GIVE ME YOUR BEER SUGGESTIONS!!

[count2infinity]

I'm not sure what to think of this new brewery that's popping up everywhere: Duclaw.

All of their stuff seems to be over the top outrageous. I've had serum from them which is their double IPA offering. It was pretty decent, but they have some crazy stuff. I just saw Colossus from them which is a 17.3% alcohol beer.

[the wicked child]

I've had 2 beers from Duclaw... Sweet Baby Jesus and Hellrazer.

Sweet Baby Jesus is a chocolate peanut butter porter. It literally smells like a Reese's peanut butter cup. It basically tastes like roasted peanuts... which is a bit of a letdown after the smell. Hellrazer was a pretty tasty IPA. I don't remember the specifics as it was one of many IPAs I had at that particular fest, but I remember it standing out.

[eddysnake]

Duclaw retribution is top notch

[llipgh2]

I've had 2 beers from Duclaw... Sweet Baby Jesus and Hellrazer.

Sweet Baby Jesus is a chocolate peanut butter porter. It literally smells like a Reese's peanut butter cup. It basically tastes like roasted peanuts... which is a bit of a letdown after the smell. Hellrazer was a pretty tasty IPA. I don't remember the specifics as it was one of many IPAs I had at that particular fest, but I remember it standing out.

Duclaw had a tasting at my Market District. I tasted the Sweet Baby Jesus first. It tasted so meh, I didn't bother to try the others.

[KennyTheKangaroo]

Sweet Baby Jesus was a bit underwhelming.

[the wicked child]

I would tend to agree. I've had 3 chocolate peanut butter porters... the offering from Horny Goat is by far the best. It doesn't smell as good as SBJ... but it tastes like SBJ smells. It really seems like you are drinking a liquefied peanut butter cup, albeit not anywhere near as sweet. Would make for an awesome dessert accompaniment, IMO.

Now the HellRazer... that was pretty darn tasty. It has a less flashy name, but I would mos def drink again.

[columbia]

Back to the saison talk...

I just had an Allagash Saison, which was completely underwhelming. If someone had told me that it was Yuengling's stab at the style, I would have completely believed it and if this had been my introduction to saisons, I'm not sure that I would have bothered to look much further.

So that raises the question, mr. Kraftster, which US breweries make a high quality version?
(I've obviously had Hennepin, which is fully decent and Tank 7, which is decent/serviceable.)

[eddysnake]

Goose Island sofie is my favorite saison

[columbia]

Yes, I forgot about that.

[Sam's Drunk Dog]

Too many pumpkin beers equals stomach not happy

[slappybrown]

Ic light I can't quit you

[canaan]

Goose Island sofie is my favorite saison

I like GI Pepe Nero better, but its been a long time since I've last had sofie

[Eismann]

La Terrible is good, very interesting. Dark, fruity, but not too fruity. Sweet, no bitter. Nice finish.

[Kraftster]

Back to the saison talk...

I just had an Allagash Saison, which was completely underwhelming. If someone had told me that it was Yuengling's stab at the style, I would have completely believed it and if this had been my introduction to saisons, I'm not sure that I would have bothered to look much further.

So that raises the question, mr. Kraftster, which US breweries make a high quality version?
(I've obviously had Hennepin, which is fully decent and Tank 7, which is decent/serviceable.)

Times like this I'm happy I keep all of my bottles. After a review of the bottles, here's what I have to say:

First of all, that's disappointing to hear about the Allagash Saison. I haven't had any of the stuff that Allagash is mass producing now other than the Wit a while ago. The Allagash Interlude is one of my favorite saisons, but it is a brettanomyces saison, which tend to sort of straddle the line between saison and american wild ales (sours). If you venture down that path, the Boulevard (seems likely available to you) Saison-Brett is absolutely one of the best. In that category, I'd rank:

1. Grassroots Arctic Saison (collab between Hill Farmstead and Anchorage)
2. Anchorage Love Buzz
3. Boulevard Saison-Brett
4. Logsdon Farmhouse Seizoen Bretta
5. Oxbow Barrel Aged Farmhouse Pale Ale
6. Allagash Interlude

All of the bretty saisons I have ever seen have been 750 ML bottles. I'd say the Saison-Brett is most likely to be available to you. The Jolly Pumpkin Bam Biere is probably also more readily available. It is decent for that style. You might also find Jester King saisons. It is a Texas brewery. The couple I've had I really liked. I recall both being brewed with brett. A local one if you're in PA is Liopard Oir from Lavery (Erie brewery)--it actually won gold at the GABF this year for the style.

