I searched for beer and nothing popped up. To the powers that be, if you don’t want an alchohol discussion let me know- I know some tobaccy folk don’t want to hear about alchohol. So here goes…

Who’s into good beers around here? Like stuff you can’t buy at just any mini-mart. Beers for people who actually care what a beer tastes like, and not just as an alchohol delivery system.

Personally I go for very hoppy India’s, barley wines, and quadrupels mostly. 

Like stuff from Weyerbacher’s, Victory, Surly, Lagunita’s, Avery, Southern Tier…

IPA’s are great, great hop flavor. Currently fermenting 5 gallons of Munton’s amber ale, wheat beers are another favorite of mine. Mr. O, I need to try some of those brands if I can find them. I have seen Weyerbacher’s before. 

I care for great tasting beers, that is what my other hobby is, making great tasting beers.

I lost my taste in beer a couple of years ago, but I find myself wanting Blue Moon Belgian with a slice of orange. Not your average beer.

I’m quaffing Warsteiner pils right now, watching the Giants-49’er game. SF just scored, moving the score 14-10 in their favor. I love beer. This past week, I bought a mixed-6 which included Red Hook IPA, SA Latitude 48 IPA, Harpoon IPA, Smithwick Irish Ale, Bass Ale, and Spaten Optimator and love them all. St. Bernardus ABT 12 and Chimay also have their place in my rotation, although morless frequently than others. I lived 7 years in Germany and probably tried every beer brewed South of Frankfurt, and all the more widely distributed North German beers. There’s nothing better than eating dinner in a gasthaus and drinking the beer freshly brewed right next door…Plockinger Export and Leimener Pils come to mind and, of course,  Munchner Hofbrau in mass quantities at the Hofbrau Haus,

Someday I’d love to get started brewing! Just sampling and exploring so far, used to just have a Summit EPA(from MN, my home state), maybe a Newcastle Brown, or Sam Smith’s Brown. Until maybe 5-10 years ago got started on the good IPA’s after a Bell’s Two Hearted, and others. Gonna crack a Weyerbacher’s Blasphemy (a wood aged quad), which is fantastic, heavy enough, but not too sweet. Or a Surly (MN) Abrasive, one of the best double IPA’s I’ve ever had, but both are sadly seasonals:(… Still have a lot to try and learn, but it’s a fun process! Anybody familiar with the Flying Dog, or Dogfish Head breweries? Virtual cheers folks!

Another brewer here too! Currently drinking a pint of my munton’s imperial stout. Cheers!

That’s got to be a nice and rewarding thing to do! This guy that I know has started to grow his own hops- pretty neat! I heard there is a brewer’s yeast that will ferment up to 20% alc (by vol or weight IDK).

Just went to the local liquor store, makes me happy. There’s some new collaboration between I think sierra nevada and a Belgian brewer, just picked up a large bottle of thier quadrupel- maybe there’l be a review coming.  Got some John Barleycorn barley wine, some Full Sail Boardhead, a six pack of Southern Tier 2xIPA, a small bottle of some other domestic IPA, and this  tiny 8.4 oz French made Belzebuth blond ale with 13% alc claiming to be “the most unique ale in the world”  don’t know about all that yet. Happy sippin’ folks!

Here in st. louis we have a local micro brewery, Schlafly (don’t know if they make it available outside missouri).  They make at least 30 different brews, but my favorites are their wheat beers.

I make a 12% Belgium Blonde that we call the “Tranny”, because it sure grew a “pair” at 12%. Converts the sweet into Spice.

FlippinBird, sounds nice, sounds like a nice full line! We’ve got a handfull of the microbrews scattered around the state, I’d say 3 or 4 within easy driving range. Also there seems to be progress in the state legislation, which could make things easier for brewpubs, buying beer directly from brewers or somestuff like that maybe MN can catch up with some of the other states. I hope for all of us to be able to buy and enjoy good beers with minimal hassle.

Whalen, you should drop a bottle in the mailbox for me!

