What beer are you drinking tonight? For the new forum...

[NickW]

Tonight I am treating myself with a Firestone Walker Brewing Double Jack Double IPA. Wow, this is like a fine wine, only for beer. Got lucky to find a 12oz bottle of it for $3 as normally all I see this in is the 22oz bottles for over $12. Been wanting to try it for a while and I am glad I finally got to try it. I also have a bottle of Dogfish Heads Burton Barton that I will probably have tonight too. This is a really good beer too.

 

[mokaman]

Well wishes on the new born to NickW...I'm drinking a Burton Barton tonight...cheers!

 

[Tristan]

Well it just so happens that I was invited to an Oktoberfest party, and today was also a race day, so lots of celebrating was in order!

It was a really great party, I guess several folks got into home brewing and made like a club out of it. Then they started thier own yearly Oktoberfest, and this was the 12th one. Each year it gets a little bigger. About 6 core brewers and a few others. 2 of them are friends from work, and there was actually about a dozen or so people I knew from work there (I was worried I was only going to know 1 or 2). This party was way bigger than I thought for just a backyard get together... they had tents (beer tent, food tent, desert tent, entertainment tent, etc) entertainment including a huge movie screen and projector, german or swiss or whatever dressed folks playing the alphorns and accordions, port-a-jons, and even commemorative large glass beer mugs.

And the best part of course... they had a tap wall with 41 home brews on tap!

I couldnt ever get the whole thing in a pic, it was way to crowded. That shot there was at like 5pm before most everyone showed up. There were probably 200+ friends and family there by 8pm. There was also a table on each end of the tap wall with some other drinks, some wooden barrels with hard cider, some stronger stuff, home made wine table...

First time I saw alphorns up close!

It was great fun! Just wish a had a DD so I could have sampled some more brews! I was only taking about 2-3oz of each beer just to try it, and I still didnt sample half of them. Some of the brewers even grow their own hops. It was a nice variety from vanilla bean porter to IPAs (regular, double, ryes, and blacks) to christmas ales, oktoberfests, stouts, hard cider, it was all there. A nice way to celebrate a race victory!

 

[Longboard]

What a cool time! Hard to believe it's just a bunch of friends getting together.

 

[Tristan]

What a cool time! Hard to believe it's just a bunch of friends getting together.

Whats harder to believe is that their neighbors (and the local police) are ok with it! So far at least, but it does grow each year I was told. This year was record attendance and record number of brews (I think there was around 32 home brews on tap last year). First year for the alphorns as well as the commemorative glass beer mugs (plastic before). Its on probably about an acre and a half, luckily the area there is somewhat wooded (especially the back) and the houses are decently spaced out.

Oh and tonight a bottle of Sierra Nevada Flipside IPA. I agree with their comment about the 'mild-mannered beers of summer'. This pack is the first I've had of Flipside, and I still think their Torpedo and Celebration are their best IPAs, but this is a nice change from summer beers.

 

[Longboard]

I also had never heard of it before, just tried it a week or so ago for the first time. Must be brand new for this year. Definitely a transition brew just as advertised.

 

[Abide]

That does look awesome Tristan.

 

[Abide]

Enjoying a New Belgium Rampant Imperial IPA. Pretty good beer they have here, maybe even case worthy.

 

[NickW]

Abide, that rampant imperial ipa is one of the better imperials that you can buy in a 6 pack. I just found a 4 pack of the Firestone Double Jack (an even better beer than the rampant), but at $13 it's a bit spendy. I think that comes out to like $3.25/beer. Hard to spend that kind of money on it, but it is definitely one of my favorites. When I start home brewing those are the types of beer I want to make, not the watered down pils or other lighter beers.

 

[Longboard]

Don't know about YOUR Costco but at my local one:

 

[Tristan]

Jeez I got to look into this costco place!

