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I mean that's what I thought, but didn't know if something else I didn't know of was involved in the Prairie aging?

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Yeah, I don't get it. Why not just barrel age the usual recipe and end up with something in that 15%+ Avery range? Instead of brewing the base beer to a lower ABV.

Wait, why am I complaining? It was a delicious beer and decreases my chance of a hangover after everything else I had at work today. (Randomly, they kegged some extra un-aged Hellfighter, so that's been nice)

just tried the victory agave ipa. while it's not bad, I think they're really pushing the whole citrus ipa thing a bit far. this is definitely agave and grapefruit first and an ipa a distant second. it's a nice warm weather type beer, but I worry about where this trend is leading. the last thing I want is hoppy grapefruit juice or a dry hopped tequiza. this one isn't there, but I can only imagine we're gonna see it

eta: just opened a bourbon county coffee. how bad were the infection issues for those who experienced them? this bottle has some issues, but it's not nearly as bad as I was expecting. I can still taste the beer, there's just a kinda tangy/funky aftertaste, but its relatively mild. it's obviously not the intended beer, but if I can actually seek out and drink full on sour stouts, I think I can handle this. I know some would drain pour, but I'm gonna finish the sum***** because it's frankly not that bad, and I can still taste enough of what they were going for to make it enjoyable enough for me. also hudson sent me a ba dry dock coffee porter in the event this happened which I'm stoked to try and I don't anticipate any infection issues there.

ps southern star level up is legit. I've been really craving a good ipl ever since trying sudwerk cascaderade, and while not quite on that level, I'm liking this a lot. I hope heb keeps this one in the draft rotation.

Dammit, I was afraid of that. Glad I sent the coffee emergency bottle. You're welcome to request a refund on the bottle from GI if you still have the bottle.

Has anyone here tried anything from Blue Owl out of Austin? Their stuff looks interesting to me.

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Has anyone here tried anything from Blue Owl out of Austin? Their stuff looks interesting to me.

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I tried Spirit Animal. I wasn't a huge fan... It's an IPA with a sour mash. The sour and hops didn't really play well together IMO. I still need to try some of their other stuff.

JK announced that their barrel program director is leaving. She was a big part of their fruit fermentation program. I hope the next person to take on the job is as talented as she is.

I would assume that soon the JK Zawnze Day will be announced. More news is coming from JK this week, it was mentioned in the announcement of Adrienne Ballou leaving.

I was thinking it would have been similar to the Prairie Funky Gold <insert hop here> line. The sour cherry stout is intriguing is well, especially if it's similar to Black Metal with cherries.

Professor Black is their only beer I've really liked so far. Did not like Spirit Animal or the Berliner Weiss. I do think they will improve as they expand their lineup. Also had a BA Professor Black that I thought was great as well.

Found some Backwoods ******* being ignored on the floor at one of my spots. Having one tonight and it's excellent.

If anyone wants any it's at East 1st Grocery in Austin.

That basketball game drove me to drink my other BA Bomb.

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That basketball game drove me to drink my other BA Bomb.

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That basketball game drove me to drink my other BA Bomb.

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Yea, that was terrible.

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Thanks to maca. I guess it's my turn for the next beer contest. I'm thinking I'll have to grab some Westbrook gose the next time it drops to send some someone's way.

Count me in for that one!

Is it just me, or do a lot of these "artisan" beers just try to have the craziest label to draw your attention. I'm not really sure I want to trust a beer that looks like it was wrapped in a comic book page.

There's definitely a fine line.

Labels to me, based on what I see in the Metroplex, are more about quality and sensefulness, rather than getting your beer and brand out there first.

My opinion -
Good local labels: Deep Ellum, Karbach, Revolver, etc.
Middle of road : Most beer companies
Bad local labels: Rahr & Sons, 903, can't recall rest because they're not good labels, honestly, and I haven't drank any.

OBH just started showing in my regular Dallas spots. But just based off their labels I already as a consumer take them more seriously than some other brands.

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Thanks to maca. I guess it's my turn for the next beer contest. I'm thinking I'll have to grab some Westbrook gose the next time it drops to send some someone's way.

http://i.imgur.com/bi5qUPJ.jpg

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I used to get mad 5 years ago when looking at a new to me craft beer and the label didn't have either the abv or the obvious, what style of beer it is.

This day in age of beer, it better have those two things. Surprisingly I still see some without abv. Not so much without style anymore.

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Is it just me, or do a lot of these "artisan" beers just try to have the craziest label to draw your attention. I'm not really sure I want to trust a beer that looks like it was wrapped in a comic book page.

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guessing you are referring to Clown Shoes.

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I used to get mad 5 years ago when looking at a new to me craft beer and the label didn't have either the abv or the obvious, what style of beer it is.

This day in age of beer, it better have those two things. Surprisingly I still see some without abv. Not so much without style anymore.

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in texas, i'd think part of that was due to our stupid laws. It previously required beers to be classified as certain styles based on ABV, not the actual style. And, if i'm not mistaken, they weren't allowed to list ABV.

I think you're referring to the lager/ale law. Anything over 5% couldn't be called a lager in Texas. I've come across high abv lagers in the past that said in small print at bottom of label 'ale in TX'
Def. an ignorant law.

Not so much that. Some beers just don't really say what it is. Especially in the early days of barrel aged and sours. It would say 'barrel aged beer'.
that's a pretty broad spectrum of beers.

I don't remember a time where I never saw abv. Not sure if that was a law. There was the law where producers couldn't say where they distributed to, and that was changed.

I'll admit I like a cool label. Not as much as I like a good beer though so if your stuff is good I'll drink it out of whatever.

Community's labels turned me off when I first saw them but I quickly got over it when I tried their beer.

There are tons. Next time I go to specs or total wine I'll take a photo.

It's like a line up of these:

i get it, but Clown Shoes fits your description to a T.

Wasn't there an issue in Texas with the name of Velvet Merkin?

Here's that stupid 'Ale in Texas' disclaimer.

Yep. Unbelievable that a state would just ignorantly call something what it isn't. Lager and ale are undisputed types of beers, and TX forced breweries to just butcher the nomenclature. So glad they changed it, though it was about a decade late. Laws like that really made TX look bad in the craft beer world.

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I'm headed to FW area on Saturday. Any brews or bottle shops I should look out for in the area?

Hoping to find some BA Legion which looks plentiful based on the Spec's website. Does Prairie get run on up there like down there?

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You could probably find BA Legion readily at Whole Foods or like. I've seen it every time I shop at Kroger off mockingbird for a while now. So much so that it even ended up in the "build your own six pack" for $9.99. I of course loaded up.