I can't get over the greatness of Cherry Fandango.

I drink so many stouts that it's been a while since one has just been better than all of the other stouts.... but, IMO Cherry Fandango is head and shoulders better than other sours and far greater than any cherry beer I've tried.

Oh, and a place called Rift just south of Fate South had some Toppling Goliath Fluffernutter on tap... the 3rd TG stout that I know of in Arizona. :drool:

Fate also has a barrel aged Shot in the Arm coffee stout right now on tap and in cans that's quite delicious... aged a couple years in Buffalo Trace barrels, IIRC.

My vagina likes it!

You in town bud?

Just some quick bullshit to take care of and made a lunch and beer stop in Scottsdale.

Dude, come on!!!

LMAO

We should try setting up something at Ground Control again, just for no one in Phoenix to actually plan it. :harumph:

https://i.imgur.com/oZ2jeS3.jpg

Little humble brag. My Cucumber Saison won a brew contest back in May. I got to go help brew it in July and today it’s on tap at a local brewery.

It’s a beer that really surprises people because it doesn’t sound great to most people but they typically really like it.
:cheers:

Congrats!

It also doesn't sound great to me... :p

That sounds like it’s up my alley. Good work

Tried this tonight... this one and the same variety without banana are my two favorite from Hubbard's Cave (and maybe a bit of foreshadowing... :D )

https://applejack.com/site/images/Hu...oz-Can_2_1.png

That sounds very interesting and something I would definitely try and probably like.

You're damn good at this!

That looks good. Would love to try it

Guy in my homebrew club posted a pic of this while in KC.

Anyone know whats up with this brewery and beer?

https://untappd.com/b/diametric-brew...mchazy/2880471

That beer is OK; not one of their best really. Generic NEIPA.

Pretty much the gist I got from my buddy

I want a date.

https://tcbcbeer.com/on-tap/

Looks like they have a few interesting beers.

Bearcat showed up in Chicago and we sampled some beers

My favorites were:

More/Bottle Logic - Double Origin
Riverlands - Campfire Tales
Mikerphone - BA Smells Like Bean Spirit (2021)
Mikerphone - BA Softly Spoken Lies

https://i.imgur.com/n8KYryx.jpg?1

the best summer beer :evil:

Thanks again, great beer and company.

Mikerphone followed by Revolution, followed by that lineup made for a rough morning, heh.

Now drinking: copious amounts of Powerade Zero

I’m pounding the Citrus Peach right now.

Found a 2016 BCS Coffee tonight and it was fantastic. I've heard of concerns with coffee fading in vintage beers, but that one had aged beautifully.

Raising money for Montana skate parks.

I'm just catching a buzz because a crazy toddler refused to go back to bed at 4:30 and decides he no longer needs naps.

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

I'm not sure what could have possibly made this beer trip any better outside of finding more time for KC brews.

Off the plane, in a Lyft, to Mikerphone within minutes... Mikerphone never disappoints. The Bean Spirits are hard to beat, the port beer was interesting (grew on me) and Down with the Thiccness was great and definitely a smoothie beer.



Then it was onto Revolution's Brewpub to meet KCU. Great coffee stout and really good food.

Followed by a hand selected BA blind tasting at KCU's. I think my favorite was the BL/More collab, but they were all great BA stouts... there was one more in the lineup, but I hit a wall after 2 rounds of Mikerphone, 2 (or 3?) drinks at Revolution, and these heavy hitters. :eek:

Also hit up another restaurant and had a 2017 BCS Coffee. :drool:




Drove to Decorah for the Toppling Goliath beer pilgrimage. I don't know if there could possibly be a better time to go to TG... 3 Term Oils on tap and some in the fridge, Mornin' Delight, Kaiju Clash, Cherry Fandango. I would 100% drive 9 hours round trip just to have another flight (well, I had 3 an was there for over 4 hours).



And made a quick stop at Pulpit Rock... they didn't have Collab-o-rate on tap and their other beers were kind of disappointing. They had a coffee porter that was good, but only had a couple there and bought a can of collab.



Back in Chicago, went to More the next day. Pretty sure this was the first time trying More beer (except for the collab) and I was thoroughly impressed. The stout was fantastic and the others were impressive as well. Apparently just missed one of their best stouts, but no biggie at that point.




Didn't get around KC much when I was there and should have taken better notes, but did try some local stuff... there was a Crane pineapple sour that was pretty good, and another non-KC one that stuck out was Golden Road Brewing Mango Cart Wheat.

