Ymm, Beer

[devildeac]

From 5/13/16:

Carolina Mountain Monster (bottled February, 2016)-ABC

A bit thinner pour, appearance, mouthfeel and ABV than its older sibling. Small head, lots of bakers chocolate, molasses and espresso aromas with a fair amount of dark, dried fruit flavors upon sipping. The SRM and IBUs are the same and the ABV has been dropped to 11% but I'm not sure I could discern that or really appreciate much difference versus the 2015 elixir. Still pretty potent stuff as about 7 ounces of each of these the last 2 nights has made the stair climb a bit of an adventure . I've got about 8 ounces of each left tonight. Maybe I should sip them both upstairs this evening .

From this weekend:

c*rolina Mountain Monster (bottled 2/1016)-Asheville Brewing Company

Lovingly delivered by ricks68 this weekend with 11 ounces consumed Saturday and Sunday nights. Pretty similar to my initial review, perhaps picking up a bit of licorice in the aging process. I don't think it had turned but I wouldn't age this one any longer than a year.

[devildeac]

Probably my first post in this thread. Disclaimer: I don't know much about beer except that I like to drink it when I have time. I'm early in my career. So I'm still working more hours than would be ideal and don't have as much time to drink or learn about beer as I'd like. But y'all are my inspiration.

Anyway - I finished fellowship training at UVA in June, and wanted to pass along some suggestions if anybody is going to Charlottesville for the game this week. If you haven't, you really must try the Brew Ridge trail in Shenandoah Valley central Virginia near Charlottesville. It's spectacularly gorgeous atmosphere, and seriously good beer. My favorites in order are #1 Devil's Backbone brewery, Wild Wolf brewery (get the flight of course!), and Blue Mountain Brewery (which most in the area would probably rank #1). Definitely also hit South Street Brewery downtown Charlottesville (my favorite beer there is Satan's Pony) and Three Notch'd Brewery is quite popular as well. Starr Hill Brewery is also nearby - but I never made it there. You will not regret this - and it's a short easy drive bucket list trip for all you beer-o-philes!

Regrettably, it will probably still be cold this week in the area. But at least make this happen this spring/summer when it's nice. The beer is seriously tasty, but to get the experience (spectacular atmosphere and also excellent food), you really just have to go.

Keep living the dream!

And you don't even have to come up with eIBUs, advanced offensive/defensive eABV or provide links to any insider stories on this thread . Plus, as an added bonus, you might even encounter Tripping William on one of your trips to Stella Brew .

[Tripping William]

It's back:

Attachment 7142

It is, indeed, back and (much to my surprise) our local Whole Foods had a decent-size inventory of it for sale just now. I picked up two bombers on my lunch break. $17 each. Happy to go grab more this afternoon if others want me to snag. Not sure how long their stash will last.

[devildeac]

It is, indeed, back and (much to my surprise) our local Whole Foods had a decent-size inventory of it for sale just now. I picked up two bombers on my lunch break. $17 each. Happy to go grab more this afternoon if others want me to snag. Not sure how long their stash will last.

I'll take a couple if you return to Whole Foods. I'll ASSume they will be placed in my usual storage spot to be picked up at a deserted bowling alley sometime in the future.

Thanks for asking!

[Tripping William]

I'll take a couple if you return to Whole Foods. I'll ASSume they will be placed in my usual storage spot to be picked up at a deserted bowling alley sometime in the future.

Thanks for asking!

Sounds good. I'll head over there in a couple of hours. Happy to pick up & store for you and any other bowling aficionados . . . . .

[devildeac]

Sounds good. I'll head over there in a couple of hours. Happy to pick up & store for you and any other bowling aficionados . . . . .

Interestingly enough, we'll be passing through WS next Wednesday on our way to WV for a couple days, then to Columbus, OH to visit son and DIL. Hmmm...

[devildeac]

I need to get into the beer marketing/PR business. Surely I could come up with better names than this:

LOWER DE BOOM - Barleywine - 21st Amendment Brewery, San Leandro, CA

[FadedTackyShirt]

I need to get into the beer marketing/PR business. Surely I could come up with better names than this:

LOWER DE BOOM - Barleywine - 21st Amendment Brewery, San Leandro, CA

Didn't realize 21st Amendment had opened a brewery in San Leandro. Their flagship location is in San Francisco, two blocks from AT&T Park. Great location with pretty good beers. Watermelon Wheat is their best known beer.

