what beers are you drinking? (post-apocalypse)

[AaronS]

three floyds munsterfest oktoberfest style lager - 6.2% abv. this is a the kind of old school beer that you’d expect three floyds to knock out of the park. this is towards the darker end of the oktoberfest spectrum and tastes every bit as malty as it looks. there’s a terrific mixture of caramel and good dark bread, which are followed by a decent amount of grassy noble hops and a little bit of sweetness. this is a lot hoppier than most festbiers, but it’s balanced and very quaffable. recommended.

[AaronS]

see below…

Edited September 12, 2023 by AaronS

[AaronS]

lawson’s finest liquids big hazy ipa hazy dips with oranges - brewed in waitsfield, vt, 9.2% abv. one of the pitfalls of my unceasing nostalgia is sometimes the beers taste like the old beers in the wrong way. lawson’s, as we all know, is one of the progenitors of the vermont ipa, but as I was slow to learn they didn’t really make hazy beer until relatively recently.I really liked the last fruited dipa they sent down here, double sunshine with grapefruit, but what I liked about that is that it was a nice example of an older style double ipa. this is a not so great example of a newish dipa, there’s a lot of bitterness, not that much detail, and it’s pretty hot. there’s no shortage of local breweries that can do this better and so on and on and also on. 

[AaronS]

sierra nevada foam pilsner - crowler, 5.6% abv. this is a draft only release that was I guess was originally made for a phish festival a while back. I haven’t had that many lagers from them, and it’s been a while since they had a year round pilsner in their lineup, but this is more or less what I was hoping it would be. this is bigger than most pilsners but is pretty well put together. there’s a fair amount of noble hop spice here, but it’s a lot maltier than tipopils or luppolo. it’s also a lot better than the way I remember nooner. very mildly recommended.

[AaronS]

alesmith speedway stout imperial stout with cofee - 12% abv. alesmith’s huge versions of european beer styles have been around for as long as I’ve been into beer, and while I’d rather find the barley wine or scotch ale they used to make at key foods I’m glad this is still around. it’s easy to see why, this has adjuncts and is about a third of the price per ounce it used to be. it’s also really good, there are huge chocolate malt notes and a ton of bitterness. it doesn’t taste like good coffee the way a lot of newer beers do, but the big roasted notes are really nice and there’s even some grassy hops in the background. this is pretty well put together, there’s some sweetness that tastes more like coffee, everything is pretty simple but there’s enough detail that every sip is interesting. I like this a lot more than the last couple variants that I’ve had, although there is some apparent alcohol in the finish, but it adds a little bit of anise and doesn’t ruin things for me. strongly recommended to people who want to drink beer from the early aughts.

[AaronS]

augustiner-bräu münchen maximator starkbier - 7.5% abv. this was one of the first dopplebocke that I had way back when, and I’m sure this beer goes back many hundreds of years. I haven’t seen this in a while, and picked it up without knowing that it’s a seasonal made for lent. this kind of beer should age pretty well (I’ve had really old schbeiderwiesse ones that were sublime) and I’d be surprised if it was brewed for this year’s lent. there’s a some bready caramel at first, followed by a little molasses and some pear. this is far from skunked but there is a little bit of acrid stuff in the finish.

[AaronS]

ayinger privatbraueri oktober fest-märzen authentic bavarian festival lager - 5.8% abv. this is a nice, simple lager. it’s copper colored and some pleasant, straight forward malt notes followed by a little bit of herbal bitterness. 

[AaronS]

schilling konstantin austrian-style märzen - 5% abv. apparently austrian-style means the kind of amber lager that a lot of german brewers make for the us market, which I should know because I’m pretty sure I’ve had this before. going to schilling’s website tells me this was double decoction mashed and nothing else, but this does have really spectacular malt notes and not much else. this tastes more or less the same as the ayinger beer above it - there’s a nice mixture of caramel and bread with a little bit of herbal hops in the back ground - and while this is a little bit sweeter and the ayinger beer tasted a little more like hops everything about this tastes better and has more depth. I don’t like schilling’s pale lagers as much as the suarez or OEC ones but this is about as good as it gets. strongly recommended and so on.

[AaronS]

lawson's finest sip of sunshine india pale ale - brewed at two roads in connecticut, 8% abv. I'm always embarrassed by how excited about this I was at some point, but it's pretty good sometimes and it was by far the freshest thing in the bodega tonight. there's a nice write up on the lawson's website that I won't bother regurgitating, we all know this is a version of their original citra focused dipa made to be contract brewed, and so on. these cans are almost exactly two weeks old, which is often the sweet spot for "juicy" beer, and there is actually a decent version of the usual citra mango flavors, which are followed by a little bit of pine. this is pretty sweet though, and there's some unpleasant malt stuff in the background that you usually only get in much older beer. 

[AaronS]

jester king nani ?! japanese-style rice lager - 4.8% abv. this one was made with jasmine rice and sorachi ace hops, which is surprising to me because it tastes nothing like brooklyn brewery’s distinctive saison made with the same hops. this is terrific though, there’s some very light grain notes followed by green tea and mint. that’s stolen from the commercial description, but it’s dead on and better than whatever I would come up with. this really has a lot if flavor for a lager, is completely unique in my experience, and tastes really good. recommended.