Also had a German smoke beer that was very good along with a double bock that I was pretty impressed with... had several beers I normally wouldn't try.

https://i.imgur.com/KBCvHV9.jpg

This shit is phenomenal. 13.5%.

How much does it cost?

$14/4pk in Springfield...

Nice, not bad at all.

I've tried very few of their stouts in recent years (granted, they don't make many), but that one looks like it's worth a shot if it makes it out here.

Brandyland is probably the last one I enjoyed, even though it was lacking stoutness for the ABV. I had higher hopes for Rye on Rye Maple a few months ago on tap, but it was a dud.

Their Whiskey Barrel Imperial Stout and Dark Truth are the only other stouts I've tried from them. The Whiskey Barrel was very good but dont care for the Dark Truth...too "pruney" for me. This new one is the best one yet in my opinion, but coffee infused Imperial Stouts are my favorite kind of beers...

I think something happened to Dark Truth... I really enjoyed it at one point years ago, then went back to it a time or two and it just seemed off. So, maybe the same reason you don't care for it. Figured I'd try the Whiskey Barrel Stout or Plaid Habit if I ever see it as a single and I don't have to buy a 4 pack.

As far as coffee, do you like Early Riser, if you've tried it? I tend not to drink porters, since by definition they're usually far more subtle, but it's in the same 'meh, might grab it sometime' category.

I haven't seen that around here. The only "non-imperial" coffee stout brew I've tried is the Mother's Winter Grind...its pretty meh. Their Imperial Grind is great though.

I agree about porters, but Founders Barrel Aged Porter is pretty tasty. Haven't seen it around for awhile though.

Panther Cub? Seems like I've tried it, but maybe at a beerfest and then never found it after that.

Despite it being 100 on beeradvocate, I've never liked their KBS, but liked it a bit more when they added maple syrup to it.... and still have one last bottle of CBS, which is far better.

Crazy that I think Toppling Goliath is the best damm brewery I have ever had and I have yet to have one stout. And I love stouts.

Pretty sure I could try their most basic pilsner and come away impressed, but if you like monsterous stouts, it's heaven.

It's a little strange they don't have a flagship kind of stout that you can find anywhere, but I guess that just means they don't half ass them at all. We've gotten their IPAs and Sues and things for about 6 months, but there have only been 3 kegs of their stouts in the state (Term Oil Monster Cookie, Mornin' Delight, and Term Oil Fluffernutter).

I felt like a ****ing boss walking out of their taproom with two Term Oils. :D

A little Chicago from home.

(not that it's unusual :D )

https://i.imgur.com/u7kWbOc.jpg

Holy balls, it's sssssoooo goooood :drool:

https://i.imgur.com/6LPCZ01.jpg

Winter is coming

https://i.imgur.com/JlW8DH9.jpg?1

I've had a couple of their IPAs and was absolutely blown away. I don't typically care for stouts but I'd drink one of theirs because I'm certain everything they make is gold.

Can I make a request for the next CP Chicago BA Beer Tasting? :D


Seriously though, a side-by-side-by-side-by-side-by-side-by-side of different BCS barrels would be amazing at an event like that.

Its a hard event to plan around if traveling. Its every September but they don't drop the dates until a week before. I feel its strategic on their part but who knows.

They've also stretched it out from a weekend event into 5 days and taproom instead of the block party format. So it'll be interesting to see how it goes. Maybe they think expanding the days, especially adding week days, will spread more people out but that seems optimistic unless they do reserved seating or some other crowd control measure.

The problem (a good one to have) is not knowing when things are getting tapped. They do let you double fist though so the strategy in the past is to grab 2 different pours, wife grabs 2 different pours, jump back in line and share/repeat. A few of those like the double barrel Blantons/Eagle and 4 Year Rare are new so the hoards will be circling.

I don't have a crazy amount of patience to hunt down and wait for beer these days, but would definitely do something like that as long as the wait isn't so crazy that you're out of beer and still have a long time to wait in line.

Is the Triple Barrel 2018 or did they do that other years, too? At 19%, I'd like to try that one in another decade. LMAO

Yeah Panther Cub, that stuff was legit for a porter. I like KBS and love CBS. I know this is an unpopular opinion but I've always felt BCS is overrated...especially for the price.

KBS has like a burnt/charred thing that I have a hard time getting past... the maple variety hides it for the most part.

There were a couple years in KC where I was done with the BCS hype... having to go out and shop for it on the one day you want to sit at home and avoid shopping, with limits of 1 bottle/person.

