Beer

[alexd]

Was at a Wolfpack game a couple of weeks ago and Hopscape was on tap. I really liked it, too. Sam Adams is barely mentioned in this entire thread. Love me some Cold Snap. And in the summer I gotta have that Porch Rocker.

Yep....Boston Brewing's best stuff are those seasonals.....Think maybe they could offer Cold Snap more than like one month a year??

 

[HuskyHawk]

Dogfish has a DIPA called Burton Baton that is my favorite.

That one is barrel aged...in oak. I had a version of it at Beervana in 2105, aged in what I think was cognac barrels, poured by Sam Caliglione himself. Delicious beer.

 

[UConnStats]

For fans of sours, Victory's Sour Monkey now can be bought in 6 packs. Definitely the most sour one I've tried, but it's 9.5% abv and great tasting if you are into that type of beer.

 

[mauconnfan]

Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Stout | Kentucky Ale

Best stout and ale at the Springfield on Tap. Really good flavor for me at least.

 

[8893]

Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Stout | Kentucky Ale

Best stout and ale at the Springfield on Tap. Really good flavor for me at least.

That's an all-timer. Love it.

 

[NC_Uconn_Fan]

If any of you are in the Charlotte area, try NODA Brewing's hop drop and roll IPA. They have it in the airport too if you are on a layover.

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

Okay....I'm going to admit this....after all the local New England IPA's I've been drinking...I wanted to pick up a 12 pack of something lighter....(and cheaper)....and surprise!!! I took a chance on Harpoon Fresh Tracks....a nice APA....with a little citrus from the centennial hops...hoppy up front, but light. And $12.99/12 pck just makes it all that much better.

Fresh Tracks is my go-to right now. So delicious.

 

[storrsroars]

I haven't been blown away by anything in what seems like ages, although it's probably only about 2 years or so.

Last beer that made me say "wow" was Left Hand Brewing's Nitro Milk Stout. So I tried other stuff from them. Probably even moreso than my previous fave Great Lakes Brewing, Left Hand hits my sweet spot in virtually every style they brew.

I do don't many brewpubs these days. Just not risking handling a couple of high ABVs then driving. Besides which I'm generally not impressed with the articulation of flavors or QC at most small microbreweries.

 

[mauconnfan]

That's an all-timer. Love it.

8893 anywhere you know I can pick some up? Not sure who carries it around here, maybe Table and Vine I can try.

 

[8893]

8893 anywhere you know I can pick some up? Not sure who carries it around here, maybe Table and Vine I can try.

That's probably your best bet up near you. It's one of those that my local guy keeps in the back and only sells a bottle or two at a time, and only to regular customers. Since I've almost stopped drinking beer entirely and rarely buy it any more, he hasn't been offering me many of the goodies in recent months. I should ask him though, because I still buy a ton of cider from him, and I enjoy an occasional beer like this.

 

[huskiesNhoos]

Whiskey barrel aged Quandary from River North Brewery

Belgian quad aged in whisky barrels. It's life-changing

 

[mauconnfan]

That's probably your best bet up near you. It's one of those that my local guy keeps in the back and only sells a bottle or two at a time, and only to regular customers. Since I've almost stopped drinking beer entirely and rarely buy it any more, he hasn't been offering me many of the goodies in recent months. I should ask him though, because I still buy a ton of cider from him, and I enjoy an occasional beer like this.

You've stopped drinking beer? Wow with all of that knowledge maybe I can see why. LOL

Vodka, Gin??

 

[8893]

You've stopped drinking beer? Wow with all of that knowledge maybe I can see why. LOL

Vodka, Gin??

Mostly cider, wine and whiskey, with occasional tequila and even more occasional gin.

I still love the taste of beer, but I cut back initially when simply trying to save calories because the beers I like are loaded-- i.e., like a factor of two to three times the calories of the other options above. Once I stopped for a little while I noticed that my stomach felt a lot better and I realized that I was previously tolerating a lot of discomfort for the sake of drinking beer. Now when I have even one I feel it the next morning, so at this point I don't think it's anything I'll be returning to, except for an occasional taste or short pour.

