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Posted

So with my pre-EBF rundown of some of the beers from the Beer Advocate top 100 list getting interrupted by a cold last week, I've decided to not leave you guys hanging and will just continue it into this week and maybe a little beyond.

 

Any complaints?

 

I didn't think so!

 

Let's continue...

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And it's just as awesome as always. Just an almost perfect balance between the piney West Coast hops and that lip smacking sweet rye malt. Definitely a beer worthy of its ranking!

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#56 on the "Best of BA" list. A beer that I'm sure all of us are pretty familiar with by now. The Beer Republic Hop Rod Rye.

Posted

^^ So was Tastes Like Burning any good or no?

 

^ Haha, sucks to be you.

 

I felt kind of bad for Adam that his picture with his lifelong hero was blurry, so I went into photoshop and tried to fix it a little bit. Only so much can be done really, I managed to make it a bit clearer, but it still looks like we're seeing double in spots.

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I hope I was of help.

Posted

Tastes like Burning, if I recall correctly was kinda porter-like, with some caramel sweetness and coffee and chocolate, but the finish and after effects were all of spice and hot sauce. Not nearly as pleasant as the Chocolate Chili Porter I had earlier that day. The stuff was so dang spicy it just sat in my stomach and battled the Utopias high alcohol for dominance.

 

After EBF was all done for our session, we made our way to the #2 place to have a beer in America, back to the Publick House! This time around we got there a bit earlier and managed to enjoy dinner, most of the food containing beer of some sort.

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and boo to the ice trough being nonoperational! and double boo to no root beer barrel candy!!! Long live King of Prussia's Rock Bottom and its brewer Brian!

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Time to use our mug club cards for some of the Improper Hopper IPA. Mine was regular, the other dudes got the cask version. Pretty good, but we were carbed out. Definitely wasn't as good as the SubZero, Hop Bomb, Prussia's Pride, or any of the other KOP IPAs.

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Some tempting stuff on tap, but doesn't seem as unique as King of Prussia's version of the chain

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We decided to call it a night, but lucky us, there was a Rock Bottom 1 block from our hotel! Coincidence? Heck no!

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Sadly, we were feeling a little beered out from the EBF, so we each only got 1 beer. I had the Southampton Imperial Baltic Porter, Heath the Sixpoint Bengali IPA, and Adam the Southern Tier Jah-va Stout. All very tasty and still extreme, and our food was darn good too!! Next time hopefully we'll be able to stay longer (or just not come during EBF only!)

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lots of beer paraphernalia scattered around the place on the walls and such

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The bar was pretty full when we got there, and the place doesn't even open until 4pm on weekends, meaning it's usually always crowded. But woohoo! This time they've got merch in the form of shirts!!

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and some local goods as well.

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Plenty of Belgian stuff on the board. From time to time they even have Westy's 12, for only $15 a bottle. Sadly, not this time around

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Returning to the Publick House thanks to the T. This time around they had a little more room as they purchased the place next door, knocked out the wall and made it into "The Monk's Cell"

Posted
^^ So was Tastes Like Burning any good or no?

 

Yeah, it really was more Tabasco than Porter. I've had the Ithaca Gorges Smoked Porter before and it's pretty good but it was pretty much dominated by the heat and fire of the Tabasco. Maybe if I had tried some a little later in the evening, it might have been a little better, as first having the SA Utopia and then this just didn't sit right with the ole' belly.

 

Another BA Top 100 beer and yet another favorite of the Beer Thread. Or least for those of us that can get it.

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And it really is one of the best! Just an fantastic mix of piney hops and juicy fruit citrus notes with a huge drinkibility for a 7% IPA. Good stuff!

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Coming in at #54 and is what is generally believed to be one of the better IPAs in the world. Its good ole' reliable Bells Two Hearted Ale!

Posted

I know I still have last Sunday's adventures to post, but I decided I'll save that for another time. Right now, here's what I've been enjoying this week.

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A nice full syrupy body with plenty of coffee flavors, and goes down quite smoothly

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and before it gets too carbonated, better enjoy some more of the Wake N Bake I got from Joe

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Definitely worthy of its ranking. Lots of caramel, chocolate and coffee flavors, with a nice alcohol burn and some citrus

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Next up, Thomas Hooker's Imperial Porter. #70 on the Top 100 American beer list

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I must say, it was really enjoyable. Certainly not an Abyss, Dark Lord, Kate the Great, or Darkness, but still a worthy RIS, definitely the best in all of Jersey.

