What beer are you drinking now? #1764

Now that the virtual bar is open, nevermind me as I set things up for our theme day:


I'll order my beer in a second. Not sure when @LeperJim will show up, but @Lingenbrau might be in a little later (something about his clock being 3 hours off).

Anyhow, if you are unaware, you can choose to join us today in our corner of the bar with either:

• Books photo-bombing your pic or invading your post with thoughts on your chosen read
• A glass of epic porportions or style to wow...!!! the BA community
• A beer you haven't had in a while that you don't have a good reason for bypassing so often. Maybe you'll find a new fridge staple??

You don't have to join us, but we don't bite. Enjoy your beers of any sort in any glass with or without books, or put them all together - we're here for fun, either way.

 

Beer **** (bir ****) noun.
1. When your beer glass is anatomically correct and too hot for this forum.
2. A book of pictures of beautiful beers with enticing descriptions, that you would like to drink but cannot, because the beers are out of your league.
3. When a beer commercial is so perfect (see below) that when you see it at age 15 you swear lifelong loyalty to the beer even though you have never tried it, and won't be able to buy it for many years.

 

In 1987 I moved back to Maine. Sometime after the move I had my first Sam Adams Boston Lager. While I don't think it's stood the test of time, it was a vast improvement over the AALs I had been drinking.
Also 1987 marked the debut novel of Scott Turow, Presumed Innocent. Easily one of the best novels I've had the pleasure of reading (and re-reading). Turow is a beautiful writer who has a rare gift. I recommend any of his books, but particularly Presumed Innocent.



I would like to offer a toast of appreciation to @LeperJim, @Lingenbrau, @cjgiant, and others who keep this site fresh and interesting.

 

---------------------------
In the early days

A Japanese beer, the first

Darkness or nothing
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I first had this beer at least 10 years ago, back before I was on Untappd or BA. Haven't had it since that time. Back then I only drank dark beers, and I remember digging this a lot way back then. Paired with my Fujiyama glass, and my favorite book from high school (took me months to finish it back then.)

 

Good morning BA, have a great Saturday! Looking to be a nice day. Hoping to go find some solar glasses today or tomorrow. I looked online and some retail stores are supposed to have them. We will see how it turns out.

Beers this morning:

Revisit after 3 years. This is amazing! Flavors of big tangerine, grapefruit, pineapple, peach, mango, melon, lemon zest, orange peel, light pepper, and pine hops; with moderate wheat, biscuit, light honeyed malt balance; and herbal, floral, grassy hop earthiness. Light-moderate pine, citrus rind, grassy, spicy bitterness on the finish. Medium-plus bodied; balanced bready/grainy malts and sticky hops in the mouthfeel. Light resins/rinds and increasing dryness, never astringent. Dangerously drinkable, mildly warming. This is just as fantastic as I remember. Literally just a higher ABV version of the regular Sumpin'. Will definitely get this again.


Been a while since I had this, even longer since I had it under a year old. 12/2016. This is fantastic! Flavors of huge dark chocolate, cocoa, coffee, caramel, toffee, dark bread, toasted biscuit, smoke, and char; with lighter notes of molasses, raisin, cherry, and herbal/peppery/piney hops. Light-moderate roast/char and piney/spicy hop bitterness on the finish. Full bodied creamy, bready, silky mouthfeel; lightly slick, hop stickiness, and chalky roast. Increasing bitter/roasted dryness, never acrid or astringent. Wow. I love this with some heavy age(3+ years), but this a pristine RIS right now; and way less aggressively bitter than I recall in the past with similar age. Very rich and complex. Glad I grabbed a 2015 pack a couple weeks ago, one of my stores still had it sitting on the shelf!