“Just went to the local liquor store, makes me happy. There’s some new collaboration between I think sierra nevada and a Belgian brewer, just picked up a large bottle of thier quadrupelg” The Sierra Nevada brewing company is pretty good and many American beverages are now as drinkable as those in Europe. It hasn’t always been like that. In order to greatly increase shelf-life the larger breweries started sterilising the beer (killing off the yeast via pasteurisation) and adding CO2 and/or nitrogen to make it fizzy. Some breweries, like Budwesier, went further by using adjuncts - in this case cheap rice, mixed with a smaller amount of malted barley to increase profits. Budweiser, King of Beers? More like king of massive advertising deception that helped kill off real beer making in the USA until small breweries fought back. Until about 25 or 30 years ago it was impossible to find a drinkable beer in the south-west US states (a Steam beer in California was the only one I remember) but brewing has finally been rediscovered and is back with a vengeance.

Lion Stout, a wonderful beer from Sri Lanka. This is probably my favorite beer. Additionally, I enjoy Boulevard. I am especially fond of their smokestack series (Tank 7 in particular). Another beer I enjoy is Samuel Smiths. They brew very drinkable stouts and porters.

As a proud Canadian I must say that Alexander Keith’s Is a damn fine IPA!

Samuel Smith Oatmeal Stout is one of my favorites. Dessert in a bottle.

Whalen, I’d like you to meet my Belgian Blonde Tranny! LMAO

Would have to have a great Label for that one eh?

Those stone vats at Samuel Smiths are working some serious magic!

Yeah, the first good beer I ever had was a Summit(MN), back in the mid 80’s. Was a long time before I started to see what good stuff is actually out there. I do like Sam Smith’s Brown (or Nut Brown or  whatever it is), but probably moreso their Organically Produced Ale.  I have to learn more about the British ales, but I think I liked a couple from Peter’s(?), I believe an IPA and a more typical ale. Bellhaven’s (even though it’s Scottish)Twisted Thistle IPA is good for a change of pace. Also must try some of Young’s stuff too. What I really wish I could get more often is Dogfish Head’s 90 minute IPA, I think from Delaware(US). I’m kind of a hop-head.

Hopocolypse!

lol! Might be a good way to go!

PhilipS If you don’t mind being the historian here, might I ask. What/when/where was the genesis of the micro/craft brew movement?85

The beginning for me was a  Summit EPA in about '85 or '86. So I just wonder how the shift began and whatnot.

Had a deSchute’s “Hop-Henge experimental IPA” a seasonal which I had last year. This years release is still pretty good, but maybe not quite up to last years. Still a great deal at about $5 for a “bomber”.

Ovila Quadrupel- nice!

I had a budlite that had been in my fridge for 8 months.  Its well aged!  

That’s cool, Fri night, drink up y’all.

Harvey’s of Sussex. I miss this beer so much. However thanks to this post I went to look them up and low and behold they can deliver a 36 pint polypin anywhere in England. This proves without any doubt there is a beer God!

@toque A mate of mine brought a load up direct from the brewery once. Great stuff. We have a great local brewery here called Wold Top, check out any of theirs.

I do love a drop of bishops finger although my favourite real ale is one caleed Jail Ale, brewed in princetown, Devon but its more of a local brew in that area so when my sister, who lves in plympton comes to visit me in Dartford, i always make sure she brings a dozen bottles of it with her.

It’s too bad the local supply of English ales is limited. Will have to keep checking out more shops.

Just last year I discovered Scrumpy cider, my goodness, I could go through that like sodey -pop!

Just returned from brewing 7 1/2 gallons of the Belgium Blonde Tranny! Efficiencies in the Mash may make this one the one with the biggest “pair”. God bless the yeast poo on this one!

Mr. O - Try a Crispin cider if you find one.

OK, I’ve seen it around. If I recall accurately the’ve got a few, but I’m not sure which to get. I’ve had a few different ciders, my fave is JK Scrumpy from a cidery(?), in the US that’s been making it since the 1800’s, it’s so tasty! I just want to avoid any that have that rice vinegar taste. I can deal with fairly sweet, somewhat dry, and/or fairly crisp. Also have been curious about pear cider too, anybody have any advice about that? Or wheat wine? I love a nice barley wine and wonder how the flavor compares.

gettin’ about time to tip one, cheers!

