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Beer |OT|

I thought the coffee was really mediocre last year; much prefer Fremont Coffee KDS, Avery Tweak, or the highly affordable Epic Big Bad Baptist.

Might pop one of the 2016 BCS Coffee I got tonight; a bit hungover from yesterday though lol. Went to the B-BOMB infusion event with was fun, and then ended up at a place I'd never heard of that had BCS on tap and randomly they were releasing bottles of rare at 8pm and snagged another.

I'm assuming all these rares released yesterday were 2015 bottles? Nobody mentioned the year.
My local spot got a case of Rare and I was early enough in line to get a bottle. The little seal over the top does indeed say 2015.
 

Mitch

Banned
Would love to get my hands on at least one bottle (or bar with it on draft) of BCBS up here in Ohio.

Instead, I'm drinking some Harpoon Interrobang tonight. Not bad at all. Especially for an 18% beer.

I did get to try out No Rules from Perrin on draft, which was a superb brew. They had Sunday Morning Stout on draft, but I decided not to get any.
 

HiResDes

Member
Would love to get my hands on at least one bottle (or bar with it on draft) of BCBS up here in Ohio.

Instead, I'm drinking some Harpoon Interrobang tonight. Not bad at all. Especially for an 18% beer.

I did get to try out No Rules from Perrin on draft, which was a superb brew. They had Sunday Morning Stout on draft, but I decided not to get any.
Where's No Rules?
 

Mitch

Banned
Where's No Rules?
On draft? Only place I'm aware of is Rozi's Wine House in Lakewood (Cleveland), OH. They just updated their draft list about 45 minutes ago.

Jackie O's Pub & Brewery Bourbon Barrel Black Maple
Founders Brewing Co. KBS
Jackie O's Firefly
Bell's Brewery Quinnanan Falls
Perrin Brewing Company No Rules
Columbus Brewing Company Bodhi
Founders Brewing Backwoods Bastard
Weyerbacher Brewing Sunday Morning Stout

Every bottle shop in CLE had limited stock earlier this past week. My girlfriend traded 2 for a good amount of Treehouse and Trillium.
 

Mitch

Banned
I had the BBA Vanilla Maple last weekend. That's it. I may go tomorrow and get tasters of a few of them, including Maple.

How close do you live to Cleveland? Would love to meet a fellow GAFer who enjoys craft beer. Good number of bars up here with decent draft selections.
 
Wanted to try something new, so I bought two beer brands I haven't tried. I know New Belgium has a good reputation, so I got their B&J Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ale (loved everytime I tasted the cookie dough). I also got a brand I haven't heard of before that I haven't tried yet, and I want to know if any of you have had it so I know if it's any good:

72659.jpg
 

HiResDes

Member
I had the BBA Vanilla Maple last weekend. That's it. I may go tomorrow and get tasters of a few of them, including Maple.

How close do you live to Cleveland? Would love to meet a fellow GAFer who enjoys craft beer. Good number of bars up here with decent draft selections.
I'm all the way in Nati, downtown basically too
 
The idea of getting growler fills of Abraxas and Regal is crazy to me. Much less at a grocery store when Colorado doesn't even allow grocery stores to sell real beer yet.

A few Whole Foods in my area are pretty good for this kind of thing. Don't know how they are in other regions, but I'm sure it depends on local laws.
 
I also grabbed a Ballast Point limited release Coconut Victory At Sea imperial stout. It's going to be a stout kind of holiday.

So I opened this one. It's interesting, not as coconut-forward as I expected. It has a nice nose, sweet coconut and floral scents. In the mouth it's very bitter though, heavy on the malt, coffee, and chocolate, and the coconut floats above that. Not the kind of rich, deep coconut flavors of the Maui Coconut Porter. Though it's 10%, I barely notice it.
 

ACE 1991

Member
This question is to those who know about homebrewing:

So I received my brewing kit (https://www.midwestsupplies.com/simply-beer-brewing-starter-kit) in the mail yesterday; it seems like the only things I might still need are obviously the 5 or so gallon kettle and a brewing thermometer for temperatures while I'm brewing? Also, is ok to just use a normal stove top for the boiling? I'm not sure it can sustain 5 gallons worth of weight, lol.

