Thread O' Beer!

[Fezzik]

Vanilla Porter
Style: Specialty Beer
Brewery: Dry Dock Brewing, Aurora, CO

I'll have to seek it out. I was just coming here to post about a couple of beers I'd recently tried for the first time, and one of them was a Vanilla Porter (from Stone Brewing).

I liked it quite a bit. The vanilla taste was there but didn't overpower or feel too sweet.

The other was a bit mindblowing. Southern Tier Creme Brulee Stout.

The smell just blew my mind. The scent of the scorched caramel creme just filled up my nostrils and the taste left me wanting to go out and buy it in bulk.

And I don't even drink stout, so it was a nice surprise.

[Gizmo]

Found this idea yesterday and am totally doing it! Running out to my local craftbrew store tomorrow and gonna hand select 18 beers to cover the remainder of the countdown (chalking up the first 6 to homebrews this year)

http://www.instructables.com/id/Beer...vent-Calendar/



gonna let my wife and daughter decorate and organize the days out for me.

[D_Davis]

.

The head looks really thin for a porter. Is this from a very small bottler/brewery?

[bac0n]

Yeah dry dock is a pretty small operation. Also bear in mind that I split the bomber between two glasses so that isn't a full pour.

[Gizmo]

First of my 18 beers til christmas countdown (I'll have more, but these are my hand picked countdown beers 1 per day). It's not bad, but not the best porter I've had, and quite bitter, which I don't expect from a porter. One of the best head/lacing beers I've had in a while.

[Winston*]

Drinking an Apricot Wheat Beer. I don't particularly like flavoured beers or wheat beers. I don't know why I thought I might like this.

[sevenarts]

In the last few days I've had 2 totally amazing IPAs made on the East Coast that rival anything I've had from the West Coast in terms of pure hoppy greatness: Ithaca Flower Power and Maine Beer's Lunch. So delicious.

[ThePlashyBubbler]

Drinking an Apricot Wheat Beer. I don't particularly like flavoured beers or wheat beers. I don't know why I thought I might like this.

Was it Ithaca Beer Co.?

[Gizmo]

My beers til Christmas countdown #2 was one I had meant to "randomize" to drink on the 21st, but then forgot. Good thing I did and got this one out of the way early. Very bland and missing the chocolate and chili notes I was expecting. In fact, I don't taste much more than malt. Nothing makes this stand out as a beer to drink at the end of the world, unless it was the last beer left. 16 more beers til Christmas (though a couple more tonight of my own to get some semblance of beer in me tonight!)

[sevenarts]

the obvious beer to drink on the 21st is La Fin Du Monde - they even have a countdown going on their site. amazing beer on any day, anyway.

[Winston*]

Was it Ithaca Beer Co.?

Nah. Can't get ahold of much American beer.

[D_Davis]

I"ll be opening one of my 6 remaining bottles of Black Butte XXIV tonight for our holiday party. Can't wait.

[Gizmo]

the obvious beer to drink on the 21st is La Fin Du Monde - they even have a countdown going on their site. amazing beer on any day, anyway.

Gonna look into getting my hands on it. Thanks!

[Gizmo]

16 beers til Christmas is not something I'd normally choose for drinking while watching football, as I normally go for something lighter. But I do love stouts so not disappointed one came up today. As far as stouts go, this one is pretty average. It does have good roasted flavor and coffee flavor that lingers, but nothing spectacular.

15 beers until Christmas.

[soitgoes...]

I"ll be opening one of my 6 remaining bottles of Black Butte XXIV tonight for our holiday party. Can't wait.

I had a BB XXIV/The Abyss doubleheader a couple nights ago. Split both of them with a friend. Heaven.

Also, you'll appreciate this, a local bar has The Abyss on tap... $4 pints.

[D_Davis]

Also, you'll appreciate this, a local bar has The Abyss on tap... $4 pints.

Nice! What year? That's a great price, too.

[soitgoes...]

Nice! What year? That's a great price, too.