@Mr.O, yes Dogfish Head is my state’s most successful beer company. Their beer is pretty easy to find here, but does tend to sell out well, especially some of their limited editions. I’ve met their head brewer once or twice when he was first starting out. Nice guy, and very creative. He even had a TV show for awhile. I also enjoy the 90 minute IPA, I find the 60 minute a little too weak and the 120 minute a little too strong. I still drink them all though, from time to time. Victory is really actually closer to where I live, and to the population center of Delaware, even though its in Pennsylvania. Actually they are in our watershed, which just goes to show how poorly thought out some of the state borders are. Their beers are also widely renowned, though they don’t have as an efficient distribution network as Dogfish. Hop Devil is usually easy to find, but a visit to their in-house pub for the full selection is always a treat when visiting friends in that area. I seem to remember the brewing revolution gaining ground in the early 90s. When I first was legal to drink, it was really hard to find craft brews in most places. Now its much easier. This goes towards what @PhilipS was saying too, but also consider that there was a thriving craft beer business prior to Prohibition that died out overnight. The big brewers survived by their diversified assets and also finding loopholes in the law to at least keep making a trickle of beer. After its repeal they were able to dominate the market. Three companies controlled 90+ percent of the market between them, and often played rather dirty in holding back the microbrew revolution. And yes, Sierra Nevada is probably the best (or at least in the top 10) of the brewers to emerge from the revolution. The Steam beer, was invented by Anchor brewerey, also in California. They have it patented though, as it is a new style unto itself, niether ale nor lager (nor barley wine for that matter). I haven’t had one in a long time, as I don’t remember being impressed with it. I think I should try it again though, next time I see it.

I love how many bars opened and where fully trained and operational the day prohabition ended.

@Xander Steam beer is really a new/old style.  Anchor was the only one still making it, so they went ahead and trademarked the term Steam Beer.  That is why all other steam beers you will see are probably listed as a California Common.

What is the definition of “Steam Beer”? I’ve had the Anchor quite a few times and it just tastes like some kind of ale to me.

btw tried the Belzebuth(sp?), not bad, 13% alc., a slightly different (with my experience sofar) blond Belgian tastewise. It goes down easy like cream soda, but warm once it hits the belly.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steam_beer

Interesting! Thank’s for the link, I should’ve thought to look it up there- wasn’t thinking!

Anybody here a big hop-head like me?

I’ll splurge on a sixer only when it will be ingested when I’m relaxing or in a social atmosphere.  When it’s summer time, 105, and I just mowed the yard, give me the cheapest, most watery beer there is.  There’s no sense in chugging a nice beer when a Keystone will do just as well.  

Agreed. On hot summer days nothing beats Pabst Blue Ribbon or something similar to quench one’s thirst after cutting the lawn, etc. Being from the Baltimore area, the local beer of choice back in the old days was National Bohemian or Gunther. Both are long gone–the former was bought by Miller in the early 90s and still appears on the bottom shelf.

A good German could suit the bill too. Or maybe a Rolling Rock. But I prefer drinking water or iced tea and after quenching going to something hoppy. Whatever floats yer boat.

Rolling Rock is a good, affordable brew that still has some flavor.  Too bad it’s brewed by the overlord of beer now.  

I had no idea. Haven’t had it for years. The lightest stuff I’ve quaffed in the past couple of years~ were some German pilsner that a pal favors.

Used to get those little ponies of RR to drink on the run, so to speak. It was a decent beer and fairly light as a rice beer should be. Haven’t had it in a dog’s age.

I like Youngs don’t know which one but it’s 3.7%, weak but nice, goes with pork scratchings.

@londonsnuffs, it’s the Youngs bitter at 3.7% that you favour. When I’m in London I do like the Youngs beers and my haunts are:- Walgrave Arms on the corner of Brendon st - Crowford Place W1H Maryleborn, The Marques Of Anglesey Bow Street Covent Garden and the Windmill Mill in Mill Street Mayfair.

If I ever get to G.B. I’ll have to ask you guys where to go for a pint!

Mr  O we would welcome you, but for the best beer.  Go North Young Man.  

North from me, Canada? Or North past you?

LOL, If  you ever get to G.B. The beer is best in the North of GB.  I just know that your taking the Pi**.

