The Booze and Waffle Thread, Long Live The Wild Wild West (Read 401 times)

wolvmar


UM 45 Ohio 23

    Revisited one of my favorite BA beers last night: Founders Backwoods Bastard. Bottle was packaged a week ago which might be the freshest beer I've had in a bottle in a long time. This beer is even better after aging; I've enjoyed it up to 4 years old and have a couple that I hope to age a bit longer to see how they come out.

     

    I've had Zombie Dust a couple times and thought it fell into the "good but not as good as the hype" category. Have never tried the 3 Floyds' Dark Lord beers which are supposed to be something special.

     

    Love Hopslam but agree it can seem to vary from year to year.  Also find this to be the case with Founders KBS. Generally have really liked every vintage but didn't like 2018, absolutely loved 2019 and thought 2020 was very good. A store near me still has several cases of the 2019 so I keep buying 4 packs of it and putting 2 in the fridge to drink and 2 in the basement to enjoy sometime down the road.

      Revisited one of my favorite BA beers last night: Founders' Backwoods Bastard. Bottle was packaged a week ago which might be the freshest beer I've had in a bottle in a long time. This beer is even better after aging; I've enjoyed it up to 4 years old and have a couple that I hope to age a bit longer to see how they come out.

       

       

      No shortage of all manner of craft beers in Seattle, but one of the things I miss about living in MI is Founders. They have many awesome brews, and they don’t distribute out here. One time I was in the grocery store here and found a 4-pack of Founders KBS, which is a bourbon barrel aged chocolate coffee imperial stout, and one of my all-time favorites. It felt like striking gold. IDK if this is still the case, but it was one one those limited annual releases that was greatly anticipated and sold out immediately. You almost had to have a connection to get any. Some beers released like this do not live up to the hype; for me this one does.

      Dave

      Seattle prattle


        >what do you folks think of fresh hops IPAs?

         

        ...Have to ask: what are those pastry-like objects in your avatar photo?  They look delicious.

         

        They are prize pies, one of which i won for winning my age group in a local race. Can't remember if it was the marathon or the HM (ran both), but it was a notorious down hill course known under a few names such as Tunnel Marathon, Lite at the end of the Tunnel Marathon, Tunnel Vision Marathon, Jack and Jill Downhill Marathon, Iron Horse Half Marathon, etc. It's used by a lot of runners as a Boston Qualifier.

        It's held over here in WA state North Bend area.

        As i recall, there was a discussion a couple of years ago about how some races still give away pies as prizes,so i made it as my avatar photo as a way of showing the one i got. It was a delicious marionberry pie made by a local bakery.

        Being the finicky eaters we are, the little pie lasted about 3 days.

        That was about 3 years ago. Would be fun to do again, but everything's cancelled now due to the pandemic.

        rlopez


          what do you folks think of fresh hops IPAs?

          But lest i forget, let me say that I have very much appreciated the thoroughly informative discussion of the fine craft of producing and serving of these fine beers we have come to know as IPAs.

          As we close in on August, the fresh hops. or wet hops, seasons is thankfully drawing near.

          Do you guys get them in the other parts of the country?

           

          Oh yes, all kinds of breweries do a "fresh hop" beer, including big players like Sierra Nevada. And as you've noticed, they are all over the map. Some are great, some are not, and they change A LOT from year to year. Kind of like how wine varies year to year depending on grape harvest, making beer with fresh hops exposes the process to a lot more fubar than pellets. Plus brewers have to redo their recipes when not using the concentrated pellets.

           

          Goofy thing - wet hop and fresh hop are used interchangeably, but they don't mean exactly the same thing. Originally "fresh hop" meant the whole cone whereas "wet hop" just meant it has/had not yet been fully processed into pellets. These days, though, breweries are kind of fudging on what they mean.

           

          Thanks to COVID and on again/off again shutdowns, some breweries skipped their mid/end summer releases and went straight to oktoberfest. Whereas I usually get oktoberfest beers the 3rd week of August, I already have three - Shiner, Leinenkugel (ok, "beer"), and legit Hofbrau from Germany.

          rlopez


            Being 3 hours south of Michigan, I get (and sell) A TON of Founders stuff in my store. They do all kinds of interesting things. Meanwhile, they also make good ol Solid Gold (CHEAP basic beer), Centennial (inexpensive basic IPA), and All-Day (session IPA)... some of my biggest movers.

             

            I actually still have some of that 2018 KBS if you want some. Hahaha.

             

            Backwoods Bastard is good... it's a version of their basic Dirty Ol' Bastard.

