Beer shop finds.

Going to the CBC Barleywine fest at the end of the month?

 

Unfortunately, no - I seem to always be out of town for the Barleywine fest and the the Sour fest.

 

Priorities....

 

Clown Shoes Porcine Unidragon is popping up. Smoked imperial stout aged in bourbon barrels.

 

Does it feel like one of those IPAs where freshness is going to play a big factor? I haven't had it yet and the malty leaning beers tend to be more pronounced with age. Again, psyched to be able to have a choice at INBEV/SA bars and stadiums.

 

I had your same first impression on the "Dirty Girl" label, but apparently the brewer named it such to honor women who get "dirty" in that they work hard and don't care about appearances, ignore gender stereotypes, something along those lines at least. Given the politics of the Pioneer Valley, I would hope that's the case, otherwise he's alienating a large majority of his buyers. Concerning the beer itself, it never really clicked with me fully, but the saison (Lola's Saison) that comes out of there is fantastic and not double-hopped or imperialized or whatever dumb stuff killed off the style a few years back in the States.

About Fort Hill, apparently they started canning "Checkmate Chuck," which is a beer I got a chance to sample over the holidays on draft at the taproom. I'm not sure how far it's reaching, but I much preferred it to the other Double IPAs that they make.

 

There were some rumblings here last fall about Alchemist beers making their way to Massachusetts. That obviously did not happen.

Does anyone know if it was just rumors vs. an actual plan that got canceled/delayed?

 

At least Heady and Focal saw some official distribution at finer NYC beer bars. Given that they seem to still be selling through with ease into the local VT market, I’d be surprised if we saw out of state retail any time soon.

 

Man I remember a short window of time where this package store connected to a sushi restaurant in back bay would hide bottles of Pliny and cans of heady topper in the back corner of a walk-in fridge. Unfortunately those days are gone. And my Ability to get to vt these days is way more limited

The day I can walk into a store and grab a 4 pack of HT(that is being sold legally...) I will be beyond excited. Been drinking that beer since the pub days and it’s still my favorite ipa of all time.

 

There was also a Chinese restaurant in Woburn (now known for their bar program) that had HT on the semi-regular. Was off-menu, only offered to folks who seemed like they knew good beer. Were only charging $7 per can too. Good honey spot while it lasted.

 

That place is a trip huh? An old mansion off a rotary that houses both great authentic Szechuan food and great Americanized Chinese food with a hip "mixology" type bar nestled at the bottom that sometimes had muled in VT beers in the back.

We went there fairly randomly based on a recommendation and were like "what the hell IS this place?"

As for the Alchemist it certainly seems like those were unfounded rumors last year. I thought it was too good to be true but enough independent people had mentioned it that I figured there might be something to it. Ah well.

 

A new bottling of it? Or are we talking about someone finding a couple 4 year old cases of it? Curious because it's one of the very few CS beers I've never tried.

 

New bottling. Mine was bottled 1/3/2018.

 

Might be my favorite beers from CS.

 

Yes! Szechuan Garden! I used to live near the one in Brookline Village. Great food, unfortunately didn't have the famous cocktail menu like Woburn which I've never been to.


There are still some joints around town that offer heady topper at the bar...not as often as when you could walk out with cases from the Waterbury brewery, but it's still around. But it's all secret handshake and all very annoying. But nothing quite has that hop smack that Heady Topper has. I've found Bldg8's IPA to be a nice methodone dose but doesn't give me the same high.

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And for the entire reason I came to this thread in the first place, 3F Oud Gueze has been popping up at CBC's around the city. If you're a lambic hound keep your eyes open because this doesn't come around too often.

 

Anyone seen Bunker Dark Wave in the Worcester area? Austin Liquors is trying to get some, I think, but those Machine Pilz have been sitting for a bit.

 

Was up to $ 10 a while ago.

 

Just grabbed a new one (I think) from Tap Brewing at Rapid: Mosaicus IPA

I had to do a double take at the label when I tasted it to see whether it actually had juice added to it because it really tastes like it has added orange/tangerine juice. Nice bitterness on the backend and closer to something like Heady Topper in look and feel than something like Julius. I think it reminds me a little of a less malty Deschutes fresh squeezed but I only had that a handful of times and it's been a while, so take that with a grain of salt.

If you like citrus fruit and are happy without the soft mouthfeel you'll probably love this. I sometimes get weird flavors out of single hopped mosaics but this is really working for me. And this reminds me that I *still* need to get my butt up to Haverhill.

 

Just found a fresher batch of Melvin Asterisk and it is delicious. Really looking forward to more stuff from them.

 

Also grabbed one from rapid this evening. Really nice. But they sell lizard king for $3 less which I find mosaic-er. so I'll stick with that in the future.