Frownland

Some of you around here are aware that I enjoy a drink or six, as I drink more than the people of Belarus. I also live in San Diego, which is basically the beer capital of the world (all of Europe can suck on that one—though I will be reviewing imports as well), so I have oodles of different craft beers to choose from. I'll mostly be popping in here when I have something special or something that the heads ought to know about. Beer suggestions are always welcome, but availability may get in the way of that (I am open to exchanges, PM me if you're interested in that).

There won't be a set format for these beers persay, but generally I will be covering aroma, looks, packaging, glass/bottle comparisons, abv, ibus, rarity, year of production, some background on the product, and, of course, taste. First review will be coming in very shortly.

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Studies show that when a given norm is changed in the face of the unchanging, the remaining contradictions will parallel the truth.

Chula Vista

My only good beer story. Back in 1977-78 Coors beer was only available in a very limited area of the midwest since it all came out of the original Rocky Mountain brewery. There was lots of stories of how amazing it was. (Frownland, hold back on the snark for a moment - this was 40 years ago when Narragansett was considered a great beer by the New England populace).

A member of my band at that time had a relative who worked for Coors and she had them ship a couple of warm cases right out of the barrel to us. We let them chill for a day before cracking the first bottle.

HOLY CRAP! I saw Jesus that night as the 5 of us drank all 48 beers. It was so freaking good. Didn't have another Coors for about 6-7 years, when they finally went national - and it sucked. Not even close. Guess all the processing they had to do for huge distribution squeezed out all of the awesomeness.

__________________

“The fact that we live at the bottom of a deep gravity well,
on the surface of a gas covered planet going around a nuclear fireball 90 million miles away
and think this to be normal is obviously some indication of how skewed our perspective tends to be.”

Frownland

Ja, Coors is disgusting (albeit the better of American premium beers) but I can imagine that like most brewers, they started off solid and rode that success wave all the way to the bland, industrialized crap we see today. Fresh beer straight from the barrel can be a different story as well. I've had a Budweiser from one of Anheier-Busch beer gardens that was served on tap from barrels and it was actually pretty solid. That is the only time you will ever hear me say anything nice about Budweiser.

__________________

Studies show that when a given norm is changed in the face of the unchanging, the remaining contradictions will parallel the truth.

Chula Vista

Did the same at the Bud plant in Merrimack New Hampshire with similar results.

These days when I drink a beer it'll be a Fat Tire with a slice of orange. But that's extremely rare. Rum and coke or gin and tonic are my poison these days.

__________________

“The fact that we live at the bottom of a deep gravity well,
on the surface of a gas covered planet going around a nuclear fireball 90 million miles away
and think this to be normal is obviously some indication of how skewed our perspective tends to be.”

Key

Subscribed.

Frownland

Going to kick things off with an all-time favourite beer from my favourite brewer.




Every year, Lagunitas drops a limited batch of "one-hitter" beers. Last year was my first Waldo's experience and it immediately became clear to me how special this beer was. We will have to see how this year's recipe stacks up, since each batch comes out differently. They are released every year around 4/20 to commemorate the start of the tradition, plus the Waldos actually played a large role in the recipe, as described on the case.



Clocking in at an extremely high ABV of 11.9% (0.4% up from last year's batch), this triple IPA has a nice golden colour with little to no head. It is so immensely aromatic that it fills the room with all kinds of different fruit flavours like grapefruit, orange, and melon blended with the dank smell of the hops, pine-iness and herbs (I think italian herbs of some sort, can't quite put my finger on it yet). It's very lightly carbonated and despite the high alcohol content, it is very smooth. I've had IPA's of 7% that tasted boozier than this. The flavour is full and hoppy. It is somewhat bitter but not overpowering, in fact it's well-rounded out with the sweetness complimenting the more darker flavours. I honestly would not be surprised if there was some kind of pot-related thing in here, most likely some ruderalis or CBD oil or something along those lines, idunno. This stuff makes me feel more like I'm crossfaded than if I had just been drunk.

These are insanely easy to suck down, so they're pretty fucking dangerous. This is a very rich beer and is one of the high points of Lagunitas' selection. As far as the glass to bottle comparison, this is a pretty unique beer. In most cases, I believe that the glass accentuates the flavours a lot better, but with Waldos and many other Lagunitas beers, straight from the bottle is the way to go. It ups the bitterness a little bit, but it brings out the the more savoury elements of this beer. I've had two of this since the start of this review and I'm really feeling it. If you don't like IPAs, you won't like these beers (the IBUs clock in at over 100, which is either great news or bad news depending on how much you like hops), but if you do, definitely get yourself a pack if you can find it in your area.

The perfect beer. 5/5

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Studies show that when a given norm is changed in the face of the unchanging, the remaining contradictions will parallel the truth.

Frownland

I hate when I'm broke. I can't afford anything good right now and in times like these I turn to vodka to ward off the shakes. I'm going to dedicate this entry to beers I really want to try. Feel free to buy one and videotape yourself drinking it to torment me. I'll be doing more of these types of entries when I'm broke to keep the journal going. Maybe. I kind of suck with the follow through.

The Drool Selection

Number One: Dogfish Head - 120 Minute IPA (16.5%)


My local liquor store has this priced at $35 a four pack. Wildly hard to find quality craft beer. I've never been disappointed by Dogfish Head's stuff and their 60 & 90 minute IPAs are pretty delicious too. I might treat myself to a single of these on my next payday because it's too good to miss.

Number Two: Firestone Walker - Parabola Russian Imperial Stout (14%)


Things I love: Firestone Walker, strong beer, stouts, imperial stouts, Russian imperial stouts, alcohol, and music. I'd throw on Bitches Brew while listening to that because it's a great album but the title wouldn't do it justice. Did I use that joke too early? It might make a comeback.

Number Three: Deschutes Brewery - Conflux Series 2: Collage American Strong Ale (14.3%)




That looks fucking delicious.

Enough daydreaming. I'm going to drink some of this shitty vodka.

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Studies show that when a given norm is changed in the face of the unchanging, the remaining contradictions will parallel the truth.

Frownland

UPDATE: I tried this and it tasted like jet fuel at first, but once you got into the overwhelming booziness of it it had a lot of smoky, caramel undertones kind of similar to whiskey. It's not exactly flying off the shelves, so I think I might save up for a four pack and store them for a while to see how that affects the flavour. Overall 4.5/5

This one looks very cool. Lagunitas has partnered with Heineken, and I think the change from the parchment style labelling on this beer is because of that.

Anyways, the beer is called Dark Swan and it's an "experimentally hopped sour ale fermented with dark red wine grapes." It clocks in at 8.5% ABV, which pretty unique for a sour. I'll let you guys know if I get around to trying it.

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Studies show that when a given norm is changed in the face of the unchanging, the remaining contradictions will parallel the truth.

Dylstew

I hate beer so please give me some TLR's.

Frownland

The tl;dr of this thread is high abv=good beer

Also I just noticed that S in that Dark Swan logo in my last post makes the beer look like a Lagunitas Shitter Series.

__________________

Studies show that when a given norm is changed in the face of the unchanging, the remaining contradictions will parallel the truth.