Beer!

Since the IPAs haven't gone off well with me, I was looking for possible recipes to use the beer in so I don't have to pour it out. I learned unfortunately, that IPAs aren't considered a good cooking beer. However, I found out why it's called Indian Pale Ale.

http://allbeerrecipes.com/ipa/

Apparently while transferring beer from England to India, the beer went bad. The solution was to increase the hops and the alcohol content.

Tried a new Ommegang:



Not bad, but the Abbey Dubbel is better. This one just has a cooler label and a TV series tie-in.

Tried a coconut porter that I was eyeing the last time I bought some brew. Didn't like it that much, but since I bought a 4-pack, I'll give it another chance later.

While walking the dog the other night I saw a crushed can of Old Milwaukee (!) in the road and thought "Geez, I haven't seen that stuff in years. I didn't even know they still made it."

Yesterday I'm in the beer store stocking up for the July 4 BBQ and there it is - a 6 pack of Old Milwaukee tall boys for less than five bucks. How could I resist? So I threw it on top of the case of Yuengling Lager I was already buying.

It was cheap crap of course, but it went very well with the grilled burgers n' dawgs we were rockin' yesterday.

Tried a new one:



Label described it as a Belgian Blonde. I never had that kind of Belgian before because they were always weaker compared to other Belgians. However, this one had an ABV of 10.55 and intrigued me. However, it wasn't too good and too bitter for my taste. I need to just come to the realization that Texas (despite being known as beer country) brewers just don't know how to make good beer.

Made a run to my beer store yesterday and among my acquisitions were two 6 packs of my favorite coffee stout, Imperial Java Stout by Santa Fe Brewing Company.  If you like coffee this is the coffee stout for you.  Real strong coffee taste.  And it comes in cans.  I've definitely overcome my fear of beer in cans.  I also got two 6 packs of Santa Fe Brewing's black IPA and I'm diggin' it as well.  I can't believe how much my tastes in beer have changed in the last 6 months.  I still don't like regular IPAs but I really enjoy double, triple and black ones (stay FAR away from ANY IPAs DB, you'd hate them)

tohostudios wrote:

Made a run to my beer store yesterday and among my acquisitions were two 6 packs of my favorite coffee stout, Imperial Java Stout by Santa Fe Brewing Company.  If you like coffee this is the coffee stout for you.  Real strong coffee taste.  And it comes in cans.  I've definitely overcome my fear of beer in cans.  I also got two 6 packs of Santa Fe Brewing's black IPA and I'm diggin' it as well.  I can't believe how much my tastes in beer have changed in the last 6 months.  I still don't like regular IPAs but I really enjoy double, triple and black ones (stay FAR away from ANY IPAs DB, you'd hate them)

After wasting money on some triple and black IPAs, I learned to stay away. That's why I decided to only try Belgians and a few Stouts from now on. After my last failed one, I decided to stay away from most Texas breweries as well. I'm thinking of going back to mainly Unibroues.

It's odd but I find that now during the hot months of summer, I like my double/triple/black IPAs. Or maybe I just got burned out on Belgians and stouts. On my beer store run I bought almost $300 of beer and there wasn't a Belgian in the bunch.

My sister's husband, Craig had his birthday celebration yesterday and apart from several Maudites (which I was informed by his pot smoking ordained priest friend-yes, you heard that right-that it's pronounced maw-deet), I had a Samuel Smith Chocolate Stout which went VERY well with a cigar called ACID (Craig shared his stash of them):

Have you guys tried Hop Hunter by Sierra Nevada or Fresh Squeezed by Deschutes? Different take on the IPA, more citrusy.

Have you guys tried Hop Hunter by Sierra Nevada or Fresh Squeezed by Deschutes? Different take on the IPA, more citrusy.

I've seen it but I can't bring myself to try it. I still don't like regular IPAs

I don't remember if I posted this before or not but Stone has a new collaboration beer called "Stone Farking Wheaton w00tStout".  It's a collaboration between Stone, the creator of Fark.com and Wil Wheaton ("Wesley Crusher").

Ale brewed with pecans, wheat, & rye, with one quarter aged in bourbon barrels. 13% ABV

Reminds me of Dragon's Milk

You should try the Deschutes Fresh Squeezed at least once. Might surprise you.

Wow!  The "most wonderful time of the year" is here earlier than I can remember.  Just got back from the grocery store with a six pack of:

Something in this thread is making it take forever to load.  I removed my Schalfy pic and it still did the same thing so that's not it.

Ive never been a beer drinker, or much of a drinker but in the last couple of years I have come to discover that I love Angry Orchards Hard Cider and Sam Adam's Summer Ale as it has a milder taste

My sister's father in law gave her some beer (mass produced-I'm the only micro brew drinker in this family). Among them were some seasonal Blue Moons. Though these were more for my mom (she likes Blue Moon), I decided to try one:



Not to bad. Tastes more like something you'd get from New Belgium rather than MillerCoors. One of the few mass produced beers I've seen with a higher than 'poor' rating:

http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/306/83191/

Ugh.  I hate Blue Moon.  That was the last "stealth beer" that suckered me in.  I had their Pumpkin Ale and it was so awful I had to pour it down the drain.  I gave the other 5 bottles to someone at work

tohostudios wrote:

Ugh.  I hate Blue Moon.  That was the last "stealth beer" that suckered me in.  I had their Pumpkin Ale and it was so awful I had to pour it down the drain.  I gave the other 5 bottles to someone at work

This was the first Blue Moon I actually thought was pretty decent (though it could have just been enhanced by my Spicy Street Taco Doritos). Plus, it was free.

Tried something new:


http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/1416/58811/

This one was good but it kicked my ass. I figured since this was only 5% more ABV than I'm used to I'd be able to handle it. I was wrong. After barely a quarter of the bottle I felt myself getting dizzy and light headed.

A local stout called Cavatica tonight. Nice chocolate notes with some coffee hints.

DallasBlack wrote:

Tried something new:


http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/1416/58811/

This one was good but it kicked my ass. I figured since this was only 5% more ABV than I'm used to I'd be able to handle it. I was wrong. After barely a quarter of the bottle I felt myself getting dizzy and light headed.

That looks right up my alley. BTW, if you're used to about an ABV of about 8%, I'd advance slowly because once you get up over 9 or so I think the effects get much stronger. Trust me, I learned the hard way.

Dark Horseman wrote:

A local stout called Cavatica tonight. Nice chocolate notes with some coffee hints.

I think I've burned myself out on stouts. I just keep going to black rye IPAs and double and triple IPAs these days. It's amazing to me because about a year ago at this time I couldn't stand ANY form of IPA. I just tried Stone's triple IPA "Ruinten" and I love it. BeerAdvocate rates it a 96 (world class).

Although weird stouts like the one I'm having tonight still tickle my tastebuds.

Tonight it's Eviltwin Brewing's "Imperial Doughnut Break - Glazed".  Believe it or not, it does taste more like a glazed donut than their "Imperial Doughnut Break - Powdered" and definitely different than their "Imperial Biscotti Break".

Actually those are all "imperial porters" but who can tell the difference. And at 11.5% ABV after a glass or two, who cares?