The BEER thread

[kbasa]

Somehow, we don't have one. For a group that travels the country, it can be helpful to have some idea about what to look for when traveling. New Glarus in WI, Long Trail in VT, every region has something unique.

If someone was visiting you, what would you suggest they try to get a "flavor" of what beer tastes are like where you live?

I live in Sonoma County, California, and my city has 13 breweries here and in adjacent towns.

My suggestions:

Barrel Brothers' Dad Pants. - yes people love an IPA or a DIPA, but this is an old school lager, brewed with care and flavor.
Russian River Brewing - Pliny the Elder or, if you're here when it's released, Pliny the Younger. Local IPAs that are famous.
Fort Point Brewing's KSA, a Kolsch Style Ale.
Henhouse Brewing's Best Life is absolutely terrific and is a flavorful lager/pils hybrid.

So, whaddya got? Where are you and what would you recommend someone sample?

 

[pglaves]

Oatmeal Stout, Copperhead Pale Ale, Free State Lager and more at the Free State Brewing Company, downtown, Lawrence, Kansas USA.
https://www.freestatebrewing.com/beer/

And:

Shiner Bock and more from the Spoetzl Brewery, Shiner, Texas
https://shiner.com/beer/
(I even found it in Duluth )

 

[kbasa]

Like.

 

[akbeemer]

Kettle House Brewery, Missoula, MT

Lewis and Clark Brewery, Helena, MT

 

[bigjohnsd]

When in Spearfish try Crow Peak Brewery -

My Favorite is -

Canyon Cream Ale falls into the blonde or golden ale category. Characteristics of this beer style are a straw color with a white head. The aroma is of sweet malt with a hint of honey and a slightly fruity finish. This is a light-bodied beer with very low hop bitterness and no hop aroma or flavor. This beer is very drinkable especially for the craft beer novice (We call it our “gateway beer”). Canyon Cream Ale is brewed with the finest quality Pilsen malt with Carapils malt added for body adjustment and local honey added for flavor adjustment. Hallertau and Saaz hops are added to balance the sweet maltiness of this ale. Original Gravity is 11.2°P and alcohol by volume value is 5.0%.

SWMBO's Favorite is -

Pile O’Dirt Porter falls into the robust porter category. Characteristics of this beer style are a dark (almost black) color with a creamy tan head. The aroma is of sweet malt with a hint of roastiness reminiscent of cocoa. There are notes of chocolate and coffee in the flavor balanced with malt and caramel sweetness. This is a medium-bodied beer with moderate hop bitterness and negligible hop aroma and flavor. Pile O’Dirt Porter is brewed with the finest quality pale ale malt with Munich, Extra Special, Blackprinz and Chocolate malts added for color and flavor adjustment. Perle and Willamette hops are added to balance the sweet maltiness of this porter. Original Gravity is 15.2°P and alcohol by volume value is 6.0%.

 

[glenfiddich]

Long Trail in VT? Seriously, Dave? You’ve just damaged your reputation! We have some incredible microbreweries in Vermont and that one pales by comparison. Just down the road from us in Greensboro is Hill Farmstead Brewery, five time International Gold Star Award winner for their IPA and Porters. And if you want to try several of our best in one location visit Waterbury right on Route 100 where Prohibition Pig and the Blackback Pub each carry a couple dozen of the best we have to offer.

 

[lee]

Potosi Wisconsin









Tonight I had a Dunkle Duck at the Lost Duck brewery in Fort Madison IA.

 

[akbeemer]

I find it difficult to find a good Pilsner in the states.

 

[PoorUB]

My favorite beer? Free beer! I will drink what ever you are buying!

 

[WalterK75]

Near the Twin Cities in Edina is a place to check out.

Wooden Hill Brewing Company
7421 Bush Lake Road
Edina, MN 55439

info@woodenhillbrewing.com

 

[skibum69]

Being a pretty major beer geek, the 14th Certified Cicerone in Canada and what I figure is top 3 cellars in Atlantic Canada with over 1000 bottles I can digress on this topic for days!.

Newfoundland was late to the game of craft beer but there are a few doing excellent beer and plenty doing mediocre beer. The whole sour beer trend just pisses me off as I'm a big fan of the historical styles that they came from and I'm impatiently waiting for it to go away.

If you're coming to NL Secret Cove on the west coast is good, further east on the Avalon where most of the population is Bacallieu Trail brewing is good.

We're up to just over 20 new breweries in the province.

If you like industrial lagers there are a few that are only brewed and sold in NL and there's one particular I drink a lot of as I can get it at my corner store. That beer would be Molson India. Not to be confused with an IPA it is just India.

 

[stevenrankin]

NY Finger Lakes area

In the NY Finger Lakes area you can't swing a cat without hitting either a micro brewery or winery. Now, we are getting distillers in on the act. Hard times means more alcohol I guess. Some of these guys and gals excel, others meh! I could spend a life sampling.

Close to home, a consistent Scotch Ale is from Rorbach's just around the corner from me. https://www.rohrbachs.com

St.

 

[kbasa]

Long Trail in VT? Seriously, Dave? You’ve just damaged your reputation! We have some incredible microbreweries in Vermont and that one pales by comparison. Just down the road from us in Greensboro is Hill Farmstead Brewery, five time International Gold Star Award winner for their IPA and Porters. And if you want to try several of our best in one location visit Waterbury right on Route 100 where Prohibition Pig and the Blackback Pub each carry a couple dozen of the best we have to offer.

In my defense, I haven't lived in New England in 24 years.

 

[kbasa]

I find it difficult to find a good Pilsner in the states.

Reality Czech out here is decent. Kolsch seems to be making inroads as a style, as well, which is like a Pilseners cousin that didn't get Saaz hops.

Terrific summer beer. https://moonlightbrewing.com

Their Death and Taxes Dark Lager is uniformly awesome. They're like a mile from where I'm sitting right now.

 

[powwow]

Black Butte Porter from Deschutes Brewing.

Boneyard IPA from Boneyard Brewing.

26 craft breweries in Bend, OR and counting...

 

[Visian]

Asheville, NC… the Portland of the east

In addition to large brewers like Sierra Nevada and New Belgium, there are a ton of microbrews… too many to list from memory.

 

[guenner]

there are a ton of microbrews

Right! It's fairly easy to BREW some kind of beer. But it's hard to find the right malt an yeast (very important).

And if you can't afford a container for the fermentation process that can't be cooled close to the freezing point (expensive!) then you are limited to some form of ale.

I go with whatever tastes good to me...NO ALE, though. Except Hefeweizen!

 

[kbasa]

Right! It's fairly easy to BREW some kind of beer. But it's hard to find the right malt an yeast (very important).

And if you can't afford a container for the fermentation process that can't be cooled close to the freezing point (expensive!) then you are limited to some form of ale.

I go with whatever tastes good to me...NO ALE, though. Except Hefeweizen!

Top fermented, bottom fermented, it's all good.

Why no ales? I like ales. I'm pretty over super heavily hopped IPAs, though. Good Lord. 80 IBUs?

 

[skibum69]

At least the trend of going for the highest IBU's possible is over and done with. I'm more an ale guy than lager guy but there are good lagers out there. I agree for some reason Kolsch is getting trendy these days and it's a tough style to do well. The local results have been a bit mixed as far as quality goes.

 

[stevenrankin]

Ipa

My pet peeve is micro breweries who over hop IPAs to cover up poor brewing. I like IPA beer that has flavor other than hops. St.