The Craft Beer Thread....

pumpkin, cinnamon, cherries and/or chocolate do not belong in beer

I took a long weekend trip to LA for the PJ shows and got to try some tasty beers. My buddy picked me up from LAX and we went to LA Live and hit the Yard House. I got a pint of New Belguims Fresh Hop IPA, not a huge IPA fan, but this one was nicely balanced. Ended up getting a 2nd one after I didn't see anything else that was a must have. I started talking to my buddy about wanting to try Pliney the Elder, he called a bottle shop near him and all they had was Damnation, but still a lot cheaper than the bar in my hometown. I bought a bottle but never got to try it, hoping my buddy cracked it open and drank it after I left. :fp:

The next day we had a free day before the LA1 show. We ended up in Long Beach to meet some of my buddy's friends. The night before I picked up a copy of the Beer Paper LA and saw that Beachwood BBQ & Brewing won best mid-size brewpub, so we figured that was a great place to start as any. The food was good and the beer was even better! I had their X-Factor #1 American IPA, very good beer for a dreary overcast day. Can't remember what I had next, it was good, but I can't find it among their listings and I didn't enter it in my untapped app (the whole reason I have it!). My buddy had the Rubicon and the Fresh Top, both were tasty, I would have gotten them if we had stayed longer. They had the garage doors open where we were sitting so we decided to go next door to the Congregation Ale House. They had maybe 20 beers on tap, but their 20 beers were phenomenal! I started reading the boards to see what they had, when all of sudden I see Russian River, expecting Damnation, but to my surprise it was Pliney the Elder, and it was happy hour! I got a draft for $5!! I have to agree with the hype on this one. They are not out to kill you with hops, but it is one of the most balanced Double IPAs I have ever had. I was gonna do a 2nd round but we had a long night ahead of us and it was only 5 o'clock at this point and I knew the slippery slope was ahead if I had another one of those beauties! Even my buddy's friends were shocked to see it there, they said they have a hard time finding Pliney the Elder, not sure how hard they try though... Back here in PA you have to get lucky at Monk's Cafe in Philly or do the charity fund raiser and buy a ticket. So glad we decided on Long Beach rather than hitting the mountains!

After that it went downhill as we met up with another friend of mine that only drinks majors and insists on pitchers. :fp: I can't complain too much though because the company more than made up for the beers we drank. It was a marathon from there on out and we did our fair share of bar hopping in Redondo Beach.

So it ended up being a nice beer-cation to start and then ended with two PJ shows... Who could ask for more??

I treated myself to a bunch of new beer this weekend

Six Point Global Warming
Hardywood Hoplar IPA
a couple of DFH bottles
Brooklyn 25th Anniversary

Had this double oatmeal IPA tonight at this local brewery. Damn fine. Normally you associate oatmeal with stouts, but it added killer flavor to this light, yet high ABV IPA. Delicious!

mca47 wrote:

Had this double oatmeal IPA tonight at this local brewery. Damn fine. Normally you associate oatmeal with stouts, but it added killer flavor to this light, yet high ABV IPA. Delicious!

I had one that must have been similar from a brewery in Idaho. It was good too. Not something I expected to associate but I enjoyed it.

I wish I could remember the name of it but it was a couple years ago.

Horos wrote:

They arrived. Question, they are a barrel aged sour, what can I expect if I age one?

Mike you are one lucky bastard.

I've been drinking a lot of sours lately....

I've had some that age and there's literally been no change to them in a year + (most of those had a very low FG and low pH).

I've had others that completely change character over the course of a 6 months... some for the better, some for the worse.

I've been finding that a lot of the ones that are "blended" (i.e. more than one type of barrel used to age the beer and then the barrels mixed to taste during bottling) tend to be really good at that 6-8 month mark... enough time for the flavors to meld and balance out....

My advice would be to have one now... if you love it, drink the rest, if you don't think it's one of the best beers you've ever had, age the rest, and see how it goes...

Let us know what you think either way ...

Abyss just showed up in Texas this week... been on a mad tear trying to track down a couple of bottles out of the 50 cases that got sent to houston... not having any luck so far....

Horos wrote:

shep wrote:

Horos wrote:

They arrived. Question, they are a barrel aged sour, what can I expect if I age one?

Mike you are one lucky bastard.

I've been drinking a lot of sours lately....

I've had some that age and there's literally been no change to them in a year + (most of those had a very low FG and low pH).

I've had others that completely change character over the course of a 6 months... some for the better, some for the worse.

I've been finding that a lot of the ones that are "blended" (i.e. more than one type of barrel used to age the beer and then the barrels mixed to taste during bottling) tend to be really good at that 6-8 month mark... enough time for the flavors to meld and balance out....

My advice would be to have one now... if you love it, drink the rest, if you don't think it's one of the best beers you've ever had, age the rest, and see how it goes...

Let us know what you think either way ...

Abyss just showed up in Texas this week... been on a mad tear trying to track down a couple of bottles out of the 50 cases that got sent to houston... not having any luck so far....

Thanks.

One is promised to someone else. Going to crack 1 this Sunday and then decide. My daughter waited in line over 4 hours to get me these. I saw an Abyss 2013 today. I can pick you up one if they have any tomorrow. I had a 2012 in August and we were surprised how good it was after a year.

I actually just got an email last night from a trading buddy telling me he scored a couple of bottles for me in New Mexico, so i'm covered! Thanks though.

The beer scene here in Houston has gotten atrocious for special releases lately.... no one sends us enough, and there's literally a line-up every other day at one of the big liquor stores for the limited quantity that makes it here... it sucks as I have a day job and the releases are almost always at 10 when the stores open... there's a huge thirst here for craft beer that's not getting satisfied, but it's getting better slowly...

I mean Deschutes sent 50 cases to Houston for over 7 million people... 50 cases! I know they don't make a lot of the stuff, but only allocating 50 cases here is absurd. That's not even 1 case for each major store account in the city....

Enjoy those Beatifications man...

Horos wrote:

They arrived. Question, they are a barrel aged sour, what can I expect if I age one?

well, what's the report mike?

I had one of these bad boys last night....


damn tasty. been drinking a lot of sours lately.... and Bruery products... looks like possibly another trip to Orange County right after christmas holidays here, so I'll get to stock up on some more!

Wow, way too much craft beer this holiday season!

I have a beer gut like never before :oops:

Horos wrote:

Thanks.

One is promised to someone else. Going to crack 1 this Sunday and then decide. My daughter waited in line over 4 hours to get me these. I saw an Abyss 2013 today. I can pick you up one if they have any tomorrow. I had a 2012 in August and we were surprised how good it was after a year.

I had an '09 Abyss a year ago and it was perfect, better than other Abyss' that I hadn't aged as long. They're hard to let sit, so I usually get two at a time.