Beer recommendations

[Cliff Hanger]

Hamm's is way better than I'd expected, but Schaefer remains my preferred beyond-cheap beer.

 

A lot of the Spring seasonals aren't doing a lot for me, and frankly I'm still pissed at Real Ale Brewing for not doing Phoenixx this year. Their Pinsetter amber ale is tasty but not really inspiring; there's nothing there to push me to buy it over any other local amber.

Austin's had a couple new breweries open in my part of town, but I haven't made it to a tour yet and they aren't in grocery or liquor stores.  

[Chaos]

On 4/14/2017 at 6:41 AM, Cliff Hanger said:

Austin's had a couple new breweries open in my part of town, but I haven't made it to a tour yet and they aren't in grocery or liquor stores.  

Someone I went to school with currently lives in Austin, and I am usually fairly jealous of his beer posts. Although, lately, I've been happy with all of the new stuff that's starting to distribute to our small corner of Alabama.

[Roman]

Some friends and I have gathered 41 different pilsners from around the world. We're going to try them all tomorrow. God help us all.

[Technico Support]

Since there was some beer talk in the Billy Corgan NWA Shitshow thread, I figured I'd put something here.  

A quick look at good beers I've tried recently:

Sweetwater 420 Ale and Sweetwater IPA: inexpensive (8 bucks and change here in the DC suburbs, which is a steal), crisp and tasty

Lagunitas Little Sumpin Sumpin: I like every beer I've tried by Lagunitas with the exception of their Daytimer session IPA, which tastes like IPA-flavored water.  LSS keeps the streak alive.  Strong and delicious.

Union Craft Brewing's Steady Eddie: a Wheat IPA made right in my hometown to commemorate the greatest ballplayer of my childhood, Eddie Murray.  Really tasty and I usually never go for anything with "wheat" in the title.  

One bad beer I tried recently:

Red Shedman's Pump House IPA.  Laughably billed as a "true West Coast IPA" on their website.  This beer is hot garbage.  It's brewed in Mt. Airy, MD, the only place a beer this bad could have conceivably come from.  Maybe's it's just my distaste for the place from living there for a while.  Bunch of hicks.  Anyway, this is as far from a "true IPA" as you can get.  Weak tasting bilgewater, awful aroma, and it came in a can with a plastic wrapper instead of direct-printed, which just screams "quality," I'm sure.  And it had printing errors on it.  Yeesh.  I have never bought another thing from this joke of a brewery.  

[Roman]

Lots of shit and 'meh' pilsners last Saturday.

We stopped at 22 because we noticed that we'd all rated the last three as 'eh, decent, but nothing special'; a sure sign that our taste buds had given up the ghost. We'll do the last three and the rest another time, perhaps spread out over a longer period of time.

Two that stood out as 'shockingly good for pilsners': Hinano (Tahiti) and Lapin Kulta (Finland).

[Technico Support]

I had a six of Brooklyn Brewing's "Brooklyn Defender" IPA and a glass of Port City's Monumental IPA on draught this weekend.  Both were delicious and I'd recommend them.  This isn't Beer Advocate so I'm not going to go on a douchy missive about mouthfeel or lacing or whatever.  Go try them if you like IPAs.

[NikoBaltimore]

22 hours ago, Technico Support said:

I had a six of Brooklyn Brewing's "Brooklyn Defender" IPA and a glass of Port City's Monumental IPA on draught this weekend.  Both were delicious and I'd recommend them.  This isn't Beer Advocate so I'm not going to go on a douchy missive about mouthfeel or lacing or whatever.  Go try them if you like IPAs.

IPA's aren't my favorite but I've grown to appreciate a good one.  Those two you mentioned are definitely good IPAs, but of the two I liked Brooklyn's more.

I work right next to Pratt Street Alehouse which is basically a taphouse for Oliver Brewing.  It kind of teases me because I don't drink during office hours even for lunch.  In the over two years I've been at this job I went there at most 7 or 8 times.  But for the times I do go I've had some pretty damn great stuff.  I'm a big fan of their Cherry Blossom wheat ale that's around in the springtime.  And their Creator/Destroyer brown ale is really good.  I'm glad they have stuff in cans now as it became a hassle to get a growler and hide it at work so I can have friends try it later (they can get their own)

[Mike Campbell]

I have to laugh when I look at my first posts in this thread, where I'm talking about drining Shock Top and Red Stripe. I'm not a beer snob or anything (despite my wife claiming I am, just because I talk about how many fingers of head, and lacing on the glass), but both of those would probably scrape the bottom of the barrel for my beers of choice now. 

