Beer. Beer. And more beer.

[IggytheBorg]

Leinenkugel's Snowdrift Vanilla Porter. It cam recommended by a friend whose opinions I trust, and it is quite good. Perfectly balanced, hops & malt don't seem to dominate on either the opening or the finish. There is a roasted, coffee like note on the finish that I'm a little less than thrilled with, but it's failrly mild, so it isn't really detracting from it. I think it may be a little too cold for me to appreciate it fully, but it's fairly robust, as befits a winter seasonal, and is a perfect accompaniment to the LGC Serie R Black cigar I'm smokinmg (review in the Cigar thread if you're interested).

[Martin]

This. Best. Beer. EVER.

Track it. Drink it.

[Martin]

Called Unibroue 17 Grande Reserve. 10$ or so.

[IggytheBorg]

I'll definitely be on the lookout.

Had a shitty day at work; forced to work late, & was busy as fuck for almost all of it. How better to salvage some of this day than to go to one of the finest liquor stores in the area & use that gift card my sister in law got me for my birthday? I purchased, among other things, some Victory Prima Pils, because after my experience w/ Warsteiner & Pilsner Urquell recently, I find myself craving pilsner. Figured I'd give a 'Murrican take on it a shot. For this, I should be shot. I think it's official, and I'm done with this brewery. This is a thin, watery beer, with too much hop bitterness not properly balanced by the malt at ALL. It's more like a weak, watery wannabe IPA than a pilsner. I wonder if all American craft pilsners suffer from this same "more is more" defect? I guess I'll try a couple more & see, but if they're all this disappointing, I will never stray from the European forebears again.

[Abraham Smashington]

I used to enjoy PIlsner Urquell but my current beer of choice is Sierra Nevada Celebration. Get it now before it's off the shelves. so goddamn good.

[BillyG]

Yall ever come visit and we will hit all the local breweries. Five in Houston itself, and the Shiner brewery is only about 90 minutes away. Real Ale is outside Austin. Deep Ellum in Dallas.

[IggytheBorg]

Sierra evada Celebration is good. There's so many cool looking Christmas ales this year. I think the one I'm most intrigued by is Great lakes Brewing Co's. May have to score some of that this weekend.

[IggytheBorg]

Ommegang Hennepin is great. Nice spicy, citrus flavor w/ very present but tastefully restrained bitterness. At Garrett Oliver's suggestion, I paired a glass of this over lunch w/ some Humboldt Fog aged chevre, and it was a very nice pairing indeed. Garrett also says saison style beers such as this pair well with Vietnamese food. I think that'd be true, and would love to try that someday.

[IggytheBorg]

Great Lakes Brewing Co's Nosferatu Imperial Red Ale is awesome. I had despaired when I found out it's actually a fall seasonal, & I couldn't find it anywhere now that I was ready to try some, but managed to snag the last 4 pack in Shop Rite Liquors in Westfield (fucking LOVE that place). It tastes like a really good, well balanced IPA with a strong hop character. But the malt balances it out very nicely, and it's smooth & very drinkable. It has a thick, syrupy consistency (the label calls it "silky"; I'll buy that) that makes it really, really interesting. Its smoothness belies its 8.0% ABV. Another worthy brew from these guys. I'm just pissed I seem to have missed the boat on their Christmas Ale. I may have to wait until next year to try that.

[IggytheBorg]

Left Hand Brewing Co's Widdershins Barleywine is legit. Maybe a teensy bit more bitter than a British counterpart would be, it was much more nicely balanced than the Stone Old Guardian. Less "Americanized" with hop overload. Matched an aged artisanal cheddar, stilton & gruyere very nicely, as well.

[IggytheBorg]

Last night I tried two new ones. First was the Great Lakes Spring Seasonal, Conway's Irish Red. Excellent stuff. A crisp, refreshing red ale. What Killian's probably aspires to be. Nice up front hop bitterness, but never overpowering. Something you can quaff all night, its refreshing nature belying its 6.5% ABV.

