guccjermaine
Banned
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Had a Foster's at the bar today; Not bad.
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Finally got my hands on some of this. Tried to buy two bombers, but there was a one bottle limit again
. Last time I had this beer was the Enjoy By 05.17.13. Actually did a side-by-side comparison with Heady Topper and thought it was the superior beer of the two. Pours a light amber color with a soapy head that dissipates at a moderate pace. The aroma on this beer is an even mixture of citrus and pine, with a little bit of the malt backbone coming through. The taste on this beer is straight hops. I feel like the citrus flavor is pretty subdued on this batch, with an even amount of floral and piney flavors. Like the other batch of Enjoy By I had, this is extremely drinkable with a relative absence of booziness for a 9.4% ABV beer. Overall, I much preferred the Enjoy By 05.17.13 over this. If I did a side-by-side of this version with Heady Topper, Heady would be the clear winner. Having said that, this is still an exceptional beer that I would I could get my hands on all the time. 9.6/10
Oh...this is an aside, but I love the concept behind this beer. In a perfect world every brewing company would print the date it was bottled or the "enjoy by" date that large on their beers. I don't care if it's an IPA that's meant to be had fresh, or a barrel-aged imperial stout/English barleywine. The consumers have a right to know when the beer they're drinking was bottled, or when it's good by. Props to Stone for setting the precedent, now if only more breweries could follow suit...
Oh...this is an aside, but I love the concept behind this beer. In a perfect world every brewing company would print the date it was bottled or the "enjoy by" date that large on their beers. I don't care if it's an IPA that's meant to be had fresh, or a barrel-aged imperial stout/English barleywine. The consumers have a right to know when the beer they're drinking was bottled, or when it's good by. Props to Stone for setting the precedent, now if only more breweries could follow suit...
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My employees copped me a beer store gift card for Bosses Day (no idea there was such a thing) so I copped...
Rogue Pumpkin Patch
Troegs Mad Elf
Elysian Great Pumpkin
Walked into Heaven
Rogue Pumpkin Patch
Troegs Mad Elf
Elysian Great Pumpkin
Walked into Heaven
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Mad Elf is already out??
Goodbye to my memory after this weeks midterm
Goodbye to my memory after this weeks midterm
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I was surprised as anyone to see it; Troegs is capitalizing on it's growing popularity I'd imagine
I have a bottle from 2008 still
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Killed a bomber to the head of this years Parabola on barrel aged beer day.
Thought about getting Velvet Merkin but honestly wasn't a big fan of Velvet Merlin when I tried it so I decided to pass on the BA version. Definitely want to try it when I come across it on tap, though.
On a side note, just had Double Jack for the first time today. So good. I take so many beers for granted due to their availability. Can't believe it took me this long to try Double Jack.
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Picked up 3 bottles of this
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I've really started to enjoy porters in the last year
That vanilla one looks good
That vanilla one looks good
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Comparison Ford, was that ten fidy the fall 2013 batch? My local Total Wine released some ten fidy this past wweek, but all of it is 01/03/13 Gone til November? old stuff. I realize RISs are actually better with age, so they are doing most of us a favor here. But if they are buying old inventory and releasing it as new, what other beer styles are they doing this to? I think I'm boycotting TW after this last trip.
What's sad is, I see stuff like Odell's Myrchenary Double IPA. But can't find a bottled date, so I tend to avoid many hoppy beers from TW.. Even Oskar Blues Yella Pils had a canned date of July.... I just may stick to the local stuff which seems to be closer to our current date... Be warned guys.
WIth that said, I do love what Stone has done with their Enjoy by series. My state has had just one release thus far. But it was easily worth the money. Most bombers are not.
I spotted some Sierra Nevada Narwhal RIS.. Anyone try that?
Decent price.. Now with this purchase, and an older local RIS, it appears I have 5 RISs for this weekends tasting.. Fun times.
