[+duracell-]
aka Chad A. has been a member since April 9, 2005, has scored 6,505 submissions, giving an average score of 1.59, helping 84 designs get printed.
To coincide with the launch of Finch's Threadless IPA, I thought it was time again to talk about a subject of great importance.
In this blog, we discuss all things craft beer.
Have a favorite beer? Try something new and want to post a review? Experimenting in homebrew?
Good, bad, or indifferent, I want to know what you are drinking.
Please share your beer tasting adventures.
This is basically the best Rye style beer I've ever had. It's brewed with four varieties of Belgian caramel malts and 100% Amarillo hops. Smells of honey, mango, grapefruit, pine. Definite caramel malt sweetness in the taste up front, along with lemon/pine ..maybe some apple. Then you get some of that rye spiciness mixed with hop bitterness near the end with a slight alcohol warm. Medium bodied, nice carbonation, clean/crisp mouth-feel.
Ratings
ratebeer.com: 99 Overall / 100 Style
#1 ranked Specialty Grain beer in the world
I've had this before and thought it was pretty bitter and awful. Your Beeradvocate people scored it well but I couldn't finish it. :/
This I bought at wholefoods a couple of weeks ago and found I enjoyed it alot. I'm usually not a pilsner fan but really enjoyed the light very carbonated taste as it paired well with the filet mingon my boyfriend made :)
Arrogant Bastard Ale This is an aggressive ale. You probably won’t like it. It is quite doubtful that you have the taste or sophistication to be able to appreciate an ale of this quality and depth. We would suggest that you stick to safer and more familiar territory–maybe something with a multi-million dollar ad campaign aimed at convincing you it’s made in a little brewery, or one that implies that their tasteless fizzy yellow beverage will give you more sex appeal. Perhaps you think multi-million dollar ad campaigns make things taste better. Perhaps you’re mouthing your words as you read this.
It's called "Rooie Tiep Top" (loosely translated Red & Mad, named after a local 50s street performer), brewed by local brewery de Hemel, and only available in 1 pub at all.
(which happens to be my local fave pub. how convenient)
8% alcohol, but still tastes friendly and not too strong.
nasmo's on the right track. Craft beer is basically beer made with a sense of purpose, which is, quality and actual flavor. These breweries experiment with many different ingredients/flavor combinations/brewing methods and styles because it is their "craft". It is not this watered down garbage swill you see the big boys making that is filled with cheap adjuncts and has a generic "skunk" taste to it.
It can be made on a large scale though. Samuel Adams and Sierra Nevada probably being the largest.
Victory Old Horizontal Barleywine
SEASONAL: Winter, 11% ABV
Kinda hard to tell but its color is spot on pomegranate.
Aroma was full of toffee, pit fruit, and syrupy malts
Taste concord grape juice upfront, prunes, sour apple, cherry, spice, rum, burnt toffee/butterscotch, with some wood smoke. Slightly bitter/warm finish, a little sticky/chewy.
Very well balanced all around, the hops against the candied fruit.
The 11% alcohol is pretty well masked too so be careful or you'll get knocked on your ass like this Mac Tonight dood on the label. Makes for a good after dinner sipper.
i recently really enjoyed a pack of Sierra Nevada Summerfest Lager. Crisp, lightly citrusy. I'm not a big fan of their regular Pale Ale, but I love a nice summer beer.
Can you explain IBUs to me? I haven't been drinking lately, I'm trying to think what the last new craft beer I had is...but all that is springing to mind is Abita's Pecan Ale and how much I wish it was fall again.
hrmm there was a place in San Francisco that had micro brewed seasonal beer... 21st Amendment. I'm not sure if they brewed it themselves or if they got it from a local place. But they had "seasonal" beers and in the summer they featured an amazing watermelon beer that they'd serve with a wedge of ripe watermelon on the glass. It was sooo good. It's probably one of the few things I miss from living in San Fran.