It's a bummer, but I feel better and I'm down 40+ pounds since August and that's not a bummer at all, especially when I can still enjoy lots of other booze options.

 

[mauconnfan]

Mostly cider, wine and whiskey, with occasional tequila and even more occasional gin.

I still love the taste of beer, but I cut back initially when simply trying to save calories because the beers I like are loaded-- i.e., like a factor of two to three times the calories of the other options above. Once I stopped for a little while I noticed that my stomach felt a lot better and I realized that I was previously tolerating a lot of discomfort for the sake of drinking beer. Now when I have even one I feel it the next morning, so at this point I don't think it's anything I'll be returning to, except for an occasional taste or short pour.

It's a bummer, but I feel better and I'm down 40+ pounds since August and that's not a bummer at all, especially when I can still enjoy lots of other booze options.

Congrats I need to do something of the same. Got back to playing weight in 2009 by losing 55 over 8-12 months and slowly but surely....ugghhh Nice job my turn, but beer is so tough! LOL

 

[storrsroars]

Mostly cider, wine and whiskey, with occasional tequila and even more occasional gin.

I still love the taste of beer, but I cut back initially when simply trying to save calories because the beers I like are loaded-- i.e., like a factor of two to three times the calories of the other options above. Once I stopped for a little while I noticed that my stomach felt a lot better and I realized that I was previously tolerating a lot of discomfort for the sake of drinking beer. Now when I have even one I feel it the next morning, so at this point I don't think it's anything I'll be returning to, except for an occasional taste or short pour.

It's a bummer, but I feel better and I'm down 40+ pounds since August and that's not a bummer at all, especially when I can still enjoy lots of other booze options.

Congrats on the weight loss. 40lbs is my goal for this year, pretty much all added on in past 20 years. What else are you doing besides the beer (which wouldn't save me much of anything since I only drink 3-4 per week).

 

[8893]

Congrats I need to do something of the same. Got back to playing weight in 2009 by losing 55 over 8-12 months and slowly but surely.....ugghhh Nice job my turn, but beer is so tough! LOL

Oh yeah, I've been here before and I'm not taking anything for granted. I've yo-yo'd pretty well over the last decade-plus, but my highs kept getting higher and so did my lows, so my average kept creeping up. My quick fixes stopped working as well, so I decided to make some lifestyle changes that I could live with. So far, so good.

 

[Dove]

Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Stout | Kentucky Ale

Best stout and ale at the Springfield on Tap. Really good flavor for me at least.

This was on tap at Knuckleheads in Wallingford on Saturday night. Had this rec been posted that day I would have tried it. Went with 2 glasses of No Worries' (I'm A Gonna Get Some) Satisfaction. I think it was a DIPA. It was pretty good.

 

[8893]

Congrats on the weight loss. 40lbs is my goal for this year, pretty much all added on in past 20 years. What else are you doing besides the beer (which wouldn't save me much of anything since I only drink 3-4 per week).

Thanks. I was so far over my ideal weight that 40 was also my initial goal, even though 50+ would have been more ideal. Now that I've lost the 40 I plan to keep going. I started seeing a nutritionist (free under most health care plans as preventative care btw; unlimited visits and no co-pays) and even though I already knew a good deal about what works and what doesn't, she has helped me develop and stay on a general plan that works well for me as a lifestyle, instead of a diet. Instead of looking for quick fixes, this time I was set on taking my time and losing it slowly. As a result, it has seem to come off pretty quickly, and without extraordinary effort.

A couple things have been key for me:

• At least 60 minutes of cardio or similar activity, at least five days a week. I probably average 6.5 hours most weeks, doing a half hour first thing in the morning and a half hour after work on week days, and an hour on weekend mornings. Brisk walking most frequently, but also some running, elliptical, stair machine, hiking, shoveling--whatever. Just move. A lot. They say that sitting is the new smoking and I believe that. I used to go through periods of intense exercise, but I frequently ended up pulling something or being so sore that I was less and less inclined to keep it up. Keeping it more reasonable has kept me coming back, to the point where I now look forward to it and am vigilant about doing it.
  