[AaronS]

industrial arts brewing wrench hazy india pale lush & zesty - 7.1% abv. this is another what I think will be the best thing in the bodega post. I've followed the guy behind industrial arts for a long time and liked the majority of the stuff I've had from him, but it's been a while since I've liked one of the one off hoppy beers as much as this and I was happy to find reasonably fresh cans of this on my way home. this is yet another ne ipa hopped with citra and mosaic, but these cans are a little more bitter than most hazy ipas and there's a nice mixture of grapefruit and the usual tropical stuff, and there's some melon and under ripe fruit in the finish. this isn't that detailed, but it's very pleasant and it's been a long time since I've had one of their one off that was anywhere near as good as this.

[Sneakeater]

Liverwurst on German horseradish rye with onion, Galileo radicchio, and Löwensenf Medium.  I followed the lead of some food writer somewhere and crisped the bread by giving each slice a thin smear of mayonnaise and dropping it into a hot frying pan for a minute or two.  Whoever had it, that was a good idea.

Why I have this liverwurst is, it was sitting in my butcher's display case looking SO good.  And I've learned, when these odd items appear, you need to snap them up if they appeal to you.  Because there's no guarantee you'll ever see them again.  (I have to assume this was housemade.  I know from my own purchase for practically nothing a few weeks ago how eager they are to find some way to monetize pig offal.)

Syracuse salt potatoes on the side.  And some "pickled" cabbage, grape tomatoes, and dragon's tongue beans.

Bet you wish YOU had this dinner.

I guess an Alsatian white would have gone with this.  But the only one I have at hand is kind of sweet, kind of expensive, and kind of ageless:  not the sort of thing you'd open with a liverwurst sandwich.

Suarez Family Brewery whistlin'

This is a "country beer", the label says, brewed with lemongrass.

People talk about how candied this tastes, but I think it's remarkably tart.  Maybe because of its high acidity.

What you get here is LOTS of pineapple and citrus with a saving undercurrent of funk.  And that puckery acid -- which makes this beer remarkably thirst-quenching despite all that's going on in it (and cuts through the liverwurst like a knife) (not that you need a knife to cut through liverwurst).

Fairly complex -- but immediately enjoyable, too.

Very good with liverwurst.  Next time you have liverwurst, I recommend it.

Edited October 21, 2023 by Sneakeater

[AaronS]

sierra nevada celebration fresh hop ipa - 6.8% abv. this is my yearly post about how I still like this beer, which has been around since 1982. I've probably had more than half of them at this point, and this is very much like the way I remember the rest of them. it's got cascade, centennial, and chinook, and the real way that it's different from the many generations of newer beers is the amount of caramel malt in the base that gives a fairly sweet base that stands up to all the bitterness. there's some caramel, pine, and a little bit of citrus. yesterday was the first time in a week or so that I haven't looked at the sierra website to see when this would show up, so I got this within a first few days of it being available here and there's some off notes in the background despite the fact that this was canned a month ago, which is disappointing. still recommended.

[AaronS]

oxbow brewing northern lager classic lager brewed for oxbow brewing co. by zero gravity craft brewing, burlington, vt - 4.5% abv. I forgot this was contract brewed when I picked it up, and while I generally like zero gravity’s stuff I don’t remember what their lagers are like so I have no idea if this arrangement is a good idea or not. this is exactly what it claims to be - a classic lager. it’s clean, is entirely beer flavored, and the small amounts of sweet malt and hints of bitterness are pretty pleasant. this has a fair amount of flavor for the abv and is extremely quaffable. recommended to anyone looking for a classic lager.

[AaronS]

alesmith brewing company ipa west coast-style india pale ale - 7.25% abv. the old version of this was one of my all time favorite west coast ipas, and I'm always happy to find this relatively fresh at the grocery store. (would finding equally fresh versions of union jack or torpedo be even more exciting? I wish I could tell you.) this isn't at all the way it was - the previous c-hop (amarillo and simcoe start with c for these purposes) hop bill has been replaced with columbus and citra, the latter of which is a c-hop in name only... this is a lot lighter than torpedo is, and tastes a lot more like citra, but it's less delicate and the hops have that weird apple juice flavor you get with lesser examples of older beer. this is the kind of thing I really wanted to like more, blah blah blah.

[AaronS]

three floyd’s alpha klauss christmas porter - 7.3% abv. this is the holiday version of alpha king, one of their older beers. the malt bill is a lot darker in this version, and they add some english chocolate malt and mexican sugar, but the important thing is this shows up a lot fresher than most of the rest their beer does. this has a great combination of roasted malt and bitterness that gives way to a mixture of orange marmalade and resin with some herbal undertones. this is exactly what I love about old style american brewing - you get the well done malt notes that you’d get in an actual porter, but it’s also really hoppy and is well put together. it’s also more than a little bit frustrating that this is clean and well made the way I remember their beer being way back when, which is no longer true of most of their beer that ends up here. strongly recommended.

