"Craft" beer recommendation

[Tyrone Biggums]

Peticolas was good. Had a Great Scot, Wintervention, a new stout they just came out with and I forget the name, and a Velvet Hammer. They were all great. It was packed. They only had two serving lines and they were at least 25 deep at all times. They need to extend their tour hours, though. They're only open 1-3 and shut the tap lines down at 245. Not enough time and you spend most of that in line.

[BP]

We had a keg of Moa Hoppit this weekend, which was pretty good but more interesting was the keg itself. It was plastic and cardboard yet made it here from New Zealand unscathed. It's a double IPA but tasted like it had Belgian yeast. Moa is moving in to Texas markets big time, you'll see more of them.

Ohh, my wife bought a bottle of Avery's Rumpkin and yeah it's pretty darn awesome. 18.53% abv, it was freakin expensive but it was the only beer she needed. I also had their Out of Bounds Stout, which of course was good but nothing to write home about. The Samaels of course was as delicious as ever. Interesting that they are calling it a strong ale now instead of a barley wine. It's 14.9%.

[TeeShock]

Schmaltz Brewing - He'Brew Jewbelation "Reborn"
17 Malts 17 Hops 17%abv

Im not really a big fan of beers over 10%, but this smoothie was an exception.

As sad as it seems I think I'm going to give beer a break. Something in my diet is causing me skin problems and I noticed it when I started getting into micros in 2012. See y'all in the whiskey thread.

[GrayStangGT]

Assortment I picked up while I was in DFW, only one I've had before is the Chimay

[dsrtuckteezy]

Assortment I picked up while I was in DFW, only one I've had before is the Chimay

the hop rod from bear republic is good. havent had the yeti yet, but ive had their titan ipa which was good.

what's so special about chimay? i hear about it a lot

i went to bj's brewhouse last night and had a tatonka stout, hopstorm ipa, and something else i cant remember. good beers

[GrayStangGT]

what's so special about chimay? i hear about it a lot

Just a damn good 10% beer that is fairly easy to find

[BP]

Just a damn good 10% beer that is fairly easy to find

It's a real trappist beer, meaning it's actually brewed by monks in a monastery. They also have some pretty good distribution and great marketing. There are lots of Belgian beers, many of which are made by monks or made exactly the same way as the monks. Those are called abbey beers and are usually brewed under a licensing agreement from a monastery but not actually in one. Maredsous is probably the most popular one of these.

In my opinion though they all pale in comparison to the offerings from St. Bernardus. In the beer snob world St. Sixtus is probably the most highly regarded beer you can get but it's extremely rare. Just as an example check out their requirements to purchase it:

http://www.sintsixtus.be/eng/brouwerij.htm

The St. Bernardus line is made exactly the same way, from the same ingredients and from the same sources. However it's not made in a monastery so they can't call it a trappist beer. It is PHENOMENAL and costs the same as Chimay.

Also note that lots of breweries make Belgian style beers. Basically it means they use Belgian yeast strains, which give the beer that weird banana flavor and typically a higher ABV. Blue Moon for example is a Belgian Wit, Avery's Reverend and St. Arnolds Divine Reserve 13 are Belgian quads, most of Ommegang's beers are some sort of Belgian style.

[GrayStangGT]

I'll have to give the St. Bernardus a try if I come across it. The Maredsous 8 is another one of my favorites.

[Tyrone Biggums]

Today's Total Wine deal is Lakewood Temptress 4-packs for $7.99. Their regular price is $9.99 and most others retail it for $10.99-$12.99.

This is a great deal. The closest I've come to it is by building my own sixer at the local Kroger. They do byo for $8.99. I grabbed four Temptress and two Iron Thistles. Not bad for nine bucks.

[BP]

Today's Total Wine deal is Lakewood Temptress 4-packs for $7.99. Their regular price is $9.99 and most others retail it for $10.99-$12.99.

This is a great deal. The closest I've come to it is by building my own sixer at the local Kroger. They do byo for $8.99. I grabbed four Temptress and two Iron Thistles. Not bad for nine bucks.

Rodeo Goat had a nitro version of the Temptress this weekend. I stuck with the Velvet Hammer though.

[lowthreeohz]

Picked up a red hook sampler, no complaints. Nothing worth writing home about, but all very drinkable

[Tyrone Biggums]

Rodeo Goat had a nitro version of the Temptress this weekend. I stuck with the Velvet Hammer though.

I've had nitro Temptress at the brewery and it's good, but I think the base product is so good that, for me, nitro doesn't do much more for it.

[BP]

I forget we went to the Saucer Friday. Had the Ballast Point Fathom, which they call an Imperial Pale Lager. It's like a backwards IPA, it has all of the hop flavors up front but without the bitterness. Really weird but it won gold at the GABF, I liked it.

[dsrtuckteezy]

i got my beer of the month today. pretty cool, came ice cold. i was hoping for twelve individual beers, but it's 6 beers each from two different breweries. so a total of 4 different beers.

i got a peregrine pilsner and whitehawk ipa from mendocina brewery, and a ubu ale and a nippletop milk stout from lake placid brewing co.

[Slowhand]

TABC approved 4 new labels for Lakewood this week:

- French Quarter Temptress
- Raspberry Temptress
- Wine Barrel Aged Brabo's Cut
- Till and Toil Saison

Super exctied to see the Till and Toil make it to bottles, and quite interested to try the two new temptresses.