Well some Americans have traditionally raved about the (at the time) stronger Canadian beers, and the road trips from our Northern US states to get some. Not so much of an issue anymore. I’m just getting an abstract sense of the expression “taking the P**s” British tv and magazines have taught me a bit here and there. If I’m on a strictly American forum I could call myself A.E. Handelnorks and no-one would be the wiser

But back to topic, like which cities around there?

I think that “strong” Canadian beer thing was partly due to the Canadians measuring their alcohol content by volume and the U.S. using an outdated alcohol by weight measurement.  Thankfully, that is no longer the case.

Brewshooter, that may be true idk. At any rate I’m thankfull we now have some world class domestic beer!

Tc something smoky sounds kinda good on a chilly night like we’ve got here.

 Never had a smoked porter, just a couple of rauchbeers, mostly a  certain  German one.

Alaskan makes a good smoked porter.

Flying Dog Pale Ale…what a treat!!

Brewshooter- I like the Alaskan ale brewed with spruce tips, sounds potentially wierd, but is good. Will have to try thier porter!

SnusAlarm- I’ve had thier “double dog” double pale ale- very good. also if you can get a hold of thier “horn dog” barley wine- sublime!

@Mr. O Never had the horn dog but will put it on the list. Also I haven’t seen it in a while, but their Hunter Thompson tribute beer is phenomenal. Flying Dog can do no wrong!!

We have a beer out in Seattle made by Elysian named “Men’s Room Red” after one of the afternoon drive rock shows. The proceeds go to Fisher House that provides housing for families of soldiers wounded in battle and going through rehab. Damn tasty and goes to a good cause.

SnusAlarm- yeah, seriously, the horn dog is one of the best barley wines I’ve had-and not one of the most expensive! Sadly it’s pretty hard to find in this area for some reason, but the double dog is available- go figure. I’ll have to try the Hunter Thompson ale, I think I saw it but it was a little to expensive for me on that particular day, isn’t it like $5-6 for a 12oz bottle? I’ll try it once though, I suppose.

I can’t say enough about the Weyerbacher brewery, it seems like they have an excelent(sp) example of virtually any type of beer you could want. IPA’s, barley wine, Belgian type golden’s, Quadrupel’s etc.

luxaorta- Yes that’s a nice thing for them to do! In MN Summitt brews Finnegan’s Irish Amber for charity.

What I’d really like to try is Dogfish Head’s 120 Minute IPA, I believe they’re in DE, but it isn’t shipped this far West.

And I miss yuengling…and Iron City…hehe.

The 120 minute is too strong for me. Its heavy, syrupy, kind of over sweet. I suppose its ok once in awhle but the 90 minute is one of the ones we drink in this house regularly.

Yuengling is all over the place here too. Not much of a fan of theirs, but their porter is ok.

There is no proper beer outside of Lancashire really, although the hillbillies in Yorkshire do try hard and may even produce a good ale one day. If you come to GB, there’s a little winding country lane called the M1, just follow that until you come to a place where all the men are very handsome, then go into the first public house you come to and ask for a pint of Thwaites. If you notice all of the men have ferrets down their trousers you have gone too far.

Yorkshire has far better beer then Lancashire, only good thing about that County is Simon and his smoking shop.  LOL!

lol! you guys, seriously…

xander- I love the 90 min, just recently read about the 120- too curious not to try it!

never heard of Yuengling, sounds Chinese? I’ve had Tsingtao (Japanese I think) too mild for me, though Hitachino Nest (Japanese) does some good stuff, like a cedar aged IPA, whatever it’s called…

Do the Lancashirians and Yorkshirites put beer into bottles? Maybe I could get some imported… curious…

And yes I realize some ales are only at thier best on tap- but still…

@ Mr. O yes but you will find it far to expensive.  One micro brewery sells a pack of 8x500ml bottles for $23.73 but the postage is $15.82 and I’m in the same County.

http://www.woldtopbrewery.co.uk/beers/wold-top-bitter

http://www.thwaites.co.uk/thwaitesbeerco/beer_brands/bottles/

The biggest casualty of the microbrew movement has been the regional brewery. In my area alone, we lost 2 large breweries to the mega-conglomerates (G. Heileman and National Bohemian in Baltimore, MD), and Rolling Rock (Latrobe, PA) was purchased by Anheuser-Busch and the old brewery shut down in 2006. Sad story indeed.