Ya 21st Amendment is a brewpub based in San Fran but they do distribute canned beer to both coasts. Check their website for a vendor list. I've only had their Back in Black IPA, which was decent. The Hell or High Watermelon Wheat sounds tasty. :)
Kooka, great question, ill try to cover that tonight when I get home.
Yeah that's it!!! The Watermelon Wheat! mmmmm... I used to work like a 2 minute walk away and it was awesome :) Damn I really want one now. I'll have to look it up and see if they've got any Orange County distributors now.
I love a good smooth german style lager but can't seem to find one here on the west coast. All the best ones I've had were out of Pennsylvania when I lived back east. I've yet to find one that can even come close to those PA lagers.
Kookaberry on Jun 12 '11 at 10:45pm
Can you explain IBUs to me?
IBU stands for International Bittering Units. Its a scale used to quantify the concentration of iso-alpha acids present in your beer, which come from the hops used during the brewing process and contribute to bittering. IBUs provide only a rough gauge though as to how bitter a beer will be since many factors will affect the perceived bitterness. Things like the types of hops used (and how/when), the quantity and type of malt (sweetness), final gravity, alcohol content, how long a beer has sat on the shelf, serving temperature and vessel, etc etc. As well as a bunch of chemistry/brewing stuffs I dont understand. It can be helpful to know IBU's though if you are comparing two beers of similar styles and have a description or understand the flavor profile.
Ah, I thought it had something to do with "hoppiness." I'm not a big fan of hops, at least when they are used liberally and the intention is to make the craziest IPA in Washington State or wherever. I like a well balanced beer, other than that the sky is the limit. I'll drink lagers to porters if they are well balanced and flavorful.
Example: I don't like Guinness. I think it's a tease. It starts out like it's going to taste good and then the flavor evaporates on your tongue. Boo.
Oskar Blues- Old Chub
If you think beer can't be good from a can, think again. Old Chub is the best Scottish Ale I have ever tried. A Scottish Ale should have a perfect blend between hoppiness and maltiness; Old Chub does this with a stout like density. Not the best summer sipping bear but perfect on a cold winter's night.
Score: A
Oskar Blues G'Knight Imperial Red Ale 8.7% ABV, 60 IBUs
G�Knight is a hybrid version of a strong ale � somewhere between an Imperial Red and a Double IPA. We make it with six different malts and three types of hops, then dry-hop it with a mutha lode of Amarillo hops.
wonderful floral/sweet aroma
heavy lacing all the way down the glass
big flavors of peach and grapefruit, some strawberry pie, maybe bubble gum
some resinous hops toward the middle
smooooth body, clean finish
My chub said "All day Chub."
Maybe as opposed to a morning chub :)
I went to a place tonight that had G'Knight on draft. When I asked for it, it had just ran out. I ordered Palm, a Belgum Amber that is good, but in no way comparable to G'Knight. I was pretty bummed.
Heh, yeah that can be annoying. The last time I went out to my local bar they had Dogfish Head Hellhound on tap...which I really wanted to try since its new and supposedly is made with lemon peel/flesh, and normally sold in a bomber. But of course they were out :( so I settled for a Sierra Nevada Glissade, which I think is now out of season. I remember thinking it was extremely refreshing and had a kind of limey quality to it.
Dogfish Head Festina Pêche 4.5% ABV, 8 IBUs
Style: Berliner Weisse
..but Sam Its now 2011 and I still can't taste the damn peaches.
Head dissipates quickly w/ no lacing
I can smell the peach tartness, bready yeast, pineapple, banana
Going down you immediately get this very tart, tangy citric flavor.
You get some wheat towards the middle, then ends with more of a sour lemon best I can tell.
