Never saw it before just now.

Marshalls Atlas ipa is my current favorite. Starts of like a lager and finishes with a well balanced ipa kick. Lake Jacamo from abita is also very good

Went to Omaha this weekend.... tried some Samuel Smith Organic Chocolate Stout at Old Chicago and also found some at Hy-Vee... very smooth with a pretty unique flavor. Had the Black Diamond Cocoa Porter at Old Chicago, too... not as much chocolate as last year, but still pretty solid. Also found more Yeti Oaked Aged Stout and Bourbon County Stout. :drool:

Is this beer heaven?

No, it's Nebraska.

:D

Bought a sixer of the Empyrean Dark Side Vanilla Porter. Really wanted to get another bottle of Nebraska Brewing Hop God but couldn't justify the price.

I might try the Vanilla Porter this weekend. We also tried a Nebraska Brewing Black Betty... a stout aged in whiskey barrels. I'm not a big whiskey fan, but it was pretty smooth and doesn't hit you with whiskey like BBQ and BCS hits you with bourbon.

I enjoy it.

My favorite Empyrean (so far) is the Luna Sea ESB. Simply delicious.

Rye on Rye available in KC metro tomorrow if that's your thing.

Yum. My favorite Smokestack beer.

I had it on tap earlier this year... good, but not worthy of being a BBQ replacement. :harumph:

Just picked up a case of Rye on Rye this morning. Love this stuff.

drank this last night.


bad idea.

http://www.shmaltzbrewing.com/HEBREW/J16/J16.jpg

Had some of Avery's Mephistopheles Stout last night - on tap. Wowzers!

apparently some monks make the "best beer in the world" called Westvleteren XII, is making it's way to the US for a 1 time deal because they need money. Anybody getting this?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/1...n_2292576.html

Try St. Bernardus Abt 12 or Trappist Rochefort 10 if you want to try a world class abbey ale. They're about 1/3 of the price of Westy 12.

I've had Westy 12 and it's a great beer, but not worth $85+ per gift pack (6 pack of beers with 2 cheap goblets). The reason for the hype is that this release is the first time it's officially been sold in the U.S.

Also, there is no Missouri or Kansas distribution for this release.

Just picked one of these up over lunch when I went to grab my Rye-On-Rye. Anxious to try it this weekend.

here's a top 25 of 2012 list...with the caveat "We focused only on bottled or canned beers that were released or made available for the first time in the United States this year."

http://draftmag.com/features/top-25-beers-year-2012/

I had a bottle of Westy 12 brought back from Belgium a couple years ago, and have been sitting on it ever since. Decided earlier this season that I'm going to crack it when Pioli is fired...

Definitely an appropriate occasion for a Westy 12!

The Love Child was fantastic. The Prunus, not so much.

Yep, Love Child No. 2 was absolutely sensational. Probably the top beer I consumed in '12.

I agree. One of my favorites for this year also. Odell Meddler also really blew me away this year. Good year for sours.

That's a great question to consider: top beers consumed in '12. Here are mine, counting only beers I had for the first time in '12.

A+ beers:
Three Floyds Zombie Dust
Hair of the Dog Adam
Straight to Ale barrel-aged Unobtanium Old Ale
Firestone Walker Parabola
Rodenbach Grand Cru

My list:
3F Zombie Dust
Cantillon Lou Pepe Gueuze
Cantillon Fou Foune
Bell's Black Note
Cigar City Bourbon Barrel Aged Big Sound

ZD is almost unbeatable - best APA I've ever had. Went through a few cases of that this year, lol. Have you had the FW Sucaba? Parabola and Sucaba are two of my all-time faves...

It cracks me up when people say Sucaba. I know that's the official name for it now, but the bottles in my basement say Abacus. Guess that means it's time to start drinking them!

Technically, it's §ucaba. :) I'm not sure why they renamed it - never looked into it. All I know is that's it's unbelievably delicious...

Oh yes, that and Parabola are definitely great beers of their respective styles.

Parabola was on tap at the Saucer during Stout Week this year. I enjoyed myself.

MMMM this.

http://www.thegreatestbeerofalltime....=1264729932530

It's pretty perfect. And I can take it on the river in the summer.

That's my go-to beer when people tell me that good beer doesn't come in cans.