I also spotted a ton of winter beers.. I just can't do it until at least Thanksgiving time.. Some Fall beers that just released are on sale too.. As far as winter beers, nothing too special just yet. Samuel Smith Winter, Widmer Brrr, Red Hook Winter, Deschutes Jubeale, and a couple others.. I think I may wait until SN Celebration Ale releases.. That or some North Coast Old Stock... That was some truly solid sipping beer.
Anyone try the Game of Thrones Stout? For a iffy $9 purchase, I stick to my usual suspections unless a review score is in the 90s.. which is where Narwhal came into play.
What's sad is, I see stuff like Odell's Myrchenary Double IPA. But can't find a bottled date, so I tend to avoid many hoppy beers from TW.. Even Oskar Blues Yella Pils had a canned date of July.... I just may stick to the local stuff which seems to be closer to our current date... Be warned guys.
WIth that said, I do love what Stone has done with their Enjoy by series. My state has had just one release thus far. But it was easily worth the money. Most bombers are not.
I spotted some Sierra Nevada Narwhal RIS.. Anyone try that?
Decent price.. Now with this purchase, and an older local RIS, it appears I have 5 RISs for this weekends tasting.. Fun times.
I also spotted a ton of winter beers.. I just can't do it until at least Thanksgiving time.. Some Fall beers that just released are on sale too.. As far as winter beers, nothing too special just yet. Samuel Smith Winter, Widmer Brrr, Red Hook Winter, Deschutes Jubeale, and a couple others.. I think I may wait until SN Celebration Ale releases.. That or some North Coast Old Stock... That was some truly solid sipping beer.
Anyone try the Game of Thrones Stout? For a iffy $9 purchase, I stick to my usual suspections unless a review score is in the 90s.. which is where Narwhal came into play.
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...
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That's why I limit myself to two lol... But I got a great buzz at that point already...
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That's a solid imperial stout. In terms of bang for the buck, possibly the best value for imperial stouts out there.
Definitely go with a blind tasting btw.
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Last year's batch.Comparison Ford, was that ten fidy the fall 2013 batch? My local Total Wine released some ten fidy this past wweek, but all of it is 01/03/13 Gone til November? old stuff. I realize RISs are actually better with age, so they are doing most of us a favor here. But if they are buying old inventory and releasing it as new, what other beer styles are they doing this to? I think I'm boycotting TW after this last trip.
What's sad is, I see stuff like Odell's Myrchenary Double IPA. But can't find a bottled date, so I tend to avoid many hoppy beers from TW.. Even Oskar Blues Yella Pils had a canned date of July.... I just may stick to the local stuff which seems to be closer to our current date... Be warned guys.
WIth that said, I do love what Stone has done with their Enjoy by series. My state has had just one release thus far. But it was easily worth the money. Most bombers are not.
I spotted some Sierra Nevada Narwhal RIS.. Anyone try that?
Decent price.. Now with this purchase, and an older local RIS, it appears I have 5 RISs for this weekends tasting.. Fun times.
I also spotted a ton of winter beers.. I just can't do it until at least Thanksgiving time.. Some Fall beers that just released are on sale too.. As far as winter beers, nothing too special just yet. Samuel Smith Winter, Widmer Brrr, Red Hook Winter, Deschutes Jubeale, and a couple others.. I think I may wait until SN Celebration Ale releases.. That or some North Coast Old Stock... That was some truly solid sipping beer.
Anyone try the Game of Thrones Stout? For a iffy $9 purchase, I stick to my usual suspections unless a review score is in the 90s.. which is where Narwhal came into play.
Oh..and from everything I've heard about the Game of Thrones Stout it's a very forgettable beer. I thought about giving it a shot, but I'd rather save my money and buy something better.
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Rust, I'll do some shopping next weekend. Will be gone this coming weekend.
Had on tap last year. I remember it being pretty good, but nothing about it very memorable. Just a solid imperial stout.
Had on tap last year. I remember it being pretty good, but nothing about it very memorable. Just a solid imperial stout.
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[
Finally got to try one of my whales. Notes of funk, oak, lemon, it was like cantillon's classic gueuze, but more fruity citrus. Definitely one of the best beers i've ever tasted.
