NT, What Beer Do You Drink?

[wallyhopp]

Jealous of all y'all get to try all these hyped beers. Feels like we get no love down in Texas. Drinking hi res and pranqster tonight.

I hear great things about St. Arnold, Karbach, Jester King, Live Oak, among many others around your way. A few are in Austin, and some in Houston area.. Check out places like Beeradvocate to see whats in and around your area. http://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/good-beer-houston-your-side-of-towns-best-bars.92883/
Texas is a decent state to be in, distrubtion wise. Founders among other greats aren't available just a state to your west.. Many beers carry that "national" hype. But in your own backyard, I'd be honored to drink some of the stuff I'm hearing about going down in Austin/Houston

 

[hurley34]

Very true, I suppose I'm just being greedy & ungrateful haha. We do have some great quality beers, saint Arnold and 8th wonder being my 2 favorite Houston breweries. Supposedly 8th wonder was doing a collab type beer with Bun B called BrewGK. Thought that was a funny bit of info. That being said, I'd be more than happy to exchange some stuff from down here for some stuff from other locales.

 

[yeahitsrust]

Yea, Hurls if you want to get a trade in the works Holla at a Playa. Jester King is one of my favorite brews that are hard for me to trade for... I (maybe people from Texas don't like me) I have a bunch of dudes on NT and beer advocate who can vouch for my trade worthiness.

Ps I have a little. Hopslam left if you're interested.

 

[salazaro44]

Anyone in the oc area check out bottle logics grand opening today? I'm thinking of dropping by around 8 after the gym unless it's extremely packed.

 

[newbs24]

Grab a sixer of Bells Two Hearted Ale... Been a minute since I have had it and it is still good... Such a solid IPA

 

[finallyfamous]

Grab a sixer of Bells Two Hearted Ale... Been a minute since I have had it and it is still good... Such a solid IPA

good choice

 

[Comparison Ford]

 

Grab a sixer of Bells Two Hearted Ale... Been a minute since I have had it and it is still good... Such a solid IPA

good choice

Just cracked one open.  This is officially the new go-to beer.  So glad Bell's is finally available on Long Island.

 

[brendasdeadbaby]

What's the best spot to pick up craft beers in nyc manhattan? Most stores around my way just carry the basic stuff and I end up drinking hoegaarden or dog fish head 60 min ipa cause it's the only one's I could actually finish a 6 pack.

 

[yeahitsrust]

I think CFord is around the city. Unless I'm way off lol. But he seems to know good spots.


Don't ask for his ace distributer. He is in with the sicilian mafia. Just fyi. Serious.

 

[neosole89]

Tonight's pour. Such a smooth IPA.

 

[wallyhopp]

This may have been the hardest blind tasting I have ever done. I don't know if I proved anything or accomplished anything other than getting buzzed lol...

Back story. Friday, I head out to get some growlers filled for the holiday weekend ahead. I stop at La Cumbre first. I share a pint of their cask beer, a red ryeot dry hopped with cascade.. Cask beer is really quite unique. The hoppiness is unforgiving, unmasked by the room temperature serving and lack of forced carbonation. It really makes for a mellow smooth large mouthfeel in the beer. Every Friday they have a cask of something hopped or aged with something

Couldn't leave without trying their latest Project Dank on draft.. This may be the best beer I have ever had. Wonderful blend of mango/grapefruits with some dank piney hops. It blends so well

I ended up with two freshly bottled bottles of Dank (2/14/14). They still had bubbles on the surface from the bottling line. F.A.F. Along with dank, I got two growlers. We ended up having lunch at another brewery (Il Vicino) and dinner at a newly opened 3rd location of another brewery (Tractor). None of those places were touching the hopped perfection of dank, so I went with some stouts at both places.. The chocolate malt can be very forgiving to brewers. I've said it before but I have yet to have a bad stout at the majority of breweries I go to

So here comes the tasting. I had it in my mind to try and do a blind side by side with two bottled dates of Dank, and a canned vs. draft Elevated Ipa

More photos and ramblings in spoiler

Spoiler

I initially did this blindly as I knew Dank was a touch lighter in color. It kind of shows up in the photos. I also didn't want to be phased by any cloudiness. I've had Elevated cans where they were very cloudly, and other times, like the tasting I did yesterday, the canned variety showed the most carbonation and clarity among the 4 beers.. It seemed like the draft version was the cloudiest, and lacked the most carbonation..

The Dank on the far left is the latest 2-14-14 (gold cap), while the other one is a 1-31-14 bottled date. The older 1-31-14 was quite a bit clearer than the fresh one.

As far as taste, I completely failed trying to guess what was what. The dank 2/14/14 which I had on draft the day prior was my guess for what was actually the canned elevated. I'm no judge, and never could do it, because after just a few sips, they all started tasting very similar.

After messing up my guesses, I drank them all knowing what I was having..