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First, a gift from Adam, Jersey's newest beer, Boak's Monster Mash Imperial Stout.

Posted

^ I think I may try the Wake n Bake this weekend, we'll see

 

Tonight and tomorrow look to be really great days, but for now I just have one beer to share, from last night:

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Just another smiling Joe

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Just another Sam Adams Double Bock

Posted

^^^ Ahhh I want Two-Hearted!

 

^^ Imperial Week Derek?

 

^ Why can't I find Sam Adams double bock!

 

I am bottling my beer tomorrow, which means only 4 more weeks of bottle conditioning before it's ready to try!

 

So I went to Faultline Brewery in Sunnyvale on wednesday for dinner in the bar. The restaurant is pretty fancy and the food is overpriced, but in the bar they serve some nice burgers for an affordable price. Infact, one of the best burgers I've had out in a while, and the fries were also quite amazing, staying crisp even after they cooled off.

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And the entrance. Next time I will try to give you a better feel of the overall bar seating area and maybe take some pictures of the beautiful patio area.

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The other station down towards the far side of the bar.

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And some actual pictures of what they're working with this time.

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I followed that up with their IPA on cask. The flavor was actually beautiful, it is apparent they use a milder hop variety, but more of it, and it comes off nice and floral. The mouthfeel was very smooth. I do have some criticism though, the body was too watery. Also, I know it's on cask, but it was too warm. When I order on cask I'd like it to come out at cellar temperature, something like 55 or 60 degrees, but it was served at about 70 degrees.

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I started out by ordering the London Porter. I was really happy to see they had this on because that's exactly what I've brewed. If it turns out anything like Faultline's, I will be a very happy man.

Posted

^ Looks like a cool place Kev plus I love the name Fault Line for a brewpub.

 

Well I'm think I'm going to wrap this "Top 100" theme up a little early. I've still got plenty of candidates in the cellar but I think that I'm going to move on to something different. Starting with today's adventures. This has been fun though and I think I'm going to start another one up in a couple of weeks.

 

So with that, my final "Top 100 Best of BA" for this week.

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And it's still a good one. It may lack some of the "magical" hop properties that other California DIPAs possess but it's certainly no slouch. Big piny hop character mixed with a beefy mix of malt and heat. Definitely not for the faint hearted as it will put a smack down on your taste buds.

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Currently sitting at #63 on the top 100 list, it's everybody's favorite beast of a Double IPA. Stone Ruination!

Posted

I invited Scott (scaparri) over for the weekend to enjoy some time in Atlanta, and to get him out of the beer hell that is Alabama

 

Anyways, here are the pics to prove it.

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And finally I end the night with Scott and our newly acquired friend, who's drunken rants on the Mexican Government, Moby Dick, and the Brookyln Dodgers provided entertainment for us as well as half the bar. Thanks for reading :)

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It wasn't bad... it was good, but it was just so very very odd for me. Never have I had a beer where the hops overpowered the malts, but it was still pretty good! Not a hop bomb like something from Stone by any means, but something truly unique. Urthel also gets points for having one of the coolest glasses, next time I'll try to pour a Samaranth in one though :)

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I have a nice tradition of picking something different for my last beer of the night - this time, it was Urthel Hop-It, a strong Belgian with lots of... hops!

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I certainly enjoyed my jerk sauce in a glass!

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I ordered the Pannepot Old Fisherman's Ale in a bottle. One of the highest rated quadrupels, it had the same appearance as did my jerk sauce from early. Thick and murky as hell. All told, it was a seriously good beer. Lots of kicks of spice as it warms up.

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Next up for Scott was the Brookyln Black Chocolate Stout, which has been available here for a few weeks. I'll let him chime in later, but I'd say he liked it but not as much as, say, the St Bernardus we had enjoyed.

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We both went with the Val-Deiu Grand Cru, a pretty rare quadruple, yet alone on tap. I'd rate it as a pretty good beer, fairly typical quad with a nice bite coming from the alcohol and the taste of fruit (plums?)

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While waiting for our table, we took a walk upstairs to the quaint Belgian bar.

