Where are the good beer drinkers?

[Atomic Wedgy]

Great stuff! I'll see if I can find a hard copy, but I'm downloading a cloud backup right now. Cheers!

[NoWayOut]

Great stuff! I'll see if I can find a hard copy, but I'm downloading a cloud backup right now. Cheers!

I don't know how much you've "thumbed" through on your cloud copy, but without giving away too much you'll find the recipes at the end....epic.

[Loch]

Hey, you know what's coming soon to BC beer stores?

This Guy!

Which is good, because my Sartori stock pile is sitting at one bottle right now (god it ages well... 11 months after bottling and still fantastic).

[Bomm Bastic]

Fall is in the air, gents, so ya know what that means....dubs and trips and quads, oh my!

Merchant was out of Abbey Ale.

But I was told Allagash Dubbel most closely approximated Ommegang's quality. Turns out to be true.

Just a hair thinner than the Abbey, but the same complex of malt, nut and deep brown color. Very nice substitute.

Also picked up some Founders Porter, and Ommegang Three Phils. All stocked for tomorrow's hockey draft.

[NoWayOut]

Fall is in the air, gents, so ya know what that means....dubs and trips and quads, oh my!

Merchant was out of Abbey Ale.

But I was told Allagash Dubbel most closely approximated Ommegang's quality. Turns out to be true.

Just a hair thinner than the Abbey, but the same complex of malt, nut and deep brown color. Very nice substitute.

Also picked up some Founders Porter, and Ommegang Three Phils. All stocked for tomorrow's hockey draft.

Findeth thee a new merchant! 'Tis blasphemy to ever runeth out of Abbey Ale.

At least you got some Three Phils though. "I drink Ommegang therefore I am". "There is only one good, beer, and one evil, lack of beer". "Philosophers have hitherto only interpreted the world in various ways; the point, however, is to drink beer". "All is for the best in the best of all possible beers"

[NoWayOut]

Just received my monthly email newsletter from my favorite purveyor of adult beverages and they have a new brewer in stock, Caldera Brewing. Anybody tried their wares? Any good? Seems very promising from the BA scores. They get a 93 and outstanding as it pertains to Caldera overall, but based on just 12 reviews, which to invoke a favorite Dobberhockey cliche is a small sample size. Same goes for the beers individually, not many reviews.

Curious to hear from any that can endorse, or not, that rating. They have five available here, Pilot Rock Porter, Caldera IPA, Ashland Amber, Caldera Pale Ale, and Lawnmower Lager.

[Atomic Wedgy]

I've never heard of that crew.

I've been meaning to do my Nova Scotia beer journey here. Haven't got to it yet, but I will try to do some tonight. One thing I did notice, the choice for beer in NS was poor. I was only there for three weeks and by week two, I had tried all of the IPAs available.

[Axeman33]

I've never heard of that crew.

I've been meaning to do my Nova Scotia beer journey here. Haven't got to it yet, but I will try to do some tonight. One thing I did notice, the choice for beer in NS was poor. I was only there for three weeks and by week two, I had tried all of the IPAs available.

Not many options, and beer's expensive too!

[Atomic Wedgy]

Not many options, and beer's expensive too!

Correction.... really good beer is comparatively cheap in NS. Much cheaper than you would get in NZ.

[Atomic Wedgy]

This is the best beer I drank in Nova Scotia, Boxing Rock - The Vicar's Cross IIPA:
IMG_4786.JPG

It is a beautiful and classic example of an imperial IPA. Massive hop flavor and aroma, with a nice clean bitter finish. 8.5% and you cannot tell at all. Best beer I had when I was home by a long ways. This beer in New Zealand would cost approximately $10-12. In NS, it cost me under $6. Excellent value compared to what I have to deal with in NZ. Dont complain about beer prices when you can get a beer of this quality for so little money.

I also drank a lot of Propeller IPA. Good beer. Not great, but good.

I also drank a lot of Garrison's Hop Yard Pale. This beer surprised me. Excellent aroma and overall a great IPA. I think its better than the Propeller IPA. Just more depth to it.

I had a growler of the Propeller double IPA. Didn't like it. Too sweet for the style.

Also had a growler of the Propeller London Porter. I really did enjoy this beer. Good porter and I definitely recommend it.

