GRM beer tasting

imirk wrote: Bells, Founders, that's MI man right thar (disclaimer I went to college in Grand Rapids) and I do miss summers with Oberon.

The new batch of Oberon hitting the shelves is the first day of summer as far as I'm concerned.

bastomatic wrote: I'll say something I think will surprise some, but locals will undoubtedly agree with me. Michigan has the best depth and breadth of beer and breweries, perhaps in the world. Founders, Bell's, and now Shorts are brewing beer that knocks the hell out of most others I've tried.

I haven't been to enough other places to say best, but damn MI does have a sweet set of high quality breweries. I can still get at least some of them her in MN, but I do miss living there.

keethrax wrote: I haven't been to enough other places to say best, but damn MI does have a sweet set of high quality breweries. I can still get at least some of them her in MN, but I do miss living there.

Milwaukee's Beast no cutting it?

I probably wouldn't say MI has the best Micro's but I think that their Micros are more widely appreciated (aka a larger percentage of the population drink better beer from their micros)

imirk wrote: I probably wouldn't say MI has the best Micro's but I think that their Micros are more widely appreciated (aka a larger percentage of the population drink better beer from their micros)

Founders, Michigan Brewing and Bells are great larger microbreweries. They're definitely not quite as all-round fantastic as say, Dogfish Head, but they produce some fantastic individual beers. Oberon is the standard by which I judge all summer beers. :) Shorts' stuff is IMO among the best in the country. I'm rarely disappointed by anything they make. Well, I wasn't a fan of the PB&J beer....

If you like sourish open-fermented brew, Jolly Pumpkin in Dexter/Ann Arbor is producing belgians that are as good as anything in the world. The Oro de Calabaza, Luciernaga and La Roja are all liquid happiness. An acquired taste if you're not used to it, but they just nail it. Arbor Brewing Company is worthwhile if you're in the area, too.

Not beer, but it's worth checking out Tandem Ciders if you're in northern Michigan on the Leelanau. They've usually got 5-10 ciders and they're all different and fantastic. I make 20-30 gallons of hard cider each fall, and it's depressing how much better their stuff is. Great wineries up there now, too, especially if you like rieslings. Traverse City is turning into quite a little foodie center.

Almost all my beer money stays in-state, as does almost all the good beer itself. Never been a better time to get drunk in Michigan!

Over the last year of so I have been only buying local \regional beer whenever possible. I think the midwest in general, probably because of the high German imigrant influx, has a lot of good micro beer.

In reply to Rusted_Busted_Spit:

With the Budweiser buyout by a foreign company, proud Midwesterners have gone elsewhere for yummy frothy deliciousness. Saint Louis has had lots of micro breweries pop up in addition to the fantastic ones we had before i.e. Schafley. Just down my street there are two. I also enjoy helping my father brew and dispose of the spoils.

Recent samplings from worst to best:

1. Bell's "Wooden Nickel." Should've been called "Rusty Nickel." Tasted like re-badged Dundee Brown Ale. Awful.

2. Terrapin Hopsecutioner. Another real disappointment. I feel like I was "bait & switched." Hops weren't anywhere near as intense as one would expect from a beer with menacing turtles carrying implements of doom protecting huge barrells of hops on the box. A 'good' IPA, but not $2 a bottle good. Even more annoying: The labels were all on crooked as E36 M3, and there was a "Best by" line of "Month/Week" boxes on the side...none of which were checked. REALLY disappointed. If you're going to charge that much for your E36 M3, and tell me how amazing it is, at least take enough pride in your work to not berkeley up the label.

3. Lagunitas Maximus: Really delicious. I noticed a little bit of a dirty aftertaste on the first one, but another a couple days later was excellent.

4. Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA: Wow. Just berkeleying wow. As much as it had been hyped-up, I sort of expected to be disappointed. It's on a different level. REALLY refreshing, tasty, hoppy, no unpleasant aftertaste, and almost seems more "carbonated" than other beers.

In reply to poopshovel:

Huge fan of dry hopped ipa.

