GIVE ME YOUR BEER SUGGESTIONS!!

[Pitt87]

At least a few times....Most of the diners were confused.

When? I practically lived there for 10 years and have never seen a band there...

[the wicked child]

Currently enjoying a Lagunitas Sumpin sumpin ale. Good stuff. A mix of an almost fruity wheat with a bushel of hops.

[MWB]

Had Souther Tier Double IPA yesterday. So good. Started with Brooklyn Summer Ale today, which was ok. Then had Fullers London Porter. Choclatey and tasty. seemed just a little flat though.

[Kraftster]

I'm not much of a hops fan but Sumpin Sumpin is so well balanced. I imagine its amazing for hops fans because its very good in my mind.

[the wicked child]

I'm not much of a hops fan but Sumpin Sumpin is so well balanced. I imagine its amazing for hops fans because its very good in my mind.

Yeah. It was probably on the edge of what would be enjoyable for me, but good stuff.

The Corv is a hop head so he enjoyed it even more than I did.

[the wicked child]

Just picked up a case of Harpoon Raspberry Hefeweizen. Haven't really had a Harpoon I didn't like so looking forward to it.

[count2infinity]

Just got a long trail variety pack. It's pretty good. The only one I haven't tried in it yet is the belgain white.

[PghSkins]

Went to my absolute favorite spot, the Sunset Grill and Tap in Boston (Allston) last week. Found a great IPA, Green Flash West Coast.

Come to find out they have it at Market District. Wicked expensive though, $12 for a 4-pack. Got me some but too pricey to drink on a regular basis.

Also, not sure if mentioned and not going through 75 pages to see, but a guy opened a new nanobrewery in Patterson Twp, Beaver County- stumbling distance from my place. The beer is great if a little- I guess "Esoteric" is a good word.

He's only open 6-8 PM Friday and 11 AM-2 PM Saturday the first weekend of every month. I'm a big Pale Ale/IPA guy and he had a good one this month. $12 a growler (he'll sell you one for $3 which you can get refilled, or bring your own). Also sells some in 22 oz bottles. It is a tiny place and it gets packed for tastings.

http://www.beaverbrewingcompany.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[UVM2003]

Went to my absolute favorite spot, the Sunset Grill and Tap in Boston (Allston) last week. Found a great IPA, Green Flash West Coast.

Come to find out they have it at Market District. Wicked expensive though, $12 for a 4-pack. Got me some but too pricey to drink on a regular basis.

Also, not sure if mentioned and not going through 75 pages to see, but a guy opened a new nanobrewery in Patterson Twp, Beaver County- stumbling distance from my place. The beer is great if a little- I guess "Esoteric" is a good word.

He's only open 6-8 PM Friday and 11 AM-2 PM Saturday the first weekend of every month. I'm a big Pale Ale/IPA guy and he had a good one this month. $12 a growler (he'll sell you one for $3 which you can get refilled, or bring your own). Also sells some in 22 oz bottles. It is a tiny place and it gets packed for tastings.

http://www.beaverbrewingcompany.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

to Sunset. My brother - who lurks here - has taken me there. Phenomenal place, clean tap lines...and 100+ beers on draft. I would struggle getting things done if I lived near that place.

Agreed on Green Flash, just make sure that it's fresh. They don't bottle date, and for IPAs, that is beyond comprehension.

[PghSkins]

I lived stumbling distance from the Sunset in 1994-95, then about 20 miles away till 1999 and spent A LOT of time and $$$ there. Place is exactly the same as it was then, except either the bulk of the clientele got younger or I got older.....

120 taps and 350 bottles. It's actually almost too many, I was driving and who can pick just 3 out of that many?

They have good food, too FWIW.

[the wicked child]

I'll comment further later, but the clear star of the Millvale Beer festival was Draai Laag. The Ausener was heavenly and the Goldenaacht nearly as awesome. So much win.

[llipgh2]

Went to a Seawolves game tonight. Jerry Hut Park has a nice selection of beers. Yuengling, Killian's, Shocktop, Sam Adams to name a few. And they sell them in 24 oz cups. For 5.50. A good deal.

[the wicked child]

Okay, so the Millvale Brew fest. In general, I was a fan of the venue. Nice scenery being right by the river and all. It was a bit crowded at times, but lines were generally not too bad (though Draai Laag had an insanely long line later on after people realized how legit they were). There were actually more breweries than they listed on the website. Being a veteran of brewfestsold now, I didn't make it to every brewery. I wanted to try a few of the ones that I missed while some I intentionally skipped (Straub and Iron City).

The food situation was better than I expected. Some place called The Flame BBQ was catering it. It's not Hot Rods, but it was good nonetheless. You got a choice of BBQ chicken or pork sandwich, baked beans and pasta salad. bottled water or root beer on tap was available as beverage. The pork sandwich and pasta salad were good. The beans were highly forgettable. All in all a solid meal... though with as much beer as I had consumed, I wanted about 4 or 5 of those pork sandwiches, but I digress.

