The Swamp

For when you're not just drinking...you're drinking.

rass on some other Swamp wrote:My dad is friends with the guy who runs this place. I guess the top two are their newest brews, and (biases aside) my dad had very good things to say about both of them, but only has the stout to bring up to share with me this weekend. Damn.

Pops brought the goods this weekend. The Fordham Rams Head is good. But the winner is the Double D. Just a beautiful color.

< 4 miles cerrano. Come on over.

I just read that entire release. Jesus. 9%. That explains the last 1/2 hour.

Selma's tits are four miles from Cerrano?

Sabo wrote:Selma's tits are four miles from Cerrano?

They're pretty much four miles from anyone at any given time.

DSafetyGuy wrote:

Sabo wrote:Selma's tits are four miles from Cerrano?

They're pretty much four miles from anyone at any given time.

Or at least in the general areola?

rass wrote:For when you're not just drinking...you're drinking.

rass on some other Swamp wrote:My dad is friends with the guy who runs this place. I guess the top two are their newest brews, and (biases aside) my dad had very good things to say about both of them, but only has the stout to bring up to share with me this weekend. Damn.

Pops brought the goods this weekend. The Fordham Rams Head is good. But the winner is the Double D. Just a beautiful color.

< 4 miles cerrano. Come on over.

Ya know, I didn't make the connection before, but I bought the Old Dominion Oak Aged Stout at the Buy Rite in Plainfield about a year ago. It was fantastic. One of the best stouts ever. In fact, The Bros. on Beer Advocate gave it a 99, which is really damned impressive.

Today, the local brewery (No Label) is having a silent auction fundraiser for cystic fibrosis, which is something my California family deals with in a little one, so there is no excuse for me not to go.

I went back to Hoptron Brewtique tonight to pick up some growlers. Place was hopping again.

I grabbed another 32 oz jug of Canard Noir, a dark Saison from Greenport Harbor Brewing Co.. It's really good. Different tasting. Not hoppy, but almost spicy. I like it.

I also grabbed a 64 oz growler of Joe Mama's Milk Stout, an Imperial Coffee Stout from Keegan Ales, in Kingston. Drank a pint while I waited, and man this stuff is amazing.

ZMan wrote:I went back to Hoptron Brewtique tonight to pick up some growlers. Place was hopping again.

I grabbed another 32 oz jug of Canard Noir, a dark Saison from Greenport Harbor Brewing Co.. It's really good. Different tasting. Not hoppy, but almost spicy. I like it.

I also grabbed a 64 oz growler of Joe Mama's Milk Stout, an Imperial Coffee Stout from Keegan Ales, in Kingston. Drank a pint while I waited, and man this stuff is amazing.

Keegan was one of the Breweries at the beer festival I went to with Cerrano last year. Their Mother's Milk (Milk Stout, as opposed to the Imperial Milk Stout) was my favorite beer of the day, despite their rep having a full arm tattoo of the Tottenham crest. That is saying a lot, as there were a lot of breweries there, and some big names and a lot of DIPAs.

ETA: According to Keegan's website, the Joe Mama's Milk Stout is:

"Big Brother to our Mother’s Milk. It starts with our Mother’s Milk recipe, we then add copious amounts of brown sugar to add body and increase the alcohol content. Then, after primary fermentation, we infuse a cold coffee extract from our friends down the street, Monkey Joe’s Roasting Co."

That sounds fantastic. They also have a barleywine on tap in their restaurant currently. It's only a little over an hour away... Swamp road trip? Nobody is doing anything tomorrow, right?

I'll third Keegan's.

The Sybian wrote:

ZMan wrote:I went back to Hoptron Brewtique tonight to pick up some growlers. Place was hopping again.

I grabbed another 32 oz jug of Canard Noir, a dark Saison from Greenport Harbor Brewing Co.. It's really good. Different tasting. Not hoppy, but almost spicy. I like it.