            Remember when I said that beer names annoy me sometimes? The Founders names are all fine.

            ch17


            It's Tuesday every day

              (a) Congrats on the win. (b) Rockin' prize. I would LOVE that!

              They are prize pies, one of which i won for winning my age group in a local race. ,,,, It was a delicious marionberry pie made by a local bakery.

               

               

              Back to beer: anybody out there share my love of Rauchbier? (Smoked beer.)

               

              We need a pie and beer festival. I guess there could be some running, too.

                 

                We need a pie and beer festival. I guess there could be some running, too.

                 

                Why ruin a good thing?

                Dave

                JMac11


                RIP Milkman

                  I tend to like pale ales, but not the alcohol content as high alcohol content IPAs give me wicked headaches the next day. My go to is founders all day since it's widely available and I really enjoy it. What other recommendations do you have in this category?

                  5K: 16:37 (11/20)  |  10K: 34:49 (10/19)  |  HM: 1:14:57 (5/22)  |  FM: 2:36:31 (12/19) 

                   

                   

                  wolvmar


                  UM 45 Ohio 23

                     

                    No shortage of all manner of craft beers in Seattle, but one of the things I miss about living in MI is Founders. They have many awesome brews, and they don’t distribute out here. One time I was in the grocery store here and found a 4-pack of Founders KBS, which is a bourbon barrel aged chocolate coffee imperial stout, and one of my all-time favorites. It felt like striking gold. IDK if this is still the case, but it was one one those limited annual releases that was greatly anticipated and sold out immediately. You almost had to have a connection to get any. Some beers released like this do not live up to the hype; for me this one does.

                     

                    KBS used to be super hard to get but, now, they make a lot more and there are so many other choices it's pretty easy to find/get, as evidenced by the 2019 stash at my local store. Also, they have gone to year round distribution. I like and don't like that; it's easier but takes away some of the special feeling when you drink it.

                    wolvmar


                    UM 45 Ohio 23

                      I tend to like pale ales, but not the alcohol content as high alcohol content IPAs give me wicked headaches the next day. My go to is founders all day since it's widely available and I really enjoy it. What other recommendations do you have in this category?

                       

                      not a pale ale or IPA but my go to low ABV beer choice is Guinness. Bell's Light Hearted is a good low ABV IPA choice that's readily available in most areas

                      rlopez


                        The bigger craft breweries decided in late 2019 that 2020 would be the year of light beer. Lighthearted is a low-cal beer. Goose Island has So-Lo. Deschutes has Wowza. One of the original ones was Dogfish Slightly Mighty.

                         

                        Sales of these things have not really taken off. Lighthearted does ok.

                        wolvmar


                        UM 45 Ohio 23

                          The bigger craft breweries decided in late 2019 that 2020 would be the year of light beer. Lighthearted is a low-cal beer. Goose Island has So-Lo. Deschutes has Wowza. One of the original ones was Dogfish Slightly Mighty.

                           

                          Sales of these things have not really taken off. Lighthearted does ok.

                           

                          What is your opinion on hard seltzers? Fad or something with staying power? I have never had one but the younger folks in the office are all about them, especially relative to beer. I keep thinking of faddish trends like wine coolers, hard lemonade, cider, etc., when I think about hard seltzer but it sure seems to have gone to another level...

                          Half Crazy K 2.0


                             

                            What is your opinion on hard seltzers? Fad or something with staying power? I have never had one but the younger folks in the office are all about them, especially relative to beer. I keep thinking of faddish trends like wine coolers, hard lemonade, cider, etc., when I think about hard seltzer but it sure seems to have gone to another level...

                             

                            DH bought some White Claw & Truly. The Truly mixed pack was awful--I think for most flavors, he would take a sip, exclaim :"This is awful try it". The passionfruit was the worst of the bunch. The White Claw was ok, nothing special. To me, all taste bubbly at first with a fake fruit aftertaste. You'd probably get a similar drink by adding osme vodka to Nuun.

                            rlopez


                               

                              What is your opinion on hard seltzers? Fad or something with staying power? I have never had one but the younger folks in the office are all about them, especially relative to beer. I keep thinking of faddish trends like wine coolers, hard lemonade, cider, etc., when I think about hard seltzer but it sure seems to have gone to another level...

                               

                              I personally dislike them, but they are hitting it out of the park now... and now craft brewers (including the place I work) are starting to make them too. I think they are here to stay and the next big thing to replace IPA-mania.


                              Prince of Fatness

                                I personally dislike them, but they are hitting it out of the park now... and now craft brewers (including the place I work) are starting to make them too. I think they are here to stay and the next big thing to replace IPA-mania.

                                 

                                IPA mania has already been destroyed by lactose.

                                Not at it at all.