The BEER thread.

I love this one. I always want to boil it down and thicken it then pour it over ice cream. Usually I drink it instead though.

 

Southern Tier is up there with Founder's and Belle's in that I don't they make a bad beer. At least none that I've tried. You really need to try Southern Tier's Pumpking, it's outstanding. I"m not a huge fan of the pumpkin beers, but theirs is the best I've tried with Dogfish Head's Punkin coming in a reasonably close second.

 

I almost got some Pumpking last time I was there. I don't particularly care for the pumpkins usually, but my local place puts together a sampler of pumpkins and Oktoborfests, and the Pumpking is in there. I'll get some when it starts getting colder.[/quote]

I was just thinking last night about it being time for the onslaught of pumpkin beers. Five years ago, there were like two on the market (Buffalo Bills is the first I remember seeing, yuck). Last year there were more than I could count. We had fun at Thanksgiving doing a taste test of about ten of them like you would a wine tasting. End result... most were crap but there were a couple hidden gems. I'll have to go to the local beer and wine shop soon and see if I can job my memory on the details of the good ones.

 

Stopped by the store and picked up a couple of things for the weekend.

Dogfish Head- Miles Davis' Bitches Brew(Imperial Stout)
Mikkeller - Beer Geek Breakfast(coffee imperial stout)
Stone- Oaked Arrogant Bastard Ale

 

I have to pick up some Bitches Brew. Oaked Arrogant Bastard... yum!

 

The liquor store I go to has beer tasting every Friday. Stopped by tonight and they had a few Stone beers open... picked up a bottle of Oat and it is damn good.

Also grabbed a bottle of Bitches Brew.

 

You need to get your hands on a bottle of their Kentucky Breakfast Stout when it comes out in March. A great stout aged in bourbon barrels, oh yeah!

 

Yup. Every Friday they crack open 3 different beers and offer tastings from 5-7. If you buy a beer that they are tasting they give you a 25% discount.

Sometimes they have all beers from one brewery and sometimes they'll have 3 similar beers from different breweries so you can compare them.

They also let you taste just about any wine you want any day of the week. They usually have 5-6 bottles open all the time and will grab one off of the shelf if you're interested.

I'm trying to get them to do a tequila tasting because they have few really great ones in the store. My favorite is Don Julio Real ($200+) with Don Julio 1942 ($100) a close second.

 

That sounds amazing. Beer for brunch? Yes, please!

I'm going to hit the store this weekend for some autumnal selections. With the cooler weather, I've already given up the white wine and moved to red, and it's time to do the same with the hefes and wheat beers. Will try to remember to document my findings.

 

Their Kentucky Breakfast Stout comes out in March and sells out FAST. Here in Georgia it is gone in a couple of days at best. The other one to keep an eye out for is their Holy Grail of stouts, Canadian Breakfast Stout. CBS is a coffee stout aged in maple syrup barrels and bourbon barrels. I want to say CBS is released in October, but I'm not positive and it's a truly limited release. The only reason why I got a bottle last year was my favorite local store held one of their 4 bottles(yes bottles) for me. Around here CBS is literally sold out in minutes.

 

Just had a couple Sam Adams Oktoberfests with dinner over the weekend.
Doesn`t compare with the stout`s recentley discussed here, but I see why people like it.
Pretty tasty for a non-dark beer, I really did enjoy the flavor, and I`m usually more into the darker, stronger beers.

 

After reading all this, I had to stop by and grab something to tide me over until I can get to the real store this weekend. I was delighted to see one of the better pumpkin selections from our tasting last fall, Starr Hill Boxcar Pumpkin Porter. It's smooth, creamy and carmelly with a little bitter bite at the end from the spices. Not n overwhelmingly heavy pumpkin or sweet taste, more of a pumpkin aroma when you stick your nose in the glass. I liked it partially because it was the only darker pumpkin beer I have seen. It's a local brewery who has put out a lot of good beers over the years (they sadly discontinued my summer favorite after last summer though, boo!).