The Beer Thread • Page 90

I wish I wasn't three hours away from Grand Rapids. Next time they tap it I need to make the trip.

 

Bought a 6 pack of Jai Alai to help me survive Hermine. No work tomorrow so I'm drinking them all!

 

that's definitely a bummer. one of my most sought after too.

I bet. do they announce it in advance or do they just put it on tap without any announcements?

 

Has anyone ever tried Bomb! by Prarie? The owner of the shop I usually go to recommended it to me, and it's one of the best stouts I've ever had.

 

Bomb! Is fantastic! I tried to get my hands on Birthday Bomb! when that came out, but I wasn't quick enough. Who knew Oklahoma made good beer?

 

Yeah, I never would've tried it if it wasn't for the owner. I had a birthday bomb too, which was also incredible. Really surprised me.

 

Prarie can be hit or miss.

 

Agree on Prairie being hit or miss. Has anyone here had Bible Belt? That's one of my favorite offerings from them.

 

Now that I'm back in Chicago I finally need to get up to Grand Rapids for Founders, Brewery Vivant, etc. Any Michigan folk know if any of those places got damaged in the tornado?

 

Hill Farmstead Edward is like the perfect pale ale.

 

I keep almost buying Bomb, but it's like $12-15 for a relatively small bottle out here and I just haven't pulled the trigger

 

Picked up more Off Color goodies today. Had Bare Bear which is a Finnish-style Sahti brewed with Juniper berries and it was absolutely lovely, if not for too much carbonation.

 

Don't buy it for that much.

 

trying not to!!!

 

I don't believe that they announce it, but it tends to come out for most special occasions. They had a cellar raid thing in January that like six of us went to and it was rumored it was going to be tapped at noon but no one was for sure, then they started telling people it was. So it's kind of like that. It's worth going to basically any of their special events because that's when it's most likely to make an appearance. And the tip I can give -- and I've done this twice -- order the CBS through your server, don't go stand in a line. We asked our server in January if they were tapping it at noon and he said yes, and at 11:55 we put in an order for seven CBS pours -- one for each of us + 1 -- and he said sure and they brought them right to us. The keg kicked in twenty minutes and we wouldn't have gotten any standing in line. I've done this a couple times and it's worked twice.

Bomb is pretty killer.

I haven't heard anything, so I assume that they're fine. When were you thinking of heading to GR? Perrin has been killing it in their tap room, apparently, but I've never been. So I'd consider heading there, too. I have only had two beers from Elk Brewing, but if you can swing out that way, both have been great. One was a coffee porter (might've been a stout, can't remember at this point) and one was a scotch ale that I thought crushes Scotty Karate from Dark Horse.

Edit: also, eat at Vivant, not at Founders. Founders has really good food; Vivant has fantastic food. Some of the best food in the entire city of Grand Rapids. It's really fucking good. Get the duck nachos. It's under 'appetizers' but it's a dinner. It's $18 but it's enough to split with a person for pretty good size dinner, especially because it's so decadent.

 

Have tried a few of these now that Ive regained my sense of taste/smell.

Briney melon gose - wanted a bit more melon flavor, but I dug the tartness. A bit of an odd aftertaste. Refreshing but probably not something I would drink regularly.

Full sail Amber - solid beer, pretty straightforward, nothing surprising.

Duvel - definitely my favorite so far, love the prominent roasted barley flavor.

 

Been slacking on posting in here, but been having at awesome beer trip in California. Did San Francisco on Sat/Sun and hit up Cellarmaker (amazing) and a bunch of others. Went up to Santa Rosa on Monday for Russian River. Down to SARA on Tuesday and back to the Bay Area yesterday for Rare Barrel's most recent bottle release party.

Drove down the coast to Anaheim today. Got in too late tonight to make it to them, but going to hit up Bruery and Bottle Logic tomorrow before heading back up to LA proper for the weekend.

 

Gonna talk with some friends either later today or next weekend about it, but thinking about some time late fall/early winter. Hopefully everyone would be able to maybe take a half day on Friday and we'd swing out there till Sunday.

 

Cellarmaker .

 

Really loving the unique stuff coming out of Inoculum Ale Works. Got this badass sour yesterday (they only do online orders / shipping, but ship to most states). This is Blood Thirst, a black cherry berliner with a little bit of iron added for that authentic blood taste / feel (seriously). Ignore the unlabeled can, the real deal is labeled. Also, have you ever seen that kind of head retention on a berliner before???

They also just released a black watermelon basil gose called Spectrally Macabre. Ridiculous. Nick is a mad genius.

Inoculum Ale Works

 

Aweome. I can give some more recs when it gets closer, so let me know. Also worth stopping on the way to GR down in the Berrien County, the first county across the Michigan state line. Tapistry and Greenbush are six miles apart and both make very solid/very good beer. There's also some sour stuff down there that has opened or will open soon -- including a spot from a dude who works at a Haymarket in Chicago -- but I haven't been back to that area to check any of them out. If you stop in Kalamazoo, Bells is a must stop because their tap room offerings are usually great, but stop at the Kalamazoo Beer Exchange which is like a three minute walk from Bells and eat there instead of Bells. KBE has 22 taps and is a stock market themed bar where the prices will rise or fall based on how many people ordered that beer in the previous 15 minute 'trading period'. The rub there is: not open on Sundays and the market doesn't actually open until six, so if you're there early, you kind of miss the point of the bar. but it's usually stocked with a solid tap list. In Kalamazoo, on the way to downtown, there's a nano called One Well which I think is the best non-Bells beer in the city. Great dudes, it's in a strip mall next to a gym and they've really been making solid beer.

Dope. I'm looking at grabbing cans.

 

Yo, I'm going to Bruery tomorrow haha. I'm gonna be there later afternoon like 3-5ish

 

unfortunately I live in PA so I don't know if I'll be able to go, but thanks for the heads up!

 

Making the trip up to Tree House and Trillium tomorrow. Really hoping TH doesn't run out of Alter Ego, been dying to try that.

Inoculum looks interesting. I'm hoping they ship to NY, I'd love to try Kuebiko. Their art is on point, really sweet looking.

 

Awesome man thanks a lot! I'll hit you up when I know for sure that I'm going and when