The Beer Thread

[sweetcell]

Also, took a gamble on Sapwood today... I think you may have mentioned a long time ago that was your buddy, I split the sour club with a few folks.

NICE!  please please report back on their offerings.  i'd sign up for their club in a heartbeat if i could.

i know both guys behind the project - Mike, who literally wrote the book on american sours, and Scott, AKA Mr. Hop Science.  those two have forgotten more about making good beer than most folks will ever learn.  if their commercial output is anything like their homebrews, y'all in for a treat.

mike just posted an interesting lil' piece on his blog.

first, it talks about the two different bottle club/memberships that will be offered at Sapwood.

second, at the bottom there is a killer graphic that answers the question "who owns whom in the beer world".  definitely worth a look. 

[K8teebug]

going to be in Seattle for a few days
won't have a car, but will be downtown (South lake)

What breweries are must visits
and are any public transit friendly

Sweetcell is probably the man to answer this

actually, i'm probably not the best person for this.  i've had limited exposure to the seattle scene, as i'm happy as a clam out here in the mountains.  in the 16 months i've been here, i've been into seattle maybe 5 or 6 times (mostly to go to protests).  luckily we have Yada here to set us straight.

based on my observations and interactions with other beer geeks, it seems that beer culture is much more laid back here.  there isn't an obsession with visiting every single brewery, checking everything in to Untappd, standing in line for bottles, etc... those are things tourists do, not locals.  folks seem to talk a lot more about enjoying the location, the vibe, how environmental the brewery is or what causes it supports, etc.  i mean, the beer still needs to be good (and, because it's the west coast, super hoppy).

HOWEVER, i might be in a better position to offer an opinion next weekend: i'm (finally) meeting up with stevewizzle and a MD brewing buddy, and we're contemplating bar hopping that saturday night.  last time those two hung out, they sung the praises of the pine box bar.

holy mountain and cloudburst are the two most common recommendations i hear.  someday i'll make it there too.

(DC seems to get better Fremont beer than the actually brewery)

if you're talking about their one-off seasonal releases, like Dark Star and Abominable, well of course they're not going to have those on tap 24/7/365 - just like you're not going to get KBS year-round at Founders.  did you try Lush?

Pike Place is indeed a tourist trap.

agreed.  it's not as bad as times square, and there is an underbelly if you poke around, but there isn't much there that you need to see.

Did you go to Cloudburst? I so miss their beers and cool place.

[K8teebug]

Just in case you haven't gone yet, this is a great bar to check out what the local breweries have on offer.

https://www.noanchorbar.com/

(they also have a sister donut shop that's great)

[Yada]

going to be in Seattle for a few days
won't have a car, but will be downtown (South lake)

What breweries are must visits
and are any public transit friendly

Sweetcell is probably the man to answer this

actually, i'm probably not the best person for this.  i've had limited exposure to the seattle scene, as i'm happy as a clam out here in the mountains.  in the 16 months i've been here, i've been into seattle maybe 5 or 6 times (mostly to go to protests).  luckily we have Yada here to set us straight.

based on my observations and interactions with other beer geeks, it seems that beer culture is much more laid back here.  there isn't an obsession with visiting every single brewery, checking everything in to Untappd, standing in line for bottles, etc... those are things tourists do, not locals.  folks seem to talk a lot more about enjoying the location, the vibe, how environmental the brewery is or what causes it supports, etc.  i mean, the beer still needs to be good (and, because it's the west coast, super hoppy).

HOWEVER, i might be in a better position to offer an opinion next weekend: i'm (finally) meeting up with stevewizzle and a MD brewing buddy, and we're contemplating bar hopping that saturday night.  last time those two hung out, they sung the praises of the pine box bar.

holy mountain and cloudburst are the two most common recommendations i hear.  someday i'll make it there too.

(DC seems to get better Fremont beer than the actually brewery)

if you're talking about their one-off seasonal releases, like Dark Star and Abominable, well of course they're not going to have those on tap 24/7/365 - just like you're not going to get KBS year-round at Founders.  did you try Lush?

Pike Place is indeed a tourist trap.

agreed.  it's not as bad as times square, and there is an underbelly if you poke around, but there isn't much there that you need to see.

Did you go to Cloudburst? I so miss their beers and cool place.

Unknown if this was directed towards me or sweetcell, but yes, went to Cloudburst as well as No Anchor (see my first post re: Seattle).

[Dejecty-hatch lııllı|̲̅̅●̲̅̅|̲̅̅=̲̅̅|̲̅̅●̲̅̅|llıl]

https://www.facebook.com/events/1952491528109092/?ti=as
8/31 ocelot tap takeover at Union stage with free Phish cover band

[K8teebug]

going to be in Seattle for a few days
won't have a car, but will be downtown (South lake)

I was just there last week and found the beer scene just ok...

