mr. sheeps

Quite solid American take on a classic style, with an awesome...

Sun, 16 Jun 2013 20:58:00 -0400

Quite solid American take on a classic style, with an awesome label to boot. Very slightly funky, predominantly apple/pear/spice, sweet at first with a dry finish, simple-yet-complex (as Tripels should be). I will have this again, hopefully on draft!

How To Spend 1/5 Of Your Tax Return On Beer

Sat, 11 May 2013 18:33:00 -0400

For me: go to MA. In fairness to myself, the majority of my return went to getting ahead on bills, but the hefty (for my income) return combined with taking on a second job meant I could splurge more than I already usually do on MA beer runs.

My first stop was Table & Vine in West Springfield, MA. This was my first time there, a heavily anticipated trip given its 98 BeerAdvocate rating. I was definitely impressed with beers from The Lost Abbey, Avery, and Hoppin’ Frog that I had not seen before, but could get 90%+ of their inventory between local beer stores and Spirited, so I don’t expect to go the extra distance too often.

Table & Vine grabs:

Avery Collaboration Not Litigation
Avery The Reverend
Bear Republic Black Racer
Blatant IPA
Cambridge Spring Training IPA
Cisco Double IPA
Clown Shoes Hoppy Feet 1.5
Cucapá Runaway IPA (craft beer from Mexico, gotta try it)
Hoppin’ Frog Hop Master’s Abbey Belgian-Style Double IPA (given how I enjoy Mean Manalishi, I have high hopes for this)
Hoppin’ Frog Sweet Evil Barleywine
Lost Abbey Avant Garde (this and the following come from my “buy any Lost Abbey I haven’t had yet” rule)
Lost Abbey Carnevale
Lost Abbey Gift of the Magi
Lost Abbey Serpent Stout
Mystic Day of Doom (saw this and next three on Tumblr beer blogs)
Mystic Saison Renaud
Prairie Ale
Prairie Hop
Pretty Things Fluffy White Rabbits (re-try)

I pretty much knew I would be making the detour to Spirited in Lenox, MA on the way home, especially when I did not see Bloom at Table & Vine. Even after a first stop at a significantly larger store, there was plenty of goodies to be had, a sign of a great beer store.

Spirited grabs:

Baird Carpenters Mikan Ale
Freitgeist Geisterzug Gose (Sean recommendation)
Freitgeist Pimock (Sean recommendation)
Graal Quest
Heavy Seas YuleTide (x2 - had this at BCTC 2012 and loved it, been wanting to re-try since… wonder if it has been sitting on Spirited’s shelves this whole time?)
Jack’s Abby Cascadian Schwarzbier (Sean recommendation)
Mikkeller Invasion Farmhouse IPA (saw on Spirited e-mail and wanted)
Mikkeller Tiger Baby: Open Windows Open Hills (Sean recommendation)
Pretty Things Once Upon a Time 1939 No.1 Ale
Smuttynose Bloom (saw on Spirited e-mail and wanted)
Struise Pannepot (Sean recommendation)

Florida Vacation = Beer Grabs!

Sun, 17 Feb 2013 21:40:00 -0500

I’m in Florida with family, and while beer is far from the main purpose of the trip (three nephews under six + Walt Disney World = you do the math), I was able to snag a bunch of new-to-me-brews. I could not hunt any whales - as I had to take an expensive cab ride to the beer store in the first place (no rental car) - but hey, I’m no whale hunter… hell, I’m not even a whale watcher!

I wanted to get as much Cigar City and Terrapin as possible, and fell short of my expectations on both. With that said, I got 27 beers for $100 (21x12oz, 4x22oz, 2x25.4oz), and 26 of 27 are new-to-me-brews. The only one I have had is the Jai Alai IPA on the left, which I had at a bottle share, so I definitely don’t mind having a full can of it to myself.

I struck out a bit more with Terrapin than I did with Cigar City, but got three that I haven’t had, plus another one yesterday at the resort. I’m on my third of the three Terrapins as I type, and all have been good to great. Great Divide isn’t new-to-me, but those two are, and Twisted Pine is new-to-me. For better and for worse, I have heard many things of Ghost Face Killah, while the other was mostly a random grab.