I may have a new favorite beer. Lagunitas Daytime Fractional IPA.

Really hoppy, but light and as easy to drink as a Busch Light. Lots of flavor, and an aftertaste that makes me sit there and smack my chops like an old toothless hobo.

I could drink this every single day.

http://img209.imageshack.us/img209/6...4160647021.jpg

Lagunitas SUCKS is getting ready to make its comeback soon, Fish. Please make sure to try it as well. If you like DayTime, I have a hunch that you'll really like SUCKS.

Sweet. Never heard of that one either. I'll look for it. Any clue where to find that and/or Daytime in a liquor store? Only place I've found Daytime is at Beer Kitchen on tap. But I only discovered this last week, so I haven't really checked many places..

Thanks!

You have bottles, plural, of Abacus? I am so, so jealous right now.

I know this isn't technically beer, but I'm looking for good recommendations for cider.

Most of them seem to just taste like a glorified wine cooler or champagne with a single note of flavor. I've really like the Woodchuck Winter cider, because it seems to have a little more complexity.

Anyway, my wife has gotten into cider due to the gluten free nature and because red wine doesn't agree with her any longer, so we're trying to look for good ones.

I'm in a similar boat. My girlfriend prefers cider to wine or beer. So I've been trying to find ciders that are actually interesting. Which is tough in Alabama. I imagine it'd be easier in more populous areas.

Crispin does some OK work. They put out a variety of inventive ciders (one with sake yeast and rice, one with molasses and an Irish stout yeast, one with a Trappist ale yeast strain), but the enjoyability of them is hit or miss.

My favorite cider I've ever had was a Woodchuck Private Reserve seasonal release: Belgian White. It's brewed with a witbier yeast strain; delicious stuff. Woodchuck just put out a Bourbon barrel-aged cider, too. I haven't tried that yet, but I will.

I've been on a Red Hook kick.

Just picked up a bottle of BBQ. Never had it before.

Where did you find a bottle of BBQ off the shelf? It hasn't been released in a year.

Having Mother's Uber Pils right now. Good stuff, very earthy tasting hops.

Gifted from a friend who knows I love Boulevard products. Poor wording in last post.

Picked up a 4 pack of Bourbon County Stout over the weekend, looking forward to trying it after the reviews on here. It was a little more pricey than I expected, but I hope it's worth it.

They also have the 22oz Bourbon County Coffee Stout, but I deferred wanting to try the regular first. It's limited to one per customer.

They also carry Night Stalker which I haven't heard mentioned on here. Apparently it's the Bourbon County Stout before they put it in the Bourbon Barrels. Forgive my ignorance on this one. :)

Go buy the Coffee - very hard to come by. Hell, I'll buy it from you, if you don't want it... :)

Any of the flavored varieties of Bourbon County are HIGHLY sought after. Buy them up.

I do have multiple bottles from before they changed the name. Multiple Parabolas too!

I'm going to cry.

I dropped $30 on the 4 pack and the Coffee stout was $24.99 per 22 ounce bottle. Not sure if that's price gauging or not, but I was already $60 plus in on two six packs of Schafly (coffee and oatmeal) and the Bourbon county.

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/12/12/18/mejetu5y.jpg

Sometimes you gotta go back to your roots. Miller High Life.

Don't cry. I actually had just started collecting bottles the last year or two before the name changed, and maybe just the last year. I'd have to look at the boxes.

We should just do a tasting of some kind. I'd be happy to bring something!

I'm irritated.

Didn't realize that Love Potion No. 2 had already been released. Went to my local liquor palace and they were sold out. Won't be getting more until January.

I did pick up some Tank 7, a bottle of Saison-Brett, a bottle of Collaboration No. 3 and a bottle of Nommo Dubbel.

Merry Christmas to me.

Boulevard Wheat IPA is my least favorite from Boulevard Company.

Single-Wide IPA? Really? Love it. One of my favorite year-rounders from Boulevard.

I usually go with that or 80 Acre.

Single-Wide is ****ing awesome. Tank 7 is my go to for the time being.

Tank 7 is classic. Phenomenal brew.

That'd be the one. I used to be strictly a Bully Wheat kind of guy.

But, because of CP I tried 80 Acre and I love it.

1) 80 Acre
2) Bully Wheat

I need to try more from Boulevard.

