niiicolaaah Posted February 27, 2007 Share Posted February 27, 2007 HAPPY BIRTHDAY, HEATH!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlyerACE1 Posted February 27, 2007 Share Posted February 27, 2007 So I've been pretty absent from the thread lately but have done some beer drinkin' the last couple weeks. This past Saturday we went out with Mark and Amanda to the Gaslight Brewpub in South Orange. Dreadful house beers but the food is excellent and the guest beers are great. I had a Lagunitas Cappuccino Stout on tap that was fantastic but the cask ESB they had tasted like water with alcohol flavoring. Odd! Aside from the brewpub visit, I've drank a Founders Black Rye (not as good as I had hoped), Southern Tier Belgian Triple (better than I expected), Lump of Coal Stout (a fairly solid stout) and Mark and I recently split a bomber of Green Flash Imperial IPA which I thought was fair and not as good as I had hoped. Here's something I had last night though... Oooohhh!! I LOVED this one. One of the best IPA's I've had in a while. Very hoppy, nice citrus taste and great aroma. Haven't had a Bell's I didn't like yet! Dedicated to Mcjaco- a Bell's HopSlam! Look at all that unfiltered hop goodness! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DerekRx Posted February 28, 2007 Share Posted February 28, 2007 Tonight I decided to enjoy a beer I got with one of the best names for a beer ever. A beer that, while tasting quite smooth and chocolately with a coffee finish, could not be described by a name with a description like that. This brew was so good, it had my name all over it! I can't wait to return home to more of this! And since I can't get this beer 300 miles away, yet alone 3000, I'll end this month at home with some Nugget Nectar Sweet like candy with a bitter finish, just like me! Thanks for picking up the brew, Heath! That's right, Derek, my namesake beer, from the Newport Storm series of Coastal Extreme Brewing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rugged One Posted February 28, 2007 Share Posted February 28, 2007 ^No problem man. I hope it still tasted all right. I guess since there's only a few more weeks of winter left, it's about time to start getting into more of these Winter Warmers I have laying around. Next up the Brooklyn Winter Ale. Nice and sweet and malty with some hints of smoke and fruit. First up, the Pursuit of Happiness Winter Warmer from Clay Pipe Brewing in Westminister, MD. Not too bad. Nice malty front with a surprisingly hoppy finish but a kind of watery and weak body. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhishyBrewer Posted February 28, 2007 Share Posted February 28, 2007 Had a bottle on Chimay Grand Reserve. Yup, I still don't like it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhishyBrewer Posted February 28, 2007 Share Posted February 28, 2007 Having a bottle of Michelob. And the only reason I am is because I want a beer before I go to bed. And I think that the Kona Porter with coffee beans would keep me up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juggler Posted February 28, 2007 Share Posted February 28, 2007 Pictures to follow in a while but there's been an invasion from across the pond in tonights drinking selection....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juggler Posted February 28, 2007 Share Posted February 28, 2007 Managed to save a couple for tomorrow (just) so here's this evenings sampling session. It's blacker than black this stuff and absolutely beautiful. and to end the evening the deliciously dark and tasty Oyster Stout. Next up the Wychcraft a gorgeous Blonde Ale. Cheers (Shame I can't get the GOOD stuff you guys keep talking about!) A nice refreshing ale I thought. Not bad at all (I've tasted lots worse.) The mighty Goliath keeps a close eye on the foreign invader. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rugged One Posted March 1, 2007 Share Posted March 1, 2007 ^Nice pics. The Sierra Nevada Pale Ale isn't too bad of a Pale Ale. They brew so much better stuff though. I think I'm going to sit down with a few bottles of their Barleywine sometime soon. So does much (or if any) American craft brew get distributed over your way? So I'll dedicate this post to Matt (who I guess is finally on his way to beer heaven right now) seeing as how I had a few from his favorite local brewery. Lakefront Brewing in Milwaukee, WI. I just honestly wish that I had better things to say about them. Finally, it looked like Santa dropped off a late XMas present of some Holiday Spice Lager after all. Wow, this is probably one of the spiciest beers I've had yet and honestly, it just didn't work for me. I will say that if this thing was indeed 9.5%, they First up, the Fuel Cafe Coffee Flavored Stout. Flavored was about it as this was very thin and hardly smelled or tasted of coffee. And the coffee that was present had this weird sour taste to it. Blech! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juggler Posted March 1, 2007 Share Posted March 1, 2007 I've been actively searching the net looking for any sort of distribution network for the US stuff but it's rarer than rocking horse poo! The Nevada I found was the ONLY proper US ale they had in the supermarket everything else was European. If anyone happens to know of any comapnies that do export some of the good stuff then let me know as I'd love to try something different. Of course the other option is a plane ticket...