  
• Stop eating lunches out. At least three days a week, usually four, I make a modest lunch instead of going out. Low sodium turkey and/or ham on whole wheat, with lettuce, tomato, avocado.
  
  
• Keep healthy snacks around like cottage cheese, hard boiled eggs, raw nuts (and nut butters), hummus, carrots, other raw veggies and raw fruit.
  
  
• Very limited intake of my worst offenders, i.e., beer, pizza and cheese. Like maybe a couple times a month, tops.
  
  
• Cut back on booze, especially on weekdays. I try to get in three to four booze-free days per week, and I drink less on the other days. Incidentally, I have become a lightweight with much less tolerance than I used to have.
  
  
• Keep a food diary. I use MyFitnessPal. My goal is 1800 calories per day, at least on weekdays. If I am going to blow past that, I try to make up for it on the exercise end.
  
  
• Be mindful of where you end up in terms of daily calories in vs. calories out, and weigh yourself frequently. I have often cited Fishy's "What gets measured gets managed" advice because it really doesn't get any simpler, or more complex, than that. It's a very simple equation and there are a very limited number of ways to change the result.
  
  
• Move more, eat less is pretty much what it comes down to, no matter how you get there.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Thanks. I was so far over my ideal weight that 40 was also my initial goal, even though 50+ would have been more ideal. Now that I've lost the 40 I plan to keep going. I started seeing a nutritionist (free under most health care plans as preventative care btw; unlimited visits and no co-pays) and even though I already knew a good deal about what works and what doesn't, she has helped me develop and stay on a general plan that works well for me as a lifestyle, instead of a diet. Instead of looking for quick fixes, this time I was set on taking my time and losing it slowly. As a result, it has seem to come off pretty quickly, and without extraordinary effort.

A couple things have been key for me:

• At least 60 minutes of cardio or similar activity, at least five days a week. I probably average 6.5 hours most weeks, doing a half hour first thing in the morning and a half hour after work on week days, and an hour on weekend mornings. Brisk walking most frequently, but also some running, elliptical, stair machine, hiking, shoveling--whatever. Just move. A lot. They say that sitting is the new smoking and I believe that. I used to go through periods of intense exercise, but I frequently ended up pulling something or being so sore that I was less and less inclined to keep it up. Keeping it more reasonable has kept me coming back, to the point where I now look forward to it and am vigilant about doing it.
  
  
• Stop eating lunches out. At least three days a week, usually four, I make a modest lunch instead of going out. Low sodium turkey and/or ham on whole wheat, with lettuce, tomato, avocado.
  
  
• Keep healthy snacks around like cottage cheese, hard boiled eggs, raw nuts (and nut butters), hummus, carrots, other raw veggies and raw fruit.
  
  
• Very limited intake of my worst offenders, i.e., beer, pizza and cheese. Like maybe a couple times a month, tops.
  
  
• Cut back on booze, especially on weekdays. I try to get in three to four booze-free days per week, and I drink less on the other days. Incidentally, I have become a lightweight with much less tolerance than I used to have.
  
  
• Keep a food diary. I use MyFitnessPal. My goal is 1800 calories per day, at least on weekdays. If I am going to blow past that, I try to make up for it on the exercise end.
  
  
• Be mindful of where you end up in terms of daily calories in vs. calories out, and weigh yourself frequently. I have often cited Fishy's "What gets measured gets managed" advice because it really doesn't get any simpler, or more complex, than that. It's a very simple equation and there are a very limited number of ways to change the result.
  
  
• Move more, eat less is pretty much what it comes down to, no matter how you get there.

