state your beer, drinkers

[Appleseed]

The North Coast Red Seal was a little bland to me,

I will totally second this. Had it on cask as well this weekend, found it pretty disappointing.

[youkinorn2]

I will totally second this. Had it on cask as well this weekend, found it pretty disappointing.

I'm glad someone can confirm...I wasn't sure if my palate was just fucked from what I drank before it, but I thought it was pretty underwhelming.

[B-Dawg]

That's a delicious lineup of beers younikorn.

My friend's girlfriend did me the most epic favor today. She waited in line for 5 hours at The Bruery to pick me up some bottles of their 19.5% barrel aged imperial stout Black Tuesday. Apparently it was mad crazy and I don't doubt it. Stoked to try this one, which in like 20 reviews shot up to the top 5 on beeradvocate.com.

[Dead_Wizard]

Mainly Old Chub and Dales. Shit has the exact moment it hit the can printed on the bottom.

Also growler upon growler of Marble Knuckle Down Brown ale.

Sometime life's good living arms reach from Americas drunkest city.

[ninetynine]

Today I'm drinking Unibroue's "Terrible", which certainly isn't what the name implies:

http://www.unibroue.com/products/terrible.cfm

I popped the cork and my dog jumped out of her skin at the sound (I think shes still mad at me).

It says on the website that 10-12 C is the recommended drinking temperature but I tend to drink all of my beers in the 20C range (unless its something like PBR, Heineken, Dos Equis etc.)

With a hearty pour, the beer formed a head comparable to a glass full of foam. I usually pour it hard at first just to see what kind of smell it gives off.

The first note I got in the smell of this beer was darker fermented fruit (plums, grapes or whatever) Immediately followed by a deep strong alcoholic scent that a 10.5% alcohol dark ale usually has.

I let it sit for a second and took my first sip, its awesome. The carbonation right at the beginning was very noticeable, then the warm mellow bitterness immediately followed and after that I noticed the fruit I was smelling.

The website says this beer is a great alternative to coffee as a digestif which I must agree with. I chose to do it with some pieces of white chocolate which seemed to contrast really well, although the website suggest more hearty flavors such as red meat and cheese (which I also had on hand).

Overall this beer is a great sipper, satisfying and relaxing with a moderate bite to it.

if I had to rate it I would give it an 8 or 8.5/10.

[soonami]

Not nearly as hoppy as I would've liked. Although I was expecting Nugget Nectar analog, so that's always sure to induce disappointment

[ninetynine]

Allagash Black tonight, this beer is a Belgian Style Stout:

poured the beer out at moderate speed, it smelled like coffee to a certain extent. It's only a 7.5% so it didn't feel to heavy like some other belgians i've had.

I'm drinking it around 20C as per usual. The foam on this one wasn't too overwhelming:

Not too much to say about this beer in my opinion aside from the fact that it's a solid belgian style, it was all I expected it to be but that's about it. Thick chocolatey body, alot of coffee overtones in the bitterness.

This beer would get a 7 out of 10.

[youkinorn2]

Went over to a friend's house last night to try out some of his homebrews.

He had a pumpkin ale that was alright. Lighter and more carbonated than most pumpkin ales I've had.

2nd was a christmas ale based on Anchor Christmas (which is one of my favorites). It was lighter than the Anchor offering, and little more pronounced flavor of cinnamon and clove, but it was still close enough that I could identify what it was mimicking before he told me. I enjoyed it a lot.

The 3rd was definitely the highlight. A Maharaja clone. It was awesome. Great hoppiness that gave way to a caramely sweetness. Perfectly carbonated, great lacing from the head. Really, really well balanced. There was even a hint of smokiness/roastedness in the aroma (my friend admitted he wasn't quite sure where it came from, but it definitely added another layer of depth). Could have drank a lot of it. Apparently it was a pricey one to brew and the batch came out smaller than expected, so I was just happy to get what I did.

I took a bottle of Boulevard Saison (No. 4 from the smokestack series). It was pretty nice. Light and kind of grassy with some good lemon flavor and noticeable notes of pepper. Just a little funk to the aroma. I'm starting to like saisons more and more, I think.

[superbeveridge]

How come cheap beer always has such better labeling than boutique beers? I like delerium tremens plenty but that bottle just looks so stupid.

Cheap beer doesn't try to be anything its not. This is an old lable from the 1970's though. The new one isn't as nice.

[e_train]

Had one of these the other night...North Coast Brewing: http://www.northcoastbrewing.com/beer-brotherThelonious.htm

Very nice!

[twistedtrees]

A couple from a while back

2 Bros. Moaten, a Flemish Red Ale. I wish it had been more sour.

Stone Vertical Epic, just a heavy brown ale/stout. Good, but nothing special. I guess we'll have to wait to see how it ages.

[kiya]

Today for my birthday i have claimed that i will do no work, instead my wife and i going up to Santa Rosa to hit up Russian River Brewery.. from there we go to Lagunitas Brewing.. from there we go a bit further south to Marin Brewing Company.. then our final stop will be Moylan's.