Bell’s may be coming to NY soon, but if I fall short on Cigar City and Terrapin, I may as well turn straight to a go-to back-up. I’ve only had three Bell’s so far, so nothing wrong with another eight new-to-me-Bell’s-brews!

This last group of beers is a bit weird, at least to me. First of all, I did not expect to buy any Clown Shoes down here (nor Flying Fish for that matter), but the braumeister of Spirited (Sean) is not a Clown Shoes fan, so while I buy beer regularly in MA, these two MA beers are still new-to-me-brews. The Pike’s and OBP are mostly random grabs.

We shall see! So far the first four brews of this trip have been the new-to-me-Terrapin-brews, so it has started on a strong note. Cheers!

VT Beer Run

Sat, 09 Feb 2013 17:32:00 -0500

It has been a while since I took a trip to Manchester Discount Beverage, but they gave me a solid reason to come up: Maine Beer Company’s Lil One:

I grabbed the last two bottles they had, one reserved plus the last on the shelf, and am drinking one (currently) and planning to share the other. Here are my other grabs:

Ass Kisser Double IPA (I hated it the first time I had it, and a friend was surprised by that, so I’ll try it again)
Bar Harbor Cadillac Mountain Stout
Gigantic City Never Sleeps (brewery from OR that is only distributed to VT as far as the east coast = sure, why not)
Gigantic IPA
Gigantic Royale
Knee Deep Hop Shortage
Lompoc C-Note
Northshire Chocolate Stout (local brewery I haven’t had yet = try)
Northshire Hefeweizen
Northshire Slopeside Spiced Ale
Rising Tide Zephyr
Schneider + Brooklyner Hopfen-Weisse (re-rate)
Slumbrew Attic & Eaves (any Slumbrew I haven’t had = buy)
White Birch Indulgence

As far as Lil One goes, while I’m not as bowled over as I am by their other beers, it is a quite solid hopfest that is well worth the hour and change trip each way (as it is a one-off, at least for now).

Homebrew Batch #1 - Still Fermenting

Sun, 27 Jan 2013 23:17:00 -0500

A small update from my last post on my first homebrew batch - just over two weeks into fermentation, my gravity is reading 1.029 (adjusted for temperature), compared to a starting gravity of 1.083. My target is 1.022 or lower, so I am not far, and I decided to rouse the yeast gently, hoping that this in addition to another week in primary should finish it off.

The nose is still amazing, full of fresh orange / tangerine, and the hops are starting to become apparent. Unsurprisingly, given the current gravity, it is very sweet and hard to judge flat, but certainly doesn’t taste bad. I’m still ready for my first batch to suck, but it doesn’t seem like it will…

Homebrew Batch #1 - Brewing

Sun, 13 Jan 2013 09:52:00 -0500

I think I am starting to understand why Charlie Papazian repeatedly says “Relax. Don’t worry. Have a homebrew.” I made what seemed like a ton of mistakes, but it at least looks like things are progressing well so far.

The beer itself is meant to be a cross between a Wit and an IPA, emphasizing citrus flavors found in both styles. It is single-hopped with Citra and finished with a healthy amount of fresh orange and tangerine zest.

Four ounces of Citra hops, ready for the boil!

Most homebrew books and websites recommended avoiding the white “pith” by not zesting too deeply, as it lends an unpleasantly bitter flavor - easy enough.

…and here’s where things started to go wrong. I was attempting to do a full six-gallon boil by using two burners, but was not able to reach a full rolling boil. I was able to come close (203 F), so it will be easy enough to reach by doing either partial boils or smaller batches (I am leaning towards doing 2/3 batches). Supposedly not reaching a full boil is not a huge deal while using extract, but it does diminish hop utilization, which is fairly sucky given the goal of this beer.