Ah, but the M1 used to end in Leeds (Tetley’s country!) and now ends at the A1 near Tadcaster (mmm… Sam Smith’s!).

@Mr.O Yuengling is not Chinese, they are of German decent. They claim to be Amerca’s oldest brewery. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuengling http://www.yuengling.com/ @Furious I’m shedding no tears for the death of Natty Bo, or the vile sluice water that is Rolling Rock. They committed themselves to mass producing inferior product, and attempting to emulate the giants instead of breaking away from the herd and crafting quality beer. The microbrew revolution could have begun with these guys a decade earlier, but they were too timid. However. some have thrived, such as Yuengling, above

@Xander No locations within 100 miles of me.  Meager, it sounds like a good one to try.  If Old Chicago serves it, I can give it a go the next time I’m in a major metro.

@Dogwalla which one?

@Xander Yes, I didn’t mean to imply somehow that I thought either was a stellar product; I am simply lamenting the loss of long-standing breweries to the community. I agree that regional brewers could have contributed to the microbrew boom before it was too late. Yuengling is a big success story, and I enjoy their Black and Tan and Lager.

Boise, ID

Damn good place to eat, and 100 beers available.  Good times if you have a hotel close

Xander- good to know, I’ll check that out, funny I took German in school, and the name still looked Chinese!

@snuffhead   the local liquor store near me   ( offie to you probably ) sells a lot of the northern english beers  i was tempted the other day  but  between $14 and $24 for a  4 pack was a bit to spendy for me … 

 rolling rock is probably my favorite cheap 6 pack to get

@jpsks, wow! That’s a little pricey.

Yuengling is one of my least favorites only from over exposure. It’s cheap in central PA.

Soutern Tier B rewery is very close to me. Unfortunately, w/a life time of rice beer, it hard to appreciate such “heavy” beers. IPA is about as far as i stray from PBR.

I really like thier 2xIPA, a perfect everyday brew for me (I usually don’t drink more than two a day), and thier unearthly IPA is sublime!

Haha! Found out a couple of pubs here in Dublin serving Dogfish Head Brewery ales on tap and bottled, so @Xander must be proud!

What, seriousy? Dublin Ireland? I’ve gotta check on that, I mean the distance between DE and MN, vs the distance between DE and Dublin…

@AllanH That’s high prasie, indeed! I’m impressed! Had a couple of 90 minute IPAs this week. I should have not had them back to back. With 9% alcohol, two was too many. I might have to bump down to the 60 minute IPA. The 90 minute is perhaps a bit too rich/sweet for me.

Xander, have you had the Southern Tier “Unearthly” IPA(only in big bottles)? You’d probably love it, but it also might be better for sharing:)

@Mr O @Xander Yep, Dublin City, County Dublin, Republic of Ireland. American craft brews have been around at off-licenses for a while but now you get those from some pubs too. Too bad I’m little drifting away from beer, drinking whiskey and red wine more often now. Guess it’s age…

Strong Suffolk Vintage 2 years.

Very nice from the cask, very deep red colour. I’m not good at reviewing as you can see hah. Smelt quite fruity though.

Maybe it’s time to sample more of the Brit ales. Can anyone reccommend any strong selections? I’ve had S. Smiths, Meantime, Peter’s(or st Peter’s or something), and I forget- is Hen’s Tooth British?

just tried magic hat Encore. Wow really nice if you like IPAs it’s a American Wheat IPA. So it’s kind of like the bastard child of Blue Moon and and IPA some how it works wonderfully. It’s a strong bitter IPA with a light sweet refreshing finish. A near perfect beef if you ask me.

is that a seasonal or ltd. edition?

Yes it is.

Will hafta check that out! My experience with wheat beers hasn’t been great, but I figure with a lotta hops it might be good.

it’s amazing.

I’ll have to try it then, you ever had the Southern Tier Unearthly IPA? I keep asking people about that, but it’s just so good- at least for a hop-head like me.

love hop myself. Though Idon’t drink beer very often so it might take a while, though that will be in my sights from now on.

Cool, I mean hops are magic right? I didn’t drink much in my twenties so these days I spoil myself and drink ales often.