Fantastic scotch ale! Flavors of big caramel, toffee, vanilla, brown sugar, bourbon, toasted oak, brown bread, raisin, prune, plum, fig, cherry, and date; with lighter notes of chocolate, nuttiness, peat smoke, and leather. Touch of butterscotch. Light herbal hop bitterness and bourbon/oak tannin spiciness on the finish. Medium-full bodied creamy and fairly silky mouthfeel; lightly slick, sticky, chalky, and tannic from bourbon/oak and roast malts. Slight tannic dryness. Lightly warming 9.5%, no barrel booze. Extremely impressive and well rounded on complexity. Not overdone/boozy on barrel notes. Great mouthfeel. Very smooth. Just got another release locally last couple weeks. Will definitely have to grab another 4 pack. CW has basically only been sending MI the reserve and limited bomber releases. Wish they sent their year round stuff, but I am glad to have these easily available.


3 year revisit. Got a bottle recently through a friend. 12/16/16 dating. Just as fantastic as I remember. Flavors of big tart/sour cherry, raisin, plum, fig, currant, red wine, toasted oak, hay, straw, leather, and musty funk; with some brown sugar/bready malts; and a touch of balsamic vinegar and pepper. Light-moderate fruity/lactic tart/sourness and yeast/tannic oak spiciness on the finish. Medium bodied, well carbed and fairly crisp. Balanced grainy malts, lactic acid, and oak/wine/fruit tannins in the mouthfeel. Increasing lactic/tannin dryness, never puckering or astringent on tannins. Dangerously smooth for the ABV. Doesn't quite meet the hype level for me(as before), but this is still an outstanding sour. Really awesome well rounded Brett/Lacto complexities; with great wine barrel/currant balance, and enough malt character to keep it from being puckering on sourness.


Cheers



Still waiting on a new album, supposedly being released soon.

 

Upright • Four

This needs a little explaining... First, the books. I thought it would be cheating to use the same cookbooks I always use. Second, the glass. I have been pestering the guys at Upright for ages to get some proper glassware. All the while, this etched shaker glass has been sitting on a shelf in their taproom. A few weeks back, I decided I couldn't take it anymore and just bought it. Third, the beer. This is the beer that changed my opinion on beer – specifically beer in Portland. I remember the first time I drank it. Upright was the first brewery I ever visited. But they discontinued this beer at the end of last year... I still love this beer.

 

Ichtegem's Grand Cru Oud Bruin with a signed copy of Michael Jackson's "Great Beers of Belgium".

 

A rousing start to the festivities!! Might have to put out a few more chairs.

So far, I am guessing we are batting .000 on new fridge-staple beers, perhaps only because @JouerAvecLeFeu's beer is discontinued?

@GreenBayBA - that glass truly deserves the old blue emoticon with a few extra "!!" - not sure which the committee will eventually go with - ? ? ??

@lordofthewiens - nice throwback book and beer. Nice to see you loosened the tie, it's not a formal event

@CanConPhilly - nice tying together of the themes. Not sure I've ever seen you with a dark beer (Philly beer week is a hazy memory)

I can't possibly comment on all posts, but I am happy to see people embracing the theme already. Cheers, all!!!!

 

I've always told my son that the anarchist belongs in the library. This is to ensure that yon future revoltionary is given the proper enthusiastic reply to all his chaotic ideas. That is silence and plenty of time. No one understands my sense of humor anymore. It's become old fashioned. At least I can become a conaisseur. A person who loves to make things perfect. Who will spend ample time pre arranging things and dictating to others that they should follow the arrangements. If someone gives you something and then stands there not to defend you, but to simply continue to stand there, then they are your friend. And quite possibly someone you can admire who has not asked so much of you.

I want you to see my walking away pants someday though; and say those are the best walking away pants I have ever seen.

While entertaining an ardent desire not to repeat myself I began to understand that life has it's promises. It also has it's properties. In a characteristic flight to a public platform I had the audacity to announce that not only did I believe in this or that, but also in J.D. Salinger and the guy who said bachelorhood and platonic love. It appears that most people simply fling themselves in the direction of others and hope that they end up somewhere good. While it's society that laughs at genius it's history not God that keeps bringing it back into fashion. That's because the complexion of a mob mentality will always be defined by it's inability to reconcile incalculable simplicity with profound truth.

