The Beer Thread • Page 53

Haven't had any of their stouts or porters, but Trillium is God-tier

 

I also wonder: what are all those hot breweries non-IPA offerings? They any good? The IPA's always sound inventive (especially a place like Tired Hands) but are they as out of the box with other styles, too?

 

Hill Farmstead - Everything they make is flawless. I'd say they're much more known for the saisons/sours than their IPAs though.

Tired Hands - My favorite brewery. It's amazing how consistently good their beer is for how much experimentation they do. Everything they make is on par in my mind. The IPAs might be more known, especially since they've started canning, but their saisons/sours have always been fantastic and their coffee stouts are criminally underrated. And yes, all their stuff is equally as weird as their IPAs.

Tree House - I think the only non-hoppy offering I've had from them is That's What She Said, which is really nice. They make the IPAs much more often, but Double/Triple Shot and Good Morning are probably the most hyped beers they do.

Trillium - Once again, only had a couple non-hoppy things from them, but they've all been really good.

 

TH's saisons are usually very inventive as well. They had a cola porter that tasted like flat Coke which was not very good. Their smoked marshmallow porter was one of the best of the style that I've ever had.

 

I had a saison and red ale from Trillium that were both solid. The red ale was unbelievably drinkable.

And most of Night Shift's non-IPAs are amazing; Awake is incredible and I had a sour there a few months ago that was unbelievable.

 

Finally got over to The Veil last night. Beers were pretty good. Excited to see where this place goes.

 

Drinking some New Belgium Heavy Melon right now. It's some good grilling/picnic beer.

 

Lagunitas Waldo's ale is killer. So good. Also, it's great to be healthy enough to finally get through my backstock of beer in the fridge. Cracked into a Hop Forest from Bent Paddle and also had a Zombie Dust from 3/31 bottling. I got it on 4/2 but held off until now because I basically got sick immediately after getting it. I think it's a fantastic beer, but not as much of a whale as people treat it.

 

one of my favorite spring/summer beers, Bell's Oberon

 

they also had lemmynade when I visited which was delicious. one of the most enjoyable sours I've had.

 

Opened a Bright from Tree House last night and was not impressed. I've generally enjoyed their other hoppy offerings, but this one definitely wasn't up to par.

 

Chillwave Season!!!
Managed to grab a few Lagunitas Waldos as well

 

Just logged into a dormant untappd account and gonna try to keep it active. Ponyboy22 if anyone wants to add

 

Had a great beer day yesterday in Connecticut. Finally made it down to New England Brewing which I've been hoping to for about two years now. Had G-Bot DIPA, a citra/mosaic pale which was awesome, and their coffee oatmeal stout Coup Beans which was very good. Took home growlers of the second two. Later on found Double Fuzzy Baby Ducks on tap in New Haven and cans of G-Bot and Sea Hag across the street. BFD was good but I preferred the citra/mosaic single from earlier.

The other night my friends and I split a Trillium Scaled Way Up which was awesome. Absolutely blew their last special release (Dialed In) out of the water.

Super glad you got to try some Trillium and made it to Night Shift. The former has a good argument for best/second best IPAs in New England and the latter is among the coolest spots in boston. Hope you had Awake while there.

 

Went to HopCat last night before a concert in Grand Rapids. Really great place. Not sure it it's the best beer bar I've been to, but I would happily spend too much money there.

 

The one in GR is by far the best. The others have wayyy too many taps and it lets a lot of the less desireable beers stagnate/distributors are shying away from giving hopcat special releases because they're not moving the other products fast enough. Crack fries are out of this world though. Love those.

 

Yeah, even with the number of taps they have at the GR one it was kind of overwhelming. I prefer a smaller tap list with more regular rotations. The Kalamazoo Beer Exchange is still the gold standard for beer bars that I've been to. But I enjoyed what I drank, and yes, the crack fries were ridiculously great.

 

Agreed. Having grown up in Portage/Kalamazoo, I spent the large portion of like four years drinking away nights at KBE. Also, my friend is the sous chef there. There's a Hopcat going in Kalamazoo and should be finished and opened by 2017. It's on those train tracks behind Food Dance. I found that interesting. Also, a KBE is coming to Lansing (which I'm stoked for) in the next year or so.

And for the Chicago folks, I've heard Hopcat is looking to open a couple of Chicago locations in the future, as well.

 

Picked up the Heavy Seas IPA sampler. Excited to try their Black IPA. I don't see too many of them. Uinta's Dubhe Black IPA is my favorite.

 

21st Amendment Back in Black is great.

 

Yeah, I think my roommate and I went to the Beer Exchange like every night for a week once, just because it was the middle of the winter and there was nothing else to look forward to, ha. Could drink so much good beer there for such a small amount of money. It was the ultimate college bar. I went back when I was in town for a concert recently, and it was still awesome--albeit, a little more expensive. The food there is great too, though. Their bar chips were a favorite of mine.

 

Out in St. Pete tonight to see Big D and the Kids Table, so we came early to hit some St. Pete breweries. Cycle maintains its position as my favorite, but St. Pete Brewing Company was fantastic, and Hofbrauahaus is always a good time. I think I've found my new concert trifecta.

 

At Russian River for the second night in a row

 

Nice. I spent 3-5 nights a week with various friends at KBE for a number of years. It was my go-to bar because it was low-key, good food and very good beer.

 

Had my 30th birthday tonight and was given: a 2014 Dark Lord, a 11, 12, 13 Firestone Walker Anniversary ale, a 2014 Backwoods Bastard, and a couple other beers that aren't amazing but solid. Great birthday night.