I also grabbed a 64 oz growler of Joe Mama's Milk Stout, an Imperial Coffee Stout from Keegan Ales, in Kingston. Drank a pint while I waited, and man this stuff is amazing.

Keegan was one of the Breweries at the beer festival I went to with Cerrano last year. Their Mother's Milk (Milk Stout, as opposed to the Imperial Milk Stout) was my favorite beer of the day, despite their rep having a full arm tattoo of the Tottenham crest. That is saying a lot, as there were a lot of breweries there, and some big names and a lot of DIPAs.

ETA: According to Keegan's website, the Joe Mama's Milk Stout is:

"Big Brother to our Mother’s Milk. It starts with our Mother’s Milk recipe, we then add copious amounts of brown sugar to add body and increase the alcohol content. Then, after primary fermentation, we infuse a cold coffee extract from our friends down the street, Monkey Joe’s Roasting Co."

That sounds fantastic. They also have a barleywine on tap in their restaurant currently. It's only a little over an hour away... Swamp road trip? Nobody is doing anything tomorrow, right?

we doing that again this year? good times.

cerrano wrote: we doing that again this year? good times.

I'd love to, but my idiot friend chose that day to get married. So pissed. Not only that it's the same day as the beer festival, but it's also Mother's Day weekend, and he is getting married in out of town, no kids invited. 37 years old, all of our friends are married, almost all have kids. Kind of inconsiderate. So basically, I have to drive back the same night to be back for Mother's Day festivities, so I can't stay and enjoy the Wedding. Ruins my beer fest, and his own wedding for me. I'm going to write the Beer Fest guy and tell him to schedule it next year on a weekend that isn't Mother's Day so Rass can go.

Thanks Syb!

rass wrote:Thanks Syb!

No problem.

There is a great microbrewery a couple miles from my house called Devil's Canyon. Their beer is sold on draft at various area bars and restaurants and bottles are now is available at some retail outlets. Last night, I picked up a couple bottles of my favorite of theirs, the Full Boar scotch ale.

I may have posted this before, but the brewery is only open to the public on the last Friday evening of every month, when they'll have a couple bands playing live music and they sell draft sell pints (you have to buy one of their glasses to put it in, but most people have been there before and bring a glass.) They have a big open air beer garden and it ends up being kind of like a college keg party, but it's for adults of all ages. Good fun.

Yesterday, I went to one of my favorite brewpubs for their Weisse Berliner Bash. Tons of sweet, light, summer Berliner beers from a bunch of Florida brewers. Lots of fruit types of beer. Didn't really care too much for any of them. There was one brewer from Miami, Wakefield Brewery that had long lines, and halfway decent stuff. In fact, this picture from their facebook page, features the back of my friend's head (bottom right corner).



Wakefield's Passion Fruit Dragon Fruit wasn't half bad. They also had a Strawberry Rhubarb Pie beer that didn't suck.

Had four or five really good micros on Friday night, but I am absolutely terrible at remembering what I order at the Saucer. Just joined the UFO club or whatever it's called, so now I can track it and maybe contribute something of value to the thread.

What is the opinion of Allagash White? I drank a fuckton of them last night and found them very tasty.

bfj wrote:What is the opinion of Allagash White? I drank a fuckton of them last night and found them very tasty.

Never had the White, as I am not a fan of wheat beer. Allagash are extremely highly rated. I recently had their Black, which is called a Belgian Stout on the label, I liked it. More mellow than any stout I'm used to, and more similar to a dark Belgian, but very good. Also had their Trippel recently, which was also very good. The Bros. on Beer Advocate scored the White a 100, which is pretty rare, so that is impressive. The masses scored it a 93, which is still "exceptional", so you are in good company.

I'm a big fan of Allagash White. I like their Tripel, too. Personally, I love wheat beers, in general. I find them very refreshing.

We went to an Italian restaurant tonight, and I had a couple drafts of what they had on tap. I was reminded that I'm not much of a fan of heavily hopped beers, such as bitters or IPAs.

sancarlos wrote:Personally, I love wheat beers, in general. I find them very refreshing.