Going with more traditional saisons, I'd say my favorite is Oxbow Farmhouse Pale Ale. Beyond that, in no particular order, some of my US favorites are:

North Coast Le Merle
Stillwater Cellar Door
Stillwater Stateside Saison
Stillwater Bronze Age (collab w/ Hof Ten Dormaal)
Lost Abbey Red Barn Ale (just had this today, actually)
Lost Abbey Carnevale
Goose Island Sophie
Goose Island Halia
Pfriem Little Saison
Commons Grisette
Logsdon Farmhouse Fresh Hop Seizoen (anything Logsdon really)
Pelican Saison Du Pelican
Bruery Saison de Lente
Great Divide Collette
Rockmill Saison
Pretty Things Jack D'Or

Saisons that are good/pretty good, I'd say:

Helltown Spiteful Saison (local PA)
Stone Matt's Burning Rosids
Brooklyn Sorachi Ace
Saint Somewhere Saison Athene
Victory Helios
Upright #4 (probably anything Upright is good)
Bruery Saison Rue
Sly Fox Saison VOS
Commons Urban Farmhouse Ale
Southern Tier Sonnet
Boulevard Tank 7
Ithaca Groundbreak

The Stone, Yards, Victory, are all okay.

The aforementioned (by canaan) Pepe Nero is part of a strange few dark, malt-heavy saisons I've had to go along with Stillwater Existent and Saint Somewhere Serge. I don't really get them too much. I guess I liked them all, but not as saisons. It's just too far of a stretch for the style for me. They basically taste like very dry-finishing porters, with maybe a hint of the spiciness and pepperiness you get from many saisons. The SS Serge was the best, but I don't think they brew it any longer.

Saisons I'd avoid:

New Holland Monkey King
Weyerbacher Seventeen
Saison De Silly
Green Flash Saison Diego
Southampton Saison Deluxe
Lost Abbey Mo Betta Bretta

[columbia]

Reported Bookmarked.

Thanks!

[Loaf31]

Since it was cool enough out, I finally got into my Warlock which has been in my fridge since August.... As good as I remember,

[Factorial]

Times like this I'm happy I keep all of my bottles. After a review of the bottles, here's what I have to say:

Have you thought about a spreadsheet instead? As a former beer can collector (none of which I was old enough to drink) I understand.

I'm curious, how many bottles do you have and in what manner do you store them? If nothing else, if you decide to ever make your own you'll have all the bottles you'll ever need.

[columbia]

@Kraftster

I just had another bottle of that Allagash and I realized what it tastes like: a Kölsch.

That doesn't seem to be a very appreciated style around here (and I'm fair to midland on it myself), but it's definitely not what I want in a saison.

[llipgh2]

La Terrible is good, very interesting. Dark, fruity, but not too fruity. Sweet, no bitter. Nice finish.

I love Terrible.

[Eismann]

La Terrible is good, very interesting. Dark, fruity, but not too fruity. Sweet, no bitter. Nice finish.

I love Terrible.

I don't think I have a real fave among Maudite, Trois Pistoles and Terrible, since I like them all.

Kicking myself for not getting into BSDAs earlier, but this is clearly where I'm at now. Even the thought of drinking a beer cold isn't appealing. Gimme cellar temp, smooth and strong.

[llipgh2]

La Terrible is good, very interesting. Dark, fruity, but not too fruity. Sweet, no bitter. Nice finish.

I love Terrible.

I don't think I have a real fave among Maudite, Trois Pistoles and Terrible, since I like them all.

I love all 3.

[Kraftster]

Times like this I'm happy I keep all of my bottles. After a review of the bottles, here's what I have to say:

Have you thought about a spreadsheet instead? As a former beer can collector (none of which I was old enough to drink) I understand.

I'm curious, how many bottles do you have and in what manner do you store them? If nothing else, if you decide to ever make your own you'll have all the bottles you'll ever need.

Ha. I find that by keeping the bottles I'm able to more vividly recall the features of the particular beer. That said, I do need to take an inventory. I'm not sure what the count is; I'd say probably 250-300, at least half of which are 750 ML or 22 oz bottles. Presently, they occupy every available inch of a bar (top and all of both shelves underneath the bar) and have spilled over onto some other shelving.

I've actually been trying to figure out what I'm actually going to do with them recently...without any success.

[count2infinity]

I was so surprised when I went home this weekend. It was my wife's birthday and my brother's birthday is this week, so we had a combo dinner party type of thing. I walked into my dad's workshop, opened the beer fridge which is normally filled with coors (not coors light, coors. the banquet beer), genny light, and IC light, and was met with 60 minute IPA, Great Lakes mixed pack and a case of beer from a local brewery called Whitehorse, which was a new one to me. I asked my mom what the deal was and she said her and my dad are branching out and trying new beers. Whaaaaaaaaaaa? Never would have thought I'd see the day where this happens.

[columbia]

Will a bunch of terrible craft beer ruin the booming craft beer industry?
There's a flood of new suds — and some of it sucks
http://theweek.com/article/index/269205 ... r-industry" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[shmenguin]

i pretty much don't drink beer anymore, but i still want to collect some good, rare stuff and break it out on special occasions. so yesterday i picked up a couple of these:

http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/the-bruery-sucre/172506/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

the 16.9 abv is right up my ally. i'll probably let them age for several months before i even think about opening one, though.