What?? Are you drinking?

A_B · Post by **A_B** » Thu Mar 14, 2013 8:38 pm

Jamesons.

mister d · Post by **mister d** » Thu Mar 14, 2013 8:55 pm

Nugget Nectar. 6 left.

Test Ride the Sybian · Thu Mar 14, 2013 9:24 pm

Just realized Fairway sells bulk tea leaves in their bulk coffee section. English breakfast tonight. Quite lovely, old chaps.

timgod99X · Post by **timgod99X** » Thu Mar 14, 2013 9:25 pm

Test Ride the Sybian wrote:Just realized Fairway sells bulk tea leaves in their bulk coffee section. English breakfast tonight. Quite lovely, old chaps.

Just made made second cup of English Breakfast myself. Though mine is just traditional, store bought Twining's.

FredRomero · Post by **FredRomero** » Thu Mar 14, 2013 9:28 pm

Dreaming Tree Crush from Dave Matthew 's vineyard. Next up, Larceny Bourbon.

Test Ride the Sybian · Thu Mar 14, 2013 9:30 pm

timgod99X wrote:
Test Ride the Sybian wrote:Just realized Fairway sells bulk tea leaves in their bulk coffee section. English breakfast tonight. Quite lovely, old chaps.
Just made made second cup of English Breakfast myself. Though mine is just traditional, store bought Twining's.

Loose leaf teas, my man. They are still inexpensive, but so much fresher and more flavorful if you can find fresh leaves.

Johnny Hotcakes · Post by **Johnny Hotcakes** » Thu Mar 14, 2013 10:42 pm

Found an old, unopened bottle of St Germain in the back of the closet (purchased in 2008). Tastes like nectar. Best of all, it feels like I'm drinking for free.

SlimChristian · Post by **SlimChristian** » Thu Mar 14, 2013 10:44 pm

Percocets and water. On another note, going on 3 weeks without smoking any weed.

Rush2112 · Post by **Rush2112** » Thu Mar 14, 2013 11:06 pm

A Hop Henge IPA from Deschutes and then a wee dram of Auchentoshan.

Scottie · Post by **Scottie** » Thu Mar 14, 2013 11:30 pm

Test Ride the Sybian wrote:Loose leaf teas, my man. They are still inexpensive, but so much fresher and more flavorful if you can find fresh leaves.

Loose tea would fucking anything.

I live on the stuff. Darjeelings are my favorite. And there are so many varieties. Wifey loves the stuff as well. With her it is Scottish and English Breakfast Teas. But, oh man, I love all of it.

And it's frankly not only far superior to packaged tea-in-a-bleached-bag but it works out to be less expensive as well. Often considerably. I could spend all day in a specialty tea shop.

I've a nice Darjeeling Tukvar on the go at this very moment.

Johnny Hotcakes · Post by **Johnny Hotcakes** » Fri Mar 15, 2013 12:39 am

I've gotten into tea the last few years myself. To the point that it has actually replaced anything alcoholic as my drink of choice when I want to relax in the evening. 2008 me would be appalled.

Rush2112 · Post by **Rush2112** » Fri Mar 15, 2013 12:50 am

When I was working at UMASS we had a Nepali woman that worked for us. She took a holiday back home and brought all of us in our group gifts. I was jealous of my coworker that got the scarf until I tasted the tea and lighted the incense. I need to write her and see if I can track it down in the states.

BSF21 · Post by **BSF21** » Fri Mar 15, 2013 10:56 am

Had a few of these on Wednesday night at a hotel bar in Grand Rapids. Very tasty.

ZMan · Post by **ZMan** » Fri Mar 15, 2013 11:50 am

Considering I live 2 towns over, I really should visit the Blue Point Brewery.

It's been Molson Canadians and Guinness for me this week. Looking forward to some cold gin (Bombay Sapphire) and three olives tonight after the gym.

Rush2112 · Post by **Rush2112** » Sat Mar 16, 2013 12:45 am

You should. It's a nice little place and usually have one off or other such things that they don't bottle.

I really like their toasted lager, great lawnmower beer that actually has some taste. Their barleywine (that has some weird name like old fuzzywig or something) is stellar.

ZTest wrote:Considering I live 2 towns over, I really should visit the Blue Point Brewery.

temporassy · Post by **temporassy** » Sat Mar 16, 2013 7:55 am

1/2 a can of Guinness (the rest went in the stew). Amateur hour here we come!!!

The Burglar · Post by **The Burglar** » Sat Mar 16, 2013 9:07 am

temporassy wrote:1/2 a can of Guinness (the rest went in the stew). Amateur hour here we come!!!

