state your beer, drinkers

[concealed]

Their Alpine Black IPA? It's surprisingly good

[soonami]

I'm glad you liked it. It was hard shopping for you since we have a lot of overlapping distribution and everytime I saw something I wanted to send you, I had to check to see if it was distributed in your area like LA angel's share, Firestone Walker, KBS, etc

The sly fox beers are really good and the cans are really convenient for camping and tailgating for those of us that can get them regularly

[concealed]

Well KBS is distributed here, but my local store said they got less than half of what they got last year, and I wasn't very proactive, so no KBS for me this year.

I wasn't even aware of Voodoo brewery, but I look forward to that massive imperial stout before the cold weather is gone (and my beer hiatus is over)

[renski]

gotta get my buddy stuff this weekend...

debating on going to the meet the brewers night at stone with Jean van Roy of cantillion. still getting into sours but it should be good, right?

[shufon]

Oh man, definitely go to that renski! That should be awesome.

[shufon]

Pics from this week..

Random beers I had while I was here:

Stone Ruination dry hopped with Simcoe on cask

Fresh Sculpin

Goose Island Lolita

Hair of the Dog Fred

Cigar City Jai Alai

Firestone Walker Double Jack

Some new pickups:

GI Juliet, GI Madame Rose, Southampton Cuvee des Fleurs

Founders Breakfast Stout, Firestone Walker Abacus, CL Smoke from the Oak (Laird's Apple Brandy variation).. also finally got the bottle of 2005 JW Lees Harvest Ale that I left at home a couple months ago.

[soonami]

Yeah you should definitely go see Jean Van Roy. He is the fucking Godfather. As good as Vinnie Cilurzo at Russian River, Jean has been doing this for practically his entire life, and he makes some of the best beer in the world. If you are even remotely interested in sour beer, so check it out.

[renski]

I was listening to a podcast where vinnie talked about Jean and what a great job he does. the stone sour fest in June looks good as well but a $40 entry fee doesn't sound worth it to me.

[shufon]

Now for the tasting we had last night.. it was pretty awesome, drank some great beers

The lineup of everything + the awesome cheese we had:

Some snapshots of specific beers..

2009 East End Gratitude.. probably my favorite beer all night. It's hands down the best barleywine I've ever had.

CC batch 1 Hunaphu

Pelican Brewing Mother of All Storms.. this is only a few months old and after having Gratitude this was pretty hard to get through.. definitely needs some age.

Mikkeller Beer Geek Brunch Weasel

Firestone Walker Abacus

Sierra Nevada 2007 Bigfoot (sup youkinorn )

[shufon]

Great Divide Espresso Oak Aged Yeti.. can never go wrong with this stuff.

The aftermath.. this was the order in which we drank everything:

CL 5 Years Later Ale, CC Vuja De, 2011 LeBleu, 2008 Brute, Alpine Exponential Hoppiness, CC Cedar Aged Jai Alai (this tasted like straight wood), 2009 Gratitude, 2010 Hunaphu, 2011 Mother of All Storms, Beer Geek Brunch Weasel, 2011 Abacus, 2007 Bigfoot, Espresso Oak Aged Yeti

Three of us decided to go to a couple of bars because they had Hill Farmstead on tap. Not the best decision considering how I felt this morning (haha) but got to drink some more great beer:

Hill Farmstead Edward

De Dolle Oerbier Special Reserva 2009

De Dolle again and Hill Farmstead Harlan

The bartender gave us this for free.. Dugges Never Mind the Bollox!

[youkinorn2]

few more shots from the tasting Shufon put together:

Exponential Hoppiness is a really clear beer.

[concealed]

tasting looks awesome, wish I could have been down there to make it!

[renski]

looks like I'm popping open a bottle of expo tonite.

[Happy Hooligan]

just opened and enjoying a Big Dippa #3

[Happy Hooligan]

Tonight it's FireStone Velvet Merlin Oatmeal Stout... so rich and creamy.. like cold hot chocolate....

[shufon]

^Tried my first two Firestone beers this week (Double Jack and Abacus). Both were solid. Should've bought more Abacus to bring home.

Drank a couple of these tonight:

Coconut wasn't there at all, was hoping for a big flavor. Definitely a good porter though, super dry, really roasted.. I could session quite a few of them.

[youkinorn2]

So, I'm going to make a day trip down to Philadelphia soon to pick up some bottles (seeing as though I'm not sure how much longer I'll be in NY). Would be interested in buying bottles, not cases, which I know can be an issue in PA. What are the best stores to check out?

Read about Craft Beer Outlet and The Foodery on BA.

[Goslett]

Been liking Bitburger lately. Toronto/Ontario heads if there's any in this thread should check out Beau's beer. Its a microbrewery near Ottawa that makes amazing stuff.

[shufon]

youkinorn, when are you going to Philly? I'm doing a PA brewery tour/run down to Philly to pick up some RR this Saturday if you wanna meet down there.

[youkinorn2]

youkinorn, when are you going to Philly? I'm doing a PA brewery tour/run down to Philly to pick up some RR this Saturday if you wanna meet down there.

Oh man. I have a friend in town but that is very tempting. You just making it a day trip?

[shufon]

Yeah, leaving here early on Saturday and planning on going to Bullfrog -> Troegs -> Sly Fox & Iron Hill in Phoenixville -> beer store in Hatfield -> Weyerbacher, then back to Ithaca. If things are moving slower than expect I'll probably skip Sly Fox or Weyerbacher.

Anyway, I'm assuming I'll be near Philly (Phoenixville/Hatfield) around 4-5pm. If you're down to meet, let me know. If anything I'll bring some RR with me to the Hill Farmstead event at RnH.

[renski]

whoa. inbev bought out goose island and their new head brewer is transferring over from deschutes.

[shufon]

Annheiser Busch has been directing the distribution of Goose Island since 2006 and they already owned a small stake (10-12%?) so it doesn't surprise me too much.

[Happy Hooligan]

I miss their nut brown ale... So I guess they're no longer a micro brew....

[renski]

went to the meet the brewer event at stone, was pretty packed so we only got our 4 tasters then left.

classic gueze

cuvee des champions

kriek

Rosé de Gambrinus

afterwards headed to neighborhood where this ended up being the only picture taken. lots of pliny and sculpin was consumed.

[shufon]

Love Rose de Gambrinus, probably my favorite Cantillon. Nice one on Cuvee des Champions, have yet to get ahold of a bottle.

[renski]

grand cru was one of the beers that was 86d before we got to it. those beers went fast.

[hiro protagonist]

Dos Equis.

[renski]

damn son' thats probably put you in the red for following up that with my post.

[Manx]

Renski,

Speaking of Krieks, I've tried a few now and I don't know if I'm looking in the right places for a good one. I'm trying to like them but I keep getting Krieks that taste like soda-beer. I can't mail-order beer in MD. Any recommendations?