Under hyped beers

Double barrel baptist was my favorite beer in 16. Fudge in a bottle.

 

That is TERRIBLE!

 

Can't argue. In the unfortunate situation where I must choose one beer for the rest of time...HeadHunter would be on a very short list...and at the top.

 

Every lager beer.

Straub Hefeweizen can stand up to the best from Germany, including Weihenstephaner. Yes, Straub... that old adjunct lager brewer has some tricks up their sleeve.

 

Regular, non-additive barrel aged imperial stouts seem to lose hype when compared to adjust laden variants and special edition releases. I personally love a big imperial stout tossed in a barrel for a long time.

 

I'm surprised to see W00tstout mentioned so often. I tried it without ever hearing of it before, and I thought it was...well not at all like a stout. It was super yeasty/bready and sweet, to me I expected a stout and got a Belgian strong ale. I'm not saying it's bad, but I just felt like it was mischaracterized. I believe the one I had was the 2016 version.

 

How about their Extended Barrel Aged B.O.R.I.S. The Crusher Oatmeal-Imperial Stout, aged 5x the usual time? It's excellent, but since they are not saying how long 5x is, I suspect it's under two years. If it were two years or over, they'd be braggin the hell out of it. Still outstanding.

 

Fresh Narwhal is already the smoothest imperial stout I've had, but I'm saving a few to see what happens to it.

 

I'm drinking one right now and it is awesome

 

Maybe it needs a more exciting name and label?

 

I would. Any BA stout that sits on shelves or doesn't have a special release day/raffle formed around it is underhyped.

 

I feel like they've gotten WAYYYY better in the last few years. I used to see them a lot on draft and in bottles in NYC and always passed or disliked. Along with my drinking pals. Nowadays they're pretty great.

 

You seem fun

 

I'm sure (or at least I hope) I'm not the only one who picks up a sixer every few weeks to mix in with the onslaught of IPA's. I don't know of another standard porter or stout that hits all the right notes when I'm in the mood for a smooth chocolatey malty brew. It really is perfect.

 

Guilty.

 

If I answer this question, would I not then be guilty of driving the hype train towards the thing that I enjoy being un-hyped?

 

No disagreement here. And in the same vein Edmund Fitzgerald porter is also subject to the same disregard by so many. I just looked and it's rated a touch higher than Founders too. Both are great!

 

Off the top of my head....

Left Hand Black Jack Porter
Shiner Bock
Abita Amber
Black Xantus
Belhaven Black Stout
Golden Pheasant

 

I see what you did there

 

The funny thing about bourbon is I'm not too worried about my favorites catching on. Most of the time I try to turn people onto something great at work they won't touch it because it didn't come from Buffalo Trace. It's hilarious

 

Clown Shoes is highly available in Texas and I haven't had any yet I didn't like.
I found it like I found Epic, "I bought a bottle". It's all good. Some are just better than others.

 

All of Odell's hoppy beers

 

I second the entire central waters barrel aged lineup-but especially the barrel aged scotch ale-one of the best I have ever had.

I would also mention:
-Deschutes the Abyss and Alesmith speedway stout. I would put either of these up against damn near any none fully barrel aged stout in a blind taste test. I did a blind taste with darkness, BA darkness, big bad baptist and others, and speedway stout more than surprised
-Block 15 sticky hands and hypnosis. Hypnosis especially. The cognac flavor in that was just mind blowingly awesome.
-Claim 52 Fluffy: stood up to fresh 3-way IPA and right there with much of the stuff that the much more heralded great notion has been putting out

 

I find myself nodding in agreement with all of the mentions of good, standard strength, no adjunct nonsense porter. Founders and Edmund Fitzgerald were mentioned and I'll add Smuttynose Robust Porter.

 

I did a trade for some Alabama beer, good people BA el Gordo was one of my favorite stouts. Straight to ale laika, and the bourbon and Cabernet barrel versions were very nice as well.

 

Great divide hibernation ale and the BA version.

 

Basically every Hoppin Frog stout/Barrel Aged offering (Though some hype came after the last couple paste blind tastings), Thirsty Dog Wulver, BBA Siberian Night, BBA Cerberus (Amazing Tripel), BBA Bernese Barleywine.

Another random one we get in Ohio that I think is WAY under hyped is the Nickelbrook barrel series. Kentucky Bastard and Cafe Del Bastardo were probably my two favorite surprises this year.

Oh and on a similar note, Deth's Tar and Straight Jacket. 99% of what BCBS brings, with only 1% of the hype.

 

Ill have to say Old Rasputin

I used to see it often all around my area, but for reasons unknown to me i dont see it much anymore. Such a great brew.

 

Vanilla Oak Aged World Wide Stout. Solid beer that didn't get much attention.

 

I like the several Hoppin' Frog stouts I've had, but seems like all start with the same base beer, mostly 9.4% ABV, and then add something else or BA it, so not a lot of difference. Also, sure would like to see them offer 12oz. But yes, definitely under-hyped.

 

The BORIS series is all the same base beer at 9.4, DORIS 10.5, TORIS 13.8. Personally, Those are all the "base" stout lines. My favorites are BA versions or DORIS and then the standard TORIS as just a great base stout, no BA, no adjuncts.

As for the bottles, couldn't agree more and they FINALLY got a 12oz bottling line a couple weeks ago.

 

I just had a Flying Dog Gonzo Imperial Porter a few weeks ago, for the first time in at least 2+ years, and was shocked at how tasty it was this time around (moreso now than my ratings and recollections from having this beer several times, many years ago). Pallets change over time, people should revisit this one.

 

I'm terrible with what is distributed to most of the country so I will go with a local WA beer and say Silver City Tropic Haze. It gets over shadowed by 3Way most years in the summer but is a great PNWNEIPA that people in WA don't usually think of. Maybe it is the brewery, not known for IPAs really.

 

that's a good one. got it in northern Cali back when I was a Tavour member

 

I'll go with Duvel. If not that then perhaps some beers by Ommegang like Hennepin, Dubbel, Three Philosophers.

It's interesting how in all my years of drinking craft I have yet to see "straight up" KMF. I've had it's derivatives like Stony Brook Red but not unadulterated Kosmic Mother Funk

 

How about Sierra Nevada Porter. I had to ask my beer distributer to order a case for me because they don't carry it anymore.

 

Seconded. I make a point to pick up some Hibernation every year when it comes out.

 

I'll echo a few already mentioned and add:

-German style brews in general - for me, Schell's brewery is way under appreciated as a stalwart in this category;

-Most of what Sierra Nevada puts out is expertly produced;

-AleSmith Speedway Stout - widely available, not overpriced, and way better than most imperial stouts that are more heavily hyped;

-Founders Porter - honestly, I firmly believe this is one of the best beers available in the US;

-Bell's Two Hearted - appreciated by most, for sure, but lost in the hype cycles.

 

Excellent point on two hearted. It's overlooked in the explosion of new IPAs out there-but it is well crafted and always excellent. I will forever associate this with mellow mushroom pizza-as they always had this on tap at the original location in auburn and almost always got one. The bitter notes with an earthy/savory pizza-can't be beat

 

A few that make me smile and love to pick up but not talked about a lot anymore--

--a bottle of Roch 6
--60 minute
--Alesmith IPA
--One Claw

All classics and perfect for style.