Pittsburgh - New Beers & Local Breweries

Dare i ask how much the BCBS was?

 

I am so pumped getting my first home brew kit next wen.

 

I asked one of the guys who works at the New Kensington one and he said they already broke ground. There are a bunch of new buildings going up in the lot and I can't figure out which one it is going to be.

 

Opened my last Voodoo Blackbeards Delight this evening. What a green apple bomb! My wife described it as chocolate covered green apples. I still kind of enjoyed it though for what it is worth. I wouldn't mind them taking another crack at this. I think it has potential minus the infection.

 

Kind of new here, but had lurked and saw the old thread get nuked and am glad to see a rebirth.

In any case, I keep seeing that Sour Monkey is very well thought of in these parts. I'm not a very experienced sour drinker, but I've enjoyed some things from Draii Laag in the past. That said, the Sour Monkey to me is just tart, tart, tart! Very one dimensional. What am I not getting? To those that like, and maybe love it, what are you getting that I'm not? Genuine curiosity motivates my asking!

 

I don't know much, but I don't think "green apples" is an infection, but I could be wrong. Maybe someone who knows more can help out here? Isn't it usually Acetaldehyde that causes something to taste of green apples?

 

I thought it was tart, but I thought it was delicious. I didn't find it overly tart or acidic. It seemed nicely balanced and the 9.5% is well hidden.

 

http://www.bjcp.org/faults.php

 

It is not the same beer I had on tap at the release. I've had it 5 times now between on tap and my bottles and friend's bottles. The green apple flavor definitely has progressed. It is all over the reviews as well.

 

Maybe its infected with

<--------------------------

 

I planned on taking my bottle to a tasting Sat., looks like I know what beer to review next.

 

Yeah I was curious for thoughts not links. I can google. That's all. sorry I didn't clear that up. Thanks though for the extra link

 

No harm no foul @BigHornyDevil . I'm a big fan of your work, from the other thread, not brewing.

 

I thought it was a pretty good beer. It was s sour triple as advertised. Not one dimensional IMO. Thought that the sweetness from the triple cut the tartness nicely. Very drinkable and I loved the price point. If this became a regular thing Iwwouldn't be upset at all.

 

The bourbon county stout and barley wine were priced at $10 each, not sure how many there are left because they didn't put a limit. Food and cocktail menu looked inspired as well. Pretty new place I liked it

 

I would try that out depending on what was dropping.

I think it not as fruity as some sours. Which can be a nice change. I like the yeasty golden deliciousness that still peeks through. And most of all I like the masking of the 9.5%. Agree with @dtx00 too.

 

I feel as though Sour Monkey gets less tart towards the last sip than when the glass is full. Might just be a tolerance thing but it is pleasant.

 

I've never had any of your beers but if you'd like to shoot some my way for testing, feel free.

 

When you said a bag of beer, it made me think of high school where for a brief time we had milk in a bag where you'd just pierce it with a straw that was sharp on one end. Really weird.

 

Agree that the framing of a criticism is integral to it being taken seriously. Even if a friend (whose taste profile is familiar to me) were to say that they "were not a fan" of a particular beer/brewery, I would still expect that they flesh it out a little, because without reasoning it devolves into a throwaway, to the level of "their beers suck."

In private conversation, I think we may tolerate "their beers suck," but still ask that it be backed up by reason--though we shouldn't resort to something so reductive in a public forum, because I agree that it's instigative (sometimes only for the sake of being so) and distracts from whatever objective reasoning may follow. Especially on a forum such as this where the brewers themselves are known to frequent--baseless criticisms are likely to fail to bring about change, because they are easy to ignore.