Beer!

Had one from a Wa. brewery called Twelve Bar Brews last night. It's an India Black Ale and was on Nitro. So good, lots of coffee notes even with no coffee in it.

Never heard of an "IBA" but it sounds good.

Currently enjoying Southern Tier's Mokah. It's their Choklat brewed with espresso beans.

That one gets great reviews, i'd like to try it.

It's really good!

Toho, did you get your hands on any KBS? I need to try that Old Curmudgeon.

Nope. I checked and nobody had it.

The Old Curmudgeon is good if you like old ales - and I do.

The Beer Shop in town finally had Ballast Point's, Victory at Sea which is a coffee stout with vanilla. Ballast Point is putting out some great stuff.

Never heard of it but that sounds like a tasty brew.

EDIT: Wow BeerAdvocate loves that one!

http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/199/48505/

Everything i've tried by them is exceptional.

Founders Backwoods Bastard

Their Scotch Ale aged in oak bourbon barrels. So lucky I picked up a case of this this year. I totally forgot it was coming out back in the fall but my beer store allows people who reserve beer 2 weeks to pick it up before they put it out on the floor. I just happened to walk in minutes after this case was put out.

Drank a couple of Sols earlier.

I've tried but I don't like scotch ales.

Never tried Sols, i'm pretty leery of Mexican beer as it's usually overhyped.

tohostudios wrote:

Founders Backwoods Bastard

Their Scotch Ale aged in oak bourbon barrels.  So lucky I picked up a case of this this year.  I totally forgot it was coming out back in the fall but my beer store allows people who reserve beer 2 weeks to pick it up before they put it out on the floor.  I just happened to walk in minutes after this case was put out.

It's great stuff!

bassman wrote:

tohostudios wrote:

Founders Backwoods Bastard

Their Scotch Ale aged in oak bourbon barrels.  So lucky I picked up a case of this this year.  I totally forgot it was coming out back in the fall but my beer store allows people who reserve beer 2 weeks to pick it up before they put it out on the floor.  I just happened to walk in minutes after this case was put out.

It's great stuff!

Yeah, I'm picky when it comes to Scotch ales.  I've had some I've hated (like Schlafly's anniversary Scotch ale - if I wanted to drink real scotch, I'd pour myself one) and I didn't even like Founders Dirty Bastard Scotch ale.  Yet I love the Founders Backwoods Bastard and I love Schlafly's Wee Heavy Scotch ale so go figure.

My friend who is a scotch enthusiast says he thinks I don't like the "peat" taste in Scotch ales, whatever that means.

Samuel Adams Summer Ale

I like that one.  It's refreshing.

And I am REALLY getting annoyed at this stupid Bud commercial that takes a shot at craft breweries and the people who love them. 

So big, bad AB is feeling threatened that the public is finally realizing Budweiser is swill and real beer is taking about a 5% bite out of their sales?  So big, bad AB decides to take a potshot at the competition.  Pfffftt...the ad ends with "Let them enjoy their pumpkin, peach ale...We'll be brewing golden suds".  Yeah, with Clydesdale piss as the special ingredient. 

I love the Abita response ad.  Lots of nice shots at AB, "Dog and Pony Show",  "American-owned", etc.

Yeah, I saw that and laughed. Anyone with any knowledge knows how false that ad is.

Just made a beer run any my beer store had The Trooper ale.  I'm surprised it's only 4.7% ABV; I expect European beers to be higher than American beers.

Many of the English beers aren't super high. That Trooper is only ok imo.

I mainly got it for the novelty of it.  I'll probably drink one or two and then just put the rest in the cellar to see if they become valuable.

I was just surprised at the ABV because of the standing UK joke about American beer being like making love in a canoe because it's F'n close to water.

On the other hand, I also bought a 12oz bottle of Avery's Tweak, a stout with coffee added and aged in bourbon barrels.  ABV is 17.81%.  Now THAT's a beer!

http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/30/56199/

If this lives up to that hype I may have to go back and pick up more.  It's pricey (12.99 per bottle) but all of Avery's beers in this series are the same price and so far all the ones I've tried (like Rumpkyn, Pumpkyn, Uncle Jacob's Stout) have been worth it IMO.  Definitely NOT session beers or beers to drink with food.

Sounds so good.

Dark Horseman wrote:

Many of the English beers aren't super high. That Trooper is only ok imo.

It's not bad but it's pretty boring.  I think it's like that annoying Kraftig commercial where the guy says "That's strong Billy!"  Yeah, because you're used to drinking watered-down Clydesdale piss you moron. 

If you're not used to drinking "real" beer you'd probably think this Trooper Ale is off the hook.  For me it's just, "meh".

There are so many breweries springing up in the NW. Had one from this place yesterday. http://www.barleybrownsbeer.com/taphouse/ It was the disorder stout and it was amazing, the hop kind of led in then the chocolate and malt finished.