I'm in the same boat...seems like a lot of us are. Need to lose 40-50 pounds. I've tried almost all of the above, but never at the same time, and I always go off the rails. I need your level of dedication. I need to stick with MyFitnessPal, that is really critical. I find that it will solve a lot of eating issues by itself.

I've cut way back on beer too, replacing with whiskey mostly, and wine. But I need to cut back further on those. I usually give up weekday booze entirely for Lent.

Biggest challenge for me is that 60 minutes a day of cardio. That's tough. I simply never want to exercise in the morning, or in the evening after work. I've been hitting the gym once a week on Sunday. I'm going to try to work in my combat ropes in the morning and 30 minutes of brisk walking at the gym at work. You are motivating me with your success. I haven't been under 200 pounds since my wedding in 2001.

 

[8893]

Biggest challenge for me is that 60 minutes a day of cardio. That's tough. I simply never want to exercise in the morning, or in the evening after work. I've been hitting the gym once a week on Sunday. I'm going to try to work in my combat ropes in the morning and 30 minutes of brisk walking at the gym at work. You are motivating me with your success. I haven't been under 200 pounds since my wedding in 2001.

Doing it in two 30-minute intervals on the weekdays has been the key for me. Plug in the headphones and it's over before I know it. And it's a nice mental break that makes me more efficient at work and takes the edge off before I get home as effectively as a couple drinks does. It's much easier to avoid it or put it off if it's one 60-minute chunk.

I also have the Planet Fitness Black Card, which allows me to use any Planet Fitness, anywhere. I think it costs $10 a month. I keep my gym back packed and in my car at all times, so for example if I am in court on the other side of the state and I get out earlier than expected but it still doesn't make sense to head back to the office, I'll pop into a nearby Planet Fitness en route home and pump out a quick 30-minute burst, which is an hour tops including getting changed, showering, etc. That would previously be time spent in some beer bar, so I'm sweating calories out instead of drinking them in.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Doing it in two 30-minute intervals on the weekdays has been the key for me. Plug in the headphones and it's over before I know it. And it's a nice mental break that makes me more efficient at work and takes the edge off before I get home as effectively as a couple drinks does. It's much easier to avoid it or put it off if it's one 60-minute chunk.

I also have the Planet Fitness Black Card, which allows me to use any Planet Fitness, anywhere. I think it costs $10 a month. I keep my gym back packed and in my car at all times, so for example if I am in court on the other side of the state and I get out earlier than expected but it still doesn't make sense to head back to the office, I'll pop into a nearby Planet Fitness en route home and pump out a quick 30-minute burst, which is an hour tops including getting changed, showering, etc. That would previously be time spent in some beer bar, so I'm sweating calories out instead of drinking them in.

Yeah. I just need to do it. I have Planet Fitness and keep my gym bag in my car as well. Don't need Black, as I never travel really. I hate how sedentary the lawyer life is, and I'm in house so I don't even walk to a courthouse or anything, ever.

I've got to get back to the combat ropes for 15 minutes in the morning. That is so intense it beats 30 minutes of walking easy.

 

[Rico444]

I really like Zero 2 Sixty, a Tart IPA from Two Roads. I'm not a huge fan of sour beers, but this one struck a nice balance of the sour taste and the hoppiness. It was amazing when I had it fresh at the brewery...still very good out of the bottle.

 

[QDOG5]

Yep.....Boston Brewing's best stuff are those seasonals......Think maybe they could offer Cold Snap more than like one month a year??

Costco out Chicago way is selling cases of Boston Brewing variety packs. 6 different beers and all of them are good. Usually at Costco the mixed cases are 3 good six packs and one lousy one. It wasn't even worth the price savings. But this Boston Brewing case is worth every penny.

 

[8893]

An added bonus for me being largely done with beers: I don't have to deal with this nonsense:

11-Hour Lines for a New Ale? Fans Wait, Breweries Worry

 

[Rico444]

A girl I work with's fiancé is up in Vermont on a skiing trip, so I got her to have him look for Heady Topper and Focal Banger for me. He's in Ludlow, so hopefully it's not too far south.