After my first hop addition, I started to sanitize the equipment I would be using while transferring the wort to the fermenter. In what was a serious FML moment for a first-time homebrewer, the floating thermometer I was planning on using broke while being sanitized. The only other thermometer I had was a digital thermometer typically used for meat, which was harder to sanitize and seemed very off. I used the ice bath method to chill the wort, but kept getting ~100 F readings over an hour in. I ended up having to cover it up and leave it overnight. The next morning, the thermometer was still reading ~100 F, even though the room was below room temperature as it does not have a heating duct and its door was closed. I poured some out, stuck a finger in, assumed it was under 75 F, and decided to pitch the yeast. I got a starting gravity of 1.083, much higher than the ~1.060 I was aiming for.

I brewed on Tuesday evening, pitched the yeast Wednesday morning, and had largely given up hope by Friday. Everything seemed to be going wrong - the risk of contamination was (and still is) very high, there may not be enough yeast for the gravity, and there was no visible signs of fermentation after 48 hours. My co-workers asked about it and I told them I was going to dump it over the weekend and start over.

Then, on Saturday morning, I opened up my closet and saw gunk filling the airlock. This is not good in that it shows I did not have enough headspace, but is good in that it is a very clear sign of fermentation. I took the airlock out, sanitized it, and dumped a bit down the drain, trying to keep as much yeast in by pouring slowly. I had to do this a few times, but took care to sanitize the airlock each time, and have not had to do it in over 12 hours.

Here’s what is going to change for next time:

Partial boil or smaller batch size (for hop utilization)
Better thermometer with a decent back-up (for accuracy)
Wort chiller (to help avoid contamination by reaching pitching temperature more quickly)
Label carboy by gallon (to ensure proper headspace - I probably had more than 5 gallons given I did not achieve a rolling boil)

I’m also planning on getting a few more items, including two more carboys so I can have multiple beers fermenting at a time (hey, my closet does have plenty of room). I am still ready to accept this first batch sucking, with everything that has gone wrong, but find a bit of optimism in how amazing it smells plus the lack of anything green. Who knows? I’m relaxed, not worried, and ready to start my next homebrew already.

This Post Sums Up My Feelings About the End of the Lockout

Sun, 06 Jan 2013 13:42:00 -0500

This Post Sums Up My Feelings About the End of the Lockout:

Gary Bettman…

…has been the commissioner of the NHL for just under 20 years. During this time, the NHL has seen:

4 work stoppages (3 lockouts + 1 strike)
2,323 games cancelled
$1.615 billion of NHL revenue lost this (now partial) season alone, with another $765 million of player salary lost

Am I happy that the lockout is over? Hells to the yes. But why hasn’t this bozo been fired yet? His first offer (57/43 split —> 43/57 split) was just plain offensive, and it has been the NHL that has had to back down on nearly every issue. If the NHL offered this deal six months ago, we wouldn’t have lost a single game. P.S. Please fire Bill Daly while you’re at it, as well as anyone else corrupted by Bettman.

(Image Source)

Happy Beer Year's Eve!

Mon, 31 Dec 2012 18:43:49 -0500

Well, maybe that isn’t the official holiday, but it certainly has been mine. After picking up materials to wax my beer to be cellared the other day, I’ve been itching to cellar a few beers, even if I don’t have any whales to cellar at the moment. Besides, while Founders is readily available, their stouts are pretty fan-friggin-tastic. Extremely bootleg details to follow!

I cut my Resin can just over the gold above the name to allow the bottles enough room to be dipped. While I waited, I just happened to enjoy Ommegang’s Tripel Perfection, the only beer from said brewery that made my want list. I found a cellared bottle chillin’ by the register at Westmere Bev (waxed, coincidentally) and promptly grabbed it!

6 Crayola crayons + 10 mini glue sticks + medium/lowish heat later…

The molten goo, embellished by flash!

I thought this was very easy to do, especially if one is patient and willing for medium/low heat to do its trick… I could have done 10-12 bottles with the ingredients I used, maybe more, and will be mindful to adjust next time. Cheers!

This pretty much sums up any time I get slightly excited about...