Finally got to try one of my whales. Notes of funk, oak, lemon, it was like cantillon's classic gueuze, but more fruity citrus. Definitely one of the best beers i've ever tasted.
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Finally had a chance to drink my bomber of Ska's Hoperation Ivy #23 last night. Every year they release a wet hop IPA locally in Colorado, and this was this year's. It was damn tasty.
The missus won tickets to GABF last week, so we went to the Friday session. It was crazy. Tried to stick to breweries that aren't distro'ed out this way (except for Jolly Pumpkin [my favorite brewery of all time], Boulevard [from my hometown] and Alaskan [just wanted to express my dad's love of their Amber]). Tried many of the Pa. breweries, which were all solid. It was a fun time, but I don't think i'd shell out the $80 a ticket...if we won another pair next year, I'd be cool with that.
And in other big beer news, it was announced yesterday that Duvel Moortgat (owners of Duvel, de Koninck, La Chouffe and Ommegang) bought Boulevard for north of $100 million. As a lifelong Kansas Citian until recently, this is very disappointing and upsetting. I'm sure the beer will remain the same, but for a brewery that called itself "Missouri's largest American-owned brewery" after AB got bought out by InBev and billed itself as "Kansas City's hometown brewery" to sell out bums me out. Plus, there's already talk that they might shift some or all of the Smokestack Series production to Ommegang. Last time I saw pictures of Ommegang's buildings, there weren't any smokestacks in Cooperstown.
It's off to probably Crooked Stave or TRVE tonight, then to New Belgium for our first tour there and Funkwerks tomorrow. Can't wait.
The missus won tickets to GABF last week, so we went to the Friday session. It was crazy. Tried to stick to breweries that aren't distro'ed out this way (except for Jolly Pumpkin [my favorite brewery of all time], Boulevard [from my hometown] and Alaskan [just wanted to express my dad's love of their Amber]). Tried many of the Pa. breweries, which were all solid. It was a fun time, but I don't think i'd shell out the $80 a ticket...if we won another pair next year, I'd be cool with that.
And in other big beer news, it was announced yesterday that Duvel Moortgat (owners of Duvel, de Koninck, La Chouffe and Ommegang) bought Boulevard for north of $100 million. As a lifelong Kansas Citian until recently, this is very disappointing and upsetting. I'm sure the beer will remain the same, but for a brewery that called itself "Missouri's largest American-owned brewery" after AB got bought out by InBev and billed itself as "Kansas City's hometown brewery" to sell out bums me out. Plus, there's already talk that they might shift some or all of the Smokestack Series production to Ommegang. Last time I saw pictures of Ommegang's buildings, there weren't any smokestacks in Cooperstown.
It's off to probably Crooked Stave or TRVE tonight, then to New Belgium for our first tour there and Funkwerks tomorrow. Can't wait.
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Going to a good size local beer festival tomorrow with over 250 beers, cant wait.
I'm providing a beer list for the event in case some of you are bored and would like to direct me to some must-trys.
http://www.grovetoberfest.com/the-event/beer-list
I'm providing a beer list for the event in case some of you are bored and would like to direct me to some must-trys.
http://www.grovetoberfest.com/the-event/beer-list
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I agree. For the price its worth the buy everytime when you want a decent stout at a decent price!
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I had a long o'l list typed out which pretty much covered half of the beers
I love trying local first and foremost at these events. Sexy llama, wynwood, midnight city, and many others are quite new with barely a dozen reviews on BA. Those fresh palette drinks are some of the best. No Crusts looks to have solid reviews. Any place that usually has 5-6 beers is local, so look at Cold Storage, Due South, Mb&Wm, Most Wanted, Native, and Phun-Q's. Sweetwater, grove, and Tequesta too. Unless you've been local and want to try other national stuff, I would go local most of the way.. Most of these places won't be bottling their beer until 3-4 years down the line.
Cigar City would be #1 on my list.. followed by Founder's. Then a sprinkle of some locals.