Also tried Long Trail's Ramble Spring Seasonal, a Kolsch w/ "a hinmt of lemon & pepper". It was lightly flavored w/ those spices, to be sure. A cool new twist. But this one I couldn't picture myself drinking all night. I think I'd get sick of the bitter, savory component pretty quickly. But to have a couple on a warm night. . . yeah, that's the ticket.

[BillyG]

Local brewery 8th Wonder (named for the Astrodome) released their "Dome Faux'm" cream ale this weekend. It's a play on the beer vendors at the Astrodome screaming "Cooooooooooooold beeeeeeeeeeeer coldest fooooooooooooooooooooooome in the dooooooooooooooome" and goddamn was it good. They're having an anniversary at their brewery this Friday, and I will be drinking all of this.

[IggytheBorg]

Rogue New Crustecean Barleywineish Imperial IPA Sorta. Yeah. . . as the name imples, it kind of can't make up its mind what it wants to be. Very, very bitter & hoppy up front, & even more so on the aftertaste. Does not finish clean. has kind of a malty sweetness for the briefest of middles before the bitter washes it away again. I have nothing against a hop forward beer, but this is very unbalanced.

[IggytheBorg]

Enjoyed lots of local/regional beers this vacation. Tried some Olde Hickory Brewing Co. Piedmont Pilsner. Didn't like this at all. Watery & thin, it lacked the clean, crisp snap of bitterness a good pilsner should have. Pretty forgettable.

Natty Greene's Old Town Brown by contrast was exceptional. One of the best Brown Ales I've ever had. A nice, thick body and dark, roasted flavor to the well balanced hops/malt interplay. Not overly dark and roasty, but just the right touch.

Highland Brewing Co.'s Kashmir English Style IPA didn't impress me at 1st. Seemed kind of thin in body, and lacking in bitterness & power. On a second try, however, I came to appreciate it for what it was; an ENGLISH (as opposed to an American) IPA. The bitterness, while restrained by American craft standards, was at a fine, balanced level. Very drinkable. Makes me want to try the rest of this brewery's output. Soon.

Sweetwater Brewery's Tackle Box Variety Pack contained the following:
- Route 420 Extra Pale Ale was probably the best thing in the box. Compares favorably to Pale Ales I like, such as Lagunitas & Sierra Nevada. Hop forward but not overwhelming bitterness. Very well done.
-IPA This is more of an American take on IPA, & is more like what we're used to. Very assertive hop flavors. An excellent take on this style.
-LowRyeDer IPA. I've had bad rye beers, and I've had good ones as well. This was one of the good ones. It compares favorably to Sierra Nevada's Ruthless Rye, but was much more restrained in its use of the spicy rye maltings. It was kind of like a mid level IPA with a bit of a dark, roasty spice note added to the mix. Just awesome.
-Road Trip. They didn't name this style, and after trying it, I couldn't put my finger on what it was either. I read the story on the label, & it said they set out to make a pilsner, but for unexplained reasons added an ale yeast to the mash. This is surely an ale, with its slightly cloudy, amber color, and its lingering bitterness. It doesn't have the clean snap of a pilsner. But it's got such a great flavor, who cares? Well done. One of the most consistent variety packs I've ever tried.

Last but not least was Sam's Cold Snap Spring Seasonal. A Belgian style witbier, it compares favorably to Blue Moon, surpassing the latter IMO. It has a touch of sweetness from Orange peel, but it doesn't get as fruity or cloying as Blue Moon can because it's tempered with coriander and other savory spices in just the right measure. Nice job. Wouldn't mind seeing this become a year round offering.

[IggytheBorg]

Tried some Lindemann's Rene Cuvee Geuze last night. At garrett Oliver's suggestion, I paired it with some goat heese and Bleu d'Auvergne. I generaly like sour things. Full sour dill pickles, ShockTarts, Sour Patch Kids, etc. But this was quite possibly the most sour thing I ever tasted. Ever. It was too much even for me. And I'm not talking hoppy, citrusy bitterness. I mean just SOUR. Makes you want to pucker up like Jerry Falwell's asshole at a gay pride parade. And no flavor elements of any kind to balance it out. The cheese was more of a palate cleanser for the beer than the other way around. Never again.