Best (and worst) beers you’ve ever had - redux

[McLoofus 35,182]

On 4/10/2021 at 9:30 AM, Tiger Refuge said:

So perhaps I was a beer or three in when I posted the above. 

 

Seriously Fred, that looks like an absolutely amazing trip. Fly fishing has always tugged at me, but I have never done it properly. Oh, I flicked a few poppers out on a farm pond, but no formal instruction. Every year we go to the Smokies and every year I say I'm gonna do a guided trip. Guess I just need to bite the bullet and do it. 

 

On tap from last night, a pastry stout growler that was fridge turding from October(not bad, not good either), a *clearsthroat* white chocolate raspberry cake IPA from Tin Roof brewing. Not bad either. And to round things off, a Final Resting Place DIPA from Flying Tiger. Oh and steaks again...

I laughed hard at "clears throat". 

Also, I looked at lots of pictures of Midway Atoll. Man. Truly wild and remote!

[McLoofus 35,182]

Fruited sour beach beer jamboree. I think the Humble Forager was my favorite but they kinda blur and blend. We went for it with the in-laws. (Brother in law nailed some strips in a pan with salt, pepper, butter and thyme. He did tons of basting with the butter. Gorgeous crust on the meat.)

 

[ShocksMyBrain 9,362]

On 4/9/2021 at 7:59 AM, fredst said:

Here’s the beer from last pm. Pretty good taste although not as bold as some sours; can definitely taste the cherry which is nice. Lower gravity at 6.5% (maybe why the taste isn’t quite as bold?). Worth trying again I think:

EO does some good things. Their sours are typically SOUR and not loaded with lactose. Never had a bad beer from them.  

[ShocksMyBrain 9,362]

1 hour ago, McLoofus said:

Fruited sour beach beer jamboree. I think the Humble Forager was my favorite but they kinda blur and blend. We went for it with the in-laws. (Brother in law nailed some strips in a pan with salt, pepper, butter and thyme. He did tons of basting with the butter. Gorgeous crust on the meat.)

 

Wild Mind is a good go-to for the smoothie-style Berliner. I really want to try some Humble Forager stuff. 
 

[fredst 9,064]

1 hour ago, McLoofus said:

Fruited sour beach beer jamboree. I think the Humble Forager was my favorite but they kinda blur and blend. We went for it with the in-laws. (Brother in law nailed some strips in a pan with salt, pepper, butter and thyme. He did tons of basting with the butter. Gorgeous crust on the meat.)

 

Those beers all look good. And, might I add, you have some fine looking legs 😜

[McLoofus 35,182]

9 minutes ago, fredst said:

Those beers all look good. And, might I add, you have some fine looking legs 😜

I thought nobody was ever going to say anything! 

[fredst 9,064]

18 minutes ago, McLoofus said:

I thought nobody was ever going to say anything! 

Dude, you’ve got 30k posts. You know better  than that, lol 😆 

Edited April 11, 2021 by fredst

[McLoofus 35,182]

3 minutes ago, fredst said:

Dude, you’ve got 30k posts. You know bellwether than that, lol 😆 

That's... that's something.

[Tiger Refuge 6,662]

16 hours ago, McLoofus said:

I laughed hard at "clears throat". 

Also, I looked at lots of pictures of Midway Atoll. Man. Truly wild and remote!

Dude. The project leader for Midway was a leadership coach for me a few years ago. He had some “holy-ish” amazing video of Midway. Landing and filming nesting seabirds. Just f’in amazing. 
 

Like, land can be isolating and lonely. The sea? Takes it to 10,000x.

Edited April 12, 2021 by Tiger Refuge

[McLoofus 35,182]

10 hours ago, Tiger Refuge said:

Like, land can be isolating and lonely. The sea? Takes it to 10,000x.

Couldn't imagine. Like, what is the shortest flight out of there? I'm assuming you're looking at several hours at least just to get to Hawaii or whatever the nearest land is? Never mind getting back to an actual continent. Just crazy. 

[johnnyAU 3,630]

I like most things from Founders, but this one is worth mentioning. Very tasty, and not that stupid dank, juicy, etc...crapola most folks are putting out these days. Bleh...