San Leandro is an East Bay industrial town. Looks like 21st Amendment is in the same industrial park as Drake's. Pretty dreary out of the way location, but two decent breweries makes it more worthwhile.

Anchor Brewing has a pop up beer garden directly across McCovey Cove from AT&T Park. They have all 20+ Anchor beers on tap. Definitely a great spot before Giants games. Anchor will be building a major brewery in the same area (between AT&T Park and Chase Center (Warriors new SF arena)).

[Tripping William]

Interestingly enough, we'll be passing through WS next Wednesday on our way to WV for a couple days, then to Columbus, OH to visit son and DIL. Hmmm...

Let me know timing (here or text or PM). I picked up four more bombers, so I have two with your name on them.

[devildeac]

Let me know timing (here or text or PM). I picked up four more bombers, so I have two with your name on them.

Excellent. I'll send you a text once Mrs. dd let's me know our travel plans . Many thanks!

[devildeac]

Didn't realize 21st Amendment had opened a brewery in San Leandro. Their flagship location is in San Francisco, two blocks from AT&T Park. Great location with pretty good beers. Watermelon Wheat is their best known beer.

San Leandro is an East Bay industrial town. Looks like 21st Amendment is in the same industrial park as Drake's. Pretty dreary out of the way location, but two decent breweries makes it more worthwhile.

Anchor Brewing has a pop up beer garden directly across McCovey Cove from AT&T Park. They have all 20+ Anchor beers on tap. Definitely a great spot before Giants games. Anchor will be building a major brewery in the same area (between AT&T Park and Chase Center (Warriors new SF arena)).

From one of my 2014 reviews:

"Fireside Chat-21st Amendment Brewing...

...Note: this is a canned brew and is brewed in Cold Spring, Minnesota."

I don't know if the new production facility (I learned that when I had Toaster Pastry last summer as their first brew from the "new" joint) replaces the MN location, the old SF location or both.

Monk's Blood is very tasty, too.

[FadedTackyShirt]

A few months after the 1989 SF Earthquake, Gordon-Biersch opened up in the shadow of the Embarcadero Freeway in SF. Horrible location in a crappy part of the city. SF eventually tore down the freeway and built the ball park in 2000 and GB had a great location 4-5 blocks from the park.

Their beers are very good on tap, but terrible in a bottle. Dan Gordon spent his junior year abroad in Germany and later got a brewing degree back in Germany. His beers are very authentic, but their contract brewed bottled beers are terrible. Closed a few years ago in SF and the founders sold out. Now seem to be primarily located in airports.

21st Amendment does have a lot of canned beer and suspect the MN location was contract brewing.

Wild that a once crappy SF neighborhood morphed into a trendy neighborhood thanks to an earthquake and baseball.

Weird to see Sierra Nevada billed as a local North Carolina beer (relatively new Asheville brewery). They're from Chico, CA (Aaron Rodgers' hometown), right in the flood plain of the Oroville Dam.

[devildeac]

A few months after the 1989 SF Earthquake, Gordon-Biersch opened up in the shadow of the Embarcadero Freeway in SF. Horrible location in a crappy part of the city. SF eventually tore down the freeway and built the ball park in 2000 and GB had a great location 4-5 blocks from the park.

Their beers are very good on tap, but terrible in a bottle. Dan Gordon spent his junior year abroad in Germany and later got a brewing degree back in Germany. His beers are very authentic, but their contract brewed bottled beers are terrible. Closed a few years ago in SF and the founders sold out. Now seem to be primarily located in airports.

21st Amendment does have a lot of canned beer and suspect the MN location was contract brewing.

Wild that a once crappy SF neighborhood morphed into a trendy neighborhood thanks to an earthquake and baseball.

Weird to see Sierra Nevada billed as a local North Carolina beer (relatively new Asheville brewery). They're from Chico, CA (Aaron Rodgers' hometown), right in the flood plain of the Oroville Dam.

And NC residents appreciate that, along with Oskar Blues and New Belgium building breweries in NC, Stone in Richmond and Deschutes' plans for 2019 (IIRC) for Roanoke, VA.

