Beer Time

Ctowner said:
Has anyone heard of Pink Elephant Beer? So good....from New Zealand. Definitely very strong (You have been warned) but delicious. I have had the Strong Pale Ale (at least that I think it was a Pale Ale). they pour at this pub down the street from me. Worth trying if you can find it! Happy Drinking
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Welcome aboard. Never heard of Pink Elephant Brewery, but I've heard their beers are tasty, but hard to get ahold of. Maybe someday some will come my way.
 
Just picked up a 12'er of SN Pale Ale for $10 -- think I found a new spot to purchase more popular selections at the right price.:xyxthumbs
 
Bought a Leinenkugel's Adventure Pack at the local Sam's Club today. I drink this brew whenever I'm up in North Dakota visiting family. I've had the Red and Honey Weiss before, but never had the Creamy Dark or Sunset Wheat. Creamy Dark was very good, but the Sunset Wheat is on the list of the worst beers to ever touch my mouth. Smells like cheap perfume and tastes even worse. Ughh. It hit the drain pretty quickly. Anyway, I'll be drinking the others and some Jack's Pumpkin Spice Ale as I watch my turkey fry tomorrow!
 
Didn't get around to posting until now, but had some great beers on Thanksgiving day... Had some friends visiting from out of town, and I stocked up on a variety of things I don't usually treat myself to...



Rogue Santa's Private Reserve - Pretty good winter ale, it's a double-hopped version of their St. Rogue Red.

Stone Ruination IPA - Very nice, flavorful IPA. Full of hops, with a slightly floral taste. Stone makes some of my favorite beers, they're all big in hops, and big in alcohol (7.7% for this one)

Stone Double ******* - Great beer with lots of hops and lots of malt, very balanced flavor. Clocks in at 10%... need to take it easy with this one.

Avery Brewing Co's "The Reverend" - A big belgian quadrupel ale. I'm not usually a big fan of belgian's, but this one was nice, not too much spice, just enough for some good flavor.

Great Divide Oak Aged Yeti Imperial Stout - Fantastic beer... pricey but worth it. Very smooth, full flavor... just a great beer. Probably my favorite of the day (that or the Double *******)



After those were gone, we had some of my old favorites, Deschutes Jubelale and Stone IPA, to wind things down... it was a great Thanksgiving!
 
jaobrien6 said:
Didn't get around to posting until now, but had some great beers on Thanksgiving day... Had some friends visiting from out of town, and I stocked up on a variety of things I don't usually treat myself to...



Rogue Santa's Private Reserve - Pretty good winter ale, it's a double-hopped version of their St. Rogue Red.

Stone Ruination IPA - Very nice, flavorful IPA. Full of hops, with a slightly floral taste. Stone makes some of my favorite beers, they're all big in hops, and big in alcohol (7.7% for this one)

Stone Double ******* - Great beer with lots of hops and lots of malt, very balanced flavor. Clocks in at 10%... need to take it easy with this one.

Avery Brewing Co's "The Reverend" - A big belgian quadrupel ale. I'm not usually a big fan of belgian's, but this one was nice, not too much spice, just enough for some good flavor.

Great Divide Oak Aged Yeti Imperial Stout - Fantastic beer... pricey but worth it. Very smooth, full flavor... just a great beer. Probably my favorite of the day (that or the Double *******)



After those were gone, we had some of my old favorites, Deschutes Jubelale and Stone IPA, to wind things down... it was a great Thanksgiving!
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Sounds like you had a great day, LOL I've had all those, and yes, all are great craft brew's. I do have some Jubelale, but still sitting on it. I have been doing alot of trading, so it will be on the back burner for awhile, then maybe not, lol
 
Today an absolutely delicious brew, Urthel Samaranth (Quadrupel) if you can get your hands on some do it, you won't be sorry.
 
John Styrnol said:
Today an absolutely delicious brew, Urthel Samaranth (Quadrupel) if you can get your hands on some do it, you won't be sorry.
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Haven't even seen that one... I might have to head over to a store I know that has a better selection of less common brews. You've made a couple recommendations that i've been keeping an eye out for, and haven't spotted yet.
 
I traveled to Belgium in '05. First off, I was able to do some lateral tasting of Chimay at the Kulminator (a bar that has a beer menu the size of a phone book!!)…a bottle from 1973, 1983 and 1993. WOW! The '73 was presented to our table, still covered with 30+ years of dust. The '73 had some earthy, mushroomy undertones. VERY interesting!! The '83 was superb, with earthy, organic matter notes, but still with that chimay zip. Tasting the 3 back to back was worth the vacation by it self.



But..



There are Trappist beers (Westmalle, Westverlatten are some of the better ones IMO) that run about $6 - $10 for an 11.2 oz bottle here in the states IF you can even find them. I was able to try all the Westmalles at ~ 99 euro cents each!! That’s about $1.30USD. The most expensive Westverlaten was 5 euro, but it was the ultra-rare '12' - actually not legal to sell, even in Belgium. Impossible to buy here in the states unless you know someone who does beer acquisitions.



I visited a few breweries also (Chimay, Straffe Hendrick and Cantillion). While in Brugge, I met a local (Lander) who introduced me the the head brewer/owner(?) of Cantillon who was visiting him at the time. He even had a few bottles of some 'private reserve' he brought down from Brussels with him. He was kind enough to share them with us. These were very special beers (lambics actually), one of them 20 years old. The normal sour/tartness of the style was quite tame in comparison to young lambics, but the Brettamyces bacteria did some mind blowing things to it. I still struggle to descibe the taste correctly, but a wooden, wool/spice/wet tobacco (but in a good way)…..I don’t know….so hard to put my finger on the flavor. Special does not even begin to descibe the experience.



Cantillon brewer (I was unable to remember his name) let me take a streak (microbiology term) of the yeast on an agar plate, and when I got home I was able to isolate a single yeat colony and use THAT to inoculate my own lambic which I made when I got home. Not only that, but I brought back a few bottles each from Westmalle and Westverlatten back to the states with me, and was also able to culture some of the yeast from the Westmalle…..for some reason, I got no colonies from the Westverlatten. My guess is the high alcohol content (11.8%) mutated the yeast and killed them off after bottle carbonation.
 
John Styrnol said:
Tonight a Samuel Smith's IPA in a brown bottle, not like a American IPA, but tasty.
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I tried a Belgian (!?) IPA (tripel!!:shocked ) for the first time last weekend. Chouffes Houblon Dobbelen IPA Tripel. A golden, cloudy beir, that had a head you could rest your head on! No joke, by the end of the glass it looked like a round chunk of swiss cheese. Not too hoppy when compared to some of the brews stateside, but after 2 sips the hop profile came to the surface.
 
Heathenbrewing,



Welcome aboard. Nice stories. A friend sent me a bottle of Westy 12 last January I believe, for free, was the best beer I've had to date, well at least for a Trappiste Beligian Strong Dark Ale. I've had the Rocheforte's, Westmalle's as well, all very very tasty. Let's not forget the St. Bernardus Abt 12, 8, 6 awesome brew's. I've had the Pirrat Tripel IPA, not that bad, big punch in abv though, little bit too spicy. Please share your brew's of choice whenever you get a chance.
 
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