I am on an IPA kick right now.
Spliney- I agree the Hop Devil by victory is quite good.

I wish I could remember the names of all the ones I've had recently.. And yes, I have been drinking a lot of the red rye's. Speaking of which, I want to do a limited run of Red Ale's with Communist leaders on the bottles. Has this been done yet?

Ok, so some of the beers I've had recently. I will try to describe them as I remember them. But the more I drank of them the less I seem to remember. So I will probably just procure more to update my memory, for which I will probably forget again.

Founder's Red Rye - Available at Palmer's Beverage. Got a six pack of it. Not a bad one from founders. I think it was pretty smooth. Nice deep red color.

Cain and Abel Red - Palmer's Beverage again, 4 pack ran be 11 or 12 I think. I don't remember much of this beer other than it kicked my ass. So I think it was good. Will investigate further.

Stone IPA - still on draft at Bob's Bar and Ravari? This one is a classic. There is something about beer in California. Does good weather just make you brew high quality beer? I dunno, but Stone has some awesome beers. Their IPA is the ideal example of what an IPA should be. Perfect amount of hops with a slight bitter finish. Bravo. Also try the Ruination.

Elevator IPA - Carabar's always got it. Nice local beer. Decent IPA. Good price.

Weyerbacher Double Simcoe IPA - Palmer's and From the Vine in Polaris. I first had this at Bodega on draft before they took it off a few weeks ago. The label sucks but this beer sucks terribly. So much so I had to write the company to tell them how egregious of an error it was to have that kind of beer hiding under that kind of label. This beer has a helluva kick to it. Aroma, taste, and finish all very different. Only for those who really like hops. A lot. 4 pack is 12 bucks I think.

Dogfish Head 60 minute - Available everywhere. I tried to convince them to put this in at Carabar in replace of the Dos Equis. We will see if it works. Dogfish Head has a lot of quality beers. Their IPAs seem to be the perfect blend of hops. Very tasty.

Dogfish Head 90 minute - Available at many stores. A bit Malty. but I can dig it. For those of you who like the 60 but want a little more intensity and a nice 9% alcohol content.

Buckeye Red - Can't remember where I had it, but I do remember it being pretty good. Anyone know where this is on tap?

East India Pale Ale - Friend got a 6 pack at Giant Eagle. Drinking it now. It's all right. Nothing too special.

That is all I feel like typing. I will have to flip through some bottle caps to see what else I've had recently. After IPAs I think I am going to go on a Belgium kick and finish off the year with some heavy stouts for Christmas. Any suggestions for either of those two?

Sierra Nevada, Southern Hemisphere Fresh Hop Ale. Pretty much is what it's called, full of nice fresh New Zealand hops. Available in 24oz bombers.



Yes yes and yes.

beer in a can is just beer in a can

sooooooo

yeah

oh man

Midnight Wit by Legacy Brewing Co.

Cara actually added Dogfish Head 60 minute IPA on draft at Carabar. I must say I am quite pleased by this. We merely mentioned it in passing by and next time we came in... Dos Equis was out and Dogfish Head was in. +2 Kudos for a bar actually listening to Patrons. Now hopefully people will buy it.

How is the Midnight Wit Ned?

Well ... I started drinking this after already having 6 or 7 beers (some German white ale that we drank at some supposedly famous beer garden in Queens ... it felt like a mega-sized Out-R-Inn and some Sam Adams at the Remote Bar where you get a free pitcher if you buy a sampler platter ($12 - wings, cheese sticks, chicken fingers, quesadilas).

The Midnight Wit wasn't all that impressive, we bought it mostly because of the name.

Cheap beer: Genesee Cream Ale and Old Milwaukee

Good beer:

Flying Dog Woody Creek White: Delicious Belgian-style wit, cloudy as fuck and good on a hot day.
Stone IPA and Ruination IPA: The Ruination didn't warm up as well as the regular but I'm not much of a hophead anyway so I wasn't amazed.
Bell's Porter: As American Porters are my favorite style I was not disappointed with this at all. A little thin on the mouthfeel but super roasted and dripping with malt.
Unibroue Maudite: Words cannot describe. Please drink this and don't be intimidated by the label.
Clipper City's Heavy Seas Peg Leg and Small Craft Warning: Awesome Maryland brewery's Imperial line. The Peg Leg is an awesome Russian Imperial Stout. I've definitely had better Russians but this totally holds its own. The Small Craft Warning is an Uber Pils, way hoppier than I expected for a pilsener but doesn't taste like 7%.
Anchor Old Foghorn Barleywine: After a bad experience with a Magic Hat barleywine I had been very wary of the style for a long time but I decided to go out on a limb and give this a shot. Deep red in color, subtle hop character and sweet as hell. I should've let it warm up more as it was really sweet but I guess that's why it's a dessert beer. As the label says, drink after dinner.
Trappistes Rochefort 10: My girlfriend's brother bought a 330cl bottle of this for us to taste. This was unlike any Trappist Quad I had ever had. The alcohol wasn't as present as say Chimay Blue or the La Trappe Quad but it certainly kicked my ass. Anise, raisins and all sorts of complex flavors invaded my mouth. Quite the treat indeed.

Sitting in my basement:

Young's Oatmeal Stout
Ommegang Witte
He'Brew Monumental Jewbelation 10
Stone Russian Imperial Stout
Nostradamus
Allagash Odyssey 2008
a few others that I can't remember

BEER FOREVER

MY FAVORITE TOPIC EVER!

Jesus, I am hooked on Orange Blossom Cream Ale from Buffalo Bill's Brewery. It's not nearly as sweet as it sounds - it's super crisp and the aftertaste is SPLENDID. I want to take this beer out back and get it pregnant. Boulevard in Grandview (on the corner of 3rd and Northwest Blvd) carries it.

