Beer

[Dove]

Didn’t realize you had purchased it. Twelve percent appears to have stolen your photo for their June 15 Instagram post!!!!

Ha ha...that IS their IG photo.

 

[karstenkibbe]

Freshspun DIPA from Treehouse. Solid, but enough of the lactose sugar. Completely unnecessary.

 

[storrsroars]

Stupid but serious question for the craft experts here. Yesterday while shopping for good local beers to bring to CT for gifts (no, not for you people!) I bought what may well be the last can of Albatross in Pittsburgh. They stopped canning it earlier this month. Best by date is today.

I don't feel like drinking it as I have an open bottle of wine to finish tonight. I suppose I could let that sit and use for cooking next week, but I feel like wine more than beer tonight.

So, do I let the Albatross sit in the fridge another six days, or do I pack it in the cooler and open it when I reach the hotel tomorrow? I will likely be drinking it out of a plastic cup if that's the case.

 

[karstenkibbe]

Stupid but serious question for the craft experts here. Yesterday while shopping for good local beers to bring to CT for gifts (no, not for you people!) I bought what may well be the last can of Albatross in Pittsburgh. They stopped canning it earlier this month. Best by date is today.

I don't feel like drinking it as I have an open bottle of wine to finish tonight. I suppose I could let that sit and use for cooking next week, but I feel like wine more than beer tonight.

So, do I let the Albatross sit in the fridge another six days, or do I pack it in the cooler and open it when I reach the hotel tomorrow? I will likely be drinking it out of a plastic cup if that's the case.

I’ll be completely honest with you. A hop-forward beer like Albatross needs to be drank within a few weeks of canning. I dislike when breweries put a best-by date on a can and not the canning date. Best-by-date is useful for lagers, which can endure cold storage for half a year. That’s not the case with IPAs. At this point, the six day difference won’t matter much. Either way, you will likely get a strong hit of malty flavor. But I do suggest drinking that can sooner rather than later.

 

[storrsroars]

I’ll be completely honest with you. A hop-forward beer like Albatross needs to be drank within a few weeks of canning. I dislike when breweries put a best-by date on a can and not the canning date. Best-by-date is useful for lagers, which can endure cold storage for half a year. That’s not the case with IPAs. At this point, the six day difference won’t matter much. Either way, you will likely get a strong hit of malty flavor. But I do suggest drinking that can sooner rather than later.

After 8.5 hours in the car, got to the hotel, unwrapped a plastic cup, and went for it.

The funny thing was, that while it was delicious and didn't seem to have deteriorated (no off flavors, still full of hoppiness and fruit and actually not too dissimilar to the General Braddock's I had last week), it simply wasn't the right beer for the situation. Pounding a ice cold crisp lager would've been the preferred call for my level of stiffness and soreness

 

[HuskyHawk]

After 8.5 hours in the car, got to the hotel, unwrapped a plastic cup, and went for it.

The funny thing was, that while it was delicious and didn't seem to have deteriorated (no off flavors, still full of hoppiness and fruit and actually not too dissimilar to the General Braddock's I had last week), it simply wasn't the right beer for the situation. Pounding a ice cold crisp lager would've been the preferred call for my level of stiffness and soreness

View attachment 77289

Lol. Stiff and sore calls for high abv. A double ipa is perfect. But you need three of them, or the scotch thread.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Out in St. Louis seeing family. Niece took us to Perennial today. This was a nice pale ale. Realized these are the people who made Abraxis, which was a really popular stout back in the day.

 

[8893]

I don’t really drink beer anymore because it doesn’t sit well in my stomach, but Pilsners seem to treat me better so I got this to have on hand for guests while we are on vacation and decided to try one myself. Absolutely delicious:

 

[storrsroars]

Given the number of Marlowe fans, I picked up a 4 pack at Caraluzzi's when I was in Danbury this past weekend. They only stocked two labels, and I'd kinda had my fill of hazys lately, so picked up this, which is more in my wheelhouse than typical citrus bombs, and which I'd best describe as a cross between a solid American IPA and a cream ale. Very nice.

 

[storrsroars]

This is a beer where I'm scratching my head wondering what they were going for. One of Pgh's top breweries, have enjoyed other offerings I've had. This is a fairly high-rated wheat beer with passionfruit, orange, and guava. The three fruits combine to create one murky vaguely citrusry but flat note. Seems a case of Brew Gentlemen fanboys doing the ratings, or my personal taste preferences are completely out of vogue these days.

This is one of a handful of Pittsburgh beers I meant to leave at my brother's house for him and my godson to enjoy, but forgot to take out of the car, so I'll be reviewing a few in the coming couple of weeks as I'll have to drink them all myself, lol.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Since @8893 mentioned Pilsners, thought I’d share my Orlando airport beer. This has long been a favorite of mine for warm central Florida days.

 

[Dove]

Given the number of Marlowe fans, I picked up a 4 pack at Caraluzzi's when I was in Danbury this past weekend. They only stocked two labels, and I'd kinda had my fill of hazys lately, so picked up this, which is more in my wheelhouse than typical citrus bombs, and which I'd best describe as a cross between a solid American IPA and a cream ale. Very nice.

View attachment 77420

The brewer tweaked his process for this one the last 2 times he made it. Upped the aromatic level and flavors. Total improvement over the excellent original version.

 

[Dove]

This is a beer where I'm scratching my head wondering what they were going for. One of Pgh's top breweries, have enjoyed other offerings I've had. This is a fairly high-rated wheat beer with passionfruit, orange, and guava. The three fruits combine to create one murky vaguely citrusry but flat note. Seems a case of Brew Gentlemen fanboys doing the ratings, or my personal taste preferences are completely out of vogue these days.