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Once we were done with dinner, we journeyed down the road a bit. We stopped at Green's, the best beer store in Atlanta, to show Scott what was available should he choose to come back, since Alabama is still stuck in 1874. We made our way over to the brick Store Pub, rated by BA as the #3 place in America to have a beer

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For dinner I ordered the jerk burger. Vortex is famous for their burgers and deservingly so - that nice glob of jerk sauce kept me awake! Plus its always nice to be served beer and meat by a girl who, to paraphrase Scott, had a really nice rack :)

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I tried the North Coast Pranqster, served with the correct glass as you can see here - for this sort of place, you would never have imagined this beer would even be available, yet alone the glass, so I was surprised and pleased. As for the beer.. it was pretty weak on the scale of Belgian ales. Pretty disappointing when Brother Thelonious was sooo good.

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Scott started off with the Sweetwater Blue, a local fruit beer. He liked it, I personally didn't care for my sip.

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Saturday we were going to go to the Terrapin brewery, but we'll have to wait for another time for that. Instead we started the night off with dinner at the Vortex Bar and Grill downtown.

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Scott's first doppelbock seemed to be a success.. it was very smokey. Once you got past the front, I thought it was pretty good too

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Going with another special beer, the Smoked Goosinator Doppelbock, another Left Hand product.

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Me? Well honestly it tasted pretty much the same as the original to me... but that's not really a bad thing!

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This was Scott's first introduction into the world of Belgian ales. I think he was a bit impressed.

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We headed back to my place and kicked back a couple. First was the St. Bernardus Abt 12 60th Anniversary. What a mouthful!

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We started the night at Taco Mac. I tried their latest tap offering, the Left Hand Milk Stout. Sweet and smooth, there's a stout I don't mind!

Posted

^It looks like a fun night of drinking Joe. I love random entertaining drunk people at bars! It was nice to see the Vortex get some love too. I've never been to the downtown one but I've been to the Little Five Points location a few times. Quite the cool place!

 

All right, time to start this week's beer them. Seeing as how this is such a special week, I'm going to treat myself all week long to my favorite style of beer. Imperial Stouts! And we decided to get things started off with bang with a Saturday road trip down to Northern VA...

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And of course we couldn't leave a place called Best Buns empty handed with some goodies for breakfast. Until next time. Thanks for reading.

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Lots of awesome baked goods to be had here, complete with awesome chalk drawings to represent them. I love the Apple Monkey Bread!

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And I've got to show some picks of this place just based on the name. Right across the street from Cap Brewing is Best Buns, which is actually a sister business of Sweet Water.

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While Kim continues to make sure that we can make it home with a root beer.

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I go for their Winter Bock. It was nice and malty with notes of fruit and spices.

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Decent stuff on tap as usual.

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Of course a stop at Cap Brewing was a must before our movie.

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On the way home, we stopped returned to the Shirlington Village in Arlington, for some shopping, movie watching, and more beer drinking.

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...I got one of the High Desert to go and I really want Derek to give it a try next Friday. Here's hoping it lasts!

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They also have a to-go growler cooler here. Instead of filling your growler right from the tap (as they do at the other location) these ones are pre-filled, so you just swap out your empty growler for a new one. I'm hoping that this means they were bottom filled, to retain freshness later cuz...

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Another big difference between this location and the Falls Church one is that this one has a gift shop, where they sell merch not only from Sweet Water but some of their other sister restaurants as well.

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And this stuff sneaks up on you too! Trust me, after 2 of the bourbon aged version and 1 of the regular, I was glad that Kim was happy with her root beer!

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Ah, and there she is! Weighing in at 9.2% and chock full of chocolate, roasted malts, dark fruits, and a touch of bitterness. This years was also considerably less hot than last years release, making it quite smooth and quaffable. Definitely a top tier RIS! I wish that I could get this more than the one time a year it's released.

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The board here was different as well. You have to love the clock (complete with antlers) in the middle of it.

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We still needed to try this years regular version (and a growler too!) of the High Desert, so it was a quick 20 minute drive off to the Centreville, VA location of Sweet Water. This location was a little different (complete with statue out front) and more compact than the Falls Church one.

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And OMG! it was awesome! The oak and vanilla notes from the barrels very nicely complimented this all ready fantastic RIS. I'm really pleased that something this great is released only 2 hours from where we live.

