Beer!

That's too bad. Since I live in hop town we have a lot of places to experiment, only complaint I have is it's IPA heavy.

tohostudios wrote:

I don't have a good place for flights anymore.  The craft beer bar that was close to me closed about 6 months ago.  I've tried a few places since then but none of them have enough selection to interest me.

Yeah, there's just more to choose from with bombers. The problem is that even ones I like I don't get through a full bomber. Then again, I've always been a lightweight drinker.

Trying the other one in the variety pack, this time a bourbon barrel aged one:


https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/26762/81986/

A bit more boozier (the bourbon barrel I'm sure is responsible for that) and even more tastier. I like this one better.

That sounds great! I don't think I've had a BB porter.

Tried the new Founder's BB version of their Sumatra coffee ale and as usual it was great. Founder's seldom disappoints.

DallasBlack wrote:

tohostudios wrote:

I don't have a good place for flights anymore.  The craft beer bar that was close to me closed about 6 months ago.  I've tried a few places since then but none of them have enough selection to interest me.

Yeah, there's just more to choose from with bombers. The problem is that even ones I like I don't get through a full bomber. Then again, I've always been a lightweight drinker.

Trying the other one in the variety pack, this time a bourbon barrel aged one:


https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/26762/81986/

A bit more boozier (the bourbon barrel I'm sure is responsible for that) and even more tastier. I like this one better.

Correction, the variety pack had one regular Hellfighter and three different Bourbon Barrel Aged ones. The one I had on this last post was the Horchata version:


https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/26762/408231/

It's a bit rare, but I found a stout I'm enjoying:


https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/25668/116079/

Most stouts' coffee flavor is very strong and overpowers the other flavorts. It's noticeable in this for sure (otherwise it wouldn't be a stout, duh!) but it mixes with the other flavors real well and is quite pleasing to my palate.

DallasBlack wrote:

tohostudios wrote:

I don't have a good place for flights anymore.  The craft beer bar that was close to me closed about 6 months ago.  I've tried a few places since then but none of them have enough selection to interest me.

Yeah, there's just more to choose from with bombers. The problem is that even ones I like I don't get through a full bomber. Then again, I've always been a lightweight drinker.

Trying the other one in the variety pack, this time a bourbon barrel aged one:


https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/26762/81986/

A bit more boozier (the bourbon barrel I'm sure is responsible for that) and even more tastier. I like this one better.

This time I had the regular BB. Even more boozier this time around (the Horchata in the last one cut it down a bit, but still good. Though I'm really feeling the alcohol right now, nice buzz going on.

That Brunch Money sounds interesting. Why is it called a golden stout?

Dark Horseman wrote:

That Brunch Money sounds interesting. Why is it called a golden stout?

A lighter color than a typical stout. I drank it out of the can so I didn't see it but the reviews describe it as a brown to dull amber color.

It's AMAZING how far canned beers have come.

I remember the mantra of "Any beer that comes in a can ain't worth drinking"

That sure isn't the case now.  I'm not sure why (maybe "can technology" has improved?) but these days I have no qualms about drinking beer from a can - provided it's from a craft brewery.

Case in point: Evil Twin. Most of their beers are in cans. And now even Stone and Schlafly are doing it.

There was a myth that cans changed the taste of beer because of the aluminum but I think that story has been proven false.

Or maybe it was because most of the beer I drank from a can was just crappy beer (I'm looking at YOU AB, Miller and Coors!)

tohostudios wrote:

Or maybe it was because most of the beer I drank from a can was just crappy beer (I'm looking at YOU AB, Miller and Coors!)

Speaking of which, I saw an advertisement of a new AB beer from bourbon barrels. Desperate attempt to win over craft beer fans bound to fail.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/29/365203/

Hahahaha!

I've seen those ads too and the daredevil in me wanted to try it just so see how badly AB could screw it up.  But I couldn't bring myself to do it.

But this BA review of this swill cracks me up:

Quote :

THIS WAS THE WORST BEER I HAVE EVER DRANK!

Now that that is out of the way I'm gonna keep this simple.

Looks? Like dark amber piss. The kind you get the morning after a hard night of drinking.

Smell? Smells like regular old Budweiser but if it was boiled in piss.

Taste? Tastes like how I would imagine piss would taste like if it had been boiled and left to ferment for a month in a whiskey cask. Oh and it has a unjustifiably harsh alcohol bite for some reason. Piss.

So there you go. MY OPINION? It looks, smells and tastes like boiled, alcoholic hungover piss. Outside of the HIGHLY misleading awesome packaging I have literally nothing good to say about this beer.

tohostudios wrote:

Hahahaha!

I've seen those ads too and the daredevil in me wanted to try it just so see how badly AB could screw it up.  But I couldn't bring myself to do it.

But this BA review of this swill cracks me up:

Quote :

THIS WAS THE WORST BEER I HAVE EVER DRANK!

Now that that is out of the way I'm gonna keep this simple.

Looks? Like dark amber piss. The kind you get the morning after a hard night of drinking.

Smell? Smells like regular old Budweiser but if it was boiled in piss.

