BEER

[SoulBiter]

I am literally sitting in the parking lot at Stone Brewing, waiting on them to open. Ko Gonna get some lunch and have some beers. I'm pretty pumped!!!!


Here are all the beers I tried. 2 flights. My wife tried some but she isnt a big beer drinker

kevinswatch.ihugny.com/phpBB2/album_pic.php?pic_id=2281

One set was pretty standard.
Pale Ale
Smoked Porter (outstanding!)
Stone IPA
Americano Stout

The second was
Founder Aged Imperial Saison
Stone Cali Belgique aged in white wine
Highway 78 Scotch Ale: Wagner Blend Ale Aged in Scotch Whisky Barrels (Very Sweet for a beer..... very very good!!)
Stone 2016 release of Imperial Stout (also very good)

I finished off by trying an 8oz pour of ScruWit... which is a blended beer of three styles. Although I wanted to really like it because the idea intrigued me, I didnt.

[SoulBiter]

At Stones in Oceanside. Having an 8 oz pour of Enjoy by IPA. My wife is having a Cliche blonde.

[Zarathustra]

Awesome! I'm very jealous. Good for you. I've heard they have amazing food at the Stone Bistro. Did you eat there, too?

[SoulBiter]

Awesome! I'm very jealous. Good for you. I've heard they have amazing food at the Stone Bistro. Did you eat there, too?

We did and they have a very good menu. I had the Portugeuse Chicken, which had a drizzel of jalapeno sauce on it. It was less hot than I thought it would be and delicious.

I highly recommend going there, especially if you can make time to spend the entire afternoon and have a driver LOL. I was there with my wife and although I could have spent more time there, she wanted to hit some wineries in the area so we had two flights, lunch, I drank an 8oz pour and we left. I did buy a Stone Stout glass and a shirt as well.

[SoulBiter]

I seem to be in a good beer rut

Stone's Mocha IPA. Stone is really hitting some home runs lately and this is no exception!

Next up an Enjoy by 7/28/16 tangerine.....I will let you know.

[Zarathustra]

I was stunned by the Mocha IPA. It's the most original IPA since their 2011 Anniversary Ale (which they bottled for a few years as Sublimely Self-Righteous Ale), a black IPA.

The tangerine version of Enjoy By is damn good, a nice twist on one of my favorites.

[SoulBiter]

Here I go again with a Stone beer. This one is Ruinten Triple IPA. Good friggin beer. Do not drink this at 38degrees...let it warm a bit to mid 40's. That's when the flavors jump out. Malty, sweet, but with enough hops to offset the sweetness. 10.8% abv... But the alcohol isn't so prevalent. Pour's a nice orange red amber... Some head and minimal lacing. I loved this beer and highly recommend it!

[lorin]

I just read that Asheville, NC is the craft beer capital of the US with the most brands 'crafted' there. We are stopping there for a few days on the way back from the Balloonfest and do some testing. I love Asheville. Very nice place.

[SoulBiter]

I just read that Asheville, NC is the craft beer capital of the US with the most brands 'crafted' there. We are stopping there for a few days on the way back from the Balloonfest and do some testing. I love Asheville. Very nice place.

Now see what you have done!!! I gotta head up to Asheville for a weekend of beer drinking

[lorin]

I just read that Asheville, NC is the craft beer capital of the US with the most brands 'crafted' there. We are stopping there for a few days on the way back from the Balloonfest and do some testing. I love Asheville. Very nice place.

Now see what you have done!!! I gotta head up to Asheville for a weekend of beer drinking

Wait until October. Uss and I will be meandering through Asheville for a few days either going to or coming from Albuquerque. Would love to meet up for a little taste testing.

I love when I get to use the word meander, especially when talking about the south.

[SoulBiter]

I would absolutely be interested. Let me know as far in advance as possible what weekend and my wife and I will make a long weekend of it. Since my wife and I work for the same company, and we are in the middle of an expansion project it can be iffy.

On to beer. My next beer is Lagunitas Lucky 13. A red ale that is very good. Pours a deep copper color with a gigantic off-white head. The head is nice and creamy and has some great retention and thick lacing. Sweet caramel and bready malts are most prominent, but you also get some pine resin and juicy citrus.A blend of toasty sweet malts and hop bitterness. The strongest notes are caramel, pine, and grapefruit. Sweetness overpowers the hoppy notes, but the hop characteristics still shine through.I have had this beer a few times and not been disappointed.

