OT: Beer Thread

[nobody important]

I was at the Yankees game yesterday afternoon and I started out with a Goose Island which was the only IPA I saw that was available. The wife drank a bud light and poked fun at me for my new drinking style but I have to admit once you get going on the craft beer it's addictive. My issue is managing the increased alcohol content. That being said I am getting hooked on the hoppy bitter flavor of IPA's.

A little IPA goes a long way with me. I'll have one once in a while, preferably a NE IPA, of which we still lack a good selection, but I favour styles with a moderate amount of bittering and hop character. I had the Goose Island a few times at Jets games and got tired of it real quick. I switched to the Mill St ******* Lager (self filtered so as not to set off Buggs ) which is an improvement on Bud. This year they have the better 100th Meridian which I expect to be my usual in game beer.

 

[Evil Little]

I was at the Yankees game yesterday afternoon and I started out with a Goose Island which was the only IPA I saw that was available. The wife drank a bud light and poked fun at me for my new drinking style but I have to admit once you get going on the craft beer it's addictive. My issue is managing the increased alcohol content. That being said I am getting hooked on the hoppy bitter flavor of IPA's.

You may want to seek out some ISAs, then, which are purported to be IPAs with a more 'Sessionable' ABV. I'm pretty sure that the alcohol content is a big part of what makes an 'India Pale Ale' so they're more probably more accurately referred to as hoppy blonde ales. Phillips Bottle Rocket is my favourite, but there are other very drinkable options as well such as the Red Racer. In some cases the ABV will go down to 4.0%.

Though I'd personally reach for the Phillips Short Wave, which they call a 'West Coast Pale Ale'--5.0% with some nice bright hoppiness.

Festa Brew 23 litre no boil beer kits are on sale at Brewer's Direct for $40 (normally $50). A quick and easy way to introduce yourself to the hobby, or just to save yourself the punishment of an 8 hour brew day cause it's summer and you're feelin' lazy and don't want to listen to the wife complain about the brewing smell. Just speaking hypothetically...

Thanks for this, I've enjoyed the process quite a bit.

The process being drinking the beer.

I went with the Pale Ale and when I tasted it after a couple weeks I found I had to add a couple ounces of hops during the secondary to give it some aromatic character, at least. Rather pleased with the results, though it's still a bit green.

Second batch is in the fermentor right now.

 

[ps241]

glad you're into IPAs now. check out New England IPAs. they're the rage and the real deal.

also a quick note: Goose Island ain't craft. it's owned by InBev i.e. Bud

Yea I sensed that it has a next level up but main stream vibe.

Friday night my wife and I went to Gramercy Tavern which was a pretty amazing experience. My wife wanted to split a light beer to start with but Gramercy doesn't do traditional lighter beer so I picked a beer that would mimick what my wife drinks visually Schlenkerla Helles Lager which I found nice but my wife found too strong? She switched to wine so I wanted to try their IPA's on tap and the two options they had were:

Other Half, India Pale Ale, New York (16oz/7.1%)
Firestone Walker, Adversus Unfiltered Imperial IPA, California (12oz/8.2%)

The bartender/server was fantastic and I explained to her that I am new to the beer game so she brought me smaller portions of both of these and I rolled with about 6 small glasses and found both really interesting and different.

The other part that I found really interesting was their Beers from their cellar section where they had lots of options at different price points. I think it really kind of drove home the beer side of the Tavern theme even though the place was more dining centric. https://www.gramercytavern.com/menu/

 

[HannuJ]

Yea I sensed that it has a next level up but main stream vibe.

Friday night my wife and I went to Gramercy Tavern which was a pretty amazing experience. My wife wanted to split a light beer to start with but Gramercy doesn't do traditional lighter beer so I picked a beer that would mimick what my wife drinks visually Schlenkerla Helles Lager which I found nice but my wife found too strong? She switched to wine so I wanted to try their IPA's on tap and the two options they had were:

Other Half, India Pale Ale, New York (16oz/7.1%)
Firestone Walker, Adversus Unfiltered Imperial IPA, California (12oz/8.2%)

The bartender/server was fantastic and I explained to her that I am new to the beer game so she brought me smaller portions of both of these and I rolled with about 6 small glasses and found both really interesting and different.

The other part that I found really interesting was their Beers from their cellar section where they had lots of options at different price points. I think it really kind of drove home the beer side of the Tavern theme even though the place was more dining centric. https://www.gramercytavern.com/menu/

jesus, i thought this was in Winnipeg and i was wondering what the hell was going on.

Other Half is the hot shit right now. very good beer. i'd be drinking that Capn Lawrence sour, tho...

that cellar bottle list is deent but a ripoff

 

[nobody important]

jesus, i thought this was in Winnipeg and i was wondering what the hell was going on.

Other Half is the hot **** right now. very good beer. i'd be drinking that Capn Lawrence sour, tho...

that cellar bottle list is deent but a ripoff

Ripoff?!!! I call it Grand Theft Brewery.

 

[Ducky10]

glad you're into IPAs now. check out New England IPAs. they're the rage and the real deal.

also a quick note: Goose Island ain't craft. it's owned by InBev i.e. Bud

It's more craft "like" than Bud though. It's as close as you'll get to a craft at most major sporting events.

 

[Evil Little]

It's more craft "like" than Bud though. It's as close as you'll get to a craft at most major sporting events.

I saw people in the crowd at a Canucks game with a Red Racer in their hand and I almost wept. I had to say "Ehlersvirtanen ehlersvirtanen" nine times fast.