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DerekRx Posted March 1, 2007 Share Posted March 1, 2007 I'm on my way to beer heaven in a few days, now just chillin at Disney. Yesterday I had a few Yards ales at the airport before leaving. Pictures will follow next week. As far as getting US craft brews over across the pond, I believe Lou said she's seen Victory HopDevil on tap. Not sure if it was really Victory, or some other brewery's Hopdevil, but I do know Victory's won the Great Britain BrewFest a few years ago, so it is possible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juggler Posted March 1, 2007 Share Posted March 1, 2007 Still none the wiser with regards to the craft brewers but I polished off the rest of yesterdays purchases this evening. Tomorrow I shall be out celebrating the last day of my current job but I doubt I'll find any decent ale just the mass produce sh!t. As gorgeous as ever the BBB has the wonderful after taste of Bananas. Ahhhh, Bananas. With a mighty taste. The MIGHTY Ale. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juggler Posted March 1, 2007 Share Posted March 1, 2007 Oh and snacks too... Properdoms! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rugged One Posted March 2, 2007 Share Posted March 2, 2007 Interesting. I was just wondering seeing as how we get so many imports here in the States but I guess it only works one way right now. Tonight's stuff... You know what? I absolutely love it. Tastes borderline like a Triple IPA. I'm going to put this side by side with a bottle of 06 next week. Then it was time for some of the 2007 release of the Sierra Nevada Bigfoot Barleywine. There's been a lot of debate about this years batch (both pro & con) as it is exceedingly hoppier than previous years. I figure with Derek gone for a few days, someone has to keep the Nugget Nectar flowing in this thread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nodders Posted March 3, 2007 Share Posted March 3, 2007 ^ I think the problem over here is that most people just assume that all U.S. beers are like Budweiser & Coors, so the real ale peeps wouldn't even think of getting any American craft beer imported ..... which is a real shame. Maybe, as CamRA members (Campaign for Real Ale), Juggler, Mr Pete, Myself & anyone else who reads this could lobby for some imports at some of the beer festivals? Gotta be worth a try! (Afterthought) It may be a price issue. Any US imports over here tend to be quite pricey (usually the dollar price with a £ sign in front) How much does your average craft brew sell for & how much do you pay for UK imports? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark.w Posted March 5, 2007 Share Posted March 5, 2007 Foster's. I went over the top. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juggler Posted March 5, 2007 Share Posted March 5, 2007 Fosters! We all know why Australian lager is like making love in a canoe...... Anyway, onto my first day in new job celebration selection. Rather good this stuff, what! Finally the 7.3% locally brewed, bottled and labelled Jubilee Tower Beer. A classic English Olde Ale with a slight liquorice bite to it. Bunny, Bunny, Bunny, Bunny, Bunny, Bunny, Bunny, Bunny, Bunny, Bunny, Bunny, Bunny, Bunny!!!! Yup this is one HOPPY ale. Gorgeous! Now onto the 6.5% Bishops Tipple from Wadworths. Brewers of my first real ale the infamous 6X. Cheers! The lowest abv (6%) was first and a nice if not remarkable ale. Not over powering as some strong ales are and very quaffable. Having stopped at the off licence on the way home I found myself trying three new ales. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlyerACE1 Posted March 6, 2007 Share Posted March 6, 2007 This past weekend, we made some impromptu plans with Heath and Kim. What started out as a potential Baltimore/DC weekend turned into a trip up to Lake Compounce for the ACE New England region Nor'Easter event and a trip up to central MA for a full blown BACT Attack. The plan was to hit the #1 place to have a beer in America according to Beer Advocate, the Moan & Dove in Amherst, MA, a potentially great beer store and a couple other beer bars and brewpub. So, on to the first round of photos... Here's a good shot of the bar and draft board. I think we all agreed that this place was smaller and not as great as expected. Anticipointment in a big way! The guy on the left would typically be Derek but was replaced with this dude named Adam, drinking a DeKoninck Winter Ale. This one had a strange plum and spice flavor. The "emporer" tries out an Offshore IPA. For me, a High and Mighty Beer of the Gods. I saw this one at Spirit Haus and decided to try it without knowing much about it. It was just ok. Barely lived up to its name. Heath enjoys a Rogue Dry-Hopped Red while Kim imbibes in some Allagash White. Just a few short miles away was the easily missable, Moan & Dove. This place was what we came for! Heath is pleased with the selection although Julio's kicks this place's ass. He did leave with a couple mixed 6's and bombers. Ellen re-lives her college days and considers buying a bottle of Boone's Farm wine. We decide it's just not worth the 2 bucks. First stop was the Spirit Haus, a college town liquor store with a good beer selection, in