 

[Bare Lee]

Don't know about YOUR Costco but at my local one

I remember us agreeing on the Torpedo. I've sampled a few more IPAs since then, but in the buck-a-beer range, the Torpedo keeps winning, although I like the similarly priced Summit Saga and Boulevard's Single-Wide for some variety. Picked up the Rampant last night on Abide's rec. Pretty nice, but almost the same price I pay for a 12-pack of Torpedo. OK for a treat I guess, but I'd rather get a 10-dollar bottle of wine I think, like the excellent McManis Petite Sirah. OK, that's my participation on this thread for the next six months, I can't afford to sample the really good stuff like you other guys .

 

[Abide]

I remember us agreeing on the Torpedo. I've sampled a few more IPAs since then, but in the buck-a-beer range, the Torpedo keeps winning, although I like the similarly priced Summit Saga and Boulevard's Single-Wide for some variety. Picked up the Rampant last night on Abide's rec. Pretty nice, but almost the same price I pay for a 12-pack of Torpedo. OK for a treat I guess, but I'd rather get a 10-dollar bottle of wine I think, like the excellent McManis Petite Sirah. OK, that's my participation on this thread for the next six months, I can't afford to sample the really good stuff like you other guys .

Whoa! thats too expensive for New Belgium, we get it here regularly for about $7 a six pack or $13 for a 12 pack. I can't remember how much Costco sells Fat Tire. Same as Boards Torpedo I think, but its fat tire and it kind of sucks...so too much in my opinion.

I really wish Costco would sell a SN sampler pack. I only have room for a case in the fridge and I like to mix things up too much to buy 24 of one type.

 

[Longboard]

One good thing about Michigan winter is the higher ABV stuff doesn't freeze if stored outside in the cold dark anywhere.

 

[NickW]

I only have room for a case in the fridge and I like to mix things up too much to buy 24 of one type.

Same here.

I almost tried the sn torpedo the other day, but I am not big on regular ipa's, I just remember you all saying it was good. Abide, I used to like fat tire, but it has always given me head aches so I don't drink it anymore.

 

[OneBiteAtATime]

Never mentioned, we visited the Scranton area for Labor Day. Brought back 3 cases of Yuengling Lager. Man I wish I could get this stuff down here.

 

[Longboard]

Yuengling definitely tastes different than any other beer. It is supposed to taste like the lagers the Germans brewed after coming to the U.S. using their traditional methods except with American barley, hops, and water.
And it should, because as the oldest brewery in the U.S. it still uses the original basic recipe, while the others slowly changed to meet mass market taste expectations and price (i.e. rice added to the wort).
It is so readily available in FL that I acquired a taste for it while on vacations but then lost it. Definitely a unique taste though.
I bought it in FL to try something different that was priced as cheap as the cheapest at every happy hour in the state, while my college-age sons at the time thought I ordered it to be "cool". At their universities students would bring back cases from the East after breaks and be as popular as the kids from the western states were bringing Coors back when I was in school.

 

[Longboard]

Same here.

..... I used to like fat tire, but it has always given me head aches so I don't drink it anymore.

I never understood the hype/cult following of Fat Tire.
Yes, it's a true craft beer, and is definitely a cut above the Miller/Coors/Bud/PBR etc., but compared to any old craft amber I don't see it as anything special.

 

[mokaman]

Sierra Nevada Torpedo is not cheap at all around here where I live in Georgia...its about $9 a six pack...for that much there are many I like better. At $6 a six pack I would try it again.

Yuenglings has a ricey taste to me...it doesn't taste like an all barley malt beer still decent for a cheapy except its not that cheap nowadays. When I first found it years ago it was 2.50 - $3 a 6 pack.
Edit: I looked on Yuenglings website...its corn grits they add extra to the barley malt not rice.

So tonite I'm trying a couple of Ommegang Abbey Ale bottles...I'm not very experienced with this kind of beer but had a couple very nice microbrewed versions in Colorado a couple weeks ago. This one here is a lot more heavy bodied plus more overall taste/hops...not sure what to make of it.

 

[Abide]

I love the abbey ale. One of the best American versions of Trappist style ales in my opinion.