 

I had the Victory Storm King Imperial Stout the other night, although I don't think stout is an accurate description. With how hoppy that sumbitch was, it ought to be classified as a Black IPA.

[driver]

Lately I've been happy with a 40 of PBR and a bottle of Champale Extra Dry or a couple cans of Founders All Day IPA.

[NikoBaltimore]

On 12/22/2017 at 6:21 PM, Mike Campbell said:

I have to laugh when I look at my first posts in this thread, where I'm talking about drining Shock Top and Red Stripe. I'm not a beer snob or anything (despite my wife claiming I am, just because I talk about how many fingers of head, and lacing on the glass), but both of those would probably scrape the bottom of the barrel for my beers of choice now. 

 

I had the Victory Storm King Imperial Stout the other night, although I don't think stout is an accurate description. With how hoppy that sumbitch was, it ought to be classified as a Black IPA.

Damn, starting with Shock Top/Red Stripe and now doing Storm King is quite the leap.  And Black IPA is more accurate, it's very good but man there's a lot of hops going on.  I don't talk about fingers of head or lacing on the glass, but I certainly appreciate the little things like that that can make drinking a beer quite the wonderful experience.

As for me I am nearly done with the Sam Adams winter sampler and it's still one of my favorite collections.  I'm a big fan of the winter lager, so much so I'm likely to just get a six pack of that.  Ol' Fezziwig is my second favorite followed by the chocolate bock and oatmeal stout.  And if there's a place that has Troegs Mad Elf it's an absolute must for me.  It's so damn tasty with the cherry and honey, but while very drinkable it'll kick your ass at about 11%.  I haven't looked that hard but the go-to places don't even have it bottles because it tends to sell out in little time.

[Technico Support]

I bought Flying Dog's Snake Oil black lager last week and threw it out after one sip.  The label says "black lager" in big enough letters, but, in tiny letters, it says it's brewed with fish peppers.  So I had no idea I'd bought a hot, spicy beer.  Some things should not go together.

[Zimbra]

Heh, I did something similar when I skimmed the label of a beer and just saw "brown ale" and not the "sour" that preceded it.  That first swig was a hell of a shock.

I still drank all of those terrible things because I'll damned if I'm going to throw away a $12 4-pack.

[NikoBaltimore]

25 minutes ago, Technico Support said:

I bought Flying Dog's Snake Oil black lager last week and threw it out after one sip.  The label says "black lager" in big enough letters, but, in tiny letters, it says it's brewed with fish peppers.  So I had no idea I'd bought a hot, spicy beer.  Some things should not go together.

I've seen that at stores and considered buying it.  Thanks for pointing out the fine print because I'd be very hesitant on getting a six pack of that.  At most I'll try one bottle just to say I did.

The best beer I've had in the past couple months was Troegs Mad Elf 2015.  Apparently they've held onto some kegs and they've made the rounds at some places.  One was a growler station which didn't last long.  But Racers Cafe in Parkville had a half keg that somehow lasted the weekend.  I went there and drank myself silly, but holy shit was that good.  Like any good aged beer I got a lot more cherry and honey which made it much more drinkable than the regular Mad Elf.

Speaking of beer, any of you folks on Untapped?  My username is NickAMaryland.  I try to post stuff when I can so long as I remember to/have the time to do it.

[Chaos]

1 hour ago, NikoBaltimore said:

Speaking of beer, any of you folks on Untapped?  My username is NickAMaryland.  I try to post stuff when I can so long as I remember to/have the time to do it.

I have an account, but I never review anything on there. I just never think about it.

[Zimbra]

My beer reviews tend to be limited to "That was good" or "That stunk" so I don't fuck with Untapped.

Also, I had my yearly sixer of Brown Shugga this week and it is still good as hell.

[Technico Support]

1 hour ago, Zimbra said:

My beer reviews tend to be limited to "That was good" or "That stunk" so I don't fuck with Untapped.

Also, I had my yearly sixer of Brown Shugga this week and it is still good as hell.

Yeah, I try to read reviews on sites once in a while, then I see dudes talking about mouthfeel and what kind of glass they poured it into, and then I remember why I don't read beer reviews.

I did write one review, once, just to give a bad rating to a local craft brewery whose product was just offensively bad.  But that review was more "their beer sucked and they should feel bad" than "mouthfeel, lacing, etc." 

Brown Shugga is amazing.  Lagunitas' whole line is excellent, really, except for Daytime IPA -- but that's more a failing of the style than the brewer.

[Chaos]

Yeah, I tend to use BeerAdvocate more than UnTapped when researching beer as well. My system is usually looking at the average score and maybe vaguely skimming the comments.