Amherst, MA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rugged One Posted March 6, 2007 Share Posted March 6, 2007 ^Now you decide to post some beer pics! I'll let you post the ones from Pepe's. By the way, I hate your flash! Thanks again for taking us around Dude! Here's another take on the weekend. So with Derek in California for the weekend, our off season streak of 17 straight weekends of beer drinking had to inevitably come to an end. But our weekend streak of drinking beers with cool people form BACT continues thanks to a fun little trip this past weekend with Adam & Ellen. We had initially planned on a possible BACT Attack of B-More or Northern Jersey or NYC but then Adam suggested that since ACE New England's off season event (Nor'Easter) was to be held at Lake Compounce this year, we could check that out and then travel up into Western Mass, to check out the college filled area of Amherst/North Hampton. Knowing that this area is full of breweries and beer bars (including the #1 ranked best place to have a beer in America) we knew what must be done. Less than a month after the last one, it was time for yet another Massachusetts BACT Attack! Finally, I'll end this update with a High & Mighty Extra Pale Ale. A nice vibe and a great selection made the Dirty Truth our favorite stop of the trip. In fact the whole area rocked! Looks like we now have a new place to go when we're up at SFNE. Kim gives a shout out to our Beer Thread U.K. peeps with a Coniston Bluebird Bitter. Adam really digs the North Coast Brother Thelonius Strong Ale. See, check out all those taps! Double Wow! Check out that draft board! Loads of decent stuff to try. Wow, this is a little different than the Moan & Dove. Lots of college kids enjoying good beers. Despite the somewhat young crowd, we never felt out of place and easily found spots down at the end of the bar. Ah there it is, The Dirty Truth! Seriously, that's the only signage on the outside of the place. Our final stop took us down the road to another college bar area in North Hampton. Here lies the much rowdier sister bar to the Moan & Dove. But you wouldn't know from the outside, would you? We really liked this place! A nice vibe, good food, and better than expected beers will make for a return trip in the future. I got denied the Twin Sisters Imperial Stout so I decided to change things up a bit and try a new cider on the market. The Original Sin Cider. Don't be fooled by it's nearly transparent color. It was very good. This one's for you Gluten Free! For the next round, Adam gets their Oatmeal Stout and a water to wash it down with. The food was pretty good here. I had a yummy rueben with fries. While Adam goes for the very delicous Chocolate Porter. Kim tries their sweet Honey Pilsner. I start out with the Incinerator Dopple Bock. A little more thin than I normally like in my Dopple Bock's but it was still pretty good. Lots of decent looking stuff on tap. Well after that, we definitley needed some food. Luckily the Amherst Brewing Company was right down the street. It was pretty crowded but we managed to get a seat right away. All in all we had a good time at the Moan & Dove. A #1 place? I'm not too sure about that. A decent selection of beers but the place was almost too simple and laid back with hardly anyone in there at 8 pm on a Saturday night. Maybe that's the attraction f A shot of the Belgian side of their bottle menu. One again, nice but nothing that we haven't seen at other really good beer bars. Next up I get the Offshore Brewing IPA while Adam had a DeKoninck Winter Brew. Mmmm. A great salty snack that makes you thirsty for more beer! They are supposed to have some food here but we never saw a menu. But they did have everyone's favorite beer drinking snack. A big old barrel of peanuts! ...which frees Kim up to have a beer. An Allagash White. Adam keeps it local and tries something from High & Mighty Brewing in Holyoke, MA. Their nicely named Beer of the Gods! Ellen was taking it easy on the beer this weekend and just had a soda... I start off with the Dry Hopped St. Rogue Red. Very nice. Basically there is no wait staff here. You just get your beer from the bar and sit down and drink. They had a decent draft list but unfortunately, nothing that blew our socks off. As you can see the whole place is basically a medium size room with wood tables & benches, low lighting, and some kind of trance music playing. Our next stop, The Moan & Dove. The #1 ranked place to have a beer in America, according to Beeradvocate.com. Would it live up to the hype? Let's find out. Adam & Ellen say "It's nice, but it's no Julio's!" I must say that they did have a nice selection (but no Founder's) including a ton of tasty Belgians. Our first stop in Amherst was the Spirit Haus, a pretty well reviewed liquor store in the area to naturally pick some stuff up that I normally can't get around this area. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