This year's I believe. They do it every year. They get one keg in, and run it through usually within a week or two at $4 a pint. Crazy good deal considering that it's $10+ for a 22oz. bottle. The trick is hitting the bar at the right time because it never lasts for long.

[bac0n]

the obvious beer to drink on the 21st is La Fin Du Monde - they even have a countdown going on their site. amazing beer on any day, anyway.

This. Totally this.

[bac0n]

I went to a beer tasting that I had to give reviews and I had trouble getting past 'This one tasted good' and 'This one tasted bad'.

Actually, there are specific qualities of a beer that are judged. Rules were actually set down by the BJCP (Beer Judge Certification Program) when judging commercial and amateur beers, and that's what I use when I post reviews of beers in this thread. Here are the five categories judged when beers are evaluated.

Appearance: How does it look? Dark or light? Clear or cloudy? How is the head? Does it leave lacing up and down the side of the glass when you pour it? Is the appearance appropriate for the beer's style (eg. a porter should not be light colored)?

Smell: Stick your nose in the glass and take a good whiff, just as you would do when smelling wine. What is the bouquet?

Taste: Take a good sip and let it spread across your pallet. What flavors are up front? What comes out in the middle? How does it end? How is the bitterness, maltiness? How pronounced are the hops and what flavors do they add? What if anything does the yeast add (some yeasts are bready, some Belgian strains can be flowery)? Are there any flaws in the beer, such as over mineral flavors (bad water), unintended vegital flavors (bad fermentation) or a harsh richness (too much exposure to oxygen).

Mouthfeel: How does it feel in your mouth? Heavy, creamy, light? How is the carbonation? Does it aid or detract from your enjoyment of the beer?

Drinkability: How easy is this to finish? Can you throw it down in a single gulp or does it need to be sipped and enjoyed slowly?

For examples of reviews, mosey on over to BeerAdvocate.com. Practically every beer known to man is on that site, each with tons of reviews in this format.

[Ezee E]

From bac0n!

Appearance: I actually saved this one for last, as it looked amazing. It even comes with a cork installed, so I was quite excited. I looked up the website, and it was designed as sort of a "ale from the barbarian era." The auroch was a bull from those times, and the barbarians consumed this ale from their horn. What's not to like?

Appearance : It makes sense that this has honey in it, as the color is damn close to it.

Smell: The smell was instant. My mouth salivated. It smelled like honey as you opened the cork, and intensified as I poured it into the glass. My gosh, I've never had a beer this potent.

Taste: Very good. Strong on the sweetness though. It was easy to finish the first half, but the second half took some work despite how good it was. No kidding... It was 10% alcohol. It put me on the floor afterward. I was at a good buzz. I should've saved the second half for another time.

Mouthfeel: Surprisingly thick, despite looking light. Perhaps it's the honey? I don't know.

Drinkability: GUess I answered some of this. It tastes amazing at first, but starts to get a little too sweet, and eventually just puts you down at it's 10%.

Yeah. I had this at around 3 PM after work, and a phone call at 4 with my girlfriend. She could tell I had a drink "or three." :lol:

[Gizmo]

I too am not good at descriptions, but with 15 beers until Christmas I ended up with a beer that would have been nice yesterday with the football game. This one has a good bitterness to offset the smooth sweetness that hits the tongue. Not the greatest thing, but an easy drinking pale ale that I could see myself drinking a few of with no issue.

14 beers until Christmas.

For examples of reviews, mosey on over to BeerAdvocate.com. Practically every beer known to man is on that site, each with tons of reviews in this format.

I'm on there as gizmo_ber, and since signing up in February I've rated 83 beers, most of them new ones I've tried this year. My goal is 100 by the end of the year, and if I count my homebrews I'm already in the 90s.

[bac0n]

The second of the EzeeE beers!


Wake Up Dead
Style: Imperial Stout
Brewery: Left Hand Brewing, Longmont, CO

Left Hand is another brewery that's near and dear to my heart - their Milk Stout is one of my wife's favorites, and I have a recipe for potstickers that I steam in their pilsner (a recipe that is appropriately named "Left-Handed Potstickers") that'll knock your socks off. And besides, any brewery that's named after half of my sex life has got to make great beer.