Finish is dry, but this beer has this weird astringent lactic tart quality that makes the back of your tongue quiver. I didnt like that. And yeah with 4.5 abv this beer may be technically session-able, but personally,
I think I would vomit if I tried to drink two while standing in the sun with no food to go with it.
wine comparable: Pinot Grigio
This will be hard to find outside of the Southern U.S. For me it is a local favorite brewed in Athens, GA. It is currently one of my favorite IPAs. It is about twice as strong as a traditional IPA and twice as tasty. Ever so slightly sweet, little floral and supper hoppy. Very drinkable. Comparable with Great Divide's Titan IPA.
YUM! In Portland this weekend and will probably visit Deschutes while here (my fave is their Quadzilla) and definitely heading to Edgefield for some McMenamin's brews tomorrow night.
Had a fantastic Trippel last weekend called "The Panty Peeler" lol I'll have to take a pic of it peeling my panties when I get back home ;)
I like Arrogant Bastard! If I'm in the mood for a real hoppy beer, it definitely fits the bill.
About the only type of beer I don't care for at all is the smokey kind, which you don't see much anyways. I mean, really, beef jerky is fine and all, but I don't want my beer to taste like it!
Deschutes The Stoic Belgian-styled Quad The newest beer in Deschutes Brewery’s coveted Reserve Series, The Stoic’s journey from Belgian-style Tripel to American Quad is a remarkable one. A simple German Pilsner malt bill and a low-key profile of Hallartau, Czech Saaz, and Northern Brewer hops equip you for the more distinctive aromas and flavors that lay ahead. Ingredients like Belgian candy sugar, beet and date sugars, and pomegranate molasses impart a clean, tangy sweetness. Pinot Noir and rye whiskey barrel-aging suggest notes of spice, citrus, pepper, vanilla, and toasted caramel like offerings to the gods. Unraveling the intricacies of The Stoic is evidence of a life bravely done.
August 15th / wax-dipped 22 oz. bottles and draft / 10% ABV / Available in most of Deschutes’ markets
Hey Tiki, havent seen you around threadless in awhile.
Yeah I can get some Two Hearted but I don't want a whole case of it. I haven't seen a Bell's variety case at my local PA beer distributor either so it's kinda on the back burner for now. I think some of the MD liquor stores I frequent will order stuff for you but I'm assuming you have to buy a certain amount, I dunno.
That reminds me..my regular place in MD just did some renovations to the inside of their store. Extended the singles beer wall, got new shelves, created a section for aged beers, and got organized. Oh man, nothing prettier than a giant stocked singles wall with all the bottles in perfect files w/ labels facing forward. :D
I get a pretty spot-on chocolate pudding flavor coming through in both the smell and taste, with a bitter coffee finish. I'm not really a huge puddin' fan in general so downing a whole bombers worth, well...that's a whole lotta puddin'.
I feel like Belgian Red is what a beer lover pops at midnight on new year's eve when everyone else is cracking open the champagne. If someone handed me a glass without telling me that its a beer, I'd probably be surprised when I found out that it is.
I haven't delved into too many craft beers, especially anything not made in Wisconsin, but one of my favorites so far is New Glarus' Moon Man no coast pale ale. Tasty, refreshing, and not overwhelming with the hops.
![[+duracell-]](http://media.threadless.com/profiles/160x120/107534.jpg?r=352)
Jun 12 '11 by
![[+duracell-]](http://media.threadless.com/profiles/48x48/107534.jpg){kind=small}
_504439711.jpg)
Founders Red's Rye P.A.
70 IBU's, 6.6% ABV
This is basically the best Rye style beer I've ever had. It's brewed with four varieties of Belgian caramel malts and 100% Amarillo hops. Smells of honey, mango, grapefruit, pine. Definite caramel malt sweetness in the taste up front, along with lemon/pine ..maybe some apple. Then you get some of that rye spiciness mixed with hop bitterness near the end with a slight alcohol warm. Medium bodied, nice carbonation, clean/crisp mouth-feel.
Ratings
ratebeer.com: 99 Overall / 100 Style
#1 ranked Specialty Grain beer in the world
Beeradvocate: BA SCORE A- / THE BROS A
My rating: double thumbs way up