Man, I am quite buzzed right now, but I just had a perfectly wonderful brew, a dopple bock, homemade and three months on the refrigerator, perfectly aged, 10% alcohol level and just wonderful mouth feel, with exquisite lacy bubbles, and just a wonderful cherry, fruitcake body, a wonderful dessert brew that just took my breath away with its presentation. A truly wonderful brew. Belgium Saison yeast at its finest. An 11 on a ten scale. One of the reasons we homebrew is to experience one like this, cheers all.

Just bottled the Belgium Tranny again, Belgium Blonde at a much higher alcohol level, hence the tranny, really packs a “pair” for a blonde!

Whalen, my mailing address is…

@ Mr. O - You have tried Stammhiemer Hopfen Schnupf from McCrystals, Right? It’s got your hops.

@Mr.O Ok I will look for Southern Tier next time I am beer shopping. Thanks for the tip. @AllanH: Ah! The bottled beer then, that’s less incredible than them having it on tap. Still, I’m proud. I’m leaning towards whskey myself these last few years. You’re right, its probably age. Just had a Bushmills Single Malt 10 year aged. Fantastic! I’d been avoiding the big name Irish distillers (and Scottish ones for that matter) as I think their standard offerings are lousy. Now it seems they can make high end ones, single malting aging etc. I did just try a small Irish distiller, but was not too impressed. The whiskey was Michael Collins. I think the name suckered me into buying it. Any recommendations?

Sorry, beer-heads. I’ll start a whisk(e)y thread next time.

@Xander Yes, Bushmills is my fave whiskey brand and that 10 year old - green label?- is one of the best there is but they are all good. Usually I have naggin of Paddy from offie though, we old people only buy naggins, it’s kind of Irish thing and Paddy is lovely. What I’d recommend is Midleton of course, very pricey though and John Locke’s Single Malt, which is very good value. I’d stay away from any Scotch replica, they have ‘peat’ or something in their name and are opposite what Irish whiskey is; thrice distilled and relatively smooth liquor with rather mild flavour. But I’m not really expert on whiskeys and there are plenty I’ve not tried and probably shan’t.

Forty Creek whiskey, Crown Royal and Ballantines scotch are my favs but I’m not really one for liquor so my experience is limited.

Ah Whalen, touche! You tease me so, just sayin aromaticsyer stuff sounds good, a little jealous!

For the record the Hopfen Snuff just isn’t aromatic enough for me, eventually gonna try to make my own with some hops essential oil, but so far not satisfied, unless my tin was really old.

Xander, my pleasure. Also if one likes thier hoppiness a bit more bitter than the Unearthly (but a fresh bitterness), and not quite as focused on the aromatics, Avery’s Maharaja is another amazing IPA- but seasonal.

Xander should know what he’s talking about.  He has a bar over here in Hull, UK. :-) 

Some good beers in there too

lol, Now you know I have to go there now.

I am good with beer and whiskey together! What the heck. And I have a good one to try if single malt is your thing, the Japanese Suntory 12 year Yamazaki. The 18 year is as good as it gets, but the 12 year is wonderful. I know, Japanese single Malt? Yep, and it is worth the trouble and sells for about 50 dollars a bottle,damn fine scotch, errrrr I mean malt. A recent blind taste test had my Scottish friends in a tizzy when they picked it out as a “fine one”! That is high praise indeed.

One of my Belgium Tranny’s exploded last night, that’s a good sign actually! Dog licked it all up. Good thing it was covered, kept the glass in.

@ Mr. O - Pick a good hop, I tried that with some cascades and It ruined me, Too much can backfire, hops gets overpowering fast.

Lets all get together at Xanders in Hull, and fill, then empty, the snuff box on the bar. I need a proper English pint to keep me spirits up! Cheers. Whoops, Cheers,  that’s that  dive on TV.

Whalen, I have a couple of faves (in beer) but wonder if they can be bought by a consumer/citizen/mortal… I like beer with the Simcoes or the Warriors for sure so far. I’m considering just buying some essential oil of hops, but who knows from which variety it originates. Maybe some hop extract, is that easy nuff to find?

Just google brewers supplies and pick one, there are as many hops as you can imagine, and the hops themselves are strong enough to flavor, the concentrated oils would be overwhelming and quite short lived. Hops come vacuum packed and I warn you that sniffing fresh hops is a weirdly addictive habit. Just looking through the online catalog and descriptions is a pleasant diversion. You can identify any beer hop by looking up a clone recipe and getting that hop. Find one you like (beer) and I will see what I can identify to clone it with. Cloning beer is a very educational en devour.