Taverns are usually full of fugitives. My book was Dope. My beer is no surprise. Cheers BA

 

Good morning BA
I'm taking throwback literally and venturing back to 1996. I was a freshman at Purdue University and this particular beer was everywhere. By that, I mean trucks pulled up every Friday and unloaded pallets at every drug store and grocery in town. I believe it was $5.99 a case back then. Similarly, cars rolled up where a bunch of guys walked in and bought 20-40 cases at a time. It's a wonder any of us made it through and joined productive society.

The book, like the beer, is one I could go many years without revisiting. One lesson I learned that year still rings true. You can't drink all day if you don't start early! Cheers!

 

Upright discontinued their "number beers" - Four, Five, Six and Seven - at the beginning of this year.

 

Moving on and getting ready to have some Ichtegem's Grand Cru Cuvee 2012 (a slightly different beer from the one I had earlier), with some very exquisite literature as background.

 

No theme here, but just an amazing huge Stout, that comes at a hefty price tag. A year and a half old and really AMAZING! @utopiajane welcome to the 100,000 club this weekend.

 

Good morning, all, and Happy BB&B/GotD/SBS! Philosophy is the order of the day as I contemplate the musings of Calvin and Hobbes on everything from art to life to Budweiser. It's been a while since I revisited Miller High Life, and I have to say that it's a cut above most of the macro lagers out there. Not only does it make for a very attractive weizen-glass pour, but it has nice head retention and some pleasant bitterness. If I had to choose a go-to macro lager, it'd be either this or PBR. (I think I have some holes in my camera bellows. Also, my film may have been a tad outdated. #retro)

 

Back then (2009 and earlier) it was stout, porter, stout, stout. I lived on Duck Rabbit Milk Stout at one point! Then Two Hearted came around...and it was the much-maligned HopSlam that really convinced me to join Team IPA.

 

That is a fantastic glass.

 

Good morning BA's

Thanks to those wacky dudes putting on the events today....you know who you are!

Have not had this beer in a while and thought it would be a good opportunity to pour one.....



many of you may know of my love of my favorite author - Henry Thoreau, and that this year is the 200th anniversary of his birth...so I have been reading several new biographies of HDT, and enjoying them immensely...



cheers from the BVS Boat and Brew House



some late summer color

 

Ok, I see everyone is getting comfortable, so I headed to the bar and looked at their bottle list. I decided to go with this beauty from Boulevard, a quad called Sixth Glass. The last time I had this beer, the bottle looked more like this (though I think it was capped, not corked-and-caged):


But now looks more like this:



I am pairing this well-made American version of a Belgian Quad with a book I have not read in a while (though I have read twice), though the last time might be as long ago as that wine was bottled (can you tell we don't drink much wine):


Maybe you can't in that photo, and Sonoma County was the closest we had to Monterey as far as wines are concerned. I had some professional work done to restore that photo:


If you can't tell, of the books in the compilation the one I am re-reading is Cannery Row. I actually have not read Of Mice and Men, only saw the movie of Grapes of Wrath, and barely got into East of Eden before checking out.

But enough of the books I haven't read. I always loved the story telling in Steinbeck's works. In Cannery Row (and Tortilla Flat, a book set in the same general area that I tend to run together with this book), the way the characters minds twist and turn as they debate their morals against their self desires on generally light and humorous events makes for a fun read for me. Usually the characters desire is for wine, and while I am not as completely single-minded about beer, yet - I can see where they are coming from . I might think the more modern character of Jack Sparrow in the Pirates of the Caribbean could fit in with these stories.

 

My last Key Lime Pie Gose that I stashed at my sister-in-law's, in my plain shaker, like-wise stashed at her house:



And boning up for our trip next month... One of my old "roadies" is in town for the Eclipse, and we are going to meet up at the local Summerville brewery, Oak Road Brewing,for lunch beers. I will try to post some pics this afternoon. Cheers!