Beer Thread

[jade1955]

Drinking a bottle of O'Hara's Irish Stout.

There's a plethora of great Irish stouts around at the moment... Dungarvan Black Rock Stout, Porterhouse plain, Porterhouse Oyster stout, Porterhouse Wrasslers XXXX, O'Hara's Lean Folainn and the plain old O'Hara's Irish stout I just mentioned. Mostly dry tasting, in the real Irish fashion, and all of them infinitley superior to Guinness.

I think, of all of them, the regular O'Hara's is my favourite session stout. Their Leann Folainn is a thicker, heavier brew, but the regular black bottle 'Irish stout' is a good one to look for. The brewing company behind these - O'Hara's / Carlow Brewing Company - stole a march on a lot of other Irish companies and started exporting abroad before they even had much of a market here in Ireland... That's worked out well for them apparently. Worth trying if you guys come across them.

Had some of this on the train yesterday.

Irish Stout, brewed by non other than the Carlow Brewing Co. Very good it was too.

[RoryQ]

Nice!

I was in London all week. Drank Camden Ink, St. Peter's Porter on cask. Savagely hungover today.

[Tight-Lines]

I had Black Diamond Brewery's "Jagged Edge IPA" last night and was incredibly disappointed. It tasted like there were metal shavings in the beer.

Veer away from that shit.

[RoryQ]

[Mike112]

Nothing better than a cold Keith's on a hot summer's day.

[Colored Guy]

Going ghetto lately, supermarket has OE800 24 oz cans on sale for $1.29 each.

CG

[slayer9019]

Going ghetto lately, supermarket has OE800 24 oz cans on sale for $1.29 each.

CG

My favorite "ghetto" beer is Steelies (Steel Reserve). I started drinking them when I lived in Newark because they were A) CHEAP B) Readily Available C) high ABV. I always end up getting sick of OE

[Colored Guy]

My favorite "ghetto" beer is Steelies (Steel Reserve). I started drinking them when I lived in Newark because they were A) CHEAP B) Readily Available C) high ABV. I always end up getting sick of OE

Steel Reserve... don't care for the taste, but the content is around 6%. OE has been one of my favs since last summer... one place had it for 89¢ a can with those orange price stickers.. plastered the stickers up and down the arms of my beach chair.. as luck woukd have it, the beach chair shits the bed on me and i had to chuck it.

CG

[RoryQ]

Had a pint of Galway Hooker in The Long Hall. Lovely boozer with a Victorian era interior... Hard to beat.

A Thwaites Porter. New to Dublin off licences... Pretty good ye olde English take on the style.

Had this after my sleeve. Medicinal...

[MadeIndelible]

Had a Lagunitas Lucky 13 last night.

Have a Stone Ruination in the fridge for tonight.

[RoryQ]

Coolest growler ever? Holds 4 pints. Ceramic.

[jade1955]

Coolest growler ever? Holds 4 pints. Ceramic.

Wow I've never seen those before. Brewdog make some seriously good beer.

[RoryQ]

Wow I've never seen those before. Brewdog make some seriously good beer.

Well, I just saw them post this online but I gather it's been floating around since July. I presume you can get them off the website (not us ROI people unfortunately, unless we want to get gouged with postage).

I have a love/hate experience with Brewdog. On the one hand they've got a great forward-looking concept and I think they've got a legitimate niche within UK craft brewing. They're the opposite of the 'sandals, beards and cask ale only' CAMRA crowd, but at times they become a caricature of themselves, with the OTT marketing speak. Beer-wise I really *want* to enjoy their product line but if I'm dead honest I find a lot of their beers over-hopped for my taste. From time to time, sure, a Punk IPA can hit the spot, but some of the hoppier (or stronger ABV) offerings turn me off.

I think I'm right in saying that one of the founders of Brewdog was previously involved with Thornbridge (them of South Pacific Pale Ale, Jaipur etc). To me Thornbridge makes some interesting beers - but without the Brewdog-style marketing blurb. I wonder which approach will win the day in the long run.

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Hmm... http://www.brewdog.com/product/growler

Looks like you can buy an older-style growler for 6 quid, the idea being that you fill it with draft beer from a Brewdog pub and it'll keep fresh for 2-3 days.

Could be an idea for your train rides, @jade1955

[Graeme]

@RoryQ I'm glad to hear you say that. It may be that their beer doesn't travel well (and I xan't speak as to their standards on flavored stability and oxygen control) but what I've had from BrewDog on this side of the Atlantic has been underwhelming. Doesn't help things for me that their write up on the Punk IPA label is basically stolen from Stone's Arrogant Bastard. I appreciate that they're brewing American styles of beer in the UK, but I think if you compare it to the beers they're trying to emulate, they're mediocre at best. Marketing doesn't make up for that.