[fredst 9,064]

On the subject of fruited sours for the beach... this one is pretty tasty and worth a try

[fredst 9,064]

This one also pretty good. I like all the stuff I’ve had from Westbrook.

Edited April 16, 2021 by fredst

[McLoofus 35,182]

28 minutes ago, fredst said:

This one also pretty good. I like all the stuff I’ve had from Westbrook.

For sure. Crazy how they revived a super obscure (nearly dead?) style, became an overnight sensation, and almost single-handedly started the accessible (vs the Cantillons and Three Fonteinens and other serious Belgian lambics and such), drinkable sour craze in the States. Wild Heaven did something somewhat similar, albeit not nearly as massive with their Emergency Drinking Beer. But even that was made possible by Westbrook Gose. In a weird way, they're one of the most important and influential breweries in the country IMO because of one beer. They've probably even made some German breweries a few extra euros. 

BUT everything they do is solid. Mexican Cake is still the best example of its style, too, IMO. And they're one of those shops that knows how to do QC. Never had an "off" can from them. I've learned to respect the breweries that get the business side of it right. 

Sorry. I might have a beer at lunch today.

[fredst 9,064]

2 hours ago, McLoofus said:

For sure. Crazy how they revived a super obscure (nearly dead?) style, became an overnight sensation, and almost single-handedly started the accessible (vs the Cantillons and Three Fonteinens and other serious Belgian lambics and such), drinkable sour craze in the States. Wild Heaven did something somewhat similar, albeit not nearly as massive with their Emergency Drinking Beer. But even that was made possible by Westbrook Gose. In a weird way, they're one of the most important and influential breweries in the country IMO because of one beer. They've probably even made some German breweries a few extra euros. 

BUT everything they do is solid. Mexican Cake is still the best example of its style, too, IMO. And they're one of those shops that knows how to do QC. Never had an "off" can from them. I've learned to respect the breweries that get the business side of it right. 

Sorry. I might have a beer at lunch today.

If it’s warm, get one of Westbrook White Thai-a Belgian witbier with ginger and lemongrass notes. If you haven’t had you should try. It is a delicious beer for the summer months IMO

Add: The one I posted is not the gose but is still good. The key lime gose is better to me (more sour)

Edited April 16, 2021 by fredst

[McLoofus 35,182]

1 minute ago, fredst said:

If it’s warm, get one of Westbrook White Thai-a Belgian witbier with ginger and lemongrass notes. If you haven’t had you should try. It is a delicious beer for the summer months IMO

Have had many! And it does indeed go well with Thai food. 

There are a few places in the Lowcountry where their flagship IPA is the only solid craft offering, and I have zero complaints when that's the case. I will never be mad at a solid, balanced IPA that doesn't spin off too far towards towards some de rigueur substyle. 

 

[fredst 9,064]

4 minutes ago, McLoofus said:

Have had many! And it does indeed go well with Thai food. 

There are a few places in the Lowcountry where their flagship IPA is the only solid craft offering, and I have zero complaints when that's the case. I will never be mad at a solid, balanced IPA that doesn't spin off too far towards towards some de rigueur substyle. 

 

Lol. I should have known better than to throw out a beer thinking that you might not have had it.

But, referencing back on page 72: Those legs though 😍(lol)

[Tiger Refuge 6,662]

Dammit...now I'm thirsty.

[McLoofus 35,182]

14 minutes ago, fredst said:

Lol. I should have known better than to throw out a beer thinking that you might not have had it.

But, referencing back on page 72: Those legs though 😍(lol)

Beers brewed before, oh, say 2016: probably had it

Beers not brewed before then: probably haven't had it

I might be off on my timeline, and obviously I'm exaggerating, but you and I dip in similar distro pools and not much that was available locally got past me back in the day. There was so much less available, plus I traveled a lot for work and for pleasure, I was in the trading scene, my brother in law (who still is a huge enthusiast) traveled and traded, I was tuned in to the brewer and bottle shoppe scene in Atlanta... you should've seen the bottle shares I went to. It was a legit passion and hobby for several years in a much smaller and more tight knit community.