Stone and Sierra Nevada along with Oskar Blues make some great beers. but they are available all the time. Nothing rare there. DFH is available almost everywhere. They are different for sure. Possibly worth a try. Definitely not on the NOT try list. Green flash has a solid west coast IPA. Ive never been let down by Harpoon.
I would avoid places like Blue moon ,Leinenkugels, Dos Equis, any international named brewery is likely distributed everywhere. New Belgium, Redd's, Widmer, Redhook, Sam adams, all on my not to drink list. I truly believe you will have enough with the locals and if the fest was smart, they would have a brochure with brewery locations or have banners with brewery names and where they are from.
That may not have been totally helpful. If you were looking for specific must try beers.. Founders Breakfast stout all day. Centennial IPA would be a nice try.. Cigar City's Jai Alai
Cigar City would be #1 on my list.. followed by Founder's. Then a sprinkle of some locals.
Stone and Sierra Nevada along with Oskar Blues make some great beers. but they are available all the time. Nothing rare there. DFH is available almost everywhere. They are different for sure. Possibly worth a try. Definitely not on the NOT try list. Green flash has a solid west coast IPA. Ive never been let down by Harpoon.
I would avoid places like Blue moon ,Leinenkugels, Dos Equis, any international named brewery is likely distributed everywhere. New Belgium, Redd's, Widmer, Redhook, Sam adams, all on my not to drink list. I truly believe you will have enough with the locals and if the fest was smart, they would have a brochure with brewery locations or have banners with brewery names and where they are from.
That may not have been totally helpful. If you were looking for specific must try beers.. Founders Breakfast stout all day. Centennial IPA would be a nice try.. Cigar City's Jai Alai
Tonight's drink of choice
In preparation of a RIS sampling, I went back to my roots.
This beer is very subtle in its flavor, almost to the point of many calling it bland. I love the sweetness factor and the easy drinkability. It is a 6% beer afterall. I let two sit out for about an hr.. PERFECTION! You get hints of chocolate, hints of coffee, and just an overwhelming sense of sweet smoothness. The nitro version becomes a bit too flat for my taste. Sowhen I have a choice, I go with the normal version.
Also spotted a week old growler of Marble IPA that needs to be drank.. done and done
yeahitsRUST, any luck on the marble samplings yet?
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Thanks a lot for that. Yea I plan on hitting all the locals and more limiters first and then garbage time with the tried and trues. I'm most excited for Wynwood as it is really local and I've been following them from the start. The just opened up the tap room last week but I haven't made it down there. I'll try amd post a few reviews if there is anything life altering, or if your interested in any specific ones. It should be wild with unlimited samples for four hours. Wish me luck.I had a long o'l list typed out which pretty much covered half of the beers
-----------I love trying local first and foremost at these events. Sexy llama, wynwood, midnight city, and many others are quite new with barely a dozen reviews on BA. Those fresh palette drinks are some of the best. No Crusts looks to have solid reviews. Any place that usually has 5-6 beers is local, so look at Cold Storage, Due South, Mb&Wm, Most Wanted, Native, and Phun-Q's. Sweetwater, grove, and Tequesta too. Unless you've been local and want to try other national stuff, I would go local most of the way.. Most of these places won't be bottling their beer until 3-4 years down the line.
Cigar City would be #1 on my list.. followed by Founder's. Then a sprinkle of some locals.
Stone and Sierra Nevada along with Oskar Blues make some great beers. but they are available all the time. Nothing rare there. DFH is available almost everywhere. They are different for sure. Possibly worth a try. Definitely not on the NOT try list. Green flash has a solid west coast IPA. Ive never been let down by Harpoon.
I would avoid places like Blue moon ,Leinenkugels, Dos Equis, any international named brewery is likely distributed everywhere. New Belgium, Redd's, Widmer, Redhook, Sam adams, all on my not to drink list. I truly believe you will have enough with the locals and if the fest was smart, they would have a brochure with brewery locations or have banners with brewery names and where they are from.
That may not have been totally helpful. If you were looking for specific must try beers.. Founders Breakfast stout all day. Centennial IPA would be a nice try.. Cigar City's Jai Alai
Tonight's drink of choice
In preparation of a RIS sampling, I went back to my roots.
