MADDUD...
Prettty solid sampler if you can find it at a good price. however the third voyage is probably the best of the pack. dark Depths is a fairly solid black IPA with a nice chocolate and coffee notes. Tasman red is what I would call a fair red IPA, really doesn't hold a candle to the real ale Brewers cut red IPA. grumpy monk and latitude 48 IPA are essentially fine beers but nothing to write home about, and whitewater IPA is nice once or twice but the novelty wears off pretty quickly there after I would say. for the most part I'd say it's worth it to be able to get those brews that you can only otherwise get as a bomber. would like to see them sell four or six packs of the third voyage and or dark depths though

Was on a mission for some 4 squared after work today (Ok, maybe just an adventure, I didn't try that hard). Struck out (I'm sure it will be more plentiful pretty soon), but did pick up a RU-55, a 4 pack of Real Ale Blonde Barleywine, and a 4 pack of Matilda.

Nice haul jah.

blonde barley wine from real ale is a winner.... carries the reputation of the brewers cut series. not quite bigfoot, but tasty

Whole Foods in Katy had BBA Hellfighter today. Unfortunately, they ran out halfway through my growler. I came home with half a growler of Hellfighter, some lagunitas undercover investigation shutdown, and a jester king el cedro. I would've preferred a whole growler of Hellfighter, but not a bad take for a Thursday night.

Hah that sucks. Did they charge you half price?

This Four Squared is pretty damn good.

Yeah, only half price, and it ended up really being about 3/4 full. They put on Real Ale Morgul, but I wasn't nearly as impressed with it.

Dangit... this is why I gave up the beer thread for Lent...gonna have to go buy some of those...heck, all of em!

Founders Dirty ******* at Hay Merchant! Now THIS is a scotch ale!

I could smell this bad boy as soon as a set it on the table. And it taste follows through

Yum

So... Had anyone heard anything about 8th wonder since their debut weekend?

Opened a Dogfather today.

Pretty ****ing good.

Specs did not have rampant or sculpin ipa.

Picked up some bigfoot and maui aloha baktun instead.

About to plow through this BBA Hellfighter. It's by far Karbach's best beer. The growler doesn't stand a chance.

Agree on the BBA Hellfighter. I've got one bomber left and I'm always torn - enjoy it now? Or anticipate it a little longer?

Vernada, that's one reason I was dead set on getting the growler. I have one bomber left, and after this growler, I can save that bomber for a while.

Wessimo, keep looking for Sculpin, it's worth it.

tremble
posted 5:49p, 04/12/13



Opened a Dogfather today.

Pretty ****ing good.
*************************

Finished my last Dogfather BBA bomber tonight

Vernada
posted 7:03p, 04/12/13



Agree on the BBA Hellfighter. I've got one bomber left and I'm always torn - enjoy it now? Or anticipate it a little longer?
***********************

I found 3 when they were released..... 2 are history.... Can't bring myself to finish the last one..... Saving it for a special occasion!

I'm down in CS this weekend celebrating my bday. We'll be out at Olsen (behind the RV's) hanging out and drinking a few craft brews. If any other texags beer threaders want to come hang you're more than welcome.

I'll probably head up to baseball around noon, and head over to the M&W game after baseball.

Last night at happy hour (half price beers!)
had a full sail black session, a fuller's 1845, and a weihenstephan korbinian doppelbock.
Then came home to finish off with a lips of faith cascara quad, ale with dates and coffee cherries. Delish.





[This message has been edited by 62strat (edited 4/13/2013 9:35a).]

First Founders experience tonight at Petrol Station with Founders Dirty *******. Going to follow it up with Centennial.

Avery Hog Heaven bomber. Good stuff.

Had my first Founder experience on Wednesday when I had a breakfast stout at lunch in Foxboro. Also had a fantastic Irish Stout by Harpoon at Cask & Flagon. Drank several of these as well at the Bell in Hand:




Not bad. Had these tonight:



The Funky Jewbelation...holy crap!

Picked up the funky jewbilation yesterday. Excited to try it.

My previously mentioned free VIP Oskar Blues tour.

Started off at Illegal Pete's in Denver for a breakfast burrito. Then all aboard the OB trolley.
First went to the 'hops and heifers' farm. Dale's mother still lives on this farm, it's like 50 acres, south of longmont. They've got cattle, pigs, goats, and a hop farm. Their newest restaurant 'Chuburger' sells the angus and pork raised on the farm.

