state your beer, drinkers

[renski]

man, that's a lot of beer! I have only read about ninkasi so I can't wait to try it. Also have some hopslam coming my way from a trade on BA with Pliny.

[shufon]

^Hopslam is a great beer as well, meant to stop in PA to pick some up when I was heading back from the city last month but totally forgot unfortunately.

Anyway, enjoyed a few of these while doing some stochastic calculus tonight. Great combination (10)

The beer was good at least Love that it does not have the bitterness of most IPAs (it is considered an amber ale I guess), but it's still super hoppy. Really well rounded and balanced for the IBU level. Definitely an awesome beer.

[kiya]

Upper Haight beer drinking this thursday for SF Beer Week?

Firkin at Magnola and Gypsy beers at Alembic!

[kiya]

As part of SF Beer Week:

http://sfbeerweek.org/

Mad River Brewing Beer Tasting

Self Edge

714 Valencia St.

San Francisco, CA 94110

February 19

7:00 pm - 10:00 pm

Admission: No Charge

Attire: Jeans!

Winner of the Great American Beer Festival's 2010 "Small Brewing Company of the Year" award, Mad River Brewing from Blue Lake, CA is bringing their beers to Self Edge, a Japanese clothing store, for a free tasting event. Representatives from Mad River will be present to answer any of your beer-related questions.

[Happy Hooligan]

If I lived in SF I think I'd stop by! Great idea

[renski]

bdawg. good luck on the national IPA match! looks like a fun comp.

[renski]

http://brackets.brewingnews.com/tmenu.cfm?tid=386782

anyone else's favorite IPA make it?

[concealed]

I am surprised Trinity IPA made it! Although I enjoyed it when I used to live in Providence and could have it on tap, it's inferior in its bottled form.

[the Repeater]

Two, actually.

Harpoon IPA is as close to my daily as anything. Just enough regular-guy, plenty nice. Just got a dozen for $9.99 on Monday also.

...oh, and had McNeill's varieties for a paltry $3.64/bomb last night. Victory also.

[shufon]

^Hah, that's great man, McNeill's sells for $5.99-6.99 + tax here.

[shufon]

Repeater, can't remember if I've asked you this or not, but can you ever get Hill Farmstead beers?

[youkinorn2]

first Goose Island beer. Enjoyed it.

[shufon]

^The beers from that series are well done.. Sofie is by far my favorite.. really smooth drinking champaign'ish saison with a mild sourness to it.

Packaged a big box of hoppy beers tonight.. bought extras of a few things in the package so I thought I'd try them as I packaged the beer..

Smuttynose Finestkind IPA

First Smuttynose beer I've had in probably 2 years.. pretty much bitter hops coming from every aspect.. nothing crazy, like a little more complexity in an IPA. (it had a small head when I poured it, died down completely by the time I got my camera though)

Ithaca Cascazilla

Had this one a decent number of times on tap and I've never thought it was anything special. First time in a bottle.. tasted a lot better than any time I've had it on tap, and actually tasted really hoppy which is something I've never experienced having it on tap. Amarillo hops come through really strong up front and then the aftertaste was pure Casade.. super smooth for as hoppy as it is, actually really enjoyed this.

[shufon]

Also, just a heads up to anybody on here who is trading, check references for traders.. I think I got screwed outta 6 bottles of LeBleu.. been a month since the guy got the LeBleu and I still haven't received my end of the trade, haven't been able to get in touch with him for the last 2 weeks

[the Repeater]

Repeater, can't remember if I've asked you this or not, but can you ever get Hill Farmstead beers?

No one can! Hahaha.... no really. I can have them at one of the three or so taphouses around that carry it, but if you want bottles, they can only be bought and filled at the farm itself.

My brother's met Shawn before and is a big personal fan, if you felt compelled to pony up for it, I could make a day of it and go fetch though. Out a ways from civilization for sure.

[shufon]

Yeah, that's what I figured.. :\

I don't think it's worth a trip out there.. I'll (hopefully) convince my friend to bring his Fear and Trembling bottles with him when he comes up to NY in March so I can see what the hype is about, haha.

[Stylish Pilot]

Recently moved to Kansas City. Been trying to find a decent liquor store with a good beer selection. Haven't found a great one yet. At least the beer selection is a little better than the selection I had in Arkansas.

Count me in for a swap closer to the end of Feb...

[shufon]

Stylish, feels good to be out of Arkansas I bet.. haha. Seems like these two stores are the best in KC according to beerfly:

Lukas Liquors

Gomer's Midtown

[Stylish Pilot]

Man it feels great to be out of AR. I'll be traveling all over with my new job. Gonna try as much beer as I can.

Yeah I saw Lukas Liquor on beer advocate. Gonna hit that up today.

[kon]

bell's hopslam at the moment, otherwise surly is my go to brew.

[Happy Hooligan]

I hear they have some crazy little women there....

[Stylish Pilot]

Some stuff I picked up today. Lukas Liquor had a pretty crazy selection. A lot of MO stuff, some NY, Cali, CO, etc. Gonna have to research a little more before I go next time.

L

[concealed]

finally

[shufon]

^Nice, enjoy! NN is WAY too easy to drink.. I have to watch myself because I can pound three or four without realizing it.

@Stylish Pilot - nice pickups, enjoy the Hop Stoopid and Sofie. Did Lukas Liquors have much Founders or Bells?

Found a 4pk of 2009 Brooklyn Monster Ale in my cabinet that I forgot I had, so I cracked one tonight. Any hop presence has disappeared in the aging and the malts have taken a step back to a sweet sherry taste. Not complex at all, just boozy as shit, haha. Will probably give the other 3 away as extras in trades.

[youkinorn2]

Any hop presence has disappeared in the aging and the malts have taken a step back to a sweet sherry taste. Not complex at all, just boozy as shit, haha.

definitely experienced this with other aged barleywines, as well. Don't like it at all.

[shufon]

I've had some barleywines that were 4-5 years old that still held their complexity fairly well.. I think a lot of it has to do with the malt profile the brewer chooses. Shouldn't have expected this to age well though with Brooklyn farming out their brewing to Matt FX (Saranac) nowadays.. anything they make is usually awful.

edit: 10+ years old actually, had a few in Japan that had been aged since the late 90s.

[concealed]

Not a huge Monster fan, very boozy fresh and aged, Bigfoot is much better and equally available/favorably priced. This year's batch still hasn't hit Boston (noticing a trend?) Luckily I have a couple more 2010's to hold me over

edit: thought I would hold off on the Nugget Nectar until tomorrow, but it was looming in the fridge and I could resist, fucking delicious! Even my non-beer loving wife enjoyed the hoppy, fruity aroma, she even took a sip, which she almost never does.

[Stylish Pilot]

Shufon, you were kidding. This hop stoopid might be one of the best IPAs i've had. I think I remember seeing some Founders, not sure about Bells.

[renski]

got some hopslam today with some other extras. a quick review on hopslam, well im not sure if it's because I'm accustomed to west coast DIPAs styles but I feel the initial hop presence is lacking followed by a strong alcohol taste. maybe another bottle tomorrow might have my taste buds more prepared.

[Happy Hooligan]

got some hopslam today with some other extras. a quick review on hopslam, well im not sure if it's because I'm accustomed to west coast DIPAs styles but I feel the initial hop presence is lacking followed by a strong alcohol taste. maybe another bottle tomorrow might have my taste buds more prepared.

I haven't tried it either, but I figured a name like Hopslam better live up to it. We're spoiled drinking SD Hopped up Ale...