Guinness has become my favorite non-micro, so I feel like a cliche this weekend.

temporassy · Post by **temporassy** » Sat Mar 16, 2013 4:00 pm

Dowhatyalikebronto.Woooo.

toonarmy · Post by **toonarmy** » Sat Mar 16, 2013 4:03 pm

temporassy wrote:Dowhatyalikebronto.Woooo.

your house empty's out quick!

temporassy · Post by **temporassy** » Sat Mar 16, 2013 4:22 pm

NJ natives can't handle snow.

Weatherfrog · Post by **Weatherfrog** » Sat Mar 16, 2013 5:30 pm

Just had the last Stockyard Oatmeal Stout

Rush2112 · Post by **Rush2112** » Sat Mar 16, 2013 9:46 pm

Hop Czar than a dram.

ZMan · Post by **ZMan** » Sat Mar 16, 2013 10:41 pm

Molson Canadian with dinner

3 olive dirty martini during the Islander game (Bombay Sapphire)

Molson Canadian afterwards while playing TF2

Post by **Sabo** » Sat Mar 16, 2013 10:46 pm

Why waste Bombay Sapphire with a dirty martini? The olive brine will dominate the flavor of most gins, so you might as well drink cheaper gin in a dirty martini.

teeteebee · Post by **teeteebee** » Sun Mar 17, 2013 7:52 am

Nothing right now but have a few Guinness cans for later on. It's the cliche thing to do today.

Had a bottle of AB12 last night. Very good but I wish I would let it "thaw" a little. Had it in the fridge for last 18 months or so.

ZMan · Post by **ZMan** » Sun Mar 17, 2013 8:52 am

Obas wrote:Why waste Bombay Sapphire with a dirty martini? The olive brine will dominate the flavor of most gins, so you might as well drink cheaper gin in a dirty martini.

I've been putting about as much brine in as vermouth, which is to say about 3/4 of a teaspoon. No domination whatsoever.

eta: You're confusing me with someone who would buy different types of gin for different types of drinks. I buy sapphire because it's a good gin, and I'm buying gin. I'm not perusing the gin aisle for different varieties.

temporassy · Post by **temporassy** » Sun Mar 17, 2013 11:04 am

Pho definitely works to alleviate a hangover.

toonarmy · Post by **toonarmy** » Sun Mar 17, 2013 1:32 pm

temporassy wrote:Pho definitely works to alleviate a hangover.

did you make it yourself or pick it up?

temporassy · Post by **temporassy** » Sun Mar 17, 2013 4:16 pm

Picked it up in EH for breakfast on my way to get the mutt.

Rush2112 · Post by **Rush2112** » Sun Mar 17, 2013 9:28 pm

Twisted Pine Hoppy Boy.

Taste tested Heady Topper, Pliny the Younger and Deviant Dales earlier.

The consensus was HT, DD, Pliny.

A_B · Post by **A_B** » Mon Mar 18, 2013 8:12 am

ZTest wrote:
Obas wrote:Why waste Bombay Sapphire with a dirty martini? The olive brine will dominate the flavor of most gins, so you might as well drink cheaper gin in a dirty martini.
I've been putting about as much brine in as vermouth, which is to say about 3/4 of a teaspoon. No domination whatsoever.

eta: You're confusing me with someone who would buy different types of gin for different types of drinks. I buy sapphire because it's a good gin, and I'm buying gin. I'm not perusing the gin aisle for different varieties.

I happen to think that the better gins don't hurt as much the next day as well.

ZMan · Post by **ZMan** » Thu Mar 21, 2013 9:13 am

I must have been feeling adventurous, because I bought two sixers of beer I had never tried before. That's like, the equivalent of radical reconstructive surgery for me.

Anyway, beer #1 was Blue Point Brewery's Toasted Lager. It's ok, but has a bit of a weird aftertaste. I guess that's the toasted part.

Beer #2 is Newcastle Brown Ale, which is fucking delicious. I find it odd they've been picking advert fights with Stella Artois. While they taste sort of similar, I wouldn't consider them interchangeable.

Here's where I'm lost on this whole beer snobbery thing. What the fuck is the difference between a "lager", and an "ale" anyway? Stella calls itself a 'lager', it has a crisp, clean taste. Pretty much what I would call your standard golden beer taste. Brew Points 'lager', however, had that weird, hoppy(?) after taste that I don't like in a beer (and it was brown, but I'm chalking that up to the "toastedness" of it). It's the same shitty aftertaste I have found in most IPA's, yet those are 'ales'. Newcastle Brown Ale, otoh, despite being brown in color, had a taste very similar to a golden lager. Very crisp, very clean, no weird aftertaste. So Newcastles Brown Ale tastes more like Stella Artios's Lager. And Brew Points toasted lager tastes similar to a Pale Ale. Based on this I'm wondering why I would even pay attention to the stupid names, they don't seem to mean anything. (except Stout, but that's self explanatory)

AB_skin_test wrote:I happen to think that the better gins don't hurt as much the next day as well.