Then I moved here and bought an entire case of it and can generally get as much as I want. I'll show up at the beer store at 10am for the variants, but can also still find 2-3 year old variants for like $17 in Phoenix.

I think it's still one of the better stouts out there and will always appreciate it for setting the standard years ago.

Can't help to think the namesake of Toppling Goliath had at least a little bit to do with Goose Island and BCS, given their amazing stouts (the server said it was mostly business related and beer in general).

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...ff9a91d068.jpg

All of this Toppling Goliath talk made me run by the local beer section at Hyvee and see what they had. This one seems to be their flagship IPA. Nice, nothing amazing compared to the other two I had on tap.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yep its 2018. Which is a good reminder people need not go crazy over these as they make a bunch. Feel it pours at every one of their special events. Have to think those '13/'14 Prop kegs are dwindling though.

From their on-deck page:

https://i.imgur.com/qRKN6kZ.jpg?1

JFC that Blanton's at 19%. :eek:

Oof. Sounds like trouble. Delicious trouble.

I dont think I've ever had any TG beers, will have to check to see if I can find any around here.

To backtrack on my previous post about BCS a bit...dont get me wrong, it was some tasty stout...I just didn't think it lived up to the "end all be all best imperial stout ever" hype it seems to get and for the price I would have rather spent my money on a lot of different beers.

One of my all time favorites is Ballast Point High West Victory at Sea...which surprisingly until I just now looked it up didnt realize is actually a porter as well. I haven't seen any Ballast Point beers in the Springfield area for a couple years now though.

IMHO, TG has gone downhill over the years (and I'll probably get flak for that, lol), though that opinion could be predicated on a few other things, mostly that I'm now surrounded by incredible IPAs in SD. I was back in IA recently, and had Psuedo Sue on tap for the first time in a while, and was extremely underwhelmed - and I used to LOVE that beer. I've had a good number of their IPAs over the last few years, and many of them have become very vegetal to me. I know they've had a tumultuous relationship with their brewmaster for a number of years now, and the owner is a known asshole. All that said, definitely worth finding - you may love it (many do).

I used to chase BCBS every year for many years, and it was my favorite beer at the time. It's still extremely tasty (I just put a '14 in my fridge to cool), but it was a different time then - big, bold, BA beers just weren't that common. Now, they're everywhere, and with quite a few world class options, BCBS isn't nearly as special anymore.

If you love VAS, you should hit Ballast for their VAS day, if you ever get the chance - they have a crazy number of variants on tap.

I’m hammed on lime martinis and bourbon today. Some beer too.

Interesting about TG. I could tell they put a lot into the details of their space in Decorah, so I could seem them being real sticklers for things. And just their namesake shows they have a pretty grand vision.

That's how I think of BCS... it was the end-all/be-all for a number of years partly because it was one of a kind. I thought Schlafly's Imperial Stout was pretty damn close in certain years, but was inconsistent (and never quite had the body as BCS). Sam Adams had a very tasty imperial stout, but again, not really the whole package. And there was Great Divide Yeti, which was a favorite.

I know the vintage stuff and Chicago-only variants are still very popular there, but no idea if it's just as hyped elsewhere... it's definitely not around here, I could still find a Cafe de Olla or regular BCS in Phoenix for $17.

Don't think I've had any Victory at Sea variants, but the regular stuff is a solid daily drinker.... I know they've fallen off the beer craft enthusiast wagon, but I really need to make it out there and do a San Diego craft beer weekend.

I'd be surprised if there was anywhere near the same hype for BCBS as there was in it's heyday. I can find it in SD very easily - I found a random shitty liquor store with boxes of BCBS and variants back to 2017, and I see it on shelves every year.

SD is definitely a beer destination, and IMHO, one of, if not the best beer cities in the world. If you make it out here, hit me up, and I'll meet up with you if possible. Otherwise, I can certainly give you some tips and must-visits.

A little red for SNF.

https://i.imgur.com/cq1LKqo.jpg

Thanks, will let you know if I make it out there.

What are your must-visits? I get Belching Beaver and Ale Smith out here, and of course Ballast Point, so those would all be on my list... plus, would have to stop at Modern Times. Sure I'm missing several that just don't get distributed here.

That looks like a feminine beer I would love.

Hard to find?

I bought some in KC, so I'm not sure if it's around here or will make its way here. It's cherry pie filling and it's amazing.

