The Official Beer Appreciation Thread

[inkman]

Just cracked open a Dogfish Head Midas Touch. Yummy...

[Claude_Verret]

At devils backbone brewing in the Virginia mountains. Altbier, German pils and Helles. So damn good, I really hope that the AB buyout doesn't dilute the production of these fantastic, rarely seen styles.

[That Aud Smell]

Terrific update. Intriguing.

[Cisse]

Westvleteren XII. Absolutely brilliant beer. Voted the best beer in the world and I can see why. A great taste with a lot to offer. Reminds a good glass of port. I would like to taste this with cheese or chocolate.

[Ducky]

Belgian Moon Shock Top mmm mmmmm.

[That Aud Smell]

So far I have been unable to get into the Gose stuff. My cousin bought some cans of TKTYATHG for the fourth on accident, and hated them, so I tried one, and could barely get through it. Of course, a couple years ago I couldn't handle sours, and now they at least have a place on the shelf for me. 

 

I was handed the Sierra Nevada Gose over the weekend. Dear God. What is the purpose of that style? I later Googled around on it a bit. So, it's apparently named for a town or region ("Gose") where the style was established?

 

Some old world methods were meant to die. That beer was utterly undrinkable.

 

OTOH, I have come around a bit on sours. Or, at least, beers that use sour elements.

Also just realized I pulled out a post from 2015. Sorry if this is well-trod ground here in 2016.

[Cisse]

One way to get into sour beers is try them with some food like a nice cheese platter or perhaps oysters. At the same time you could get yourself some nice trappist like Chimay Blue or a nice stout.

[That Aud Smell]

One way to get into sour beers is try them with some food like a nice cheese platter or perhaps oysters. At the same time you could get yourself some nice trappist like Chimay Blue or a nice stout.

 

thanks for the recommendations.

 

i do enjoy oysters. are there sours that you prefer? 

 

i've heard of and seen the Chimay beers. i'll have to make a point of getting some.

[LTS]

I was handed the Sierra Nevada Gose over the weekend. Dear God. What is the purpose of that style? I later Googled around on it a bit. So, it's apparently named for a town or region ("Gose") where the style was established?

 

Some old world methods were meant to die. That beer was utterly undrinkable.

 

OTOH, I have come around a bit on sours. Or, at least, beers that use sour elements.

Also just realized I pulled out a post from 2015. Sorry if this is well-trod ground here in 2016.

 

Well, like it or not.. Gose has been growing in popularity.  Mostly due to its lower ABV and lighter body.. then you add in the additions that brewers are doing to it now and you end up with all kinds of wackiness.  It's certainly not for everyone. I don't mind most of them.  Radler.. now there's a style I don't care for.

 

Lots of sour... so many good ones but it really depends on how much you want to pucker. :)

[That Aud Smell]

Well, like it or not.. Gose has been growing in popularity.  Mostly due to its lower ABV and lighter body.. then you add in the additions that brewers are doing to it now and you end up with all kinds of wackiness.  It's certainly not for everyone. I don't mind most of them.  Radler.. now there's a style I don't care for.

 

Lots of sour... so many good ones but it really depends on how much you want to pucker. :)

 

I like it not. The Gose style can get lost pronto. It seems to me that there was some niche-drinker- (i.e., hipster-)/industry-generated group-think on Gose's being the next big thing. And then once costs are sunk and campaigns are created, there's no turning back. That beer can go back to hell whence it came. I'm not sure which plane of hell to invoke -- but it's the one where you can't escape the taste of sweaty gym socks.

 

Is Radler about the same as a shandy? Yeah - no thanks. (Although I sipped a grapefruit-ed shandy a while back that was decent.)

Oh, and the fact that the Gose is also low ABV makes it all the more a crime: Tastes awful, and can't deliver a decent buzz.

[Claude_Verret]

Chautauqua lake. Firestone Walker Easy Jack. Troegs Sunshine Pils on deck.

[Weave]

Chautauqua lake. Firestone Walker Easy Jack. Troegs Sunshine Pils on deck.

 

Jelly.

[That Aud Smell]

Same

 

(Jeals)

[MattPie]

https://untappd.com/b/anderson-valley-brewing-company-salted-caramel-bourbon-aged-porter/1223753

Anderson Valley Brewing Company Salted Caramel Bourbon Aged Porter.

 

One of those beers that sounds a lot more interesting than it is. I find this is more often the case than not; maybe living somewhat near Dogfish Head has messed with my expectations on this; they make some fine beers (the minutes, Brew, World-wide Stout), but several of their experiments are underwhelming. Interesting on the label, just kind of "eh" while drinking so I tend to think and beer with more than 4-5 words in the name is going disappoint. This beer smells a bunch like caramel and fizzed like pop when pouring (so much I thought it might be a hard root beer or something terrible). Upon drinking, you get a bit of that pop feel with the hard carbonation but otherwise it's a kind of thin porter. I get a bit of the bourbon and roasted malt, but that's it. I'd have it again if I were out, but after I tried all the other interesting beers.

[LGR4GM]

A raddler and a Shandy are not the same thing

[LTS]

I like it not. The Gose style can get lost pronto. It seems to me that there was some niche-drinker- (i.e., hipster-)/industry-generated group-think on Gose's being the next big thing. And then once costs are sunk and campaigns are created, there's no turning back. That beer can go back to hell whence it came. I'm not sure which plane of hell to invoke -- but it's the one where you can't escape the taste of sweaty gym socks.

 

Is Radler about the same as a shandy? Yeah - no thanks. (Although I sipped a grapefruit-ed shandy a while back that was decent.)

