The Beer Thread: 2009 – 2012

[Hammer]

Picked up a random 6-pack from Festival on Saturday. Sam Adams Creme Stout, Sam Ads Cherry, St. Pauli Girl, "Hopped up n. Horny", Flaming Damsel and Fat Tire. Liked them all except for the Creme Stout. Drank that after the Cherry and the Flaming Damsel...it was definitely the "thickest" beer of the bunch. Seemed like I needed to chew it...

[Funketown]

I was down in the Raleigh area last weekend and I must say they've got a pretty good beer scene down there. Found a great bottle shop in Durham that had just about anything imaginable available as a single. Unfortunately, I could only grab a sixer because I didn't bring any checked bags and couldn't bring any beer home! Anyways, I was really impressed with two beers: Highland Little Hump and Mother Earth Endless River Kolsch. Highland Little Hump is one of those new ultralight pale ales, weighing in at 4.5% and probably around 25 IBU's. I've really enjoyed some of those ultralights. Endless River Kolsch is a Kolsch, a style I don't know too much about. Anyways, it made me think of kind of a fruitier hybrid of a good pilsner and a helles; moderate hop flavor profile with a touch of malty sweetness.

[Funketown]

I just had Two Women last night, and I was very impressed. It's a different breed of Pilsner than I'm used to; it pours a light to medium copper with lots of malt character and moderate bitterness, but it has a nice biscuity quality and some grassy hop flavors. I'm still disappointed I'll never get to try the old Two Women, but this one is a very good example of a style that isn't often made well by American craft brewers.

 

Also I had Imperial Weizen last night. It has a huge bubblegum nose and a bit more balancing tartness on the finish than I remember from two years ago. All I can say is, my list of favorite wheat beers is now:

 

1) Imperial Weizen, 2) Aventinus, 3) Dancing Man, 4) Weihenstephaner, 5) Gumballhead with honorable mentions to Crack'd Wheat and Black Wheat from NG.

 

When it comes to wheats, fruit beers, and pilsners, I'd put up NG against anybody in the world.

[GAME05]

I was down in the Raleigh area last weekend and I must say they've got a pretty good beer scene down there.

i spent the last six years in Winston-Salem/Greensboro (near Raleigh). Highland brewery is in Asheville and is the best (obviously my opinion, but i'm right) brewery in North Carolina. Another good one mostly only in the Asheville area is Pisgah Brewery. a friend of mine used to be the assistant brewmaster there, and it was always fun to go beer-snobbing with him. Pisgah's beer used to be garbage, but they've done a 180 in the past year.

 

if anyone is ever in the Winston-Salem area, PM me for the scoop on the best beer and bars there.

[TooLiveBrew]

I just had Two Women last night, and I was very impressed. It's a different breed of Pilsner than I'm used to; it pours a light to medium copper with lots of malt character and moderate bitterness, but it has a nice biscuity quality and some grassy hop flavors. I'm still disappointed I'll never get to try the old Two Women, but this one is a very good example of a style that isn't often made well by American craft brewers.

 

I really liked Two Women as well. I didn't realize there was a new v. old version, but what I had (new) was quite good.

[logan82]

Two Women was a brewery only beer last year. I haven't tried it since it was a normal release but apparently the commercial release version now out is different.

[Funketown]

i spent the last six years in Winston-Salem/Greensboro (near Raleigh). Highland brewery is in Asheville and is the best (obviously my opinion, but i'm right) brewery in North Carolina. Another good one mostly only in the Asheville area is Pisgah Brewery. a friend of mine used to be the assistant brewmaster there, and it was always fun to go beer-snobbing with him. Pisgah's beer used to be garbage, but they've done a 180 in the past year.

 

if anyone is ever in the Winston-Salem area, PM me for the scoop on the best beer and bars there.

My wife and I actually are moving to Chapel Hill in June, so I imagine we'll (I'll) become familiar with the beer scene down there pretty quickly. We're actually heading down this weekend to check out apartments, so I'll have to pick up some Pisgah. Game, do you know if Foothills distributes bottles in the Raleigh area, or is it pretty much just available on tap? I've heard really good things about Foothills, so I'm hoping to try some. I must say that I was thoroughly impressed with the quality of the beer scene in NC; Sam's Quik Stop in Durham is one heck of a bottle shop!

[GAME05]

i think you'll like Raleigh. it has a lot of Yankees there ("Yankees" are from New England; "Northerners" are just from up north), and so there isn't as strong of a culture shock there.

 

Highland is available in bottles, but you may have to hit a larger beer store to find any Pisgah. i've only been to one pub in Raleigh, but it was a beautiful place to sit in the daytime. i'll get the name of it for you before you leave.

 

you'll find Red Oak on tap down there a lot (though not in bottles). it's a red ale sold as a cheap beer there, so it's not the light pilsner you might want for a summer afternoon, but for the money, it's an excellent beer. not an award-winner, but the best low-budget beer in North Carolina.

 

Natty Green's is a brewpub in Raleigh and Greensboro that you'll also find on tap there. their Buckshot Amber is probably the most popular and is so-so. i always got their Southern Pale Ale for a good, lighter beer. and their Old Town Brown is very good. their Wildflower is popular for whatever reason, but is only good if you like a mildly hoppy beer with a cup of sugar in it--i couldn't even finish my first one.

 

Foothills is a brewpub out of Winston-Salem, so i know that place well. their Double IPA is by far their best beer and it's excellent--you'll love it. their pilsner is ok (but not lighter and sweeter like you'd expect). otherwise, the rest of their offerings are absolute garbage, and i can't emphasize that enough. apart from that IPA, every other beer they make somehow tastes the same. they're all just one-note beers with a poor aftertaste. and that one note is a vague bitterness that sits terribly since it doesn't have any higher notes to balance the flavour out. Foothills offers a sampler of all their beers, so you'll see what i mean. i could probably rant a while about that place.