This is one of a handful of Pittsburgh beers I meant to leave at my brother's house for him and my godson to enjoy, but forgot to take out of the car, so I'll be reviewing a few in the coming couple of weeks as I'll have to drink them all myself, lol.

View attachment 77435

I totally avoid passionfruit and guava.

 

[storrsroars]

I totally avoid passionfruit and guava.

Guava (and papaya) aren't really all that delicious to start with as tropical fruits go. YMMV.

 

[storrsroars]

The brewer tweaked his process for this one the last 2 times he made it. Upped the aromatic level and flavors. Total improvement over the excellent original version.

I knew nothing about Marlowe except what I read here. But I'm looking forward to the rest of the 4-pack. Taste and texture both winners. TBOMK nothing like this being brewed around Pgh.

 

[pepband99]

This is a beer where I'm scratching my head wondering what they were going for. One of Pgh's top breweries, have enjoyed other offerings I've had. This is a fairly high-rated wheat beer with passionfruit, orange, and guava. The three fruits combine to create one murky vaguely citrusry but flat note. Seems a case of Brew Gentlemen fanboys doing the ratings, or my personal taste preferences are completely out of vogue these days.

This is one of a handful of Pittsburgh beers I meant to leave at my brother's house for him and my godson to enjoy, but forgot to take out of the car, so I'll be reviewing a few in the coming couple of weeks as I'll have to drink them all myself, lol.

View attachment 77435

how fresh is that? I find some stuff just flattens out massively after 2-3 weeks. Maybe this is just an age problem, and not a beer problem?

 

[storrsroars]

how fresh is that? I find some stuff just flattens out massively after 2-3 weeks. Maybe this is just an age problem, and not a beer problem?

couldn't tell you. they label 'best by', not when canned. but bought at a high turnover store and other BG beers I've bought there were fine

probably just not my thing this time.

 

[storrsroars]

Question for the very knowledgeable... how often do microbrewers simply change up the hops used in a beer to something different, yet keep the same name?

Asking as I'm currently drinking a King Lumi from Hop Farm here in Pgh. On the can it says it's Citra and El Dorado. On the Untapped site it says Mosaic and Strata. The rest of the copy, "form a smooth and tropical mouthfeel with hints of mango and ripe pineapple" is the same on both my can and the site. My beer was canned last month so I have to imagine citra and el dorado are the current recipe. Yet I cannot imagine I'm tasting the same beer that was reviewed on Untapped or other beer review sites.

In coffee, it wasn't all that uncommon to use different farms and sometimes different regions entirely to maintain a popular coffee or espresso blend's profile when supply from the original sources was iffy. But you wouldn't hear of changing out a bean noted for cocoa & raisin notes for a bean noted for floral or bergamot. The beans were generally always in the same cultivar family.

Given Mosaic is generally "all-around fruitier" than Citra, and Citra tends to be more bitter, matching El Dorado with Citra would seems to imply something a whole lot more tropical than the Mosaic/Strata combo, which should have more berry notes to go with mango/citrus. But I never tried that version to compare.

Anyway, is this practice applied widely? I admit I've never really paid attention to stuff like this, but it was hard to miss this time.

As far as the King Lumi itself goes, nothing to write home about. A decent, but not noteworthy NEIPA you'd drink if you ordered it, but nothing remarkable about it to urge you to order a second.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Question for the very knowledgeable... how often do microbrewers simply change up the hops used in a beer to something different, yet keep the same name?

Asking as I'm currently drinking a King Lumi from Hop Farm here in Pgh. On the can it says it's Citra and El Dorado. On the Untapped site it says Mosaic and Strata. The rest of the copy, "form a smooth and tropical mouthfeel with hints of mango and ripe pineapple" is the same on both my can and the site. My beer was canned last month so I have to imagine citra and el dorado are the current recipe. Yet I cannot imagine I'm tasting the same beer that was reviewed on Untapped or other beer review sites.

View attachment 77472

In coffee, it wasn't all that uncommon to use different farms and sometimes different regions entirely to maintain a popular coffee or espresso blend's profile when supply from the original sources was iffy. But you wouldn't hear of changing out a bean noted for cocoa & raisin notes for a bean noted for floral or bergamot. The beans were generally always in the same cultivar family.

Given Mosaic is generally "all-around fruitier" than Citra, and Citra tends to be more bitter, matching El Dorado with Citra would seems to imply something a whole lot more tropical than the Mosaic/Strata combo, which should have more berry notes to go with mango/citrus. But I never tried that version to compare.

Anyway, is this practice applied widely? I admit I've never really paid attention to stuff like this, but it was hard to miss this time.

As far as the King Lumi itself goes, nothing to write home about. A decent, but not noteworthy NEIPA you'd drink if you ordered it, but nothing remarkable about it to urge you to order a second.

I would say they don‘t normally make that change unless it is a “rotating” series where the hops constantly change. Aside from that making that change would be very unusual.

 

[karstenkibbe]

Fantastic Kolsch collab from Hudson Valley x Plan Bee. Just a touch of honey. Delicious and refreshing.

 

[8893]

Fantastic Kolsch collab from Hudson Valley x Plan Bee. Just a touch of honey. Delicious and refreshing.

View attachment 77569

 

[karstenkibbe]

I actually took that shot yesterday at, um, 5. Yeah. 5. PM.

 

[HuskyHawk]

So I‘m in South Yarmouth and the beer flows. This is just a great beer.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Last night and again tonight we’ve got The Gobshites. So of course Guinness is the beer of choice for Celtic Punk. It’s basically a light beer anyway. Very sessionable.

 

[karstenkibbe]

So I‘m in South Yarmouth and the beer flows. This is just a great beer.
View attachment 77603

Such a great pale. One of my favorite regular-ish rotation Trill beers. Looks like you had a fine day!