I will most probably not remember Moylan's, but i'm sure it'll be great.

[superbeveridge]

Been enjoying the Asahi Super Dry. Oddly enough it doesn't give me a hangover. I must have had 8 tall cans at the Vice Magazine birthday party but nothing.

[renski]

for the San Diegans, San Diegons, or those who dwell in a whales vagina it is SD Beer Week. so for the locals or nonlocals (kiya are you down here) come down and celebrate some of the finest beer San Diego has to offer. Alpine brewery has exponential hoppiness on tap at obriens. I'm not sure where I should be since I just got off work.

[the Repeater]

Been enjoying the Asahi Super Dry. Oddly enough it doesn't give me a hangover. I must have had 8 tall cans at the Vice Magazine birthday party but nothing.

Rice beer. Most are other grains. Low alcohol high-volume too.

Friends of mine--though bingers--have the same reaction to rice vs. grain based in the same style of beer.

[Astérix]

[edmond]

asahi super dry is the bomb

[chuckster]

I've tried a Newcastle Brown for the first time yesterday. I am not a great beer fan but that was nice! Most ales and beers/bitters are too bitter tasting for me. recommendations on chocolaty/toffee flavoured beers would be appreciated

[B-Dawg]

Young's chocolate stout would probably appeal to you, and perhaps check out some Samuel Smith's (which Asterix just posted). They do a brown ale. You might consider a Belgian Dubbel or Quadrupel for a more complex and fruity tasting dark beer.

One of my favorite beers and beer pictures: Russian River's Temptaion on the patio at Russian River brewpub.

[renski]

Russian river is having something at blind lady this Sunday for SD beer week. it's been secretive so, I'm hoping for some Pliny the younger.

[Astérix]

something on the lighter side for this unexpected warmer weather...

[B-Dawg]

Russian river is having something at blind lady this Sunday for SD beer week. it's been secretive so, I'm hoping for some Pliny the younger.

Younger is only made in February so it would be past it's prime at this point, getting into old DIPA crappy barleywine territory. If you get lucky maybe they will have some of the more rare sours or older vintages.

[youkinorn2]

I seriously need to get ahold of some Russian River brews...I'm starting to really feel excluded from the cool-kids club

[soonami]

RR shit is pricey! I've tried everything I can, including a $30 bottle of supplication. Although I did get Pliny the Elder for cheaper on draft--$4 for 12 oz

[Multimedia]

[B-Dawg]

Lately...

Christmas came early with the decadent arrival of Scaldis Noel (opted for the much cheaper 25cl bottle rather than the bottle conditioned premium 75cl)

Popped a 2008 Abyss to see how they're doing. Delicious, although for some reason I just wasn't feeling like a heavy beer at the time. Shoulda saved it for the right time. Still got 4 bottles of that year though.

While at work the other day I blended 3/4 bourbon barrel aged stout with 1/4 chili pepper pale ale (I know, fuck a chili beer. One of the employees brought chilis from his garden so the head brewer threw some in our pale). It reminded me of Deschutes' Black Butte XX/XXI, which I always thought had this weird subtle spiciness to it, so I went and bought a bottle. Sure enough it did indeed have that flavor I remembered, and was damn tasty.

Pretty sure I saw the Oogie Boogie man from Nightmare Before Christmas in my glass (blanket is sure as fuck not mine).

Bourbon Barrel Lost Abbey Angel's Share. Flat as a pancake, of course. The smell was amazing. Had the usual barrel flavors and some great caramel/toffee notes which apparently they put in to emphasize the oak/bourbon character. Also picked out a very interesting black truffle umami kind of flavor which I have never tasted the likes of. I have to say, however, that I am glad I only had 8oz of it. It was not easy to drink at 12.5% with such a tannic flavor and no carbonation. Liked the Brandy barrel better.

The delicious and pricey Rochefort 10. Usual decadent Belgian strong dark ale/quad taste and aroma. Definitely tasted the hot 11.3% alcohol a few times but it didn't do any harm to the experience.

Koningshoven Quad. Much more clear and bright than the Rochefort, less alcohol burn, more banana esters, not quite as rich on the palate but still very good.

In other news, assuming we can find a lauter tun that can fit the amount of grain needed for the recipe, my friend and I will be brewing a Russian imperial stout on Saturday. We have a ton of extra hops right now, so we are going to be doing a more American Darkness/Stone IRS hop forward recipe. Should be tasty!

[vetuv]

Caguama!

legend of the loggerhead turtle.

[ninetynine]

Hi, in case you guys didn't notice... I have a blog related to beer reviews that you can find in my signature:

http://electricmoleskine.blogspot.com

Check it out.

[youkinorn2]

Right now I am suffering through a $.99 bottle (plastic) of Larine Grand 95. At a dollar for 17oz of 9.5% abv belgian beer, I had to see what was up.

Now I see what was up.

[B-Dawg]

[badjoke]More like LATRINE![badjoke/]