Think you could convince Russian River to open a second location in the Raleigh area?

[mattman91]

And NC residents appreciate that, along with Oskar Blues and New Belgium building breweries in NC, Stone in Richmond and Deschutes' plans for 2019 (IIRC) for Roanoke, VA.

Think you could convince Russian River to open a second location in the Raleigh area?

NO! The Asheville area only has 7 or 8 new breweries planned for this year. We need RR more than Raleigh

[devildeac]

NO! The Asheville area only has 7 or 8 new breweries planned for this year. We need RR more than Raleigh

You're running out of beerealestate in the Asheville area. Triangle area much better destination.

[fuse]

Allagash Avance
Aged for a year in bourbon barrels, then 6 months with strawberries, and pediococcus and lactobacillus (no brett).

Mollasses and 4 yeast strains also noted on the bottle.

Bottle neck smelled like rich strawberries and balsamic vinagrette.

Really sharply sour at first sip, with no funk.
The nose is really delightful, so full of strawberry jam and lime(?).

Alcohol well hidden at 9.7%.
Tastes like a sour/spoiled strawberry soda.

Pretty unique. Wishing I had a soft cheese to pair it with.
The nose is better than the overall beer, which reminds me a bit of the Yazoo Duex Rouges I brought back from Nashville.
Have one other bottle in the fridge.

Allagash makes some incredible beer.

Cheers, hoping everyone is spending time with their loved ones tonight.

[fuse]

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/burly-b...ts-29338873360

Wish I could attend, seems like it would be fun.

[FadedTackyShirt]

And NC residents appreciate that, along with Oskar Blues and New Belgium building breweries in NC, Stone in Richmond and Deschutes' plans for 2019 (IIRC) for Roanoke, VA.

Think you could convince Russian River to open a second location in the Raleigh area?

Russian River is building a bigger and better spot in Sonoma County (Windsor). Their original Santa Rosa flagship location is a dump, albeit one with very good beers. They want to stay small and have spotty distribution even in the Bay Area.

Getting my annual Pliny the Younger fix tomorrow. Blasphemy, but not big on IPAs. That being said, PTY is terrific. Rare, but Russian River IPA is also very good. Blind Pig is pretty good, but not a fan of Pliny the Elder (too bitter). Huge fan of both Damnation and Aud Blonde. Their Belgians are great. Wish they'd offer more German styles.

Big fan of the ACC microbrewery pub crawls. So far have Durham, Raleigh, and Cville. Chapel Hill has Carolina Brewery (pretty good) and Top of the Hill (good location/spot, crappy beer).

[Tripping William]

Russian River is building a bigger and better spot in Sonoma County (Windsor). Their original Santa Rosa flagship location is a dump, albeit one with very good beers. They want to stay small and have spotty distribution even in the Bay Area.

Getting my annual Pliny the Younger fix tomorrow. Blasphemy, but not big on IPAs. That being said, PTY is terrific. Rare, but Russian River IPA is also very good. Blind Pig is pretty good, but not a fan of Pliny the Elder (too bitter). Huge fan of both Damnation and Aud Blonde. Their Belgians are great. Wish they'd offer more German styles.

Big fan of the ACC microbrewery pub crawls. So far have Durham, Raleigh, and Cville. Chapel Hill has Carolina Brewery (pretty good) and Top of the Hill (good location/spot, crappy beer).

Come to Deac-land. Foothills, Small Batch, Hoots and (now) Wise Man. All within a 30-minute stroll of one another.

[fuse]

2015 Foothills Sexual Chocolate

Poured really dark (duh) and a decent coffee coloured head.

First sip, soy 😭
Second sip, licorice. 😱

Clearly my palate is still off, maybe a bite of rich brownie will help.

Yea for brownie!

Pulls back into a richer, bourbon-y flavour.

Nose is very oaky, well matched by a dry finish.

I'll stand by my "bourbon barrel aged people's porter is better".
I was going to be crushed if my palate (or the beer) was spoiled.

Rich delicious sexual chocolate.
Some layers of vanilla, chocolate and bourbon.

Maybe like Hopslam, I'm past the fuss.
We're spoiled in North Carolina to have great beer.

Cheers!