A New Beer Thread

7 for 10. And I guessed on almost all of them.

 

10 for 10, but I'll admit I guessed on the last two.

 

If last week I hit the Beer Powerball with the Piney and Heady, this week I hit the $5 gas station scratch off. Samuel Smith Oatmeal Stout, Bells Two-Hearted, Rogue Shakespeare Oatmeal Stout, Arrogant Bastard and Avery IPA one one trip.

 

They don't have to invent jet packs. They just need to feed me Shiner and light the fuze in the morning.

 

I felt like an idiot in Syracuse a couple of weeks ago. I was in a bar before the Syracuse-Pitt game having a beer with a few friends (Ommegang, by the way), and as I was leaving I finally saw the beer specials on the chalkboard and noticed they had Bells on tap. I was kicking myself for missing out on it as I've heard good things.

I did try the Ballast Point Sculpin IPA for the first time later that night though, so that made me feel better. THAT is a great IPA.

The current beer I'm evangelizing most about is the Jack's Abby Hoponious Union. I recently gave it to an Ohio friend in a beer trade. It's a mix between an IPA and a Lager-- all the hoppiness of an IPA, but the crisp finish of a Lager. Great beer, from one of my favorite Massachusetts breweries. It's not exactly new (about two years old), but I've just been loving it more and more lately.

http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/26520/71820/

 

Just made nice with the guy that runs the beer department at a local grocery store.
He gave me a tip on a few bombers that he was going to sell for $1.99 each. Victory's Helios and Smuttynose's Really Old Brown Dog. Looking forward to trying them. Hell, 2 bucks for 22 oz. of craft beer? Sold!

 

Had a couple of interesting beers from local breweries last night.

This one is from a former Goose Island brewer:



And this one was named best new brewery in the world by ratebeer, after raising funds with kickstarter:

 

That DinoS'mores stout sounds excellent and fun for a dessert beer. And the One-Horned Wonder would be a must-try. Maybe another trip to Chicago should be in the works!

 

I would be all over that, especially since I'm firmly in winter stout mode. I just had my first Goose Island Bourbon County Stout a few days ago, and it was as delicious as I had hoped.

Another excellent new brewery on that Rate Beer list is luckily a local for me:

http://www.trilliumbrewing.com/

At this point it's mostly growlers/draft accounts only, with a few bottles available in limited supply at the brewery. Delicious beers with a definite focus on different varieties of pale ales. This one is a winner:

http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/30654/88949/

 

Really like what Pipeworks is doing. Their IPA/DIPAs are all killer (any in their "Ninja" series) and their stouts (especially the Abduction series) are fantastic. Too bad they're working on such a small distribution area right now but Chicago should keep supporting them. Good dudes, too.

Pipeworks also had a S'mores Stout (S'more Money, S'more Problems) out just after Xmas, as well as a Lebowski-inspired White Russian Stout (Careful, Man, There's A Beverage Here!). Knocking it out of the park.

Have only sampled a couple things from Off Color but they've been solid.

Throw in 18th Street, Half Acre, Revolution...they're rolling in the Second City beer-wise. Many are indeed GI alums and are doing great work.

 

Moody Tongue is another brewery headed by a Goose Island alum.

A couple of others to check out are Une Annee and Spiteful.

 

Between holiday food and "spring"/summer beer fests...when the hell am I supposed to get back to my girlish figure?!

But damn, them 12 of 13 samples at the fest last night were good...