Sun, 02 Dec 2012 01:21:39 -0500

This pretty much sums up any time I get slightly excited about lockout talks…

Update & Twenty+ Ticks

Fri, 30 Nov 2012 01:31:00 -0500

Updated my beer list today with v1.447 - the following breweries are represented with at least twenty ticks:

Three-Day Weekend + Three Beer Stores = -$300

Mon, 12 Nov 2012 16:21:00 -0500

Payday was Friday and, given that I work in a school, I had today off. I honor significant days from my dad’s time by drinking good beer - we chose to bury him on Veteran’s Day seven years ago, delaying it almost two months for the significance. This weekend, as you will see here, it was easy. I decided to hit Spirited on Saturday, before heading down to visit friends in Jersey on Sunday night, and then hit two beer stores while in Jersey. I found Ramsey Liquors via BeerAdvocate and didn’t plan on going to a third, but a friend recommended Gary’s Wine & Marketplace, which was less than ten minutes away from where we were having lunch, so how could I resist? I’m going to have to budget like whoa in the remaining 11 days before my next paycheck, but there is NO chance I will run out of beer in that time. Prost, Vati!

Spirited grabs:

Ramsey Liquors grabs:

Cricket Hill Reserve Russian Imperial Stout (14SDC)
Flying Fish Exit 8 (14SDC)
Harpoon Pott’s Landbier*
Heavy Seas Smoke on the Water
Lost Abbey Devotion
Lost Abbey Lost & Found
Mikkeller Hoppy’ Lovin’ Christmas
Old Schoolhouse Ruud Awakening IPA (14SDC)
Pale Horse Hopyard Dog
Port Brewing Midnight Expression
Southampton Triple
Struise + Mikkeller Elliot Brew
Terrapin + Shmaltz Reunion Ale ‘12 (have had Shmaltz version, this is Terrapin’s version)
Terrapin Samurai Krunkles
Voodoo 4 Seasons IPA

Gary’s Wine & Marketplace grabs:

River Horse Hop-a-lot-amus x4 (thanks Aine! x2 for 14SDC)
St. Bernardus Tokyo
Uncommon Brewers Baltic Porter x4 (x2 for 14SDC)
Unibroue Quelque Chose

*I have a history with Pott’s Brauerei. I did not drink beer for most of high school as most of my friends didn’t, but knew I would be going on a student exchange trip to Oelde before senior year started. Shortly after I turned 18 in October of my senior year, my dad offered me my first beer, a Löwenbräu. Over the next few months, I was sporadically allowed to have many quality beers, mostly pilsners and lagers of German (and to a lesser extent Czech) origin.

I spent three weeks of the spring of senior year in Oelde, which has made a permanent mark on my love of beer. Let me be emphatic! here: there was a beer festival about half a mile away from my host’s house! (The equivalent of) 75 cents for .5l of beer! Brewery-sponsored sports leagues, with cheap beer at all events! Direct recycling - bottles bought by case at the brewery and directly returned to the brewery - aided my drunk-as-hell people obediently placing empty bottles in plastic cases even six+ hours into a party! ”Ein Topspiel” between Borussia Dortmund (the local heroes) and Bayern München, with over 80,000 ridonkulous fans going buckwild! Drunk biking! Drunk hitting on girls in terrible German! Good times!!!

In any case, Pott’s was the local brewery, right in Oelde (which is probably considered a small city, but is pretty durn small, just sayin’). While some of their styles were not my favorite, I had enough of the hefe and pils to add them to my list when I first created it, even though that was about a decade after I had them. I still love hefes, though am not as bowled over as I used to be, and can appreciate a good pils, but for the most part have still not come around to lagers (outside of those from Jack’s Abby). Long story short, this is an interpretation of one of their styles I did not care for, but am pretty damn excited to drink it nonetheless!

Well, I just experienced one hell of a perk to keeping a beer...

Sun, 14 Oct 2012 20:38:00 -0400

Well, I just experienced one hell of a perk to keeping a beer list, especially one with wants - my mom accumulated 40 different types of beer (with four being in six-packs and one twelve-pack of four types) while on trips to Asheville, NC and Guelph, ON as well as a local visit to Wagner Valley. After I got another 23 different types at Finger Lakes Beverage Center on the way home, my trunk was home to 89 bottles of beer (if you’re doing the math, it would have been 91 if I hadn’t drank two the night before). Good times.