Had some Garrison's Red Ale. Nice beer. Not outstanding in any way, but a good beer.

Had some Garrison's Imperial IPA (unfiltered). Did not enjoy. Too malty for my liking. Not a good IIPA in my opinion.

Had some Boxing Rock - Hunky Dory Pale Ale. Good beer. Bought it more than once. Nothing to write home about, but good beer though.

Had some Big Spruce - Cereal Killer. Good beer. Nice stout.

Has some Big Spruce - Kitchen Party Pale Ale - very good beer. Could drink this all day. Approachable, but still fairly complex. This is a very good entry level craft beer. Quite enjoyable.

I stopped in at Coastal Restaurant and Pub while traveling through Ingonish. Ordered a Keith's Red that they had on tap. I was surprised at how tasteless if was. Incredible only in how boring it was. Red Ale with no flavor.... interesting approach.

We stopped there again on our way back. Ordered a Keith's IPA. Now...... I know that Keith's IPA is not actually in an IPA style as I am from Nova Scotia. I ordered it anyway just b/c. Well.... It was the worst beer I tasted the entire trip. I actually thought there was something wrong. I complained to the staff that either they stored the kegs warm or that they really need to clean the lines cause the beer I got poured was borderline undrinkable. I was told by the bar staff that all the kegs were stored cold and the lines were cleaned earlier that week. I can only draw the conclusion that the beer is really terrible. He did say that others complained that it was not an IPA, which it is most certainly not, but I was not expecting it to taste so bad. Worst beer experience in Nova Scotia.

All in all, NS has some good beers, but not a great variety of them. I decided to only drink locally brewed beer. However, I was there three weeks and ran out of new IPAs to try after two weeks. In my local beer store there are literally, two dozen NZ brewed IPAs. All different. That is not including the import beers. You all should be complaining about that. It is a basic human right to have exposure to new beers all the time. My beers store gets new ones in (NZ brewed) all the time. RISE UP my NS brothers and demand better! You do have an advantage on the price though. I was pleased with the amount of money I was asked to pay for beer. Very reasonable prices compared to New Zealand.

Seems I drank quite a lot in Cape Breton. That happens to a lot of folks....

[NoWayOut]

A while back I made mention of taking the plunge and buying a bottle each of Stone's Crime and Punishment. Crime was just that, a crime against beer. Oh, the humanity! It was truly awful, just that wall of habanero pepper blasting you from start to finish. Well tonight is the night that I finally worked up the courage after many aborted runs at drinking the second half, Punishment. I spent the money so I'm going to drink it and learn once again to be careful what you wish for. I love a good fiery habanero infused dish, I love beer(natch), but never again the twain shall meet.

Anyway, I must say Punishment isn't as bad as Crime was, but.......oh lord...this....is.....words fail me.

[Atomic Wedgy]

I'm not a fan of chili and beer. They had Habenero Sculpin on tap at the beer store a couple months ago. Didn't try it as I wasn't interested to. I do love hot food as well, I was just researching for ideas for a hot sauce. I'm gonna use capsicum and onion as the base. Anyone got any good recipes?

[Loch]

Well the Driftwood Sartori is in stores and my awesome brother walked by and picked up a 12 pack. Two things about this make him awesome: 1) 12 pack of bombers is not light to walk home 5 or 6 blocks with... 2) there is typically a 2 or 4 bottle limit on this stuff in stores when it comes out (he Jedi mind-tricked the clerk I think).

So I would be drinking the fresh hop awesomeness tonight but I have a cold and everything tastes like Halls or Fisherman's Friends right now... oh well, it will have to wait.

[Loch]

This thread needs more life... with hop harvests in effect and fall/winter beers just around the corner these are good times to be a beer drinker.

Incidentally, I really do recommend the Peche Mortel from Brasserie du Ciel... an excellent beer drinker's alternative to wine.

[Atomic Wedgy]

It does need more life! I've had a new beer yesterday.

Haterade is a collab beer from Hallertau and Liberty Brewing. It is a soured IPA. Interesting beer. I did not know that it was soured before drinking it. The sour element was quite mellow. Thebeer overall was very easy drinking despite being 8.5%. Dangerous beer.