But now everyone is a beer bro or sista, and a person in Alabama or Louisiana or South Carolina or Mississippi can't even keep up with their own state's offerings, much less everything that's being cranked out regionally and shipped in nationally. And, praise be to Baby Beer Jeebus, it's fantastic!

As for the legs, you know how this goes. First one's free, but...

 

[McLoofus 35,182]

19 minutes ago, Tiger Refuge said:

Dammit...now I'm thirsty.

At least it's not Friday. Whoops. Did I say that.

[fredst 9,064]

51 minutes ago, McLoofus said:

But now everyone is a beer bro or sista, and a person in Alabama or Louisiana or South Carolina or Mississippi can't even keep up with their own state's offerings, much less everything that's being cranked out regionally and shipped in nationally. And, praise be to Baby Beer Jeebus, it's fantastic!

Bills making it through AL legislature to allow shipping to residences in AL. That will potentially greatly expand my options for all alcoholic beverages if it goes through.

[McLoofus 35,182]

9 minutes ago, fredst said:

Bills making it through AL legislature to allow shipping to residences in AL. That will potentially greatly expand my options for all alcoholic beverages if it goes through.

For sure. 

I once ordered a big shipment from a shop in Rome that I had visited. It included a sixer of Westy 12 which I don't even know how they had it. Anyway, sure, no problem, they send it... but they don't package it worth a s***, a bottle breaks and leaks all over the place, customs intercepts, no go. So they try again, except neither of us knew that they couldn't ship to a residence in Georgia. That was on me, because this tiny little craft beer store in Italy in the early aughts didn't know jack about shipping to the US. So *that* package is returned to them, and they're like what's up? So I arrange with my buddy that owns the local brew pub to have it shipped to his joint, except he doesn't tell his guys. So they refuse the shipment and back it goes to Rome again. At that point, they're like eff you, here's your money back, and this state of Uh-meh-ree-cuh you leeve in, this Gee-orrr-gee-uh, is ******* stupid. And I'm just like, yeah, I'm sorry, you're right. Fin.

It was years before I got my hands on a Westy. Had to trade with a guy in Belgium who lived near the monastery. 

[fredst 9,064]

Went to Montana for a conference 3-4 years ago and stopped at a liquor store in Bozeman-Had found Pappy and Eagle Rare 17 on the shelf there previously. They didn’t have the real premium stuff on the shelf but they did have EHT single barrel at slightly below MSRP. I bought 10 bottles and spent the next three hours or so getting supplies, packaging, and shipping back to my house in AL via UPS. Wifey not super happy with me about the way we spent that afternoon😔

[Tiger Refuge 6,662]

1 hour ago, McLoofus said:

Beers brewed before, oh, say 2016: probably had it

Beers not brewed before then: probably haven't had it

I might be off on my timeline, and obviously I'm exaggerating, but you and I dip in similar distro pools and not much that was available locally got past me back in the day. There was so much less available, plus I traveled a lot for work and for pleasure, I was in the trading scene, my brother in law (who still is a huge enthusiast) traveled and traded, I was tuned in to the brewer and bottle shoppe scene in Atlanta... you should've seen the bottle shares I went to. It was a legit passion and hobby for several years in a much smaller and more tight knit community.

But now everyone is a beer bro or sista, and a person in Alabama or Louisiana or South Carolina or Mississippi can't even keep up with their own state's offerings, much less everything that's being cranked out regionally and shipped in nationally. And, praise be to Baby Beer Jeebus, it's fantastic!

As for the legs, you know how this goes. First one's free, but...

 

 

[McLoofus 35,182]

I did not have a beer at lunch. But I did buy beer at lunch. Sixpoint Resin might be my favorite IPA right now. Clocking in over 9%, but soooooo dangerously drinkable. And just the right hint of citrus in the hop profile to compliment the bitterness, which is ample. Definitely much closer to a West Coast IPA than an NEIPA, but not exactly that. 

Also got some wine and 2 bourbons, Willett's and Smokewagons's Small Batch Ryes. Had no intention of getting bourbon but they had a very few bottles of each behind the counter and my FOMO kicked my ass as it often does. Those are probably shelf standards in real markets but I no longer live in one of those.