I would agree. I think that holds true for all varieties of liquor.

That's why I don't mind buying good stuff, no matter what I'm going to do with it. I don't drink enough variety, or drink enough in general really, to make me consider different grades of the same liquor.

testy boxcar · Post by **testy boxcar** » Thu Mar 21, 2013 9:22 am

ZTest wrote:Beer #2 is Newcastle Brown Ale, which is fucking delicious. I find it odd they've been picking advert fights with Stella Artois. While they taste sort of similar, I wouldn't consider them interchangeable.

what?

govmentchedda · Post by **govmentchedda** » Thu Mar 21, 2013 9:31 am

There's got to be a chart somewhere on the internets that explains the difference between all of the different types of beers. It seems like someone may have posted it in one of the incarnations of the swamp.

I saw the new Newcastle advert this morning, and loved it. They'll probably beat it to death, a la Heineken, Dos Equis, etc., but upon first viewing I liked it. It reminded me how much I like a good Newcastle. It's not a good 6 at a sitting beer though. It always leaves a filmy aftertaste if you're pounding it. Plus, the clear bottles lead to skunkiness if not attended to properly.

There was a nice Mexican place in Gainesville that had it on tap when I was there. That was delicious. Speaking of which, where's phxgators?

mister d · Post by **mister d** » Thu Mar 21, 2013 10:26 am

ZTest wrote:Here's where I'm lost on this whole beer snobbery thing. What the fuck is the difference between a "lager", and an "ale" anyway?

Effectively nothing as a drinker of craft beer (you can have hoppy lagers and unhoppy ales), but the process of brewing is different. Lagers are cold fermented and take a lot longer. Ales are better.

ZMan · Post by **ZMan** » Thu Mar 21, 2013 3:21 pm

So basically, aside from seeing pictures of flowers or fruit on the label, there's no way to tell if a beer is going to have that shitty taste until I sip it? Great.

And, yes, Mr. Boxcar, the Newcastle Ale, despite being brown, had a very crisp and clean taste. Very similar to the lighter colored ales I have been drinking (Stella Artois and Molson Canadian)

testy boxcar · Post by **testy boxcar** » Thu Mar 21, 2013 3:24 pm

besides being wet, i can't think of any similarities between the two.

BRIAN! If you like Newcastle... if you ever see Civil Life American Brown on tap in St Louis, try it, it's great! Everyone else ignore this advice, as nobody else ever goes to St Louis.

Post by **Sabo** » Thu Mar 21, 2013 3:37 pm

testy boxcar wrote:besides being wet, i can't think of any similarities between the two.

BRIAN! If you like Newcastle... if you ever see Civil Life American Brown on tap in St Louis, try it, it's great! Everyone else ignore this advice, as nobody else ever goes to St Louis.

Not true! I'll be there April 3-5 and would be available to get together on the 4th if you're interested.

The Sybian · Post by **The Sybian** » Thu Mar 21, 2013 7:33 pm

ZTest wrote:So basically, aside from seeing pictures of flowers or fruit on the label, there's no way to tell if a beer is going to have that shitty taste until I sip it? Great.

And, yes, Mr. Boxcar, the Newcastle Ale, despite being brown, had a very crisp and clean taste. Very similar to the lighter colored ales I have been drinking (Stella Artois and Molson Canadian)

Well, if the beer lists the IBU (International Bitter Units), that is usually a good indication of the amount of hops used. The higher the number, the more bitter the beer. Bitterness is generally derived from hops. The only way I can imagine a Newcastle tasting remotely like a Molson Canadian is if it was severely skunked. Canadian is fuck awful, and Newcastle is very highly prone to skunking in my experience. Clear bottles obviously do them in easily, but for some reason on tap, it's hard to find a bar that serves Newscastle that doesn't taste funky. Newcastle was one of the first beers I liked when I started to step up from the usual Milwaukee's Best and LaBatt's Blue and other cheap macro swill, but it was funkified more often than not, and I stopped ordering it. I always wondered if there was a reason for it being more sensitive, or if I was just trying to drink a "better" beer in shitty bars, but drinking really good beers bars that properly cleaned their lines and maintained their kegs.

Rush2112 · Post by **Rush2112** » Thu Mar 21, 2013 11:15 pm

Newcastle is the grape soda of beers.

Enjoying a Stone Enjoy By 4.20.13 IPA. Very nice.

Prefer it to Pliny.

Taste tested Heady Topper against Deviant Dale's this past weekend. Heady was better but only by a slight margin.