I almost bought TANK 7 a few nights ago. But, decided to go with a 12 pack of Single Wide, rather than a four pack of T7. I almost got the Nutcracker Ale too.

Buy Tank 7. There's absolutely no way you won't like it. It's just about perfect.

Is it a darker beer?

I'm really not a dark beer drinker, fwiw.

Nope.

It might not be your taste just yet. The more you have the 80 Acre, though, I think your palate will be more receptive to the likes of the Single-Wide and Tank 7.

Tank 7 is my least favorite Boulevard beer, but I don't know many people who dislike it... I don't like that spiced hop flavor, so I'm not a fan of that one and Zôn.

Single wide is kind of dangerous... after a winter of heavy stouts and porters, drinking single wide IPA is like downing grapefruit juice. I could drink it all day.

Good point.

I'm definitely a beer novice. And here as of late I've been trying a lot more things.

I love 80 Acre, Hoopla, and Snowdrift Vanilla Porter.

Those are three I've tried over the past couple of months and all three are great.

Where do you live? Saison Brett still on the shelves? Haven't seen one of those around KC for a long time, other than at tastings.

All good choices and the types of beers that will end up making you more receptive to other beers.

If you don't already, beer advocate is a great resource for understanding the profiles of individual beers, and this is something that I turn to regularly. I'm certainly no beer expert, but I damn sure appreciate a fine offering.

:spock:

I'm a lazy typer.

Boulevard Wheat.

To me, both Single Wide and 80 Acre taste the same at first.

Right now, what I am not a big fan of is the after taste of Single Wide.

This is my third I've had, and honestly it has been better than the first two.

Since this thread is way too long at this point--what are some good, reasonably easy to find IPA's?

Bell's Two Hearted Ale (out of Kalamazoo, MI) is ****ing fantastic. Boulevard's Single-Wide is also legit.

Both are very easy to find in the midwest.

Stone and Lagunitas also both make affordable quality IPAs. Take your pick from them and you probably won't be disappointed.

Saint Louis.

IIRC, the Saison-Brett was listed as 2013 on the bottle. Could be wrong.

Two-Hearted is my favorite non-Boulevard offering by far.

Where can you find it? Nevermind. I suppose St. Louis area.

Had Lagunitas IPA tonight. Really liked that one.

Terrapin Hoppsictioner is another good one from down here in GA.

Was down in my basement this morning looking for a box and stumbled upon an xmas gift I had forgotten to ship to my brother last year. It's a Royals jersey and a bottle of Boulevard Imperial Stout 2011 (Brett yeast recall batch). It's going down in my cellar and I'm replacing it with a Rye On Rye 2013.

The wife and I just finished a bottle of this:

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m7...s3igo1_400.jpg

Out-friggin'-standing. Top fermented Belgian beer. Fruity, malty, highly carbonated. Unlike anything I've ever had.

http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/641/1745

Duchesse is pretty good, if not a little sweet for the Flanders Red style. Very thirst quenching, and a nice entry into the world of sour beers. Be careful, once you go down the rabbit hole into sour beers, there's no going back. :)

My two favorites if you're going for the Flanders Red are Rodenbach Grand Cru and Cuvee Des Jacobins. You can get the Cuvee Des Jacobins around here; I've typically found it at Lukas in OP, KS, but you'll have to go to Illinois probably at the closest to find the Rodenbach (unless you order it online). They're both a bit more sour, but still very well balanced beers. *self professed sour beer nerd here*

Got some Tank 7 in the fridge!

Interesting that the 2013 Saison Brett is out already. I'm pretty sure we won't see that in KC until sometime in mid-January or later. I hope I'm wrong, Saison Brett is the heat!

Thanks for the advice. Very, very interested in trying more of this style. I really, really liked the Duchesse, so I'll definitely have to go down that rabbit hole. Rep to you, good sir.

:thumb:

Sours are fun, but also kind of a treasure hunt. The best ones are hard to find and fly off the shelves pretty quick. Don't even get me started on Cantillon and other lambics.

Enjoying a Duvel right now. I have a Rye-on-Rye waiting in the kitchen; I don't know if I should consider "preparing for the most stressful two days of the year" as reason to drink it, or if I should wait until Christmas night and open it in celebration.

Rye on Rye is some goooooooood stuff. No excuse needed to enjoy a bottle of it!