This beer is very subtle in its flavor, almost to the point of many calling it bland. I love the sweetness factor and the easy drinkability. It is a 6% beer afterall. I let two sit out for about an hr.. PERFECTION! You get hints of chocolate, hints of coffee, and just an overwhelming sense of sweet smoothness. The nitro version becomes a bit too flat for my taste. Sowhen I have a choice, I go with the normal version.
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Pretzel necklace saved my life the past few events.. I think I ate a whole bag and made a backup on sight lol
Depending on crowd size, I would go place to place and start lightest and move up to strong ales, stouts, then IPAs... Then again at some point an hour in, your palette will be wrecked.. I haven't been going to many locally because of that fact... I love everything after an hour
Depending on crowd size, I would go place to place and start lightest and move up to strong ales, stouts, then IPAs... Then again at some point an hour in, your palette will be wrecked.. I haven't been going to many locally because of that fact... I love everything after an hour
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Tell me more about this necklace. I saw them in a few pictures from last years event and didn't know if they were giving them out or what. So you make your own and rock it in and other people also do it, so you don't look like a weirdo?
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Pretzel Necklace is just a palate cleanser and a way to keep from passing out from drinking too much as far as a I know haha. I took full advantage of the free necklaces when I went to my first brew fest. Worth it IMO if they aren't charging an arm and a leg.
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Also spotted a week old growler of Marble IPA that needs to be drank.. done and done
yeahitsRUST, any luck on the marble samplings yet?[/quote]
I really enjoyed the IPA. I didn't try that one when I was in Nashville last year. I have had the Amber and Red before but they are still at my NC house for now. I tried the IPA knowing I never had it before.
Whats the good news on Le Cumbre? Any chance of scoring that nice glass or something other than a pint glass with the graphics on it? I would love one.
PS. Wally, I purchased 3 cases so far of FBS. One case is yours and yours only. Just let me know when you would like them. The rest are to be split between West Coast family and myself. Unless someone else here wants a nice UPS shipment.
Based? Get back to me on how much you would like. I should be in the states until the first week of December. After that I have no idea when I will be at the house to properly package and ship it.
Cheers!
yeahitsRUST, any luck on the marble samplings yet?[/quote]
I really enjoyed the IPA. I didn't try that one when I was in Nashville last year. I have had the Amber and Red before but they are still at my NC house for now. I tried the IPA knowing I never had it before.
Whats the good news on Le Cumbre? Any chance of scoring that nice glass or something other than a pint glass with the graphics on it? I would love one.
PS. Wally, I purchased 3 cases so far of FBS. One case is yours and yours only. Just let me know when you would like them. The rest are to be split between West Coast family and myself. Unless someone else here wants a nice UPS shipment.
Based? Get back to me on how much you would like. I should be in the states until the first week of December. After that I have no idea when I will be at the house to properly package and ship it.
Cheers!
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This review is a special one. Since I haven't had a day off since August, I figured I'd treat myself tonight. I invited my best friend over to share/split some bombers. I decided to go a litte crazy by opening one of my whales. I have a 2010 and a 2011 of this, so I decided to test out the 2011 and save the 2010 for a special occasion. Pours pitch black with moderately high viscosity. Has a head that lies somewhere between tan and deep mocha. Aroma is roasted malts, tobacco, oak, vanilla, bourbon, and a general sweetness. Taste is the same, with notes of roasted coconut at the middle of the mouth and a coffee bitterness at the front. My friend said he thought this beer was still too boozy for his tastes and expected it to mellow out more with two year under its belt. I, however, thought it was pretty mellow for a 12.5% beer. Obviously a sipping beer. I've been dying to try this for over a year now, so naturally I'm underwhelmed. There's just no way to be completely satisfied with a beer after hearing it get endless praise and having the hype build up for that long. Having said that: still an exceptional beer. Wouldn't pay anywhere near what I paid for the two bottles I have again, but a fantastic beer that I'm glad I can cross off of my list. 9.7/10