Ever try Grasshöpper?

. . . it's been years and years since I had one but, damn, that was a pleasant enjoyable beverage.

Any of you other yahoos use untappd? (not a spelling error) Great way of keeping track of what you've tasted.


We recently started getting Clown Shoes out here. Under the Mercury Brewing umbrella is another brand called Brash. Their Bollocks IPA is excellent. 12% but so so smooth, like get you in trouble if it was on tap smooth.

I picked up a growler of Sam Adams' Third Voyage Double IPA over the weekend. Should have bought more, it was delicioius. I also picked up a growler of Oliva Abbey Quad. Just looked it up and realized it's made by Sierra Nevada. I plan on digging into that this evening. My wife loves hops and the guy at the store recommended Bear Racer 5 IPA for her. Haven't tried it yet, but he spoke higly of it.

Rush2112 wrote:
We recently started getting Clown Shoes out here.

My local tavern featured Clown Shoes as their "Craft Beer" of the month in March. I had a couple of these, but unfortunately, at $10.00 a bottle, that was it. Very tasty though.

vandwagon wrote:I picked up a growler of Sam Adams' Third Voyage Double IPA over the weekend. Should have bought more, it was delicioius. I also picked up a growler of Oliva Abbey Quad. Just looked it up and realized it's made by Sierra Nevada. I plan on digging into that this evening. My wife loves hops and the guy at the store recommended Bear Racer 5 IPA for her. Haven't tried it yet, but he spoke higly of it.

I give Racer 5 a thumbs-up.

Rush2112 wrote:Any of you other yahoos use untappd? (not a spelling error) Great way of keeping track of what you've tasted.

Timing.
I just learned about this app last night, and was coming here to mention it. mjzman is my username, but I haven't rated anything yet.


Went back the the Brewtique last night, but didn't bring any home. Too many shitty after tastes, and not enough goodness.
Was bummed to learn that they charge you a $5 deposit fee for the growler jug, but then you don't get the fin back for returning the jug, you can only refill it without paying the deposit. Because I didn't know, and they were hardly forthcoming with the news, I had 4 jugs stacked up at home. Now I'm stuck with them. Thanks for nothing.

Hey, Rush - going back to my earlier discussion of Devil's Canyon Brewery, they also have an amber ale that seems right up your alley - you should try it if only to get the bottle, being the deadhead you are.

Nice. We have to get out to Cali soon.

I know that Dogfish Head is coming out with a Dead themed beer here soon, though don't know if we'll get it or not. Very strange that we sometimes get their 90 IPA and NEVER get their 60.

As for the Racer 5. That is a very tasty IPA. If you can find Deshutes' Hop Henge IPA or Green Flash's Palate Wrecker I highly recommend those as well.

Junkyard, sadly most of their bottles are 10+, I got to go through the line at a tasting at work so I was paid for it. Sucks not being employed as a librarian at the moment, but working in a beer store does have it's benefits.

Rush2112 wrote:Nice. We have to get out to Cali soon.

I know that Dogfish Head is coming out with a Dead themed beer here soon, though don't know if we'll get it or not. Very strange that we sometimes get their 90 IPA and NEVER get their 60.

As for the Racer 5. That is a very tasty IPA. If you can find Deshutes' Hop Henge IPA or Green Flash's Palate Wrecker I highly recommend those as well.

Junkyard, sadly most of their bottles are 10+, I got to go through the line at a tasting at work so I was paid for it. Sucks not being employed as a librarian at the moment, but working in a beer store does have it's benefits.

I just had some of the Hop Henge on Saturday myself. It is very good, but I think Deschutes' non-hoppier offerings are vastly superior (Mirror Pond Pale Ale and Inversion IPA). I like a good Double or Imperial IPA myself from time to time, but I don't think that's where Deschutes excels.

Green Flash is probably the most underrated West Coast brewery in my opinion. My only beef with them is that much like Dogfish Head their beers tend to be on the pricey side (even relative to other strong microbreweries I mean.). But with both, the value is there of course.