My main question, however: If were to do my brew tomorrow evening, would that be enough time to bottle and serve by new years eve? I'd love to be able to bring a bunch to the big NYE party I'm going to. The instructions say to bottle 1 month after brew day and drink 1-2 weeks after that, so I imagine this won't work out. Maybe the timing is flexible, though. (instructions I'm pulling from here https://www.midwestsupplies.com/downloads/dl/file/id/824/product/9600/beer_simply_beer_pale_ale.pdf)
 
This question is to those who know about homebrewing:

So I received my brewing kit (https://www.midwestsupplies.com/simply-beer-brewing-starter-kit) in the mail yesterday; it seems like the only things I might still need are obviously the 5 or so gallon kettle and a brewing thermometer for temperatures while I'm brewing? Also, is ok to just use a normal stove top for the boiling? I'm not sure it can sustain 5 gallons worth of weight, lol.

My main question, however: If were to do my brew tomorrow evening, would that be enough time to bottle and serve by new years eve? I'd love to be able to bring a bunch to the big NYE party I'm going to. The instructions say to bottle 1 month after brew day and drink 1-2 weeks after that, so I imagine this won't work out. Maybe the timing is flexible, though. (instructions I'm pulling from here https://www.midwestsupplies.com/downloads/dl/file/id/824/product/9600/beer_simply_beer_pale_ale.pdf)


Most stoves can handle a 5 gallon kettle no problem, especially if you do a 3 gal boil and mix 2 gallons of sanitized water into the fermenter. As far as having done by new years, 2 weeks for fermentation and 2 weeks in the bottle should be fine. If you can keep the bottles ~70F or a little higher, they will be more likely to have a good carbonation.

Also, I would recommend not adding all of the malt extract at the beginning. Add half or so at the beginning to keep hop utilization mostly in check, then add the rest with about 10 min or so left. It should help keep the color a bit lighter and I find it's easier to keep boil overs in check if the gravity is a bit lower.
 

Ron Mexico

Member
Couple of things after glancing through the instructions:

The 2.5 gallons you'll actually be boiling is probably doable on a stovetop. I've never done more than a 1 gallon on the stove though. If you have a turkey fryer, you'll be able to rip through it in no time up to close to 6.5 gallons. I've since switched to a dedicated burner but that turkey fryer did way more beer than turkey.

Instead of water for the airlock, I use vodka. Won't evaporate. Any cheap shit will do.

I like to do the secondary fermentation personally. The manual says optional, I'm not entirely certain I agree.

When I first started brewing, I only used distilled water. After some thinking about it, went with straight tap water figuring it'll give my beer a more unique flavor. Harder and softer water are preferable for some styles though. If you get into doing this, I'd test your water.

The only other thing I'd warn you about is the priming sugar for bottling. At least for me, it's the most frustrating part of the process. You won't know exactly how much sugar to use because you don't know exactly what the yeast is up to at that point. I've had some a little flat and others were bottle rockets. For a kit, I'd hope the numbers are dialed in for you. I'll admit I've never gone that route-- I've only ever done all-grain brews.

Last, it's a prerequisite to have a few beers while you brew. That and if you enjoy it, kegging is the way to go.

Good luck!
 
Got a four pack of World Wide Stout tonight. Gonna have one on its own, age two, then attempt that insane Black and Tan with some 120 Minute. Maybe on that last one.

Store also got coconut and mint Victory at Sea, but couldn't put them out yet since they weren't in the computer. Dammit. Will hit them up tomorrow to snag those.
 

ACE 1991

Member
Learned a TON during my first brew last evening with my professional brewer bud. The smell of malts/hops boiling is one of the best smelling things I've ever experience, for real. Followed a simple pale ale extract recipe but threw in some citra hops at the very end for aroma.

EDIT: Thanks for the above feedback. My friend is going to keg/carbonate my beer to as soon as it's done brewing to expedite carbonation, and then we will bottle it.
 