 

not beer-related, but an area west of Winston-Salem compares seasonally to Napa Valley, so the wine coming out of North Carolina is superior to their beer. there's a lot of beautiful restaurants in that area and some good wine tasting tours if you two like that sorta thing.

[TooLiveBrew]

This morning on the Larry Meiller show:

Larry Meiller talks, and

tastes, craft beer starting at eleven. His guests are organizers of

Madison Craft Beer Week, April 29 - May 8, and are involved in craft

brewing themselves.

 

Guests:

- Dan Dettmers, process design engineer for Gorst Valley Hops in the town of Berry, near Mazomanie.

- Bill Rogers, a veteran home brewer and active member of the Madison

Homebrewers and Tasters Guild. He owns The Malt House in Madison.

11am

[Funketown]

Thanks for the heads up on all that stuff, Game. Yeah, I mainly heard good things on the interwebs about Sexual Chocolate and their IIPA. I'm sure I'll try pretty much their entire line up during my time in NC.

 

Expo stout for me tonight while I watch the NHL playoffs and listen to the Crew.

[BrewCrewForever]

I was in the Dells with my wife and some friends earlier this week. Went to Moose Jaw Pizza and Brewery. Tried their 10 beer sampler. Some really good stuff, my favorites were their IPA, Amber and Honey. If you are ever in the Dells I would recommend stopping in there. The food was also great, had maybe the best meatball sandwich I ever had.

[logan82]

I thought Moosejaw was ok. I haven't' been there in a while but here are my thoughts at the time. I would rather go to The Great Dane, The Vintage or the Grumpy Troll. All really good brewpubs in the Madison area.

 

Another vote for the mass produced Two Women not being as good as the R&D. Still a pretty good beer. Kind of fruity.

[Hammer]

I was in the Dells with my wife and some friends earlier this week. Went to Moose Jaw Pizza and Brewery. Tried their 10 beer sampler. Some really good stuff, my favorites were their IPA, Amber and Honey. If you are ever in the Dells I would recommend stopping in there. The food was also great, had maybe the best meatball sandwich I ever had.

100% agree!! I loved their "10 pointer"! We had the beer sampler, pizza and of course...beer bread. Great food and even better beers!

[Funketown]

Found a couple Goose Island Harvest Ales in the back of my fridge, bottled about seven months ago but still holding up surprisingly well. Not sure what hoppage they use (they say Cascade) but it actually fades into a mild peppery flavor that's pleasant.

[logan82]

If it is in the fridge beer will keep pretty well except for hop flavor which starts to fade immediately. Hoppy beer should be drunk younger than other types if you want a strong hop flavor.

[Funketown]

^ Dogfish 90 Minute is a great example of a beer that goes south really quickly. I let one sit too long in my fridge once (like >3 months) and it was pretty much just an astringent mess.

[GAME05]

Funketown, just got the note from my friend. the really good brewpub that i went to is Boylan Bridge--we sat outside and played chess, and it has a great view of the city. the good beers he recommended are Big Bass, Aviator and Lone Rider.

[chuckcrim]

I'm interested in getting into home brewing, but I've never done it before. Is there a beginner kit that anyone could recommend?

[Beerambassador]

If you're in the Milwaukee area just go to Northern Brewer. Otherwise, just about any home brewing store has a beginners kit. It's a great hobby. I really enjoy it.

[Funketown]

Funketown, just got the note from my friend. the really good brewpub that i went to is Boylan Bridge--we sat outside and played chess, and it has a great view of the city. the good beers he recommended are Big Bass, Aviator and Lone Rider.

I'll have to check that out some time. It's about 40 minutes from our apartment (we're living in Carrboro), but probably a great place to stop before a Hurricanes game.

[logan82]

I'm interested in getting into home brewing, but I've never done it before. Is there a beginner kit that anyone could recommend?

I just started last August. I still only extract brew. Actually just got done brewing a dubbel and bottling a dunkel weisse today. I went with this kit from Midwest. Northern Brewer is good too. I would recommend starting with an ale in the 1.030-1.050 OG range. Pick something you like. Dry yeast gets good results for most beers(where the yeast doesn't drive the flavor in the style, for example pale ales) and is simpler to use than liquid. Not to mention less expensive. I honestly use mostly dry.

 

Get a good no rinse sanitizer like Star San or Idophor. I use Star San in a spray bottle mixed with distilled water. We are still on our first 8oz bottle of Star San after 16 batches.

 

You can read more about homebrewing here. It is a little outdated and makes things sound a lot harder than it really is but still has a lot of good free information. Homebrewtalk.com is a really good website for information as well. If you want to know about something google it and type homebrewtalk after what you are searching for. You will usually get 4+ threads on your topic.

 

Sorry, I didn't intend to write up that much information when I started my response.

[sgtcluels]

Read Palmers 'How to brew' book. It'll tell you all you need to know. There's a digital copy available, but it's a bit dated, but will get you up to all grain easily.

[Ando Calrissian]

I'll be visiting Seattle in July. I'd love to arrive with a "you've GOT to try this!" beer list in hand. I'd love to hear your suggestions.

[TooLiveBrew]

Paging Edgar Diaz Rocks... paging Edgar Diaz Rocks...

 

Seriously, though, I'll send him a PM. He'd be pissed if he didn't get to answer this!

[Ando Calrissian]

Thanks, TLB.

Actually, I need your input also as I'm going to be able to fit Portland into the trip.

So. Let's hear it!