Tobacco soaks up smells like a sponge, two days in a jar with any hop would be enough.And if you are a hop freak ( ME ), you can grind up just a tad and add to the snuff.

Last night I did some searching, I found a source or two for Warrior and/or Simcoe. I like hops with a very herbal, resinous, or even citrusey scent. I’m thinking if I could seperate the hop resin from the hops and mix those “crystals” into the tobacco in a moderate proportion, would seem ideal. Maybe to hand rub the hop leaf and then use a sieve to filter out the resin crystals. Probably worth a try, but since I just ordered snuff I must probably wait to order some rather nuetral tobacco for the base.

Not to avoid the question here, I really like Weyerbacher’s Simcoe Double IPA, and thier Blasphemy/Quad (quadruple), Dogfish Heads 90 minute IPA,  Flying Dog’s double dog (double pale), and thier Horn Dog (barley wine), Epic has a limited edition line including a lovely IPA and a really nice barley wine, and some others I’ll have to look up to spell correctly etc. I’d be curious about cover versions of  any of those!

Just tried Sierra Nevada’s “Hoptimum” IPA. Quite good, rather hoppy probably in the top 95% or so. Somewhat more bitter than I prefer, but nicely aromatic, somewhat more on the resinous rather than citrusey side. Pretty strong with 10.4% ABV. I’d say worth a shot at, I think $2.50-$3.00 for standard 12oz single bottle.

tonight was a bottle of Brau Brothers “Cherry Bean Coffee Stout”. Not too shabby, definitely a good amount of coffee flavor coming through. Tastes like a medium alc level probably about 6-8%. Not bad for an inexpensive-but not cheap beer.

Split a bottle of Weyerbacher’s Blasphemy quad with a friend. So very good, when you can find some!

Almost forgot, happy St. Patrick’s!

Having some Anchor Old Foghorn barley wine quite good.

I’m just down the road from Thwaites’ brewery, so the local pubs usually have their bitters on tap. I’m a fan of their Lancaster Bomber and Wainwright. There’s also a micro-brewery near me called Hopstar that makes some excellent beers. Other than the local ones, I enjoy a couple of bitters from Yorkshire way, mainly Theakstons bitter and Black Sheep’s Riggwelter. I’m sure the American’s would be able to find these for sale online. One of my friend’s enjoys his Belgium beers, and if anybody is from the Manchester area, there’s a fantastic Belgium bar in Altrincham I’ve been to for his birthday. They gave us a taster session, trying 6 different beers, and it was excellent. All of this beer talk has got me in the mood for some Brewers Bundle from Snuffstore, but they don’t have any for sale. Does anybody know if its not been for sale for a while?

Man, living in Mongolia for the past year has made me miss beer a whole lot more than I thought I would. I mean sure, we have bottles and cans of popular imported stuff, but it’s just not the same as a nice, cold draft. There are a few independent breweries in Ulanbaatar that make decent draft beers at least, but I only head there maybe once a month at the very most.

If I ever get to Great Britain, I must ask some of you folks where to go and what to try.

Is it true that most of the English ales are milder “session beers”? I’ve heard of the brewers deliberately making beers mild enough so that one can imbibe multiple pints and still be able to walk home. I’ve found some British, and some Scottish etc. St. Peter, Meantime, Sam Smith, Bellhaven and some others.

I haven’t seen Brewer’s Bundle on the site for a while, but I’ve really liked Cafe Noir, Golden Pinch, Strong Menthol…

Drinkin some North Coast “Old Rasputin” imperial stout. Nice strong dark, and alcohol-ey. To me this is more like what a stout should be- I prefer it to Guinness(sp?) etc.

That would be Julia and Tim’s Blenders Bundle, Jacob, not Brewer’s Bundle. It’s nice when it’s fresh.

Yeah, that’s right. I’ve tried most of thiers, and found them to be good. Has anybody tried the Cafe Noir and the SG Black Coffee? Just wondering how they compare.

Drinking an Avery Majaraja, one of the better IPA’s imo.