65skylark Posted March 6, 2007 Share Posted March 6, 2007 So, this last weekend I got to meet up with some friends (old and new) in SoCal, and of course that also meant drinking some good beer. I didn't take many pics of the beer drinking (not to worry, I know Derek did) but I'll post the few I did take. And finally, Ted and I enjoying one of many different selections Derek had for everyone on Sunday. Goes very well with the steamed clams and mussles. Hmmmm, Arragant Bastard. Next stop, Stone Brewery. Wally, Derek, Matt, Don, and Ted all enjoying there free beer. Ted gets his first sample. No trip to Seaworld is complete without a visit to the Hospitality Center. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DerekRx Posted March 7, 2007 Share Posted March 7, 2007 As promised, here's the photos from this past week's trip, well, at least the beers. Thursday at Buca, some Sam Adams and to go with my 1st Class chicken, some white wine Oh the airplane, woohoo, 1st Class upgrade, meaning big water Followed by a Yards IPA while wearing my Nugget Nectar shirt, since I'm sadly not drinking any of this for quite a few days First up, General Washington's Tavern Porter from Yards. And so a new season begins, just the way it ended, at the airport brewpub Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DerekRx Posted March 7, 2007 Share Posted March 7, 2007 Thursday was all day at Disneyland, meaning no beer. But Friday had me spending some time at DCA, so I could get beer. Following was more beers with some friends outside of Disney, and then down to Pizza Port in Carlsbad. By far one of my favorite places for beer. and to end the night, I go back to Pizza Port, more specifically their Lost Abbey for a Lost N Found belgian style and it looks like Wes could get lucky tonight, if he doesn't die first As the night dwindles down, Guy's got some beer goggles on After a few of Pizza Port's brews, I decided to try a guest tap, the Ballast Point Tongue Buckler IPA. San Diego is totally the most IPAwesome place Next up for me, the Nightrider Imperial Stout. The Hof would be pleased! Wes even fought off his dying just for some pizza and beer Oh yeah, and I brought a few friends with me. Not hard to do with promises of awesome pizza, beer, and music Matt goes with the Carlsbad Chronic as I recommended First up for me, the greatness that is Wipeout IPA, on tap! Ah, the board. How I missed you With a quick hour drive, we arrived at a moderately crowded Pizza Port in Carlsbad, but still could manage a table So of course we had to indulge in the $7 draft beer In Downtown Disney Casey and Matt discovered Fat Tire on tap Time for some Stargazer IPA...with mcjaco!? mmm, Karl Strauss beer truck at DCA in the Wharf area Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DerekRx Posted March 7, 2007 Share Posted March 7, 2007 Saturday started out at SeaWorld (for the free beer) before moving quickly to Stone to try out their newly opened World Bistro. While the place looks great and they've got some great beers, we weren't that impressed with the food. Salty, greasy, and expensive. Hopefully it gets better before our return. and to head to our next destination, may I suggest this limo? the bathroom is cool looking too and my beef hand roll, braised in Arrogant Bastard Wally's curried pork For me, Speedway Stout on tap from Alesmith. Awwww yeah! Don enjoys a Levitation Our appetizers, Stone IPA mashed potato balls deep fried and arrogant bastard onion rings both served with an Arrogant Bastard sauce cool artwork etched in stone and whats that in bottles?! HopDevil! This place is Derek Approved for beer Cool system they have. When a beer is kicked, the light goes out While Matt goes with the Stone Pale Ale For me, Levitation double dry hopped Great draft list This should eventually be a lush garden entrance awesome artwork. I want! Very nice looking place And here's 1999 Citracado Parkway, home of Stone Hey look! Don and Wally even showed up before they went on to Japan OK, even pictures of SeaWorld are boring me. Here's the Spring Heat Spiced Wheat, newly tapped for the season I guess we can ride this to kill some time Doh! We arrived at opening when the free beer isn't served for another 1.5 hours. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rugged One Posted March 7, 2007 Share Posted March 7, 2007 ^ Shark Bite and Poor Man's on cask and you didn't try it. For shame. If only you had had a DD. Looking at plane ticket prices now. Some random samplings from the last 2 nights. Founder's Centennial IPA. Another damn fine IPA. This one really grew on me as it warmed up. Bell's Cherry Stout. God I love this stuff. Just such an awesome tart cherry bite to it. I'm glad I picked up a case of this. The Left Hand Warrior IPA. Wow, this one suprised me. Beautiful blend of citrus and those wonderful Warrior hops. Good stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DerekRx Posted March 7, 2007 Share Posted March 7, 2007 ^Yeah, well. 4 beers when driving was kinda pushing it (and we ended up seeing like 6 cop cars just in Carlsbad village alone, one on every block). While the drive to the hotel wasn't far and I was fine to drive, I didn't want to get pulled over for something stupid and then blowing a .08 or whatever. Maybe next time I'll actually have a DD with me, instead of them getting suckered into going to a nonriding event with the promise of a good beer bar I'll save Saturday night and Sunday's festivities for another night. Tonight I went with a can of old Oskar's. Durrr, let's go fishin! Dis canned beer done be pretty darn tasty, I reckon. Dale's Pale Ale. Another canned product of Oskar Blues Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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