When I want to binge, which for me equals 12 to 16 straight hours of bringing the hammer, I try to drink Straub or Straub Light. I convinced the owner of Boulevard to keep Straub Light in stock. So far I've kept up my end of the deal.

Ooh ooh ooh, I also love the Bar Harbor Blueberry Ale (again, it's not overly sweet). There is just a hint of the blubes. Mohawk has it on tap and Culpeppers on 3rd stocks it.

Guinness Draught is always money. Always. Especially when the bartender pours it with love and patience. St. James pours it right. I love the James!

Oooh oooh, the Framb-whuh at Barley's is SPLENDID! And it's like 12%. Do not drink two of them with brunch - unless you are walking home and looking for a nap.

when we had framboise on tap at the hi5 i'd serve it with a shot of stoli-blueberry in the bottom . . . fucking amazing!!!

It's also really good mixed with Young's Double Chocolate Stout.

Scotch on the rocks.

Anyone ever had Pliny The Younger? I am itching to try it.

That's what I was drinking when you stood me up on Sunday!

I strongly believe that the Buffalo Bill's Pumpkin Ale is the best pumpkin beer out there.

Went on a vaca and got to try some other brews we don't have in this area.

Kona brewing Co. - Fire Ale and some lava something wheat beer. OK but nothing grand.

White Hawk IPA - pretty tasty.

Outer Banks Brewing Co. - Drank all of their offerings. The Abbey Ale was good, so was the heff.


BUT.

super excited that I found the Ommegang Witt Beer after 3 years of looking. Surprisingly, very surprising really, I found it at the Dairy Mart on Whittier and High. Been enjoying that.

oh I gotta try this Orange Blossom, saw the 6 pack and was curious!!

Ballast Point's Sculpin IPA is probably my favorite beer, and they just released a small batch availalble only at their brewery. So I bought several bottles and had a couple pints, both on cask and regular keg. Delicious! The brewer gave me his original home brew recipe for it and I have a batch fermenting right now. It has seven hop additions. If it tastes half as good as the real deal, I'll be very happy.

Now it's getting into the wet hop season, and I love wet hop brews. Ballast Point's wet hop Schooner IPA is going to be available this week, as is Pizza Port's most excellent High Tide wet hop IPA. I'm looking forward to drinking both of them Thursday night. Sierra Nevada's Chico Estate wet hop brew is also out and I'm looking forward to trying that.

On Friday Alesmith is releasing some barrel-aged 2007 Speedway Stout. It'll be a total beer-nerd thing and will sell out in minutes, then bottles will be on eBay by the weekend. I hope to pick up the two-bottle allotment.




Russian River makes some of the very best beers. Their Blind Pig is pretty much the gold standard of west coast-style IPA and their Pliny the Elder is as good as double IPAs get. They recently started bottling both of them for the first time and I have bottles of both in my fridge right now.

I've only had Pliny the Younger a few times, as it's only a seasonal release and doesn't make it to San Diego very often. It's a triple IPA, very strong (11% abv), very hoppy and very good.

I've only had Supplication (funky, sour wild ale with active bacteria) and that was sent here by my friend who lives in Cali. I haven't seen Russian River anywhere around here.



HOLY FUCKING FUCK...where? how? DO WANT

They'll be selling it at their brewery here in San Diego. They start handing out numbers for your place in line at 8 a.m. then the beer sales begin at noon. They'll also be doing growler fills of Evil Dead Red, their Halloween beer that's called My Bloody Valentine when they release it around Valentine's Day.

I went to an Alesmith tasting last month where they had vintage Speedway Stout, much of it barrel-aged, going back to 2002. That stuff ages very well.

So what you're saying, and by doing so, rubbing it in, is that you can only get it out west, which is where you currently reside. thanks for that. that helps us a lot. geeze.

I heard Russian River had just started bottling it, but it hasn't made it's way out here as far as I have found out.

Would you be willing to be our guy on the coast? You know, mail us some of the fine beers that are all along the west coast? All my friends is San Fran and San Diego have moved. I'd pay some good money for some choice beers. I'd pay even more money if you drove a keg of Pliny the Elder here. Trade wise I am not sure what we could offer here that you can't get... Maybe some Founders Breakfast Stout? Or if you got a hard on for any of the great lakes seasonal brews. I can get beers from Boston as well, like Harpoon.

I'm kind of on a trappist beer kick right now. that's some gooood shit.

i'd be willing to ship some bottles eastward, but you're probably better off ordering from South Bay Drugs and Liquor. it's a ghetto bodega that reminds me a little bit of soussy market on north fourth in columbus, but their beer buyer, joey, knows his stuff and is a good man. he gets pretty much all of the limited releases. plus he carries blind pig and pliny the elder. and while having beer shipped isn't cheap, they don't rape you on shipping/handling.

if you'd like suggestions on san diego beers to try, i'm happy to provide some.

I'm in MI for work for a while, so I hit up the local brew pub. pretty decent stuff. a rather adventurous set of recipes for a small shop, but they seemed a little heavy on the berry shit. you don't need a blueberry and a raspberry on tap at the same time. but hey, it's a small town and their offerings rival that of many larger ones. no complaints. Dark Horse Brewing.

i'm on the lookout for buffalo bill's. thanks..

never before did i go for the flavored beer but this year i've started sampling the pumpkin beers..i'm into them..

smuttynose pumpkin ale-it's ok, maybe more earthy than i like, but not that bad, probably better when the weather is colder

post road (brewed by brooklyn brewery)-i really like this one, it's light, spicy, delicious


I (so far) refuse to buy beer with annoying labels. for instance, any of them that abbrev. pumpkin to punk n, etc