Overhopping is a problem generally, in my opinion. I love hoppy beers, but there needs to be a balance there.

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Please excuse the autocorrect typos.

[RoryQ]

Yeah, I can see how Brewdog's pitch might be a bit redundant on your side of the atlantic!

One of the best ways of describing overhopping that I ever read* was to liken to it taking a food condiment, like salt, which is delicious if used properly... And then just hosing it on for its own sake. For me, the 'arms race' to brew ever hoppier beers just doesn't do it for me. There must be a point of diminishing returns.

*I think it was the brewmaster from Brooklyn Brewery that used that analogy.

[David Flores]

I honestly think most beers that aren't an IPA are not hoppy enough for me, but that might be a side effect of drinking hoppy beers all the time. I feel like a lot of "session beers" I try don't have much taste. I really like Belgian IPA's and Dry Hop Wheat Beers if I am not going to drink IPA. There are definitely some beers that have pushed the IBU level too far, but I have had a few beers that are at or above 100 IBUS that are some of the most balanced beers in the category. I haven't tried any beers from Brewdog so I can't speak for them specifically.

[jade1955]

Could be an idea for your train rides, @jade1955

That's not a bad idea. Your can get an aluminium one from the Brewdog website. I brought this growler home with me from NY (I just liked it) but mislaid the screw top.

Also bought a large bottle of Arrogant Bastard Ale from a food store just 100 yards from my hotel. As I sat, in just my underpants drinking it, a maid stuck her head around the door. The look on her face was priceless.

A good range of beers can be found at Home | Beer, Wine, Cider | Beers Of Europe.

[RoryQ]

Having a romeo y julieta cigar with this. Which im totally butchering.

Btw this is a marzen style Oktoberfest beer from an Irish brewery.

[Colored Guy]

Sinkin' to new lows here.... Sunday I took a cold 12-pack of PBR to the beach with me. Drank 9, gave 1 away and had the other 2 on Monday.

Local s'market has 24 oz Genesee Cream Ale for $1.39... been hittin' those up all week.

CG

[SStu]

Genesee Cream Ale

CG

I don't know about now, but those really sucked back in the mid-70s.

[Graeme]

@RoryQ There is literally a point of "diminishing returns" because only so many BUs are soluble in boiling wort...anything beyond that is wasted. I think it's something like a maximum of about 100 BUs in a standard gravity wort, more BUs in a higher density one. Granted I can't think of many commercial examples that are overhopped like that...BrewDog's "Nanny State" comes to mind, though that seemed more like a marketing gimmick than an actual beer, which is my problem with that brewery. Didn't actually try it though.

@David Flores There are plenty of really hoppy beers that are well-balanced and I don't want to come across as anti-hops because given a choice of styles I would drink IPA more often than not (trying to get out of that habit though). I do think, though, that a beer that is overly focused on packing in the BU and aroma can sometimes be a little bit one-dimensional for my tastes. I really like the Six Points Bengali Tiger IPA because it has a really solid malty backbone underneath the hops.

[RoryQ]

7% and 9% respectively, serious brews made by humourless but robotically-competent Norwegian brewers.

Expensive though. Six euro apiece... Seen em for as much as eight.

[MadeIndelible]

Had a Belgian Style Ale from North Coast Brewing in Fort Bragg, CA, called Brother Thelonius, last night with dinner. It was pretty good. Milder than a lot of Belgian ales that I have tasted, but still held its own with my sirloin burger. If you can find it, I recommend trying it out.

[Colored Guy]

I don't know about now, but those really sucked back in the mid-70s.

They're okay to me... I'm pretty much the anti-beer snob. Got turned off by hangin' with people who stopped at a few Samuel Adams or some other yuppie beer and called it quits. Meanwhile I'm pouring down a six of Bud 1/2 quarts just to cut the dust. These people know dick about drinkin' themselves sober.

Another plus to bringing inferior suds to parties.... nobody is gonna touch it, maybe the college kids will hit on PBRs if I bring them. But it doesn't stop me from grabbing a few of their designer beers. I drink 'em fast so they gotta be looking right at me to catch it.

CG

[RoryQ]

Mikkeller beer geek breakfast.

7.5% Oatmeal stout. Amazing.., real coffee hit.