shufon

Dinner with Deviant Dale's last night.. had a couple of these. Great IPA.

^Episode 9 is next week.

Found a couple more pics on my untappd..

Duchessic. Apparently this bottle style isn't available in the US and it says Cantillon on it which the US bottles don't mention. It's 50% Birra del Borgo Duchessa and 50% Cantillon Classic Gueuze. Was really tasty.

2004 Sour Super Baladin. Nice mix of a strong ale and a sour.. I had the 2005 recently and this one was definitely much more sour.

First tasting I've ever hosted at my house.. missing pics of a few of the beers from late in the tasting but here goes:

2012 Hill Farmstead E.

Batch 4 Sanctification (2009-ish I believe?)

Cascade Blueberry and 2012 LeBleu. This year's LeBleu kinda sucks, don't trade for it. 2011 is the only one worth trading for.

The greatest stout ever made.

2012. Delicious stuff but overshadowed by the Rare.

Rare Bourbon County + Chocolate Rain = Rare Rain

2009 BA Wee Heavy.. this was ok. It tasted thin but I think it was just because of the beers that preceded it.

I don't remember drinking this but this picture was on my phone and tumblr :\

The reason why I don't have tastings at my house-- I start opening stuff that wouldn't get opened if I wasn't drunk. 2009 Brute.

Final lineup. Super Baladin Sour Edition '04 isn't pictured here (it's off to the left).

I gotta say man, alcoholic carbonated pineapple juice doesn't sound too bad

I had my graduation celebration tasting two nights ago. Will post up some pics soon.

@Mauisnake- nice pic. I graduated the day Obama was speaking at Barnard. That shit was ridiculous, family was set back like an hour for brunch due to all the security.

If Fruet is anything like 100% BA Coton or Cuir I'm gonna love it. Those beers are delicious.

Also, Layne, Heady Topper is easy to trade for. Just find somebody in VT, they can go buy it whenever they want. I'm sure some Jester King would get you some no problem.

Haha I just took the picture like that for my tumblr Actually got some as extras in a trade for Hill Farmstead bottles on Sunday. It's supposed to be around this week though so I'm keeping my eyes open, will hopefully score a few 4pks.

How is that Layne?

Pics since I started celebrating yesterday afternoon.

(ren sends the best boxes)

Just finished all of my coursework for my master's and graduating on Monday, things are coming along smoothly with the hedge fund, just finished an algorithm that predicts availability and prices of apartment types in Manhattan that we will hopefully turn into a website, and just got a call from JP Morgan asking if I want to interview for a front office quant position in NY.

Good stuff.

Looking forward to trying the Tart Lychee and the NB/Lost Abbey brett collab Lips of Faith that's coming up.

@shwanger -- I'm in the last few days of finishing my master's. It's not that I literally haven't been able to drink for the past couple of weeks, but I've chosen not to. Crazy busy.

Their Lips of Faith beers are really hit or miss.. miss more often than hit. That being said, I haven't been able to drink for 2 weeks now so I'd probably enjoy anything at this point.

I read somewhere that they got a 15% boost to their budget this season just for the Battle of Blackwater Bay in episode 9.

I'd get a wine cooler and store the bottles that you want to age in there, moving them over to a fridge when you plan on drinking them in the near future. That way you can always have a rotation going.

Also, since the upright vs sideways debate was mentioned a few posts ago, thought I'd post this:

If you notice, most of the bottles here are stored sideways. This is from Akkurat in Sweden.. I trust that these guys know what they're doing with all their 15-20+ year old gueuze and lambic.

How many bottles are you trying to store Layne? You can usually find wine coolers on craigslist as well, especially coolers that hold <=24 bottles.

Everything.

Yeah it's a huge debate. I go with the wine belief that storing a bottle on its side keeps the cork moist and prevents oxygen uptake at the cork. The only thing of concern is that (for most corked beers) yeast will settle on the side of the bottle instead of the bottom, but if you take the bottle out and set it upright for a day or two before drinking, it should be fine.

With all that said, unless you're planning on cellaring your beers for 10+ years, I don't think much of this has a drastically noticeable effect

Just remove some of the lower shelves so you can stand bottles on the bottom of the wine fridge. Store corked bottles on their side (this is the best way) on the remaining rakcs and use the bottom area for uncorked bottles. I've seen a lot of pics where people have done this.

@Layne - small room with nonstop AC @ 60 degrees (0). Hoping to find a more suitable solution when I move to a new apartment.

@shwanger - Heady Topper is awesome. If you have the opportunity to get some, get it.

^Haha no idea dude. Sometime in May is all I've heard.. I'm assuming Alchemist is announcing the specifics on their twitter and website before it happens since they did the same for Philly. Not sure if I'm making it to Where the Wild Beers Are.. maybe though. I need to contact them to get confirmation that all the rare loons, DDG, Cable Car, etc will actually be there.

edit: and Izzy Prox of course. #1 priority.

^Hah, nice pics dude. The wax on that PVW? Eclipse on the table is completely ridiculous. How was that NG Iced Barleywine? Also, I want to tick Rorie's Ale. I'm jealous. :\

I actually like the new design better than the old, but yeah, the packaging is still nice. It's a shame the beer tasted like ass :\