Edit to add.Part of my family is from. NM. My mom was from Alamogordo, and I still have family there. I lived there a few times over the years. The lack of employment and wages pushed me out

[SoulBiter]

onewyteduck, yes I think this is why most people must have it near freezing in order to drink mass-produced beer. I used to drink mainly Miller Lite, and I would have to put each bottle in the freezer--after having been in the fridge for hours/days--just to make it drinkable. I had no idea that this was because the beer sucked, rather than my temperature preference.

Now I drink barley wines (for instance) where I actually enjoy the change in taste as I sip the beer over an hour or so and it warms up considerably.

I had some good Barleywine s recently. I was surprised at how much I like them. I also noted how the taste was better as it warmed and very sweet for beer. High in alcohol but very very flavorful. I shared a good one with my brother in law and he didn't like them at all.....not surprising... He only likes ales, pilsners, and lagers...an occasional Porter. But different tastes and all

[SoulBiter]

Stone again. Still Unapologetic IPA..... Opening tonight...will follow up. I also bought this year's Wil Wheaton Woot Stout.... Saving that for a cool autumn evening. Heading to Ohio in a couple of weeks on business...hoping to pick up an Evil Twin brewing Molotov Cocktail Hop Edition, to bring home. 13%abv Imperial IPA.

The Unapologetic IPA was not as good as the Ruinten I had a week earlier. It was Ok just not worth the cost is a 22 oz bomber. I also tried the Citrusy Wit. No citrus at all as far as I could tell. May as well be a standard pilsner. Again...good but not great.

[lorin]

I would absolutely be interested. Let me know as far in advance as possible what weekend and my wife and I will make a long weekend of it.

Well schedule is starting to firm up. Mike(Uss) and I will be in Asheville the weekend of 10/1 and 10/2. i really hope we can make a weekend of it! Mike is a beer nut (Beer nut.....get it? ) I know nothing except what I like and what I don't. I know Asheville is lovely, I have been there before.

[SoulBiter]

Lorin, Sorry I was not able to make that happen. Work has my wife and I incredibly tied up. We are expanding and a new million sq ft facility comes online in December. Both my wife and I work for the same place and she is a project manager and I am the Retail systems and Inventory manager. So both of us are traveling around Georgia, Ohio, Texas, and California to get ready for the new facility and the re-arranging of our distribution network. To make it even harder, our daughter is getting married and we have been running around like mad trying to get that all organized.

Hopefully we can get together another time when things quiet down around here.

[Zarathustra]

Stone released a 4-pack of 22 oz bombers with their 5th, 10th, 15th, and 20th anniversary IPAs. It's quite a stroll through time, tasting how their craft has evolved. As adventurous as their brews have become, I really miss the taste of early 2000s IPAs. The 5th anniversary is damn tasty.

[SoulBiter]

Nice!!! Im going to keep an eye out.

I tried a new beer from Sweetwater called Smokey and the Brett. It was not as good as I hoped. Maybe if I cellared it some it would have been better although its not one they tell you to cellar. The beer was a bit too sour for me....sour like in citrus sour. Not enough malts to offset that so it didnt feel balanced to me.

On a brighter note, Oct 31, 2016 is fast approaching and I have been cellaring a beer for a year... Stones Enjoy after 10/31/16.... I think I am going to save this until Thanksgiving and enjoy it with a family member who is also loves a good IPA. I will let you guys know. Could be great, could be skank.... time will tell! LOL

[Zarathustra]

I think the Enjoy After series has Brett in it, which makes them sour/tart/funky. Some have even described it as "barnyard" or "horseblanket." But also spice, rose, earthy, etc. I've never tried it, but I know if done well Brett can be fantastic. Have you ever had any Brett beers?

[SoulBiter]

I think the Enjoy After series has Brett in it, which makes them sour/tart/funky. Some have even described it as "barnyard" or "horseblanket." But also spice, rose, earthy, etc. I've never tried it, but I know if done well Brett can be fantastic. Have you ever had any Brett beers?

I had one recently from Sweetwater brewery (Smokey and the Brett). It was pretty good but felt unbalanced. Very tart with not enough malts to balance the tart. Now that wasnt an aged Brett beer so Im still not so sure what to expect but thats the fun with trying new things.

[sgt.null]

have not had a good beer in a long, long time. need to fix that.