Note: I may edit in BA links over time, but not looking to do all that tonight!

Mom’s Asheville, NC grabs:

Asheville Escape Artist Pale Ale
Asheville Ninja Porter
Asheville Shiva IPA
Bell’s Two-Hearted Ale
Foothills Hoppyum IPA
Foothills Oktoberfest
Foothills People’s Porter
Foothills Torch Pilsner
Founders Devil Dancer
Founders Dirty Bastard
French Broad 13 Rebels ESB
French Broad Anvil Porter
French Broad Gateway Kolsch
French Broad IPA
French Broad Rye Hopper
French Broad Wee Heavy-er
Highland Black Mocha Stout
Highland Gaelic Ale
Highland Great Gatsby Abbey x6
Highland Kashmir IPA
Highland Oatmeal Porter
Highland Razor Wit
Highland St. Terese’s Pale Ale
Olde Hickory Black Raven IPA
Olde Hickory Hefeweizen

Mom’s Wagner Valley grabs:

Dockside Amber Lager
Grace House Honey Wheat
Mill Street Pilsner
Oatmeal Stout
Sled Dog Doppelbock
Sled Dog Trippelbock
Summer Sail Hefeweizen

Mom’s Guelph, ON grabs:

Okanagan Spring Pale Ale x6
Sleeman Cream Ale x3
Sleeman Honey Brown x3
Sleeman Light x3
Sleeman Original Draught x3
Wellington County Dark Ale x6
Wellington Iron Duke x6
Wellington Special Pale Ale x6

My Finger Lakes Beverage Center grabs:

Anderson Valley Imperial IPA
Breckenridge Christmas Ale
Buffalo Bill’s Alimony Ale
Buffalo Bill’s Pumpkin Ale
Cortland Flight 410 (Bourbon Barrel Aged)
Cortland Sunrise Coffee Stout
Evil Twin The Cowboy
Great Divide Hades
Great Divide Hercules
Great Divide Wild Raspberry
Great Divide Yeti
Great Lakes Commodore Perry
Great Lakes Lake Erie Monster
Henry Weinhard’s Woodland Pass IPA
Horseheads Peach Wheat
Horseheads Pumpkin Ale
Kiuchi Commemorative Ale
Middle Ages X
Midnight Sun Monk’s Mistress
Midnight Sun Panty Peeler
Mikkeller Frelser
Schmaltz + Terrapin Reunion Ale ‘11
Stillwater Autumnal

I knew my mom was accumulating beer, but I didn’t know she had been accumulating that much beer. As a guy living on his own, aka an owner of a sparsely populated fridge, I have never not had enough space for beer, but I don’t even have close to enough space for all this beer, especially after last weekend’s Heady Topper run. With my birthday (and friends) coming up next weekend, this is a very, very good thing.

Chatham Brewing + MA Beer Run

Sat, 06 Oct 2012 19:09:00 -0400

Seeing as Chatham NY and Lenox MA are only 30-40 minutes apart, I decided to add Chatham Brewing to today’s Spirited beer run. In hindsight, this was an absolutely brilliant idea. The drive was still pretty nice, despite the weather being shitty, and I got all of the following beers for $135 ($20 at Chatham, $115 at Spirited):

Chatham grabs:

Hop Crop IPA (growler) - too new/not reviewed for link, but will edit in soon enough
Bourbon Barrel Brown (bomber)

Chatham samples:

Hop Crop IPA (first sample, to confirm growler fill) - too new/not reviewed for link, but will edit in soon enough
8 Barrel Super IPA (second sample, to compare to Hop Crop - I do like 8 Barrel better, but fans of dry-hopped beers may prefer Hop Crop - both are quite solid)
Blueberry Wheat (fruit beers helped me get into beer, and though I am not a huge fan anymore, this was fairly solid) - too new/not reviewed for link, but will edit in soon enough
Oktoberfest (very solid example for the style) - too new/not reviewed for link, but will edit in soon enough