[AaronS]

george gale & co ltd prize old ale brewed in 2003 - 9.2% abv. I bought this at beer witch about a year ago and came across it while I was organizing my barley wine collection. is there a difference between old ale and barley-wine, you say? I think of them as interchangeable terms, but there is some stuff you can find on google that claims there is a distinction, but it also says that barley-wine is not a well defined style, which hasn't been true for at least the twenty or so years I've been drinking beer. anyways - this is in pretty good condition for something it's age - the cork came out cleanly and there's no particulate matter in my glass, although the shoulders of the 275ml bottle this was in may have helped there. this is a deep brown color that takes on a purple hue in the light and isn't carbonated any more. I've never had a george gale that I liked as much as a jw lees or north coast's old stock ale, and it's hard not to think the lower abv can't stand up to aging the way those other beers can. this is mostly the mixture of dried fruit (mostly fig) and toffee that you expect from the style, but it's much less sweet than typical examples of the style and the finish is thin. this is actually holding up pretty well - this has the simplicity that good examples of old beer do, but there's not much depth and it doesn't have the huge orange and toffee notes that the jw lees ones do. there's a little bit of vinegar in the finish, which brings this closer to wine in a way that's not really characteristic of very old examples of the style. I don't know if that's a sign that this is starting to go or not, look for a post about my other bottle of this is in late 2028.

Edited November 15, 2023 by AaronS

[Sneakeater]

This is so funny.  I saw that at Beer Witch last Winter and told them I had a friend who would like it, but I was pretty sure I wouldn't.

Little did I (or they) know . . .

[AaronS]

sierra nevada bigfoot barleywine - style ale 2022 bottled 12/1/21 - 9.6% abv. the same reorganization that reminded me of the bottle above brought this one to my attention. I'm building a bigfoot vertical and it turns out I had a seventh bottle of this, which as I post about every year is the much larger version of the celebration ale that I always drink so much of this time of year. this has always been one of my favorite example of american style barley wine, a well delineated style that's a lot harder to find than it used to be. they changed the recipe for this one about twenty years ago, and while I remember preferring the higher abv version this is great and you can still buy it, unlike rogue's old crustacean, anchor's old foghorn, victory's old horizontal, hair of the dog's doggie claws, brooklyn's monster, stone's old guardian, mikkeller's big worse series, to øl's mine is bigger than yours, north coast's old stock ale, and who knows how many others. this is a lot lighter than the george gale one and is still pretty carbonated and while it's not really hoppy anymore it's still pretty bitter and there's some orange and mint underneath the toffee malt notes. this is a little bit more bitter than a jw lees would be, and the malt notes are a little smaller, but if the way I remember the jw lees ones is correct the distinction between english and american styles is a lot smaller than I would have guessed and so on and on. recommended.

sneak - that's funny. you'll have to tell me where the beer table of ridgewood is.

[Sneakeater]

I totally will!

[AaronS]

allagash snow report winter ale festive honey golden - 8.6% abv. this is one of the few beers allagash currently sends to new york, it's got halleratau and saaz hops, wildflower honey, and imperial saison yeast. this exactly the kind of yeast forward beer you'd expect from allagash, the commercial description of melon, green apple and honey is dead on, but it's also a lot like their wit bier, only with more pear and noble hop up front and more grain in the finish. this isn't nearly as enjoyable as way I remember their brett beers, but I know where to buy this and so on. mildly recommended.

[AaronS]

suarez sensate smoky helles - 4.9% abv. the commercial description tells us that a lot of the smoked character comes from the use of the yeast from their stands to reason, which is a lot smokier than this. this is as good as the usual suarez lager - there’s some smoke, the perfect amount of malt sweetness, and a little bit of noble hops in the finish. this is nothing like the german smoked lagers I’ve had - the primary flavor is still malt sweetness and there’s almost as much noble hop citrus as smoke. suarez is excellent, my taste is excellent, excellence is transitive, blah blah blah. really strongly recommended.

[AaronS]

brouwerij de molen hel & verdoemenis ale bottled 20 jun 2017 - 10% abv. this is another one I found when organizing my beer collection, I had another bottle not so long ago but don't remember when. I remember not liking it that much, but this is starting to a little bit the same way that the barleywine I had the other day was and the slightly sour finish really goes well with the peaty smokiness and this is pleasant enough. my mildest recommendation.

[Sneakeater]

Pork pie (not made by me) (and not reheated by me or anyone -- no matter what my butcher might recommend).  With Brown Sauce and Branson Pickle.

Cabbage and peas seemed a suitably English side dish.

And my freakishly symmetrical Jerusalem artichoke, sliced thin and roasted (not remotely English) (but like things that are English).

Nobody in England would drink wine with this.

Maine Beer Company India Pale Ale "Lunch"

This is one of those beers where you really can't see how it could be better.  Hops and malt in perfect balance (meaning the hops have the edge) (but the malt is there).  Extremely complex flavors that are extremely harmonious.

Years and years and years ago, one of Maine Beer Company's beers -- was it Peeper? -- was one of the first American beers to knock me out, as good as a British Real Ale.

They're still great.

Edited December 10, 2023 by Sneakeater

[AaronS]

you asked me if I'd had their another one ipa five or six years ago.