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But of course us visiting in February can only mean one thing. The annual release of their High Desert Imperial Stout. And not just any version. This is their 1-year aged in bourbon barrel one! And one that we missed last year.

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They had on their typical five beers on, with a couple being pretty middling and a couple being decent.

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After some local beer shopping, it's back to the Falls Church location of the Sweet Water Tavern.

Posted

Made it down to the Fell's Point DuClaw's yesterday for some Naked Fish, which was just as good as I remembered it being. Plus, they now have seared tuna as an appetizer (or at least I don't ever remember seeing it on the menu at the other location), which means I'll be visiting even more often, as the combination of seared tuna and beer is amazing.

 

dt

Posted

Wow, lots of good stuff happening this weekend, nice to see that! Bubba, I never thought about that, but yes, apparently last week was Imperial Week for me, good find! Yesterday we made a quick dinner stop at Union Jacks where we enjoyed some of the best wings in the world, as well as a beer or two, I finally got to enjoy the Victory Sunset Dunkleweizen as well as pick up some fantastic stuff for enjoyment later in the week. But before I stay up to date, I better finish off a report from last week's adventure to Boston.

 

We started Sunday off at one of the best beer bars in Boston, loaded with over 112 taps and plenty of other things in bottles, and will a huge varying food menu that makes it the Cheesecake Factory of beer bars!

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As far as beers go, they used to have loads of IPAs on tap, but they seem to have been hit by the hop shortage. Heath managed to grab the Pushing the Envelope Extreme Double IPA while Adam and myself went with the S.W.A.K. Stout, which was excellent. Looking forward to going back sometime, hopefully for more than 1 round.

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on the other side of the wall was the bar, sporting plenty of their own brews as well as an excellent guest tap list

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Seemed really dark in the dining area, but had a really cool vibe, and even shows movies on the big screen from time to time

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and our final destination for the evening was back into Connecticut, specifically Willimantic, home of Willimantic Brewing in the old Post Office, #31 on the list of places to have a beer. But wow, definitely a place you gotta seek out if you want to go there, as Willimantic ain't near anything us BACT dudes usually do (except Adam's In-Laws) and it's no "just passing by" spot

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Since we were at Fenway Park, I decided to go with the Fenway Pale Ale, while Heath went with the Imperial Stout. The Fenway was pretty solid for an APA, but the Imperial Stout was a little weak, more like an Oatmeal Stout

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just enough time to enjoy a round at the original location, let's see how the stuff tastes

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Lots of good stuff on tap

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luckily there's a Boston Beer Works directly across the street!

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which was haltered because of construction

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Then it was off for a tour of Fenway Pahk

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and they even added another room to the place....complete with more taps!!

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and a huge assortment of taps. Sadly, they kicked the Racer X the night before thanks to all the darn beer enthusiasts in town, in fact they were out of pretty much EVERY double IPA! WTFO?!

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A look at the bar area

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While the other side of the table is all about Brooklyn and its Sixpoint Brewing, new to the Boston area. Heath with the Diesel, Adam with the Righteous Rye, and me all about the Sweet Action

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We got to meet up with Matt again, who enjoyed a Southern Tier Jah-va Stout while the girls enjoy some Southern Tier Raspberry Porters

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Here we are at Sunset Grill, located near Boston U. Good thing I didn't go to school there, I wouldn't have made it to any classes!

Posted
This was Scott's first introduction into the world of Belgian ales. I think he was a bit impressed.

 

Yeah, I pretty much soiled my pants after the St. Bernardus. I didn't want to admit it. It made all other beers look like Keystone.

 

For dinner I ordered the jerk burger. Vortex is famous for their burgers and deservingly so - that nice glob of jerk sauce kept me awake! Plus its always nice to be served beer and meat by a girl who, to paraphrase Scott, had a really nice rack

 

She did! I wouldn't normally comment, but wow, she was racktacular. Oh, and the burgers were pretty awesome as well.

 

Next up for Scott was the Brookyln Black Chocolate Stout, which has been available here for a few weeks. I'll let him chime in later, but I'd say he liked it but not as much as, say, the St Bernardus we had enjoyed.

 

I was impressed with it. It was a solid stout. I didn't taste the chocolate nearly as much as Young's, but the stout itself had a nice, rich flavor.