 

[Saintb]

newbie when it comes to craft beer and I love to support local businesses when possible. Any recommendations or observations regarding the local scene here? I bought a Torque variety pack and quite liked the red ipa. overall I prefer Torque to St. James, or at least the few of those that I have tried.

 

[Ducky10]

I saw people in the crowd at a Canucks game with a Red Racer in their hand and I almost wept. I had to say "Ehlersvirtanen ehlersvirtanen" nine times fast.

I'm jealous, but at least they're forced to watch the Canucks while drinking it.

If it was a Red Truck, I might move to Vancouver.

 

[Zippity]

Was at world cup qualifier...10 euros for Guinness and a foot long. You can buy 4 at a time, but you can only drink alcohol in the concourse.

 

[portamoral]

picked up a bottle of surly darkness tonight. very fitting

 

[nobody important]

picked up a bottle of surly darkness tonight. very fitting

It's worse than that. You need a La Fin Du Monde.

 

[King Woodballs]

Club Beer = Goat

/caseclosed

 

[nobody important]

They have 1919 at my LC so I picked up a howler to try it. Badly undercarbonated as I expected. Guess they can't risk having someone bring in a defective bottle and end up with a bottle bomb. That aside, very well made beer. I'll have to try their Golden Ale that is also available at the growler bar.

 

[Wolf357]

Is the 1919 going to available in regular bottles? Not a fan of the growler...live in a rural area as well as growlers arnt available anyways...I've heard great things about the 1919...

 

[nobody important]

Is the 1919 going to available in regular bottles? Not a fan of the growler...live in a rural area as well as growlers arnt available anyways...I've heard great things about the 1919...

In an OnBeer.org article last December, there was this bit:

The other original aspect of their model is their packaging. They will do the usual kegs, growlers and pints at the tap room. But they are adding in what Selch describes as the “pick-a-pop model”. For those of a certain age who grew up in Western Canada you will remember Pick-A-Pop (or its competitor Happy Pop). It was a warehouse where you selected your own selection of pops packaged in proprietary bottles. On your next trip, you brought back the empties and picked up a new case. The company dealt with washing and filling the returns.
Selch sees that as an important element. While he understands the value of growler fills, he knows that often customers “want to pick up some beer after work, but they forgot their growler.” In the traditional model they would have to buy a new growler or go without. Their model is to allow them to just pick up beer and drop off bottles as they are able. “You don’t have to clean your bottles or remember your growler. You can just pick up new ones.” They will handle the cleaning and sanitizing and plan on offering a reasonable $2 deposit on the bottles to encourage flexibility.
Plus the bottles will be 750 ml, which encourages picking up a few (especially once they have more than one beer) and doesn’t create a barrier for those who drink less.

However, still sounds like a trip to the brewery in Winnipeg would be required. One of these days, I'll check out the brewery to see what they got.

 

[drumzan]

Club Beer = Goat

/caseclosed

As if you’re not including OV in that equation.

 

[King Woodballs]

As if you’re not including OV in that equation.

That's #2!!

 

[Heldig]

I saw people in the crowd at a Canucks game with a Red Racer in their hand and I almost wept. I had to say "Ehlersvirtanen ehlersvirtanen" nine times fast.

Central City Brewery is fantastic! They brew some limited release beers that will make you weep (with Joy).

A Christmas ago they partnered with Parallel 49 Brewery to do a beer advent calendar. 24 days of deliciousness.

 

[thegongshow]

I've drank a shit ton of beer in my life time. Lots of craft brews. I think the pendelum has swung so far in the other direction that macro brews are now completely underrated. Sometimes I don't need craft IPAs that are 10% with 10000000000000000 IBUs with 2000 calories per bottle. All I need is an extremely cold coors, yeungling, miller lite, molson, etc. sometimes that I can sip on easily, have multiple ones of and not get extremely wasted.

 

[kxx]

had Half Pints Harvest Ale last night and it was really good. Anyone else tried it?

 

[nobody important]

had Half Pints Harvest Ale last night and it was really good. Anyone else tried it?

No, was it bottled or on tap? A few days ago, I had a Nickelbrook (which unfortunately creates a mental connection to Nickelback, which is never good) Wet Hop pale ale, which sounds very similar. First time I've tried a wet hopped (or fresh hopped) ale, which refers to using freshly harvested hops that haven't been dried. Found the hop flavour very pleasant.

 

[kxx]

No, was it bottled or on tap? A few days ago, I had a Nickelbrook (which unfortunately creates a mental connection to Nickelback, which is never good) Wet Hop pale ale, which sounds very similar. First time I've tried a wet hopped (or fresh hopped) ale, which refers to using freshly harvested hops that haven't been dried. Found the hop flavour very pleasant.

lol Nickelback have at least one good song... Had a growler of it filled so its only on tap I think. Yeah its apparently is a wet hop ale. It was a little more mellow than I expected which I liked - I enjoy trying different ales / IPAs especially local but tend to still like 'plain' lagers. Hard to not like a beer but some are a bit too 'strong' in hop flavor for me so I found this a good medium I'd buy again.

 

[sipowicz]

RIP

 

[Aavco Cup]

Central City Brewery is fantastic! They brew some limited release beers that will make you weep (with Joy).

I fill my growler(s) at Central city quite often. Hidden gem. Also Vancouver Urban Winery (which duals as a brewer) Food there is outstanding as well. They have also wine on tap which is actually not uncommon here