Is there any DFH that can be has for less than $12/4-pk?

poopshovel wrote: 4. Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA: Wow. Just berkeleying wow. As much as it had been hyped-up, I sort of expected to be disappointed. It's on a different level. REALLY refreshing, tasty, hoppy, no unpleasant aftertaste, and almost seems more "carbonated" than other beers.

Just had this one on Cameron's say-so. It was pretty decent. Not as clean as some of the beer I had whilst in England, but very good nevertheless. The 9% alc content was a bonus as well.

I also had a pilsner urquell which I liked quite a lot as well. Very clean.

imirk wrote: Is there any DFH that can be has for less than $12/4-pk?

Every other offering I saw was $9 per six pack.

I spent most of this past weekend sipping single malt scotch, but I did drink one beer while I was able to appreciate it.

Three Philosophers, by Ommegang.

It is like drinking a Belgian quadruple and eating a good Black Forest cake at the same time.

Sweet candy-coated jeebus was that a good beer.

Brett_Murphy wrote: Three Philosophers, by Ommegang. It is like drinking a Belgian quadruple and eating a good Black Forest cake at the same time. Sweet candy-coated jeebus was that a good beer.

Good Lawd! That is one of my favorites. Pairs really well with a good pipe or cigar too.

imirk: most DFH stuff is in that $9/6-pack range. The fancy releases get more expensive. For IPA, I'm pretty sure their 60-minute IPA is that price. I also am loving "Festina Peche" for a summer beer, but I also like sours.

imirk wrote:

keethrax wrote: I haven't been to enough other places to say best, but damn MI does have a sweet set of high quality breweries. I can still get at least some of them her in MN, but I do miss living there.

Milwaukee's Beast no cutting it?

The Beast was a standard in college (in MI) because it was the 25cent beer option on Tuesday nights. If that was too steep, you got a bulk discount buying a full tray of 14 for $3.00. They were 8oz cups, but even adjusting for that, the price was pretty damn hard to beat.

Put together a sampler pack from the local SaveMart of some fun things to try. 2 beers in now:

Pilsner Urquell . Meh. Tastes rather skunky. If it were in a can or keg it might be pretty good. Otherwise, it's a beer that's started a style and pretty solidly been improved upon. Pils is also a style that should be fresh. I will gladly take Lagunitas Pils or Sierra Nevada Summerfest over it.

Sierra Nevada Torpedo. Oh hoppy goodness. Really nice IPA with a lot of hop flavor without being too grassy. Lots of lemon peel and pine needle hop flavors in there. Very solid malt backbone to keep it within balance.

You guys want to talk about hops I've had a beer before that was so hopped and high in alcohol it bit my tongue.

In San Diego their is Port brewing and they made two deliciously hoppy beers. One was called Hop 15, the other was lupulin. They were both some of the best hoppy beers I've had. Both were high alcohol and high hops in a traditional IPA style. The hop 15 literally kicked my tongues ass with the alcohol and hops. I've noticed many people talk up the amount of hops but don't deliver. I think it is fresh hop season now as some of the beer was only available through october.

Another interesting beer is from New Belgian and called Trippel. It is a basically a high alcohol belgian and is pretty good. A nice high alcohol belgian isn't sweet with too much undigested malt, but also taste of alcohol. It is probably easy to brew a high alcohol beer but doing it without excess residual sugar or "raw" alcohol flavor takes skill.

Last but not least is a beer I had at the now defunct San Francisco brewing company, I don't know what it was called and I don't think they bottles so it is just dust in the wind. This was a 14% beer and it burned and tasted much like whiskey. Really neat brew I had a shot of it and it was like virgin whiskey.

Whenever somebody asks me what hopps adds to the flavor of beer, I give them a Victory Hop Devil. Love it! My absolute fave!

Around this time of year I start stocking the Woodchuck for my wife. Ok, the wife and me.

My dd is good ole' Sammy Boston Lager.

For summer lawn mowing its Bud Light Lime.

Around Chrismas time, you know those dry, crumbly finger cookies nobody eats? Next time try them with a Sam Adams Cranberry Lambic.