Opened an Ivan the Terrible Imperial Stout (Big Sky) last night... wasn't very impressed. Way too much of a grassy and green pepper taste.


Got together with a bunch of pals from my homebrewing group, and had a great Rye Bruery tasting event last night. Just incredible.

I was in Whole Foods yesterday and saw they have an aged Imperial Stout out right now. I didn't even know they made an IS; I've only had their Belgian styles.
 

HiResDes

Member
Oh, the new Enjoy By is really good.
Came here to post about it, so dank, yet pretty sweet, so much fucking flavor and fruit but not of the east coast juice nature. And how the hell are these 9.4 percent I just downed two bombers without realizing it and umm I'm just about drunk at 8pm


Edit: Also bought a single of WW Stout and a couple Toris the Tyrant.
 

Chris R

Member
IMG_3833.jpg


Yay for $14 BBomb at Costco.

Hmmmmn maybe Costco by me has some interesting beers... Gonna have to check when I get back home.

Only drinking Colorado beers this week, been a terrific selection so far (the key is to just skip drinking at the games I've been at and just pregame the fuck out of my liver at a local bar before hand)
 
Came here to post about it, so dank, yet pretty sweet, so much fucking flavor and fruit but not of the east coast juice nature. And how the hell are these 9.4 percent I just downed two bombers without realizing it and umm I'm just about drunk at 8pm


Edit: Also bought a single of WW Stout and a couple Toris the Tyrant.
Got a six pack of Enjoy By, and six bottles of WW Stout (2 for now. The rest to stash). Also got Christmas Bomb, Coconut, and Peppermint Victory at Sea.
 

Jarnet87

Member
Haven't tried Christmas Bomb. I opened up a Birthday Bomb and thought it wasn't much different to regular bomb. Pirate Bomb was crazy good when I had a bottle earlier this year. I have a local shop that I'm thinking may have bottles of Bourbon County left over if they got some, afraid to see the mark up though lol. Gonna swing but there.
 
Pricey week of pickups...
Avery Tweak
Christmas Bomb (x2)
Xocoveza Charred
Victory Java Cask
Omnipollo Yellow Belly Sundae
4 Against the Grain collaborations
Crafted Artisan Meadery Aww Snap (they do some really interesting mead)
Taft's Liquid Advent 4pk (favorite local holiday beer)
Some locals that I regret grabbing...

Might be enough to get me through the holidays.
 
So I opened this one. It's interesting, not as coconut-forward as I expected. It has a nice nose, sweet coconut and floral scents. In the mouth it's very bitter though, heavy on the malt, coffee, and chocolate, and the coconut floats above that. Not the kind of rich, deep coconut flavors of the Maui Coconut Porter. Though it's 10%, I barely notice it.

Finally opened mine tonight. The coconut is very prominent to me, but I really don't like coconut. As it warms a bit, the coconut gets a bit less pronounced. The coffee definitely is getting overshadowed in this one.

Having said that, it is still quite good, which surprises me. I usually despise coconut, but getting enough subtle other flavors to overshadow that.

Will probably dip into the peppermint one this weekend. Very excited for that, because mint and coffee are a great combination usually.
 

Xun

Member
I realise the word lager is probably taboo here, but what are everyone's favourites? I'm curious.

I'm so incredibly picky when it comes to lager that people probably think I'm a snob.
 
I realise the word lager is probably taboo here, but what are everyone's favourites? I'm curious.

I'm so incredibly picky when it comes to lager that people probably think I'm a snob.

Lager isn't taboo when done well!

I really like Pilsners from Heater Allen (OR), Chuckanut (WA), Holy Mountain, Four Winds (BC Canada) and Live Oak (TX).
 

Link

The Autumn Wind
How did it take over 6 years to get here? I'm disappointed in GAF's lack of beer appreciation.
 

Blatz

Member
Does gaf use any beer apps? I have seen this UNTAPPD thing quite frequently nowadays. Is it any useful?

I use it basically to keep track of what I've tried. It's also useful to see what may be on tap nearby. Or if you're traveling and looking for craft beers. I like it.
 
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