RIP beer I never heard of

September of 2015, but yeah

I only really remember because one of the co-owners did a reality TV show on Vice called Beerland around 2016 where she went across country showcasing homebrewers, so I looked her up

It was kind of cringe and didn't last long

oh interesting....I asked a bartender at Johnnies the same thing around Christmas and he told be the had just been bought by AB and thats why it was so prevalent. I googled it and didn't notice the date. :)

Checking in late. This is truly epic!

I love Flagstaff too. Great little downtown area with restaurants, shops and breweries. Great college campus. I'd live there if it didn't snow.

What fun. I need a group like that!

Move here to AZ. Happy people.

Today at home for lunch I drank early and often to celebrate Labor Day ahead of time.

Started with (2) Hell or High Road Mango from 21st Amendment. Super for summer, not overly sweet, low carbonation and only 4.7% ABV. This blows away Mango Cart from High Road.

The second one is a sneaky bomb. Left Hand Nitro's Galactic Cowboy Imperial Stout at 9.0%. It's so creamy and smooth you drink it fast.
I'm a little buzzed at lunch. Hahaha

Total virgin to this shit but damn this was so ****ing good. I've never had a beer taste anything like this.

https://i.imgur.com/8qbbkfN.jpg

Oh man, I ssssooooo want to try that one, but haven't found it anywhere yet.

I went to Lakewood, NY to hit up the original Southern Tier brewery and distillery (didn't know the latter existed until recently.

I was curious when they were brought up for the first time in this thread and it was 2010. Not sure they get enough credit for pioneering the bold/over the top stouts back then and freakin' nailing it with Creme Brulee, Choklat, Choklat Orange, later on with Cinnamon Roll, etc.

The distillery is pretty damn good... their bourbon was pretty meh, but they make flavored bourbon and stuff that's inspired by their beers (a peanut butter cup bourbon, creme brulee bourbon creme, etc.), and those are great. Brought home an apple cinnamon whiskey that's more apple than anything (far better than a cinnamon bomb like Fireball).

Both had a great vibe and the brewery had live music... and the brewery food was really good as an added bonus. They had Warlock on tap, plus Pumking and Caramel Pumpking, and Hazelnut Deluxe. :drool:

You seem to really favor the overly sweet beers. What led you down that path?

Those beers were fun back in the day because they were just so different than anything else getting put out.

Nowadays, everyone is making thicc boi stouts that have every adjunct ingredient you could think of added in.

People love novelty but those styles aren't so novel when there are a ton of them on the shelf at Lukas or Total Wine.

Sour beers went through this same phase. When there were maybe 5-10 total SKUs in the entire product category (and they were all solid sours technically), they sold fairly well, if not slow and consistent. Now there are a ton of sour beers on store shelves and most of them are not great technically. As a result, the whole category suffers.

It's been fun to watch beer's "phases" for the past 15 or so years.

Personally, I always thought that Creme Brulee and Pumpking were gross after more than one or two drinks. But, to each his own, I suppose. Southern Tier is around and still appears to be doing fine so what do I know? :)

Not sure who all needs to hear this

https://i.imgur.com/NIoV3xL.jpg

Yeah, the market is oversaturated with mediocre beer. I rely heavily on Beer Advocate for ratings, but it's tough when a brewery doesn't have much of a presence there. Untappd is mostly terrible for rating great beer, as everything seems to be a 4.2, but it's a pretty good indicator of terrible beer when you can actually score like a 3.6.

I've seen beer advertised as something like "Caramel Current Pastry Stout" that is neither caramel, a current of caramel, or pastry. And of course plenty of sours list a variety of flavors, but it's just another sour (and same for plenty of IPAs).

I'm pickiest on stouts and really try to minimize bad purchases by doing flights or a single bottle purchase... and I'll drain pour even a mediocre stout. The best out there though will never get old (well, until my foot falls off).

Sort of to scho's question though, I don't even really have a sweet tooth food-wise... don't keep sweets around and usually don't order dessert. All about the big boy thick stouts though.