Pure Project is my favorite in town, followed by Modern Times. A lot would depend on what part of town you're in, and I tend to prefer smaller breweries, but here are some more good options:
- North Park Brewing Co
- Fall
- Eppig
- Burgeon
- Pizza Port
- Societe

A Chicago lunchbreak:

Double Barrel Blantons BCS (left)
Prop '17 (right)
2019 Double Barrel (Elijah Craig) to-go

https://i.imgur.com/KaDeghD.jpg?1

I had this while in KC for the Home Opener and wow.

I *think* I like Pineapple Papaya Fandango a little better, but Cherry is *chef's kiss*

KBS may be the most overrated stout of all time. CBS is pretty damn good. No idea how anyone could prefer KBS over BCS regardless of price.

Goddamn I'm jealous.

Apparently I forgot to block my after lunch calendar so I just spent the last 45 minutes on a call responding with "yep, sounds good" 1000 times just to get through it so I could piss.

So don't be too jealous.

Thanks! I think we get some Pizza Port, will have to look more closely at them.

Was there a favorite?

<iframe src="https://giphy.com/embed/3cB7aOM6347PW" width="480" height="366" frameBorder="0" class="giphy-embed" allowFullScreen></iframe><p><a href="https://giphy.com/gifs/funny-3cB7aOM6347PW">via GIPHY</a></p>

I bought two four packs of the Pineapple Papaya Fandango and they were quite a bit different... think one of them was bad, because it didn't have the same body or flavor as the previous one. The first four pack was very good though.

I got hooked on the Cherry though and wish I had more.... it's not often I fall in love with a beer that isn't a 14% stout, but I would do things to that beer.

Let's just say it would totally be what it looks like.

https://goat.com.au/wp-content/uploa...looks-like.gif

DB Blantons is like a hot brownie

The banana has faded out of '17 Prop so its mostly cinnamon now but still very good

Not pictured was the '14 Barleywine which is tasting like old man candy in a great way

How much did the small pours run you? Which tap house did you visit? I’ll be there next weekend and wanted to do something like this.

6oz pours were $14 per (its Chicago).

This was at the Goose Island Fulton St brewery, they have a separate brewpub location as well, so not to be confused.

Its their annual 312 Fest so lot of cellar and new BCBS stuff pouring through this weekend.

That said, they usually have some awesome stuff on and vintage bottles for on-site consumption or to-go.

They update their site and you can check Untappd to see what people are drinking there to better plan a visit.

https://www.gooseisland.com/fulton-brewery/

I've been to both Goose Island locations, great selection of vintage BCS... and if you're in the Lincoln Park area, Hopsmith has some as well (even though it was a much younger crowd with their loud music and shenanigans).

Read my Chicago dissertation below for more (including More). :D ....largely created/suggested by KCU, of course.

Pizza Port doesn't can their best stuff, but the canned options are generally solid (not spectacular), if fresh.

Solid dissertation.

In addition, anyone visiting Chicago before the year end and are into saisons and wilds would be amiss to skip visiting Half Acre where they pour Keeping Together beers. Ex-Jester King brewer project. Unfortunately she's relocating next year :(

I'll also add Dovetail and Metropolitan for anyone interested in perfectly executed Euro styles. Dovetail is cool because their beer garden sits under the elevated brown line and Metropolitan might have the best taproom in the city right along the Chicago river.

Thanks for the tips. I’ve been wanting to visit Half Acre, Pipeworks and maybe Maplewood too.

Pipeworks only has a bottleshop with curbside pickup ATM. No taproom as of yet.

Half Acre is definitely worth a visit. Huge patio and solid beers + Keeping Together. They also currently have some Revolution barrel aged guest taps as well.

I love Maplewood. Its kind of small but has a cool lounge vibe. People either love the space or hate it. If they have any of their Cuppa line of stouts on, they're a must visit.

The Beer Temple is always a good spot to grab some pours and is also a top liquor store in town.

https://i.imgur.com/WVdRLfx.jpg?1

People have different taste/palates. Crazy.

Their barley wines are low key forgotten in the aging process. Took a 13 home a month ago and it was tremendous. Still sad they don’t make more barley wines. Also got a double barrel for home and can’t wait to try it.

Well, color me impressed, Boulevard stepped up their stout game with this one.

At first sniff it was similar to one of the more decent homebrews I've made (yeah, so I have low expectations for Blvd stouts LMAO), but that's opened up some and they've seriously upped their game with the thickness.

This is a great stout, especially at the $17/4pk here... bought a couple as I was cautiously optimistic (beer guy at the beer store even asked, don't you hate Boulevard? LMAO), but will be grabbing a 4 pack or two.

Thanks for posting it, MTG.


https://i.imgur.com/zkqC6SG.jpg

:thumb: