Beer Discussion Thread

fun. I'd love to do a blind tasting like that.

It's the first one I've done. It was quite a bit of fun. None of the beers really stood head and shoulders above the rest. Of the five, one of them is a local we've all had a hundred times, and we couldn't decide which of two beers it was. That's pretty interesting.

Also had a Backwoods Bastard, Full Sail's Bourbon Barrel Imperial Porter, and Cigar City's Guava Grove Saison.

so...no results from it?

Left to right, the beers were:

Sun King Wee Mac
Ale Asylum Sticky McDoogle
Kettlehouse Coldsmoke
Big Sky Heavy Horse
Great Northern Highlander

Consensus was McDoogle and Coldsmoke as top two, Heavy Horse third, and Wee Mac and Highlander last. My personal results were in that order. Wee Mac was a disappointment. Coldsmoke was a surprise. We all have it so often we thought it would stick out as boring, but it was either the favorite or second favorite on everyone's list.

oh. None I know or have seen here anyway.

bar i was at last night happened to have a freakin' KEG of Hopslam. supposedly only one in DC. random.

Don't you mean you are not going to be able to make it out alive?

I split a 32 oz growler of 120 with a friend recently and we sure did get messed up!

There is a DFH in the Blue Ridge Mountains (wherever the fuck that is)?

So who here likes English Beers? They don't seem to merit much discussion on here, other than Youngs with a side of Sammy Smith, but have been growing on me for awhile now. Drinking a Cain's Dark Mild right now. Comes in 15 oz cans in a sixpack. 3.2% abv. Just a real pleasant drink is all i can say. Long lasting head, very dark ruby color with a subtle flavor of caramel, dark fruit, and chocolate. Drinks way easy as the ABV suggests.

I feel like English beers are probably more akin to how beer was in the past. They have a very "historical" flavor there, if that makes any sense.

I would love to brew up a 3% English mild or 4% bitter. It'd be a cheap recipe to do, also. I love drinking that kind of stuff in the summer.

I always pick up new British beers when I see them, the problem is that I very rarely see much beyond the base Sam Smiths and Fullers 4/6 packs and Young's Double Chocolate in my neck of the woods. I've got a Fullers 1845 and Honeydew in my fridge right now, along with a Sam Smith's Yorkshire Stingo, and a Courage RIS.

I hope i can be like Kant one day. I really know nothing about beer!

Brewers:

http://www.hopschart.com/

Random, unsolicited beer bomb from MI today. Sending an Abyss and some extras back for the kindness.

Rita told me she was in the mood for a stout so I went to World Market and found Young's DCS in a nitro can for the first time in three years. She's in for a treat.

She might be, but I doubt you are. That hasn't held up for me, though I haven't had it in a while.

Little beer store I called yesterday said they might be getting Hopslam in today, just called and they have a pack reserved for me! Woo hoo!

120 is so fucking good. We got two we plan on sitting on for god knows how long.

I remember WWS being really great but I've not had it in a while.

I'm sipping on some Hopslam also.

Hoptimum plus SNPA in cans. God I love cans.

What temp should I store my hopslam at? Is fridge okay? I got a 6 pack so it'll probably take me a few weeks to drink them all.

Fridge is fine (or a separate minifridge is even better), doesn't have to be too cold but I prefer having it right out da fridge before it warms up. Dat crispness. On the other hand, it can warm up slightly and still be just as drinkable, but I defer to the others ITT who are more experienced in beer-drinking. (There are different ideal temps for different kinds of beers but for an IPA a fridge is fine IMHO as long as the fridge is very clean and doesn't have any bad odors.)

Oh and don't keep your Hopslam around for too long, don't want it going bad. Once you pop that first one it'll be hard to hold off drinking the rest anyway...

I'm sure one of these days I'm gonna become a total tryhard dork and buy a small fridge with temperature controls.

Ours is a repurposed dormroom fridge. We keep it about 45.

EDIT: We can fit about a case of 12 oz bottles in there. I have another 25 bottles in my pantry, which stays relatively cool. Those are mostly stouts and barleywines.

Ideal location for Hopslam, like any other hop-dependent style, is in the fridge.

bastard. are they still on sale in VA?

Fiancee is starting to clean up stuff to make a saison today.

We will have 5 things in fermenters at once. Aaaaaaaaaah.

Sweeeeet. I so want another pack.

Welp, sure learned the value of talking to your local beer people.

At my local store, almost everyone recognizes me, and at least one dude actually knows me by name. So I stroll in just now largely just to buy ice, but as I'm walking past the counter, a guy says "Hey, you were asking about Better Half, right? We got some more in."

YYYYYYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Snagged one to share now, and one to sit on. So pumped.

Alternately, you could send a bottle to me in exchange for an Abyss + others.

Bought some in Richmond yesterday. Went in Total Wine just to pick up some weekend beer, didn't even expect to see anymore Hopslam this year, but they got a second shipment. So i bought a sixer and enjoyed that janks last night. I can honestly say this beer has more hop flavor/aroma than any other i've tried, but honestly i don't totally see the point of the hype. Probably won't be buying again. I enjoyed Double Trouble just as much really. Don't get me wrong though, Hopslam is no doubt a top shelf DIPA. I do wish there was a little bit of malt presence, but i guess that really isnt the point of Hopslam.

It is hyped beyond belief.

Still the best beer I've had. Or at least tied with Hoegarden and Shock Top Raspberry Wheat.

Hopslam has a bit of a malt presence to it, and more especially you can taste the honey they brew it with. To me, that's what sets it apart from Double Trouble and Ruination and most of the other very good DIPAs.

I'll have to give it a more attentive tasting this evening, although i am going to a Wine Expo so i might not have room for it in my drinking lineup tonight.

I thought the alcohol was a little overwhelming in the first Hopslam I had. First thought that it tasted kinda acidic then realized it was the 10% ABV. Interestingly, it smelled very strongly of hops but I thought the actual taste wasn't nearly as bitter as I'd expected.

I'm assuming this is a joke (but I can't honestly tell anymore), but do people actually like Hoegarden?

The one time I'm actually not joking. I fucking love their witbier. A relatively recent discovery of mine (like every other beer-snob, I would always avoid it and be like "come on, ha, why would I ever buy that"), I tried it out and fell in love instantly.

One of the best-tasting beers I've ever had. I think there might be regional differences, cuz the bottles on the west coast taste even better than on east coast.

OK fair enough. I happen to think it tastes like skunky anus, but may you enjoy it for many years to come.