 

It was definitely an awesome weekend. Thanks again dude!

Posted

Tonight after a hard day of moving it was time to kick back with some of the finer ales, Belgian inspired goodness.

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Lots of spiciness mixed with bread and lemon peel, and 9% to make it even better!

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Next up, Allagash's Tripel

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Lots of spices and sweetness, and a little hint of cherries when its warmer. Definitely a stay at home beer though at 11%

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First up, Troegs Mad Elf, brewed with honeys and cherries, and maybe making an appearance at Joe's house sooner than later

Posted

yeah, happy birthday dude!

 

anyways... an unusually busy drinking day for me. don't know why.. maybe because I was just looking for something new and amazing and it took a few tries

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Wow. What a surprise. (despite the pic, taken pre-tasting) A complex masterpiece. The malts are strong, and the beer is sweet... then you get a bit of tartness. oh, and the 9% abv is well hidden... the drinkability is sky high... and then about a minute later it hits you in the chest with a great warming feeling. This could get you in trouble and kick your ass if you're not careful. You could have called it a barleywine and I wouldn't have argued much. One of the best beers I have had. Pick this one up if you can, its a rare brew that is excellent!

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After a break, I went back to drinking. My next selection would be Struis, a Belgian Strong Dark Ale by way of Brouwerij 't IJ in Amsterdam. Notches on the label read Jan 05 - whether that was the production date or the "best by" date, that was a long time ago.

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With the news out of Terrapin, I decided to have a Rye Pale Ale in celebration. Typical greatness!

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It was ok - very hoppy so the Joe friendliness went down a bit, but it worked pretty well. No Nugget Nectar though.

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ok.. let's try something else, St Rogue Red

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but OMG it tasted like rancid piss!! never again. I probably didn't sip but 1fl oz and that was more than enough

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First up, I tried Farson's Lacto, a milk stout I picked up a while back mostly because its brewed in Malta. It looks alright, I love a caramel colored head...

Posted

I'm certain Heath celebrated his day of birth with gusto, and in honor of him on his birthday I decided to enjoy his favorite style of beer by one of his favorite breweries in his favorite area of the country.

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No clue why, but Happy Birthday Heath! Here's to another year of awesome drinking!

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and for some stupid reason, I felt like eating tacos tonight

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and wow, what chocolately goodness! Throw in some licorice, dark fruits, coffee, a hint of hops and some alcohol and you've got one awesome brew. Good thing the next batch comes out in a few short months!

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and for Heath's Birthday I'll break out a bottle of Stone Imperial Russian Stout, a top 15 brew and something I've been cellaring since last May when we went to Virginia.

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Very hoppy and almost Nugget Nectar-like, but just a little bit more watered down

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But the day before Heath's birthday, time to enjoy some Clipper City Heavy Seas Loose Cannon

Posted

It's been awhile since I posted in here, I guess I need to change my drinking habits. Anyway, here are the beers I had during the past few weeks...

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The last one was the Paulaner Salvator, 7,9 % ABV. The alcohol wasn't hidden very well. This is a beer I couldn't enjoy the whole evening.

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And the Flying Dog Amber Lager. Both really good beers. I also had their Classic Pale Ale which was awesome. Never had so much citrus flavor in a beer. Too bad it's so hard to find over here.

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I'm really glad I found the next two beers over here. I really liked the Anchor Liberty Ale.

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This one has become one of my favorite beers. The Andechser Dunkel. Very good.

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A Köstritzer Schwarzbier. Compared to the Urbräu it tasted a little bit watery, but still drinkable.

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Next was their Urbräu. I liked that even better than their Special.

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Let's start with the Schlappeseppl Special. The name of this brewery sounds really funny in German. The Special was really easy to drink, a beer I could enjoy the whole evening.

Posted

^ Hi There, would be nice to see more action out of Germany with Soren missing =]

 

^^ All you're missing is the cheddar cheese Derek!

 

Okay, so I'll start with the weekend's beers over at my uncle's to begin catching up a bit.

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It's really nice. The flavor is very similar to Brown Shugga, it's just got a bit less alcohol and a bit more spicy hoppyness. That's it for friday and it's time to go out for dinner. I'll do saturday soon.

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Well what do we have here? It's a Hairy Eyeball! 8.8% ABV and it's listed as a Strong Ale.

