bourbon hites the nose instantly. I catch a touch of vanilla, molasses, and deep dark fruit flavors. The mouthfeel is somewhat thick. Sweetness is top notch. This kind of blows away the La Cumbre beer, if you had to compare the two. If a BCBS is a top 20 beer, this should be within that 100 range. It' hits all the right notes.. It's BA score of 92 should be more in the 97 range.

Right now the local low # stouts are proving to be vastly underrated... Tomorrow is a 2013 Narwhal and a Port Brewery Old Viscosity..

 

[lifestooshort80]

based mod damn. it was 14 at total wine lol.

i probably won't open it for another month or so. prolly just gonna save it for a certain occasion.

my first sour ale though, it was delicious. soo sour and tart, can't wait to try other sours.

 

[wallyhopp]

Am I drinking the wrong sours? Usually I taste some funkiness or something close to a vinegar like flavor.. I mentioned awhile back, I love lemons, limes, and the overall tartness of food items. Why it hasnt translated to beers yet is truly unknown to me.

The Westbrook Gose I had awhile back did seem to have just enough tartness and 'funk' to please my palette. If anything, it would be at the end of the spectrum for "sours". Maybe I'm tasting the weird sours that are too extreme?

 

[purpnyellow]

Picked this up today

 

[lifestooshort80]

i decided to crack it open lol. The aroma was nice. I got bourbon, vanilla, and coffee. Taste is pretty much what the aroma is from what I got. And it changes as it warms up. more burbon and vanilla. but they don't dominate each other, very well balance. My only criticism is the body is a bit thinner than i expected. But overall, a great beer.

 

[wallyhopp]

I'm already falling behind. There was a beerfest and an oktoberfest that I missed out on on purpose, so I went up to Santa Fe to four different breweries... Only one beer was "amazing". Nothing terrible.. All incredibly solid. You couldnt ask for a better day

On to my countdown
Just had the one yesterday

#14 on the countdown
Sierra Nevada Narwhal Imperial Stout- 2013 Edition. 10.2% abv

A truly no frills (additives or aging process) Imperial Stout. I got hints of roasted malt, some chocolate, and hints of coffee.. Taste was very similar. Truly no bitterness to be had. Just an all around smooth BEAST. I caught some alcohol heat. But it just never lingered, nor was the mouth feel disappointing. If I'm comparing to #16 La Negra, this tops that in every category. So to have this near it in BA score seems a touch off. I would place up a notch around a 92-95, with La Negra down a notch to maybe 90 range.

I highly recommend buying a 4 pack for $9-$12, drinking 3 now and aging one in your fridge for a year

I got some catching up to do. Why not watch some football and have some imperial stouts..

More later....

 

[neosole89]

^ Breakfast of champions right there . Good stuff Wally.

Had these the past few days. Bear Republics Racer 5 IPA. Enjoy by 3/3/15. Had this several times before but never this fresh. Got some nice citrus notes in this. Very easy drinking at 7.5% ABV.

Next up was Bible Belt. Lots of chocolate and got more heat from the chilies this time around. Very nice!

 

[based mod]

i decided to crack it open lol. The aroma was nice. I got bourbon, vanilla, and coffee. Taste is pretty much what the aroma is from what I got. And it changes as it warms up. more burbon and vanilla. but they don't dominate each other, very well balance. My only criticism is the body is a bit thinner than i expected. But overall, a great beer.

Agreed with it having a really thin mouthfeel. I'm not sure this beer is worth BBA'ing. Velvet Merlin I like, Velvet Merkin is very much meh because of the price.

 

[stillin729]

Finally found this gem

 

[wallyhopp]

Merlin is the standard oatmeal somewhat easily accessible stout, right? I remember getting some in a trade.. Solid stuff. Oatmeal stouts are vastly underrated as a style. Is merkin a oatmeal Imperial Stout?

Elysian!.. Between that and the southern tier stuff, I dont even know why I try the truly standard dump of stuff ( I had 11 pumpkin beers a few pages back)

 

[yeahitsrust]

We have a 2013 coming up. Let's go Chargers!

 

[wallyhopp]

^ribs and stout. NICE!. I got some green chile cheese sausages cooking up mixed with onions and bell peppers.

BTW, last Sunday I picked up some bread bowls from panera, found an old Malpais Stout can, found a "guiness" stout stew recipe, bought some beef stew meat, and went to town... The most tender flavorful beef stew we ever Had... Guiness may have made it too thin. So a 7.5% dry stout alternative was PERFECT.. I know this is the beer thread, but we gotta start sharing some food dishes we eat with our beers

 

[yeahitsrust]

Went with a friend to foothills BBA sexual chocolate release. This is our second bottle so far.

 

[neosole89]

^ #properglassware

 

[rwfanatic]

Does putting your glass in the freezer to make it cold really make much of a difference?

 

[salazaro44]

Does putting your glass in the freezer to make it cold really make much of a difference?

It completely mutes the aroma and taste. Most beers have flavors come to the forefront when they warm up as you drink them. Freezing the glass would be acceptable when drinking something terrible like a hienekin.

 

[rwfanatic]

So the beer can be cold and be fine but not the glass? Interesting.

 

[wallyhopp]

Cold is also subjective.. On TV, you see scenes of cold rocky mountains and buckets of ICE cold beer. Those beers are served at nearly freezing, 32 degrees. Most "craft" ales have a recommended serving temperature of 40-45 degrees. Stouts can rise to near room temperature.

Have you had a budlight or another light type of lager that sat for 20-30 minutes at room temperature? You kind of dont want to taste those flavors. You want that muted aroma and just the cold refreshing 'taste' of nearly water like qualities. Most craft beers with 'flavor', you will drink them a touch warmer, leading up to where cask ales sit, which is room temperature and naturally carbonated.. IPAs that are cask conditioned are crazy flavorful.

Even taking a heady topper and drinking it ice cold would be a bad idea. One could start at the ice cold stage, but progress toward room temperature as you sip on the beer for 20-45 minutes.