Spirited grabs:

AleSmith YuleSmith Summer (discounted)
Baxter Brewing Celsius (I know cold singles = beers Sean wants to get rid of, aka discounted, so I just grabbed this - we shall see)
Bruery Oude Tart (reserved for 14SDC - replaces Bruery Autumn Maple for the crew, which was decent and easily re-obtainable, but I am sure this will go further in a tasting)
Jack’s Abby Ginger Juice (recommended by Sean)
Jack’s Abby Leisure Time Lager (recommended by Sean)
Jack’s Abby RIPL Effect (recommended by Sean)
Maine Beer Company Mean Old Tom (I could have sworn I had this and at least one more Maine Beer Company beer before, but none on my list - enjoyed during editing this post, 44/50 rating)
Port Brewing Hop 15 (liked it enough before - 47/50 rating - that I got two, one for 14SDC, one for myself)
Port Brewing Mongo
Port Brewing Wipeout IPA
Pretty Things Meadowlark IPA (to replace the one I had set aside for Fuj then drank myself knowing that I was going back to Spirited soon - definitely good stuff, somewhere in the gray area between IPA and DIPA)
Pretty Things Once Upon a Time, November 22nd, 1838, X Ale (recommended by Sean)
Pretty Things Once Upon a Time, February 22nd, 1945, X Ale (recommended by Sean)
Slumbrew Flower Envy
Wachusett Imperial Pumpkin
Wells & Young’s Courage Russian Imperial Stout (cheers to Laonin, a fellow WoW nerd/guildie who I talk beer with - he celebrates first-time significant boss kills with this beer)

I’m not going to do my beer geek math yet again, but, given that most of these bottles are bombers, the price tag was pretty darn good, as always. Spirited does a flat 15% discount for six bottles or more, something I really wish local beverage stores would adopt. Most local stores do mix-six discounts, which is quite restrictive in that it is (usually) limited to 12oz bottles in multiples of six. In addition, I have gotten the discount when I shouldn’t have as well as not received the discount when I should have - it can be very inconsistent. A flat discount for six or more makes way more sense, is much easier on the person ringing the order up, and is far kinder and simpler to the consumer.

fuckyeahhockey: Meanwhile in Soviet-Russia

Wed, 19 Sep 2012 16:49:49 -0400

fuckyeahhockey:

Meanwhile in Soviet-Russia

MA Beer Run - Take Five

Sat, 15 Sep 2012 15:59:35 -0400

16 days since my last trip to Spirited. Why go so often? Well, their Mikkeller selection is outstanding, they actually have Allagash (NY doesn’t), plus a ton of stuff we don’t get from Pretty Things, Clown Shoes, Backlash, Cisco, Element, and other kickass MA breweries. About an hour door-to-door and $10ish in gas - totally worth it when getting grabs like these, especially when each “beer” averages under $3:

Backlash Convergence (recommended by Sean)
Boulevard Sixth Glass
Bruery Autumn Maple (recommended by Sean)
Element Red Giant (recommended by Sean)
Evil Twin Soft DK
Mikkeller Beer Hop Breakfast
Mikkeller Black Hole - Bourbon Barrel Aged (the tequila edition went over well at the last tasting, figured I’d grab a different version)
Mikkeller Rauch Geek Breakfast
Port Brewing Hop 15 (recommended by Sean)
Pretty Things Meadowlark IPA (yes I will save it for you or a tasting Fuj)
Stillwater A Saison Darkly

One of the coolest beer labels ever

Thu, 13 Sep 2012 18:08:02 -0400

One of the coolest beer labels ever

mr. sheeps: This Is How I Use BeerAdvocate

Tue, 11 Sep 2012 07:43:00 -0400

mr. sheeps: This Is How I Use BeerAdvocate:

thefuj:

Unfortunately, that’s just not how collabs work. There’s pretty much nothing that says because it was brewed in a certain location that it’s that brewery’s beer. This is really the basis of “contract brewing” and why Matt FX can brew Brooklyn’s stuff without their name being on the label, and how Olde Saratoga can do the same with He’brew, Coney Island, and Keegan’s. The only requirement on the label is to say where the beer was brewed, not by whom.