That doesn't fail me often.

[Contentious C]

On 2/9/2018 at 2:15 PM, Technico Support said:

Yeah, I try to read reviews on sites once in a while, then I see dudes talking about mouthfeel and what kind of glass they poured it into, and then I remember why I don't read beer reviews.

I did write one review, once, just to give a bad rating to a local craft brewery whose product was just offensively bad.  But that review was more "their beer sucked and they should feel bad" than "mouthfeel, lacing, etc." 

Brown Shugga is amazing.  Lagunitas' whole line is excellent, really, except for Daytime IPA -- but that's more a failing of the style than the brewer.

Cripes, that reminds me of the only truly terrible beer I had (and boooooy was its mouthfeel weird) - Key Brewing Company's On Point (Ale? Lager? Forget which). It had a mediocre-at-best first taste and then....pfuh. The bottom just drops out of the thing and you're left with an aftertaste that's like someone wiped a diaper down with a rag soaked in rubbing alcohol and then squeezed the rag into your mouth. Since some of you guys are also living in MD, all I can say is steer clear, though Key might have just stopped making this garbage by now.

[NikoBaltimore]

16 hours ago, Contentious C said:

Cripes, that reminds me of the only truly terrible beer I had (and boooooy was its mouthfeel weird) - Key Brewing Company's On Point (Ale? Lager? Forget which). It had a mediocre-at-best first taste and then....pfuh. The bottom just drops out of the thing and you're left with an aftertaste that's like someone wiped a diaper down with a rag soaked in rubbing alcohol and then squeezed the rag into your mouth. Since some of you guys are also living in MD, all I can say is steer clear, though Key might have just stopped making this garbage by now.

Unfortunately that was the first I had from them and you're correct on the assessment.  But I've had a lot of their other stuff and they've certainly gotten better.  I don't recall seeing that around in awhile so I'm hoping they discontinued that.

[John E. Dynamite]

I haven't seen Key On Point in awhile, but it was pretty terrible. I'll argue their Rye Porter is an easy contender for best six-pack of dark beer in the state. Their NEIPAs actually live up to the hype/price, too. They're a funny brewery - Dundalk isn't exactly the most alluring location and most people have only had their six-pack stuff, which outside of the porter is lackluster. When they get the right recipe they can compete with anyone in the state, though.

[Technico Support]

Speaking of local Baltimore beers, I had Heavy Seas' Americannon over the weekend and it was really good.  It's billed as an APA and it seems like it's supposed to be a lighter version of their Loose Cannon IPA (5.75 ABV as opposed to 7.25) IPA. 

As far as Heavy Seas goes, though, I think their best beer might be Small Craft Warning, a really delicious strong pilsner that sneaks up on you at 7.0 because it doesn't taste that strong at all.  I might need to find some for this coming weekend.  EDIT: damn, their site says it's no longer available.  Damn shame.

[NikoBaltimore]

22 hours ago, John E. Dynamite said:

I haven't seen Key On Point in awhile, but it was pretty terrible. I'll argue their Rye Porter is an easy contender for best six-pack of dark beer in the state. Their NEIPAs actually live up to the hype/price, too. They're a funny brewery - Dundalk isn't exactly the most alluring location and most people have only had their six-pack stuff, which outside of the porter is lackluster. When they get the right recipe they can compete with anyone in the state, though.

 

Considering how close they are to me I need to check out their taproom one day.  I don't normally get their six packs, but if it's on tap somewhere I more often that not get a pint.

And I haven't had Americannon but a lighter version of Loose Cannon sounds pretty good to me.  I'm still a little surprised to see Tropicannon at places as I think of that as more of a summer type beer.

[driver]

Picked up a bottle of Founder's KBS(Kentucky Breakfast Stout) yesterday(along with a bottle of Champale Dry). The KBS gets to you in short order(12.8% will do that to you).

[PetrolCB]

If you’re in the NJ area, and like IPAs, check out Cape May Brewing Company’s Snag and Drop. It’s a 10% abv canned pint. It’s awesome. Their other one, Coastal Evacuation is really good too. 

[Mike Campbell]

On 3/23/2018 at 1:30 PM, driver said:

Picked up a bottle of Founder's KBS(Kentucky Breakfast Stout) yesterday(along with a bottle of Champale Dry). The KBS gets to you in short order(12.8% will do that to you).

KBS is one of my all time favorites. A couple of years ago, a local craft beer market held a stout competition, Founders KBS vs. Weyerbacher Sunday Morning Stout, and KBS won in a landslide.