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Still pretty darn tootin' awesome! Yummy yummy chinook hops bring that spicyness.

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Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale. Perhaps the last bottle for us this season. 6.8% ABV.

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Still amazing. Heavy bitter coffee notes up front that fade into a little chocolate and roasted barley dry flavors. Amazingly complex and holds a candle to every RIS i've had to date including Stone's.

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Then we'll head out to North Coast for some always great Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout. 9% ABV.

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It's still as awesome as last time I had it. Very nice chocolate tones and a nice bitter bite at the end. Also, the mouthfeel is just awesome. I don't know if I could choose between this and Big Bear Black Stout.

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We'd follow that up with one of the best stouts in the world, Rogue's Shakespeare Stout. 6% ABV.

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It surprised me how tasty this was. I figured it might be a little boring since my palate has been adjusting to all these extreme beers, but it's still very nice. Reminds me a little of hobgoblin.

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We'll start off with Rogue's popular beer that I haven't had in a while. Dead Guy. A Maibock at 6.5%

Posted

^I did have cheddar cheese in my taco, put right above the hamburger so it melts.

 

Tonight it was time to crack open a sweet bottle of awesome that I picked up at Union Jacks over the weekend. Ranked #17 in the world and #13 in America, let's break open some wild!

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And how was it? Unique and fantastic, of course! Lots of sour cherry tartness with lots of acidic tones and yet you could still taste the brown ale and the wine barrel agedness. Well worthy of its ranking and makes me want more

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So that's what I did. Even Nicole was interested in trying it, but she only got a taster of it as it's only a 375ml bottle to begin with

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Even the cork recommends not serving it in a pint glass, but a tulip or wine glass instead

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It's time for Supplication, a brown ale aged in pinot noir wine barrels for over 15 months AND with sour cherries, Brettanomyces, Lactobacillus, and Pediococcus (a whole bunch of live bacteria and wild yeast)

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It's always great to see Russian River come to PA, whether on tap or bottled complete with cork

Posted

Thanks for all the birthday well wishes the other day guys. I didn't drink anything too special although we did go down to the ABC after work and I used my mug for like the first time in almost 3 months.

 

So I'm going to have to put the Imperial Stout theme on hold for this week, as too much other stuff is going on. I'll start it up next week instead.

 

In the meantime, last night I got into some new to me stuff that came via a trade from Minnesota...

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OMFG! This is seriously one of the best IPAs I've every had! Just an intense blast of resinous hops and citrus that melts perfectly into a backbone of Scotch malt that's packed with not only caramel sweetness but spice as well. More please!

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Ranked #44 in the world. It's Surly's flagship brew, Furious!

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But oh no, we're not done yet.

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And this definitely isn't like any I've tried before! It's more of a Rye Lager that's been singled hopped and then double hopped with what appeared to be Amarillo hops. It definitely felt more like an ale with all those hops, but in the end, it ended up being pretty darn tasty anyway.

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But trust me, this aint no TRADITIONAL Oktoberfest as Surly has added its own bit of madness to the style.

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First up, it's Surly's take on a traditional Oktoberfest Mazen. SurlyFest!

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I'm all geared up with merch that we got at the EBF and ready to get a little SURLY!!!

Posted

oooh look what pretentious Joe got in the mail today...

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It was ok. Definitely had that strong west coast feel

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a second beer for the day was the Lagunitas Brown Shugga, a strong ale according to BA, or a barleywine on ratebeer

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such an awesome beer, so smooth and hoppy and all without being overpowering and undrinkable for me, this is my example of a good hop bomb =)

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Nugget Nectar!!!! Thanks Derek!

Posted

^Sweet! Glad you got the stuff so fast, considering it was sent on Tuesday evening!

 

Tonight Nicole and I met up with Heath and Kim at Lancaster's Iron Hill. Tonight was Mug Club New Membership Night and we joined, so we'll definitely be taking trips there at least once a month. No pictures taken, but considering the mugs are ceramic, you can't really see the beer to begin with, but they did have some sweet stuff on tap that we partook in, including their Russian Imperial Stout, American Brown Ale, and just released tonight especially for the Mug Club, Chocolate Indulgence Stout on Nitro.

 

And that's the latest....until Tomorrow's Friday Night Pints, featuring growlerS!!

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