Y'all killing me with this beer talk with me out here in Afghanistan. At least I get all the Becks NA I want for free!

In reply to phaze1todd:

My wife got me a 6 of Hop Devil last week. I am not a huge IPA fan but this one was not bad. My favorite IPA so far Belhaven Twisted Thistle, yummy.

My current favorite beer is Thirsty Dog Old Leghumper. Its a porter and soooo good.

phaze1todd wrote: For summer lawn mowing its Bud Light Lime.

Anybody that likes this piss gets instantly put into the "take a whole shaker full of salt in regards to their beer opinion".

Just sayin'.

In reply to HiTempguy:

You've never seen the size of my lawn!

Al's I'm sayin' is after a couple hours of sweating and grunting I wan't something that is ICE cold and goes down quick sorta like a beer Gatorade. I'll actually have the wife put them in the freezer half an hour before I come in. To each, their own.

benzbaron wrote: Another interesting beer is from New Belgian and called Trippel. It is a basically a high alcohol belgian and is pretty good. A nice high alcohol belgian isn't sweet with too much undigested malt, but also taste of alcohol. It is probably easy to brew a high alcohol beer but doing it without excess residual sugar or "raw" alcohol flavor takes skill.

Trippel (also Tripel or Triple) is actually a style, much like IPA or Pilsener. I am a big fan of good Belgian Dubbels and Trippels. Definitely two of my favorite styles. Getting that high alcohol without being solventy can be tough. I like St Bernardus, Afligem, and Grimbergen. Allagash has a Tripel that I need to try. I know they use it as the base for Currieux, and I love that beer.

Dubbels are funny because, even though they're lighter alcohol (you know, only about 7%), they are also much darker. I like Brother Thelonius, Grimbergen, Afligem, and Brother David.

I'm digging the New Belgium seasonal Hoptober.

It's the stone soup of beer. 5 varieties of hops but still moderate in bitterness. Barley (duh), wheat, rye, oats.

Like I said. Stone soup. Was expecting it to be super bitter or just too chaotic to be good, but was very pleasantly surprised.

I finally said 'fuggit' today's as good a day as any and desperately tried to 'sip' the last hop crisis today. It's the best IPA I've had, including the other imperials. I'm now starting to wonder if the can vs. bottle has something to do with it. Or maybe they just sprankle some crack on it. I feel like I'm chasing the proverbial dragon w/ IPA's. Time to try somthing different. Any suggestions?

Right now, mccormick's vodka, 30 cents/litre tonic, and REAL key lime juice are keeping me happy.

Salanis wrote:

BoxheadTim wrote: Yep, as someone from Southern Germany (hefeweizen is a Bavarian thing, they didn't use to drink that further North), I do like the Widmer one - it's quite good and 'almost' there. Paulaner is a bit so-so compared to some of the other Bavarian ones but most of them seem to be really hard to get over here. If you can, try to get some of the Weihenstephan ones.

Weihenstephan and Ayinger are both excellent but tough to find. Best one I've found produced in the US came from Lightning Brewing in San Diego. It was very faithfully German style. They're too small to have much distributorship though.

I had a look on their website, doesn't look like I'd stand a chance getting it up here.

That said, the SN Kellerweiss is pretty decent, too.

keethrax wrote: I'm digging the New Belgium seasonal Hoptober. It's the stone soup of beer. 5 varieties of hops but still moderate in bitterness. Barley (duh), wheat, rye, oats.

Just finished one. Mixed feelings. My issue is it tasted light-struck / skunked (hop oils react with UV to create skunky flavor). Not as bad as a lot of beers, but tasted slightly off. I don't think I've had a New Belgium brew that wasn't. Getting past that, there was a really nice beer under there. It was like a lighter version of a Belgian IPA.

I'm looking forward to New Belgium and also Sierra Nevada starting to release stuff in cans. I think lots of breweries are moving in that direction now that the can technology is there. Properly done, a can is like a little mini keg. Really keeps the beer fresh with no chance of oxidation or getting light struck.