1-31-14 dank vs. 2-14-14 dank:
- 2-14 had a touch more tropical aroma and sweetness. I really had to seek it out though. That slight difference does attribute to a different taste, however small the difference . 2/14 had a near 'onion' like dankness to it, while 1-31 stayed closer to elevated. The onion quality wasn't too apparent since the tropical aroma kind of equalized its presence.

- I felt the 1-31 dank tasted the closest to elevated in a stand alone 'tasting' based off of tasting them separately last week.. Tasting them together yesterday, the same was true. 1-31 was a bit less of a tropical fruit hop bomb than the latest, which had the best smell of them all

My canned 1-18-14 elevated stood up very well against the other giants. I've had elevated cans where they are a touch less carbonation, and even cloudy. I've had draft where it was clear as day and carbonated very well. With them fluctuating batch by batch, I can't say that draft is the way to go 100% of the time.

What I've learned:
These all tasted nearly identical about halfway through.... as they should. They are basically the same recipe/beer, save for a few small differences in hops. I have a 2-14 bomber left that I'll likely do a stand alone sampling to see if I like it. I'll do the same with the canned and growler draft separately

Dank vs. Elevated:. All along I felt dank was a touch sweeter (fuller bodied) with a more aromatic hop presence, leading to a touch more enjoyable experience. What I've found is that the difference may be smaller than I think when they are side by side... Alone, dank seemed to be superior.. Reviews online have seen a small decline. I'm guessing they are drinking batch #3. With each new batch, reviews may be all over the place without the person knowing what is being reviewed. It's all being thrown under a big umbrella "project dank".

Cost analysis: Of the regulars drinking at the brewpub, it seemed like more than 80% were drinking elevated. I was the only guy with a baby pint of 'dank'. Dank in my opinion can be slightly better than elevated, but it costs about three times as much as elevated.. Is it three times better? I think it's tough to say. Over time, Dank will have its good batches, and GREAT batches, which may tip the scale. The way they hop the dank, it makes a great beer even better. But there's a catch. The cost can be killer. If you can afford it, I guess go with dank. But there is absolutely nothing wrong with elevated either.

I feel it's probably not worth it. But I find myself buying so much of it. I have regrets initially knowing I could have elevated out of my %($ by now. But I'm memorized and then saddened when that bomber is empty within two glasses. First world problems.

yeahitsRUST, i dont think i'll be doing any growler fills to send. Canned elevated is pretty awesome

Bottom line: I drank a crap load of beer and accomplished nothing out of it. These are all elite level beers. If one sat around a 97/100, the other is within a 0.5 or 1. It was nearly too close to call. But I gotta stick with whats easily accessible and cheaper. Canned elevated takes the win here.

And that's how you ramble.... Some stand alone reviews coming up later today or tomorrow

 

[john23friend85]

Anything Irish and the darker, the better.

 

[Final Bosa]

Sunday afternoon pour... Instant favorite.

 

[TipsyMcStagga]

Golden Monkey is probably my favorite beer at the moment...

 

[peniskowski]

Blue moon heavy lately. Tried Sam Adams cold snap yesterday tasted similar to blue moon.

 

[kickhead23]

Blue moon heavy lately. Tried Sam Adams cold snap yesterday tasted similar to blue moon.

Is that Ford's Garage?

 

[peniskowski]

Is that Ford's Garage?

Yes sir. Went there for a few beers for my bday with the pops. A little expensive in the food area but I enjoy it every time I go. Took a pic of the sinks in there too last time I was there

 

[Comparison Ford]

What's the best spot to pick up craft beers in nyc manhattan? Most stores around my way just carry the basic stuff and I end up drinking hoegaarden or dog fish head 60 min ipa cause it's the only one's I could actually finish a 6 pack.

 

[kickhead23]

Yes sir. Went there for a few beers for my bday with the pops. A little expensive in the food area but I enjoy it every time I go. Took a pic of the sinks in there too last time I was there

Yea I'm not a big fan. Ambiance is great but everyone there thinks their **** don't stink and the prices are way inflated. Funny to see another on here from the Cape though, cheers.

 

[kickhead23]

Currently sipping on this. What an amazing supeise as it is my first Barleywine. Gets better with every sip.

 

[Comparison Ford]

Currently sipping on this. What an amazing supeise as it is my first Barleywine. Gets better with every sip.

Incredible beer.  I have three left that I refuse to drink before finding out if they're gonna be making more next year.

 

[fade on you]

Dinner and the Jai Alai were both excellent.

 

[dubzeroes]

They have this local beer here in VA called Devil's Backbone.. the Vienna lager is dope. I'll post pictures next time I get a pack.

 

[pianoman52]

anybody get to try this year's Pliny The Younger?

 

[Final Bosa]

I waited 6 hours on Friday in Santa Rosa for the younger. Great Valentine's day for my girl and I, and the younger is awesome. Sorry I cannot elaborate more since I did not have the batch last year. But to me, it isn't six hours awesome. If I do plan on going again next year it will be on a Monday/ Tuesday . I am just glad I brought home some bottles of elder and blind pig.