Hops vines weren't growing quite yet.


Then off to Homemade Liquids and Solids, their main restaurant. They brought out pizzas, wings and nachos, and first beer was on them. I went with the Obliterator Dobbelbock. Wife had a porter. Both very tasty Restaurant was cajun/blues themed. Dale is from and went to Alabama.


Then to the brewery/tap room. Basic beer tour. I had a taster of the nitro Ten Fidy and dry hopped cask of Gubna. Then a pint of Deviant Dale's for the tour.
Empty cans awaiting the canning line.



Those dale's on the right are for Sweden. They have different labeling requirements, languages, etc.


According to legend, the little symbol between Ball (the can maker) and OB is for the weed smokers. Place thumb there to make your indention


Mmmmmm, yeast explosion!




They gave us 40% off merch, so wife and I got hoodies, a pilsner and pint glass and some other small schwag. Saved $45.

Kind of disappointed in myself I didn't get many more pics. Not even a pic of the trolley we rode in the whole time! Oh well.

[This message has been edited by 62strat (edited 4/14/2013 11:37a).]

That sounds pretty sweet strat

How is the Funky Jewbilation????

Saw it at the HEB close to my house, but thought it was an odd mix of different brews and was afraid to pull the trigger. Does the blending work, or is it truly just "Funky" and high ABV??

It is definitely funky. A lot of different **** going on in there.

It also hit me like a freaking Mack truck. Was feeling pretty good after the bottle but I hadn't eaten anything since lunch and had 2 hours to kill before dinner.

[This message has been edited by tremble (edited 4/14/2013 4:50p).]

Cracked open an undercover investigation to cap off the weekend. Another great beer from Lagunitas Brewery.

A little recap of the weekend that was:

RU-55: Wow! This is just really an awesome beer. A very, very well done sour.
Real Ale Blonde Barleywine: This was not at all what I was expecting. I was expecting something closer to Bigfoot (although, blonde should have been an indication it wasn't similar). All in all a pretty solid Barleywine.
Victory at Sea: This is my first VAS, I was really impressed. Didn't really get a whole lot of vanilla, though.
Matilda: Still prefer the Sofie, although I did have the Sofie pre-Goose Island buy out. Matilda was really nice, though. Just didn't quite have the same flavor profile as the Sofie.
Full Sail Top Sail (Bourbon Barrel Aged Porter): Also a really solid beer. Very drinkable at 10 -ish%.

Also consumed some Rodeo Clown, Hopadillo, Bigfoot, DFH 75 and Modus Hopperandi. I've had all those before, though.

[This message has been edited by jah003 (edited 4/14/2013 9:06p).]

Had a nice little weekend myself. The rib decided we needed to head to the bar, and I'm not one to argue with a thirsty wife. She had her favorite, revolver mother's little fracker stout, and I tried several beers I've had my eye on.

Chasin' freshies - lighter flavor than I was expecting, but not bad.
Union Jack - very good IMO. I'm definitely going to look for a 6 of this at specs as long as I can find it.
Deep Ellum Festivus Black IPA - another good one. I tried to get more DE offerings, but nearly everything was tapped out. Good sign!
DE Pollinator - doppelbock brewed with local Texas honey. Pretty dang good. You can actually taste floral notes in the sweetness from the honey.
Goose island IPA - pretty good, not my favorite ever, but I think I'm jumping on the Goose Island train. Now if I can only find some Bourbon county...
Victory Hop Wallop - great way to end the night. Victory is also becoming one of my "ill try anything they make" breweries.

Then Sunday, WOB Arlington did a crawfish boil, so we hauled back up there and messed up a couple of pounds of mud bugs. I had a DFH 90 minute and an Abita Jockamo while we took the crawfish down. Made for a very enjoyable lunch and some messed up weird ass dreams during my 2.5 hour nap shortly thereafter.

For the tl;dr crowd, lots of beers, good food, Murica.

[This message has been edited by WorkBoots09 (edited 4/15/2013 8:18a).]

Advice on a first home brewing book anyone? Looking online but dont want to sort the the million reviews of the two or three apparently top options. I want to have learn the science and such behind the process, as well as have a useable resource for the future, but want to enjoy reading it. If it helps, Alton Brown ala Food Network is definitely my style of learning. Thoughts?