There were highs and lows in what I did try. As I mentioned earlier, Draai Laag wins this thing running away. I tried the Ausener and Goldenaacht. Both were Belgian ales very much like Trippels (if they are not actually such) and were definitely in Golden Monkey territory for me (which I <3 so I do not say that lightly). It's too bad that they were not offered simultaneously to allow comparison. I think the Ausener was slightly better, but this is a pepsi challenge that is happening at some point. Given the quality of these 2 brews, it is hard to believe they are a place in Millvale that fills growlers twice a month. They had 2 other beers which I did not get to sample... one due to missing the time it was offered and the other due to reaching my intake limit. My friend tried the 4th (a lambic according to the guy at the booth) and said it was also very good. All I will say is that if you like Belgian Trippel style ales... get yer butt down there.

The Ausener kinda put a damper on the next couple beers (I mean, they were okay... but after something so good...) so it wasn't until I had a Penn Weizen that I got back on track there. Some day I want to try that along side Weihenstephaner. I think I know how that will turn out, but Penn Weizen is probably my favorite wheat brewed stateside.

At one point I hit a rough patch where I had a few non-descript/meh beers in a row... some kind of IPA from Full Pint (meh - barely enough hop flavor or character to classify as an IPA IMO), Jack's Hard Cider (tasted like someone mixed seltzer water and apple juice together) and Abbey Monk's Wit (waste of a beer... had almost no flavor).

I remedied that situation by getting a real IPA from Yards (which is a damn fine IPA ftr).

Another interesting beer of note I tried was the Dogfish head Sah Tea. A wheat with chai spices. It was pretty good, though sadly I was approaching my limit at that point so I had trouble finishing it.

One of the local breweries (I think it was the UndegroundThree Rivers one) had a beer called "Red Headed Slut", so naturally I had to try that... turned out to be a raspberry stout. It was decent, though true stout fans probably wouldn't care for it as it had no trace of the coffee-like taste usually present in a stout... I would say it tasted more like a dark munich lager with raspberry.

So to sum things up:

1. This is a fun event, if you love beer, you should go.
2. Cool to gt to try a bunch of local breweries (some of which are really a collection of home brewers, so you won't get to try them elsewhere)
3. Draai. F'n. Laag.

[largegarlic]

It's awesome to see Pittsburgh getting a solid microbrewery culture going. I'll have to check out the Draai Laag at some point. I've seen that Dogfish head brew with chai tea in a couple places and have been wanting to try that as well.

On a different note, I'm having another Mischief from The Bruery. It's probably my favorite beer from my soon to be over summer of lazy drinking.

[PensFanInDC]

Chores done. Ribs braising. Sitting on my deck enjoying a classic Honey Brown. Probably the best cheap beer there is.

[stopper40]

Chores done. Ribs braising. Sitting on my deck enjoying a classic Honey Brown. Probably the best cheap beer there is.

[stopper40]

Chores done. Ribs braising. Sitting on my deck enjoying a classic Honey Brown. Probably the best cheap beer there is.

[columbia]

I picked up a sixer of Yuengling Bock and enjoyed it, for the price.

[bhaw]

Wife can now drink again after carrying our seed for 9 month and 2 weeks of recovery. She picked up a Shock Top variety pack because she wanted the Rasberry Wheat. I tried the Wheat IPA (oddly enough the 2nd wheat IPA I have tried in a month and never knew they existed). Not bad. I like it. Probably nothing to write home about but most of you seem to have much more sophisticated taste than I.

[bhaw]

Oh, of note: I did get myself a 22oz Arrogant Bastard and a Boatswain HLV Ale (HLV = Heavy Lifting Vessel). I like the Arrogant Bastard when I'm home with the kids and wife asleep and I fire up the PS3. Boatswain are Trade Joe beers and the others I have tried from them have not been good. Their Double IPA was just terrible and gave me a headache after just 1. But this one gets much better reviews, even from the beer snobs at beeradvocates. $2 for 22oz. If it's even decent, that's a heck of a buy for a 7% beer.

[the wicked child]

Arrogant Bastard was my opening beer @ the brewfest yesterday.

[the wicked child]

Also, now that I think about it... I'm not sure if the bland IPA was from Full Pint or Roy Pitz... I'm thinking that I might have actually liked what I tried form FP now, but I don't recall what it was, and they didn't list their beers on the flyer.

[jimjom]

Arrogant Bastard was my opening beer @ the brewfest yesterday. :thumb:

I agree with all of your earlier sentiments about Brewfest. Was a great time. Tried about a dozen beers (relax everyone--the pours are only 4 oz or so! And we had a DD). The pulled pork from Flames was unreal I could eat that stuff with a spoon. Didn't try the Draak but wish I did now. Mostly stuck to IPAs and doubled up the Dogfish Set-Tea. The Yards was really a solid English IPA, which I'd never tried. Although there were lots of micros there my favorites were Victory and Dogfish, pretty mainstream stuff but delicious and fresh.

[bhaw]

Drank the Boatswain HLV... still no idea what an HLV is supposed to be, but it was a good beer actually. The first sip was a little bitter getting used to what it was, but I liked the beer as I got further into the bottle. 22oz 7% ABV beer for $2. Yeah, I'll get it again. I probably wouldn't drink it in mass, but as a bottle to sip during an slow evening, it was solid!

No go back to looking down on me for my beer tastes

[Kraftster]

I have to try and get over there soon. They have the Grand Cru on draft right now, a very good sour.

Wanna go next week?

Yes.

This is happening tonight if there are any other lgpers interested.