This is especially pertinent to Stillwater Artisanal Ales since Brian Strumke is a “gypsy brewer” (or whatever term they’re throwing around these days) and doesn’t actually have his own private brew space for Stillwater, not even at Of Love and Regret. This is different than contract brewing since Brian actually goes and does the brewing himself with usually the brewmaster at the brewery in question rather than handing the recipe off to someone else (same goes for the maker of that Meadowlark IPA you had the other day, Pretty Things, which I didn’t get a chance to try when I was in MA, you bastardo).

So he travels the world renting space and equipment from breweries all over the globe (all of whom use 12 Percent to import, as far as I know) adding a touch of local flair to each of his brews. And while that brewery may package and bottle that beer for him it’s still technically a Stillwater Artisanal Ale.

Well, it isn’t how collaborations work in the case of a “gypsy brewer,” which I didn’t know about Stillwater. I already list all beers done by contract by their original brewery, and wouldn’t call them collaborations in the first place. The majority of collaborations - two (production) breweries coming together with one producing it - are listed with the producing brewery first.

In any case, wrong or not, that’s still how I use BA. I only have a handful of reviews, but I have sent dozens of requests to add/change info (mostly ABV and other small stuff). In this case, they haven’t and likely won’t change the info (and shouldn’t, since I was wrong).

P.S. v1.117 was supposed to be publicly shared in the first place, my b

This Is How I Use BeerAdvocate

Mon, 10 Sep 2012 18:07:00 -0400

As a dork - in this case, attemtping to update Hof Ten Dormaal/Stillwater’s Bronze Age listing:

Submit a Change Request - Change Type: Brewer

My bottle clearly states that this is “brewed and bottled by Brouwerij Hof Ten Dormaal” as well as that it is a “PRODUCT of BELGIUM”. I have uploaded a cropped (and crappy iPhone, my b) picture here: http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/3140/hoftendormaalstillwater.jpg

While this could be both breweries brewing the beer, that does not seem to be the case to me, based on my bottle’s label (which matches the image uploaded to BA) plus the lack of this beer on the BA page for Brouwerij Hof Ten Dormaal.

Cheers!

Update: Apparently I was wrong, which makes more sense when re-examining the label.

Photo

Wed, 05 Sep 2012 19:43:16 -0400

MA Beer Run - Take Four

Thu, 30 Aug 2012 19:01:00 -0400

It’s the Thursday before the last weekend of my vacation, so I decided to stock up for an epic finale. It’s only been 19 days since my last trip to Spirited, but I wanted some guaranteed good grabs, and I got them:

21st Amendment Allies Win the War! (re-try)
21st Amendment Hop Crisis
Backlash Declaration (recommended by Sean)
Backlash Groundswell
Berkshire Hefeweizen
Boulevard Unfiltered Wheat
Bruery Tart of Darkness (recommended by Sean)
Castelain + Two Brothers Diversey & Lill(e)
Clown Shoes Brown Angel
De Dolle Oerbier
Firestone Walker Double DBA
Hoppin’ Frog D.O.R.I.S. the Destroyer
Jolly Pumpkin Noel De Calabaza
Lost Abbey Deliverance
Mikkeller Black Hole (Barrel Aged - Tequila)
Mikkeller It’s Alive! (White Wine Barrel Aged - Lychee) (recommended by Sean)
New England Friar’s Quad
Notch Tafelbier
Pretty Things Jack D’or (re-try)
Pretty Things Meadowlark IPA
White Birch Patersbier (recommended by Sean)

Using my geeky helpful beer formula, these total 55.41 “beers” worth. With a $188 tally, this meant each “beer” set me back $3.40. If I were to have skipped the two most expensive beers (Bruery and Lost Abbey), the average would drop to $3. This is the most I have spent on beer at one time, but considering all the quality / rarer beers I got, did I get my money’s worth? Hell.yes.