Oh, and the fact that the Gose is also low ABV makes it all the more a crime: Tastes awful, and can't deliver a decent buzz.

 

Yea, Gose is not for everyone.  I am not a huge fan of most of the ones I have had.  The beer industry is a cliche industry.  Look at the sheer amount of Tangerine IPAs now.  First it was grapefruit, then it just kept going from there. Pineapple, Tangerine, etc.

 

Grisette is another one that is coming around everywhere, along with Radlers.  Basically you have brewers looking for niche styles from all over the world to try and find the next marketing aspect to move product.  People are crazy for craft beer but they aren't really as discerning as they should be.  So many brewers, especially larger ones, can turn out pure crap for a product and people still buy it.  This won't last but for as long as it does it will continue to happen.

[MattPie]

Yea, Gose is not for everyone.  I am not a huge fan of most of the ones I have had.  The beer industry is a cliche industry.  Look at the sheer amount of Tangerine IPAs now.  First it was grapefruit, then it just kept going from there. Pineapple, Tangerine, etc.

 

Grisette is another one that is coming around everywhere, along with Radlers.  Basically you have brewers looking for niche styles from all over the world to try and find the next marketing aspect to move product.  People are crazy for craft beer but they aren't really as discerning as they should be.  So many brewers, especially larger ones, can turn out pure crap for a product and people still buy it.  This won't last but for as long as it does it will continue to happen.

 

I'd call it more trendy than cliche or marketing-based (at least for the smaller operations). I'm guessing there are brewing forums and magazines that will profile some oddball beer and everyone says, "hey, I'll give that a shot, it sounds like fun". I'm always game for something new so I don't mind a bit.

[Claude_Verret]

Homebrewers lead these style fads, I remember NHC four or five years ago and goses were all the rage. Black IPAs were also big in homebrewing circles before you saw them everywhere in the craft beer market.

 

I actually enjoy the Sierra Nevada gose Otra Vez.

[That Aud Smell]

the constant proliferation of styles is, i think, definitely a market-driven effort to capture a share of the beer-nerd-snob-what's-new crowd. which is fine.

 

but, again, i ask: can someone please launch the Gose style into the heart of a dying star.

I actually enjoy the Sierra Nevada gose Otra Vez.

 

Stop it. Now.

[MattPie]

the constant proliferation of styles is, i think, definitely a market-driven effort to capture a share of the beer-nerd-snob-what's-new crowd. which is fine.

 

but, again, i ask: can someone please launch the Gose style into the heart of a dying star.

 

Stop it. Now.

 

I have a Victory mix pack in the fridge, which I'll forever call the Victory Summer Half Smell Hates pack: Summer Love, Vital IPA, Frisse Wiesse, and Cage Radler. (if you hate Gose, you'll probably hate Frisse Wiesse too!)

http://www.victorybeer.com/beers/summer-selections/

[That Aud Smell]

I have a Victory mix pack in the fridge, which I'll forever call the Victory Summer Half Smell Hates pack: Summer Love, Vital IPA, Frisse Wiesse, and Cage Radler. (if you hate Gose, you'll probably hate Frisse Wiesse too!)

http://www.victorybeer.com/beers/summer-selections/

 

thanks for the naming honours, and for the cautionary word on frisse wiesse!

A humorous follow up to Gose.

 

I was exchanging texts with the "friend" of mine who had amused himself by handing me a Sierra Nevada Gose last weekend.

 

He sent me this very funny blog post about that style:

 

https://www.thrillist.com/drink/nation/craft-beer-is-dead-gose-ruined-craft-beer

 

My favourite line(s):

 

. . . . I walked into a popular Brooklyn brewpub and blindly ordered something off the menu. It came highly recommended by the bartender, though he couldn’t seem to actually explain what it was. A minute or so later it arrived and I took it up with relish, having looked forward to this drink all day, and drank it. I made a face and tried it again. It tasted like it had been squeegeed off the back of a German day laborer toiling in a coriander processing plant. 

....

I had drank Gose in the past, but I went to three craft beer stores today in search of more varieties to cement (or rebut) my opinion, and the first two were completely sold out. The third had two left. I bought them, I drank them. Served warmer, they tasted like spicy sweat. Served cold, they tasted like cold sweat.

....

I’m not saying fanboys and -girls are incapable of sincere interest, nor am I disparaging the ceaseless pursuit of the new, nor the value geeks of all sorts provide to the culture; but when obsession enters its late stage and novelty comes to edge out all other criteria for approval and enjoyment, the whole thing is rendered completely senseless. For beer, Gose is that moment. It’s the bull penis, that Icelandic tone poem, the B-side, prized for its rarity, its status as an unexplored horizon. It means the glorious revolution has turned in on itself. Bad flavor is the new good flavor, because all the good flavors are taken. Gose is upon us. We are all sweat drinkers now.

[Claude_Verret]

Southern tier pils at the brewery. It's not up to sunshine pils from Troegs, but pretty darn good nonetheless. Ill keep looking for it in cans.

[Weave]

Southern tier pils at the brewery. It's not up to sunshine pils from Troegs, but pretty darn good nonetheless. Ill keep looking for it in cans.

 

From what I understand, it is their Eurotrash recipe.  One of my favorites by ST.  Not a top tier pils, but one of my favs by them nonetheless.

[LGR4GM]

Terrapin watermelon gose. Sweet watermelon with a slight salt finish. Very refreshing

Terrapin Hi10, double ipa. Smooth with a slight habenero and mango finish, quite enjoyable double ipa

 

Both are very tasty today.

[Doohicksie]

From the time when local brewer Revolver was an independent craft brewer.  (Their sale to Miller-Coors was announced yesterday :( )