Now, like I've said, while I am familiar with their beers, and have tried several of their portfolio, just like before, I have never had their Imperial Stout. You see, Imperial Stouts (or Imperial anythings, for that matter) are by definition, high in alcohol, and when you get into the 9s and 10s for ABVs, which is not at all uncommon with Imperials, the alcohol can take over like tarragon. And besides, I like to have more than one beer, and would prefer to not be completely trashed off my ass half way into the first.

So, yeah, I have to be in a specific mood for an Imperial Stout. Like, for example when my town gets 15 inches of snow dumped on it in a single day, then the temperature immediately plummets to 1 degree (kelvin) and I just spent an hour shoveling the parking bay in my back alley so I could park my car there so it wouldn't get towed away during the snow emergency. That kind of mood. Which is exactly the mood I'm in. Well then, bottoms up, motherfucker!

Appearance: Black. So black, in fact, that I would not be surprised if its color were used in goth poetry as a metaphor to describe the author's heart. As in most non-nitro stouts, the head is nothing special. It is moderate and is gone pretty quick. A nice chocolatey brown though.

Smell: So I got a whiff of this thing, and hot patootie, it's sweet! It was kinda hard to put a finger on at first - plum maybe?- then I finally figured it out (well, I actually cheated and looked at the label). Raisin. It smells like raisins, with coffee, chocolate in the background. The label said black licorice too, but I wasn't really picking that up. The smell is disarmingly friendly, given what's coming up once it hits your tongue.

Taste: One sip and I immediately regretted having poured it into a regular pint glass. This beer needs to be served from a snifter. Either that, or one of those small barrels you find around the necks of saint bernards. The flavors of raisin and chocolate and coffee are profound and expansive, but it has an almost cognacy alcoholic warmth to it that takes over quickly and stays well after the beer has left. I mean, I was buzzing half way in to the glass - this is some high octane shit.

Mouthfeel: Thick and hearty, almost feels as if you could stick a fork into the glass and it would stand up. Coupled with the warmth of the alcohol, what we have here is a wool sweater in beer form.

Drinkability: Let me be clear - this is not a session beer. One 22 oz bottle of this stuff is all you're gonna need all night. This is the type of beer to slowly enjoy when you have no place you need to be, and a helluva lot of time to get there. I imagine a guy on a comfy chair in a room lit only by a fire, a bearskin rug in front of him, one hand petting his trusty dog who's resting its head on his lap, the other hand slowly twirling this brew in a snifter, and thinking of maybe trudging out into the snow in a few days when the snow stops coming down to chop some firewood. One more snip of the beer and, ya know, forget going outside. I've plenty of firewood in the back.

So, all in all, this is not the sort of beer I would have every day, but it's the right sorta beer for the right sort of time, and when you get a certain itch, there's just no other beer that's gonna scratch it than a beer like this one.

[Ezee E]

Nice! How long did it take for you to finish? Seems like that fit my Auroch's Horn.

[bac0n]

Nice! How long did it take for you to finish? Seems like that fit my Auroch's Horn.

Hehe, about an hour, and I split it with my wife! And I totally agree with you on the Auroch's Horn. In fact, I think that every time I've gotten a bottle, I've wound up splitting it with a friend. The sweetness does get overpowering toward the end.

Funny thing about the brewery - I always see the guy who runs the place at local beer festivals. He's easy to spot, cuz he's always in some silly octoberfest getup, no matter the season. Nice guy tho.

[Ezee E]

Hehe, about an hour, and I split it with my wife! And I totally agree with you on the Auroch's Horn. In fact, I think that every time I've gotten a bottle, I've wound up splitting it with a friend. The sweetness does get overpowering toward the end.

Funny thing about the brewery - I always see the guy who runs the place at local beer festivals. He's easy to spot, cuz he's always in some silly octoberfest getup, no matter the season. Nice guy tho.

Luckily, and also unfortunately, for me, my girlfriend is not a beer drinker at all.

Vodka though...