A friend of mine had a Ballast Point Durado Double IPA recently. He couldn't finish it. It reminded him too much of cough medicine. Tis a shame really, as Ballast Point makes some good beers from what I understand.

I had a Racer 5 last night and liked it. I prefer the Dogfish Head 60 though.

The guy at the store was talking about West Coast vs. East Coast style IPA. Can anyone here educate me on the difference?

vandwagon wrote:I had a Racer 5 last night and liked it. I prefer the Dogfish Head 60 though.

The guy at the store was talking about West Coast vs. East Coast style IPA. Can anyone here educate me on the difference?

I wish I could speak intelligently enough about early hip-hop rap to make a clever analogy joke here.

vandwagon wrote:I had a Racer 5 last night and liked it. I prefer the Dogfish Head 60 though.

The guy at the store was talking about West Coast vs. East Coast style IPA. Can anyone here educate me on the difference?

Cliff's Notes:

West Coast style is intentionally unbalanced to cause pronounced hop flavor.

East Coast style has a stronger background malt & more balanced overall flavor.

Hope no one is drinking anything with hops tonight.

Happy Reinheitsgebot anniversary day!

devilfluff wrote:

vandwagon wrote:I had a Racer 5 last night and liked it. I prefer the Dogfish Head 60 though.

The guy at the store was talking about West Coast vs. East Coast style IPA. Can anyone here educate me on the difference?

Cliff's Notes:

West Coast style is intentionally unbalanced to cause pronounced hop flavor.

East Coast style has a stronger background malt & more balanced overall flavor.

Thanks devilfluff. The Racer 5 is growing on me the more I have it. Of course we only got a 6-pack so it's long gone.

The Oliva Abbey Quad was good, but not worth filling the large growler. Strong aftertaste.

Had a bottle of this last night. Nice, malty, a bit sweet. Made by Anchor Brewing of SF.

Today, I am trying out the 360 cans of Sly Fox Helles. I like the idea and see more folks going down this road.

Also saw that Sierra is pushing the summerfest out in cans this year. I am a fan of the torpedo and regular pale ale in cans.

teeteebee wrote:Today, I am trying out the 360 cans of Sly Fox Helles. I like the idea and see more folks going down this road.

Also saw that Sierra is pushing the summerfest out in cans this year. I am a fan of the torpedo and regular pale ale in cans.

Speaking of canned beer, finally tried Sixpoint's Righteous Ale. I love Rye beer, and I am a fan of Sixpoint, and this beer gets rave reviews. Either my meds really fuck with this beer more than most, or it is highly overrated. Hard to say, but either way, it was a huge disappointment.

Hell. Yes.

BTW, Boulevard just did a small batch of a Mint Julep beer. It's fantastic. Not much mint at all, good bourbon flavor.

The first commercial collaboration between Boulevard Brewing Co. and Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. is scheduled to be on store shelves in mid-June. The brew, Terra Incognita, is described as a dark brown ale “aged — one portion in old wooden wine foudres and another in used whiskey barrels — for nearly three months. The roasty bitterness blends with subtle notes of herb and spice to create a dry, balanced beer.”

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2013/05/09/42 ... rylink=cpy" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Yeah, bitches! Found a 4-pack of these beauties this week. Buy Right on Route 22 in North Plainfield. I think it might be even better than the legendary Buy Right in Plainfield on Oaktree I've written about in the original Swamp. They always have rare and hard to find beers, including the ever elusive Founders Kentucky Bourbon Stout (whenever possible, which is very infrequently). They have a bar where they serve pints and sell growlers and give free samples. They also have self-serve wine sample machines with an honor system 50 cent bucket per serving. They are a little overpriced on beer, I didn't look at anything else. Had to buy the Bourbon County, since I've never actually seen it anywhere and always read about how amazing it is. Didn't see until put a bottle in the fridge that it is 15% and says to age it up to 5 years before drinking.