Beer!

Yeah, breweries are springing up all over Missouri too.   Supposed to be another one opening this summer called Two Friends Brewers.  They're going to lead with a chocolate mint stout.   I'm all over that.

tohostudios wrote:

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.

17.8%!!! That's a nap waiting to happen right there.

bassman wrote:

tohostudios wrote:

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.

17.8%!!! That's a nap waiting to happen right there.

Yeah, definitely a major sipper.  It took me over an hour to drink 12 oz.

Picked up a 6pk of Sam Adams Double IPA today.  I'm really developing a taste for double, triple and black IPAs.  I still hate regular IPAs though.

I had an interesting one yesterday....it's from a very new brewery in North Carolina called Southern Pines Brewing Co. They are right near the big Southern Pines Golf Club and have become the official beer of the clubhouse there, it was started by a friend of mine's son-in-law and a couple of his Army buddies when they got out of the military a couple of years ago. My friend went out to visit and brought back a growler of their milk stout, which was outstanding......rich and creamy, absolutely delicious.

I love a good milk stout!

Local brewer 4 Hands Brewing has a chocolate peanut butter milk stout that's excellent.

http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/27870/110730/

Tomorrow's beer drinking night for me and my family. Going to have some Ommegang and finally try that creme brulee stout. Hope that last one is OK, I had it in the door of the fridge and my mom emptied some space and it fell over and got shaken around.

As long as you didn't let the Crème Brulee get warm it should be fine.  I'll just warn you though A) it's REALLY sweet and B) It's a high ABV that can sneak up on you.

I'm really wanting to try a PB stout, none in my area yet.

tohostudios wrote:

As long as you didn't let the Crème Brulee get warm it should be fine.  I'll just warn you though A) it's REALLY sweet and B) It's a high ABV that can sneak up on you.

Yeah, I remember you talking about it (which is why I decided to try it once I found it) and will proceed with caution.

I just put a Southern Tier Mokah in the fridge.  It's their Choklat stout with espresso beans added.  Sooooo good....

tohostudios wrote:

Yeah, breweries are springing up all over Missouri too.   Supposed to be another one opening this summer called Two Friends Brewers.  They're going to lead with a chocolate mint stout.   I'm all over that.

They are popping up everywhere. I live in a pretty small town and there's a brewery being built.

No wonder InBev (Budweiser) feels the need to attack microbreweries.  I love it.  F*** Budweiser and their crappy beers; people are finally discovering what real beer tastes like.

DallasBlack wrote:

tohostudios wrote:

As long as you didn't let the Crème Brulee get warm it should be fine.  I'll just warn you though A) it's REALLY sweet and B) It's a high ABV that can sneak up on you.

Yeah, I remember you talking about it (which is why I decided to try it once I found it) and will proceed with caution.

Just like you said, very sweet and physically crippling . Once I was able to suppress my aversion to the coffee aftertaste (the more I drink stouts the easier it becomes) I quite enjoyed the sweetness this offered. At the same time I feel quite light headed almost an hour after drinking it. If I could only find it in smaller bottles I could drink this more often and get more used to the aftertaste.

I tried a cheap chocolate beer:

http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/29/104855/

Wasn't too bad, but a poor man's weaker version of Samuel Smith's chocolate beer (much more like chocolate milk). When it comes to chocolate beers I will stick with the latter as it's the only one that has been consistently enjoyable.

Shock Top is a "stealth beer"; it's actually an Anheuser Busch product masquerading as a "microbrew".  Coors does the same thing with their Blue Moon line.

tohostudios wrote:

Shock Top is a "stealth beer"; it's actually an Anheuser Busch product masquerading as a "microbrew".  Coors does the same thing with their Blue Moon line.

I know, but Albertsons has a pick and choose six pack for single bottles so I use that to sample cheap beers for casual drinking. I save the real beers for family get togethers.

Founder's "Devil Dancer".

Another foray into my newly discovered IPA horizon  This is a TRIPLE!!!  It weighs in at 12% ABV and while it's hoppy, as usual for this style I find the hopiness nicely offset by the extra malts.

That's crazy ABV, have to go slow.

Dark Horseman wrote:

That's crazy ABV, have to go slow.

Crazy ABV is the Avery Annual Barrel Series.  So far I've had Rumpkyn, Pumpkyn, Uncle Joe's Stout and Tweak.  All between 16.5 and 18.5%  ABV.

I'd try that stout. Does the alcohol take over that flavor?

Not really.  There's a little burn on the end but other than that it's pretty well hidden.  The Tweak beer is a coffee stout that weighs in at over 18% ABV.  I bet if I had the patience all of these would cellar really well and get very mellow.  Like Dragon's Milk does.

Who has patience?

Must drink it NOW!

Especially one I've never had before.  On the other hand, I've been aging about a case of North Coast's Old Ale for almost 2 years because I'm familiar with it and I know how much better it gets.  Same thing with Dragon's Milk.

Never had an aged Dragon's Milk.....no way I could make myself wait on it.

I love that stuff.

Oh man...it just mellows out so much.  The bourbon taste is much more "blended" and there's more of a chocolate taste to it.  The alcohol burn at the end goes away too.  My favorite beer store actually sells "pre-aged" Dragon's Milk but it's over $20 for a bomber.  They do pre-aged Old Ale and pre-aged Old Rasputin stout too.  Apparently North Coast knows their beers get better with age.