Taste? Tastes like how I would imagine piss would taste like if it had been boiled and left to ferment for a month in a whiskey cask. Oh and it has a unjustifiably harsh alcohol bite for some reason. Piss.

So there you go. MY OPINION? It looks, smells and tastes like boiled, alcoholic hungover piss. Outside of the HIGHLY misleading awesome packaging I have literally nothing good to say about this beer.

Yeah, I saw that review too.

I found a pumpkin beer that isn't too strong but actually is pleasant to drink (the favorite one around this forum is not available in my area):


https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/192/277641/

The regular Voodoo Ranger is an IPA so I was concerned about it until I read Beer Advocate reviews and there was no mention of IPA, hops, or bitterness. Even if there was bitterness, the burn of the habaneros (not overwhelming, just a nice burn in the back of the throat) would probably balance it out. Apart from the burn, there is the presence of pumpkin, cinnamon, and nutmeg that doesn't cloy to the tongue. Neither is it highly watered down like in other pumpkin ales I've tried.

I've seen that beer but I gave up on "other" pumpkin beers a long time ago because there's only one that matters:

I'm trying a new version of North Coast's "Old Rasputin" that I found today. I've seen and tried the 16.9 oz bottles of the bourbon barrel-aged version of OR but today I found a 16.9 oz bottle of OR aged in rye whiskey barrels so I decided to try one.
It's a shame these things are so damn expensive because A) Old Rasputin is one of my favorite stouts to begin with and B) these barrel-aged versions are stellar. But at 21.99 for 16.9 oz that's just too pricey except to try as a novelty. As usual this rye version is great and definitely tastes different than the regular OR and the bourbon-barrel version. Nice for a one-off but I'm not planning on spending that much on it again.

DallasBlack wrote:

I found a pumpkin beer that isn't too strong but actually is pleasant to drink (the favorite one around this forum is not available in my area):


https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/192/277641/

The regular Voodoo Ranger is an IPA so I was concerned about it until I read Beer Advocate reviews and there was no mention of IPA, hops, or bitterness. Even if there was bitterness, the burn of the habaneros (not overwhelming, just a nice burn in the back of the throat) would probably balance it out. Apart from the burn, there is the presence of pumpkin, cinnamon, and nutmeg that doesn't cloy to the tongue. Neither is it highly watered down like in other pumpkin ales I've tried.

The Voodoo Rangers that I have tasted were all great but I avoid pumpkin beers like the plague.

tohostudios wrote:

I've seen that beer but I gave up on "other" pumpkin beers a long time ago because there's only one that matters:

Yeah, the one that isn't available in my area.

And it's STILL soooooo goooood....

There are no good pumpkin beers.
Since it's cooled off there's more stouts in the store and I picked up Fremont's Dark Star Oatmeal stout which is an imperial but you don't taste it. If all I could drink was oatmeal stouts I'd be ok with it.

Bought 4 cans of an interesting attempt at a non-alcohol oatmeal stout.  It's by a Cali brewery called "Bravus Brewing".  It has a measly 0.5% ABV.  Tried one tonight and I have to say, it's pretty good.  It's a little thinner than a "normal" oatmeal stout but it's actually not a bad attempt at making an NA version of a heavier beer.  This is the only NA stout I've been able to find and at a "measly" 110 calories per can I'll be picking more of this up.

Also on the same beer trip, I picked up a couple Prairie Artisan Ales entries that are more like the normal ABV I drink.  "Basic Becky" is a pumpkin imperial stout with coriander, nutmeg, cinnamon and caraway that weighs in at 11%.  And "Birthday Bomb" is an imperial stout with coffee.cocoa nibs, vanilla, caramel and toffee flavors with a 12% ABV.  I'm trying the Becky so far and it's definitely a "sipper"; it's got sort of a spicy kick to the usual pumpkin imperial stout flavor - probably due to the abundance of cinnamon and the addition of caraway (first time I've seen that ingredient in a beer).

Interesting that they're trying NA stouts. Wonder if it will catch on?
Do all those ingredients in the Becky hide that's it's a pumpkin beer?

Dark Horseman wrote:

Interesting that they're trying NA stouts. Wonder if it will catch on?
Do all those ingredients in the Becky hide that's it's a pumpkin beer?

Pretty much.  It's more like a cinnamon/nutmeg stout than anything else; it's only got the pumpkin taste on the back end.

And I'll say this about that NA oatmeal stout:  If you were a designated driver at a party and could walk around drinking this, you wouldn't feel like you were depriving yourself of what everyone else was having.  It's no Samuel Smith Oatmeal Stout by any stretch but it's not bad at all.  I'd sure rather drink this than crap like Bud, Bud Lite or any mass-produced American swill.

Speaking of stout, I had one recently that was so tasty, I'm going to attempt to find a couple of six packs of it (they are in cans and are released on a rotating basis):


https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/41762/258553/

The taste for me was riminicent of Danon coffee yogurt (my favorite yogurt of all time) so it was a sweet, creamy stout that was incredibly easy to drink for someone whom many stouts are a chore to finish. Might be the best stout I've ever had!