Cloudburst for Haze
Holy Mountain for super acidic sours
Fremont for average all around beers unless they have something special on tap (DC seems to get better Fremont beer than the actually brewery)
Urban Family Brewing is also good.

Highly recommend The Masonry for an awesome tap list and great pizza (you'll be walking distance to the one location).

No Anchor is great as well with a killer dungeoness crab roll  and adispensary a block away.

[sweetcell]

Goose Island changeup: Brewer reveals actual 2018 Bourbon County Stout lineup

new (or back) this year: wheatwine, vanilla stout, bramble rye stout, coffee barleywine, midnight orange stout
none this year: regular barleywine, coffee stout
fakes: neapolitan stout and horchata stout.

[sweetcell]

Did you go to Cloudburst? I so miss their beers and cool place.

cloudburst will be our first destination tomorrow evening. 

[Dejecty-hatch lııllı|̲̅̅●̲̅̅|̲̅̅=̲̅̅|̲̅̅●̲̅̅|llıl]

At a wedding with Greg Engert and he did not dress like a Napoleonic Era scribe. 
We did have Cascade sang noir and sip of sunshine

[ggw]

...and a dispensary a block away.

Not just "a dispensary", but the one-time winner of High Times Best Dispensary in America.  Hell of a selection:

https://haveaheartcc.com/belltown-menu/
 

[sweetcell]

Did you go to Cloudburst? I so miss their beers and cool place.

cloudburst will be our first destination tomorrow evening. 

so, about saturday night...

as promised/threatened, my homebrewing buddy and i started off at cloudburst.  i'm sorry to report that i can only back up the praise that folks heep on this place.  their hazy IPAs were amazeballs.  it didn't matter which one your ordered, they were all excellent.  also got to try their imp stout with blackberries, really good as well.  met up with stevewizzle which was a blast.

next went to Brouwers Cafe - another winner.  decor/ambience was beautiful, felt like an old-school library with those ladders on rails.  i needed a break from IPAs so i had the Modern Times Fruitland Gose w/ Passionfruit & Guava, and a Funkwerks Raspberry Provincial Sour Ale.  both were fantastic.  my buddy had Hair of the Dog Fred from the Wood.  the moules et frites were excellent, mine were in a saison sauce.

third stop was Lucky Envelope.  unfortunately i can't recommend this place even though i really wanted to like it.  i heard an interview with its founder a while back and liked how their aim was to incorporate Asian influences into their brewing.  they didn't have any such beers on tap, instead they offered a pretty standard lineup.  i had their brut IPA (my first one ever) and my friend had the citra IPA... both were uninspiring.  both had a weird tannic thing going on in the finish.  we didn't finish our pints.  maybe we caught them on an off night?  there was a bevvy of attractive young ladies kicking off their saturday night there, so at least it was entertaining.

final destination was Stoup Brewing.  it wasn't on our list of places we wanted to hit up, but it was nearby and my buddy liked it last time he visited.  it was solid, their IPAs were as one should expect.  they have a nice outdoor area... and a meat vending machine.

our final assessment: we should have just stayed at cloudburst.

[Dejecty-hatch lııllı|̲̅̅●̲̅̅|̲̅̅=̲̅̅|̲̅̅●̲̅̅|llıl]

Stuck in a massive layover in Boston...and fresh trillium DIPAs were welcomed and close... hopefully I won't miss my next flight

[Dejecty-hatch lııllı|̲̅̅●̲̅̅|̲̅̅=̲̅̅|̲̅̅●̲̅̅|llıl]

Stick to bad beer and away from the cronic
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-canopy-growth-stake-constellation/corona-owner-invests-another-4-billion-in-cannabis-producer-canopy-idUSKBN1L0155?
$4 billion!

[Space Freely]

We go to Fredericksburg once every couple of years to go tubing. There's never been a go to brewery there but i decided to do some research...it appeared that Red Dragon has some freakishly high scores on untappd for their fruited goses and some very good scores for their NEiPA's. I'm happy to report that the scores are well deserved. If these guys were in Richmond, they'd be called the Answer (minus the great stouts at the Answer.)

We just completed our Alberta vacation...some great hiking, biking, and rafting in spite of the wildfire smoke blowing over from BC...all the Jasper/Banff/Canmore breweries are tourist oriented duds, but Dandy Brewing in Calgary is quite good....

[StoneTheCrow]

Got back from Quebec last night and can report that their beer "scene" is thriving, though not particularly good. Ended up sticking to cocktails.

Spent the last couple of days in Vermont and that more than made up for it.