What beer are you drinking? Winter 12/13

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Originally Posted by AaronWF

This is my favorite everyday beer. Great on its own, great with food; I feel very privileged to have regular access to this stuff fresh. I just recently tried what many consider its equal, if not superior, Pliny the Elder. I love it! It tastes a bit bigger than the ZD, and while the hops are perhaps just as present, they aren't quite as direct as the single hop strain used in the ZD. If I lived on the West Coast, I'd drink Pliny all the time, but being that I'm a Chicagoan with a soft spot for the FFF house profile, I'm more than happy to keep my ZD.

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Totally agree about ZD. I always try to keep some in the fridge. Never tried Pliny the Elder before but I'll have to look for some the next time I'm out west. If you're looking for another great similarly hoppy beer check out Anderson Valley Heelch O Hops. It's available at a couple places around Chicago.

Settled in tonight with a Squatter's Outer Darkness and it is really spot on the 10.5% ABV doesn't hurt either!

Having a Cuvée Des Jacobins Rouge. Never seen this around here before, so either I'm not paying attention or we have some new distribution in these parts. Either way WOWEE. This is some damned fine stuff.

Moylan's Hopsickle = Yuck. Why do so many of the west coast brewers insist on bringing out the bitterness of hops instead of focusing on the hops' great flavors (fruit, citrus, mint, etc.?)

Picked up a 2013 Sierra Nevada Ruthless Rye today. It's my after dinner beverage of choice, this evening. A nice beer, with one of the most prolific heads of any beer I've poured in recent memory, I'll admit. A nice drinker, but for the most part, uninspiring. I just don't get the whole rye beer thing. It seems the more brands I try of these, the less I get of the "spicy", "peppery", "blah-blah-blah", that the label says it is going to impart. I can't help but think it's simply a play on the recent rye whiskey binge from the crafts, and with no real benefits. Am I whacked, here? Anywho, there's nothing wrong with it, but any suggestion that it is going to give me what I get from a good rye whiskey is pure folly.

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Originally Posted by smokinjoe

Picked up a 2013 Sierra Nevada Ruthless Rye today. It's my after dinner beverage of choice, this evening. A nice beer, with one of the most prolific heads of any beer I've poured in recent memory, I'll admit. A nice drinker, but for the most part, uninspiring. I just don't get the whole rye beer thing. It seems the more brands I try of these, the less I get of the "spicy", "peppery", "blah-blah-blah", that the label says it is going to impart. I can't help but think it's simply a play on the recent rye whiskey binge from the crafts, and with no real benefits. Am I whacked, here? Anywho, there's nothing wrong with it, but any suggestion that it is going to give me what I get from a good rye whiskey is pure folly.

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I love Sierra Nevada but I agree with you regarding the Ruthless Rye. I'm amazed (or maybe relieved) that it's one of their seasonal releases.

I picked up two 6-packs of Bells Hopslam today, just released.
I see they were bottled one week ago today, January 3, 2013.
I poured one in a large snifter and put my large bulbous nose in it and it was like cutting open a fresh grapefruit and squeezing it in my face,....
Nothing like fresh Michigan beer!!

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Originally Posted by OscarV

I picked up two 6-packs of Bells Hopslam today, just released.
I see they were bottled one week ago today, January 3, 2013.
I poured one in a large snifter and put my large bulbous nose in it and it was like cutting open a fresh grapefruit and squeezing it in my face,....
Nothing like fresh Michigan beer!!

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JEALOUS!

Supposedly it hits KY at the end of the month. Can't wait!! :yum:

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Originally Posted by Clavius

JEALOUS!

Supposedly it hits KY at the end of the month. Can't wait!! :yum:

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I'll trade you MI beer for KY bourbon anytime my Brother.

Wonder if Beerworks will have any the week of their anniversary. Bet so. That's what they opened with last year.