Beer!

tohostudios wrote:

I do have a couple 4 packs of Dogfish Head's 120 Minute IPA (it's a triple) aging in the basement and I know those are great but good grief are they expensive; a 4 pack is about $30.

That is definitely pricey!

A much cheaper alternative is Avery's Maharaja. It's an imperial IPA. It's not as good as Dogfish Head's but you can buy about 12 cans/bottles for the price of a 4 pack of 120 Minute IPA. But for some reason The Maharaja seems to come and go around here.

All this IPA talk forced me to crack open a 120 Minute IPA. This one is only from 7/2020 so it really hasn't aged properly yet but it is sooooo good. These have sort of a sweet taste to them that's nicely offset by the hop bite. Almost like an English barleywine.

tohostudios wrote:

All this IPA talk forced me to crack open a 120 Minute IPA.  This one is only from 7/2020 so it really hasn't aged properly yet but it is sooooo good.  These have sort of a sweet taste to them that's nicely offset by the hop bite.  Almost like an English barleywine.

That's another kind I can't find around here. I've come across many of the American barleywines, but absolutely none of the English ones. With your praises of them I really want to try them but I simply can't.

Yeah the English barleywines tend to be seasonal and even when they're in season they're still relatively hard to find. The most readily available one seems to be North Coast Brewing's "Old Stock". That one is actually the best if you let it age for a few years. You can buy "pre-aged" ones that are already 3 or 4 years old but they're really expensive. I just buy a bunch of the current vintage every year and stick 'em in the beer cellar. When you dig one out after a few years it's the best beer out there.

Trying a new one tonight:



At a mere 5.9 ABV this is waaaaay below the ABV of beers I normally drink but I saw it while grocery shopping today and since I love pretzels I decided to try it.  Haven't cracked one open yet as they're still chilling in the fridge.

Got a bottle of this last year and just now having it:


https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/337/453270/

Not many reviews of this but I can certainly say, Yum Yum! One of the smoothest bourbon barrel aged beers I've had with only a mild booziness (though of course it is a porter and not a stout so that may have something to do with it). If I start drinking beer more often, I could see me getting a pack of these when they get back in season.

Letting it sit for awhile probably helped take the edge off too.  That's the way most bourbon barrel-aged beers work.  Like Dragon's Milk; I'm used to drinking it fresh now but before I used to have to always age it for about 6 months to take off a lot of the bourbon taste.  I hate bourbon; got sick on it too many times in college.

tohostudios wrote:

Letting it sit for awhile probably helped take the edge off too.  That's the way most bourbon barrel-aged beers work.  Like Dragon's Milk; I'm used to drinking it fresh now but before I used to have to always age it for about 6 months to take off a lot of the bourbon taste.  I hate bourbon; got sick on it too many times in college.

Never have been a bourbon person, then again I only drink liquor sparingly and only in cocktails. Mind you, I do like bourbon used in cooking meat, like bourbon chicken.

Huge beer haul today from my trip across the MO River.  Some of the pickups I've never tried before:

Dragons Milk Reserve - barrel aged stout with peanut butter and cacao nibs
Oskar Blues BA20 Zuccatto - imperial stout aged in brandy barrels with white chocolate, raspberries and vanilla
Odell Barrelled Treasure Coconut Chocolate Stout - self explanatory
Melvin Brewery Night Visions - imperial stout with coffee, vanilla beans and lactose
Destihl Brewery Dosvidanya - Russian imperial stout aged in rye whiskey barrels
Founders Panther Cub - porter with vanilla beans and maple syrup aged in bourbon barrels

All this new beer I've never had before; I'm like a kid in a candy store.  Can't wait to get started!

So far the Dragon's Milk Reserve, Founders Panther Cub and Destihl Dosvidanya are my favorites of this latest beer haul.  Tonight I'm going to try the Oskar Blues Zuccatto.

I've been collecting various single beers for a while now (mostly desert beers) but I don't drink much anymore and they pile up. Going to try and get some of them cleared out so I can enjoy the good ones and ditch the drain pourers. First one:



https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/31272/522798/

Nice, smooth sweet stout. No drain pour tonight.

That sounds like one I'd like to try.

Hoppin' Frog's "Plum Tuckered Out". This is a porter aged with plum that weighs in at a whopping 17% ABV so this is the only one I'm havin' tonight. Just cracked this one open and like all their other beers I've tried the alcohol is hidden pretty well.

This brewery is becoming one of my favorites for high ABV yet extremely drinkable beers. All of their offerings that I've tried have been 12% or higher yet all have been dangerously drinkable. Only problem is they're pretty pricey but when you only drink one who cares?

Got some old favorites:




And picked up a new one:


https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/42/70734/

The bourbon part is STRONG! This is going to be one I will let sit for quite a while because I almost felt like I was drinking a Belgian with a bourbon chaser.

A bourbon-barrel Belgian? That sounds like a weird combination. Can't say I've ever seen that although the one you got is from Ommegang which is available nationally. I may have seen it and thought "That's a weird combination" and passed on it.

Tonight it's another entry from Ohio's Hoppin' Frog Brewery.

This one is called "Gavel Slammer". It's a dark ale that weighs in at 16.3 ABV. The label on the bottle tells an interesting story. Apparently up until 8/26/16 Ohio law prohibited brewing beers above a certain ABV and this brewery challenged it in the Ohio Senate and on that date the Senate voted to remove the ABV restriction. Hoppin' Frog was presented with the actual gavel used to cement the decision hence this beer's name.

I’m looking for a good Apricot beer.

Troublezone wrote:

I’m looking for a good Apricot beer.

Are you serious or being sarcastic?

Just cracked open a 2020 vintage Goose Island Bourbon County Stout.

I was worried that once this beer became so readily available (even in grocery stores!) the quality would suffer. Thankfully so far that hasn't been the case.

Iron Maiden wants to cool your beer.


https://www.blabbermouth.net/news/iron-maiden-partners-with-igloo-for-new-playmate-cooler/

Seems like a lot of bands are jumping on the beer trend. One of the stores I frequent has beers by Iron Maiden, Megadeth, Metallica and (though not a band) Stone Cold Steve Austin. I haven't tried any of them because they don't pack enough "punch" to qualify for my beer capacity limits. If I'm going to limit how many beers I have then I want the two I have to have some "oomph" as well as taste.

tohostudios wrote:

Seems like a lot of bands are jumping on the beer trend.  One of the stores I frequent has beers by Iron Maiden, Megadeth, Metallica and (though not a band) Stone Cold Steve Austin.  I haven't tried any of them because they don't pack enough "punch" to qualify for my beer capacity limits.  If I'm going to limit how many beers I have then I want the two I have to have some "oomph" as well as taste.

And if it’s not beer, it’s coffee.

Drinking a strawberry lemonade sour from Blake's Hard Cider.

nevermore wrote:

Drinking a strawberry lemonade sour from Blake's Hard Cider.

Yuck. That would give me heartburn for a week.