/ck/ - Food & Cooking

Went to Cigar City today. They had just taken Puppy's Breath off tap the day before, which kind of ruined it, but oh well. Still had a lot of great shit to drink. Tried five beers (one pint and one sampler), and had plenty more I would have tried if my wife would have been okay with me passing out.

Had the Del Molen collaboration Imperial Stout (pictured), and it's probably my new favorite RIS. Which puts it on a long list of styles who I think CCB does best. Nothing even approaching cloyingly sweet, intensely varied flavors, everything taking a turn on the palette, and just absolutely wonderful. Damn near perfect beer.

Also tried Dirge, a double brown porter. Good robustness and a lot of caramel malt flavor, but just a little too much milk sweetness for my tastes. Still great.

Impressive from a technical standpoint was Basic Brengle, their ESB, but served on nitro. Despite the nitro, the flavor was all there in perfect balance, with excellent mouthfeel from the nitro. Haven't had Sawtooth Nitro yet, but I can't believe it's better.

Also had a cranberry sour aged on cypress that was perfectly weird. Mouth watering.

Was disappointed with my pint of Patio Tools, their nitro irish dry stout. As that implies, it was basically just craft Guinness. Better than Guinness, but that pretty much just means it tasted a little better than creamy water.

>>7424825
Pic reminds me, OP, I picked this up the other day. Had two bottles now, one super cold, one a little warmer. Ice cold, it's like the beer version of iced coffee, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. Let it warm, and the coffee fades a bit and it becomes something approaching a robust porter. Either way, it was delicious. Great use of nitro.

>Want to get into better beer, getting somewhat bored of liquor
>Only place nearby is a krogers with a hefty selection
>Can get a build for own 6 pack for $10
>Never had any beer that branches out of the popular shit
Give a newfag some suggestions /beer/.

>>7425622
That image sums clappyfats up perfectly. You can just taste the insecurity emanating from it.

It's funny because only the last part is actually valid and that hasn't happened for a good 4 years, not that it is in any relevant to beer.

>>7425622
Just go buy 6 different styles. Drink them when you're sober and find what style appeals to you. Go buy more beer. Just try stuff. It isn't fucking rocket surgery.

>>7424848
how do you "learn" to taste beer like this dude does? I really enjoy a good IPA or some nice belgian beer, but its basically just "because i like it" and not "because flavor is this, mouthfeel is that, there you can taste a hint of whatever", etc.

>>7425628
plenty of places making their own beer for local consumption competing against imports

>>7424852
I'm gonna look for this next time I hit up total wine. Left hand does those nitro beers right.

>>7425622
A simplistic way of looking at beer varieties is a quadrant graph. The Y axis Lager and Ale, and the X axis is hoppy and malty.

So, in your six pack, I'd grab a simple balanced ale like an english-style bitter, a simple balanced lager like a pilsner, a hop-forward beer like an IPA, and a malt-forward beer like a stout or porter.

You won't necessarily like all of those, or really maybe any of them, but it can kind of direct you to what it is you do like.

I'd grab a couple different styles to round it out, like a heffeweizen, a sour/kriek, a saisson, or a fruit beer.

>>7425634
I'm the one you're responding to. I'm no beer expert, and I definitely just drink what tastes good. I guess identifying what exactly it is that I like in beer helps me find more beer that tastes good.

It's really just as simple as focusing on flavors the beer reminds you of. Like, in an IPA, are you getting pine? Spice? Citrus? Oil? Flours? How present are malt flavors, like biscuits, bread, toast, chocolate, coffee, etc.?

For mouth feel, does it feel flat, or carbonated? Full or thin? It's literally just about how it feels on your mouth.

>>7425634
Start taking tasting notes. It's amazing how writing it down and forcing yourself to think about it actually changes your ability to taste things.

Read the second post in this thread:
http://muddyrivermashers.forumotion.com/t19-reviewing-beer

>>7425634
try and identifiate what the diverse tastes remind you

the hops and the malt,etc


then you get full of yourself and you list 20 different aroma in bud light.

>>7425922
doesn't some peoples complain their milk stouts are watery.

>>7426085
I've never heard that before. Maybe people who only drink high abv stouts think so, but for its % it's pretty full bodied.

Had this one for dinner today. Pale ales are getting very good these days!

Has anyone here tasted a heady topper?
Is it really the best beer ever?

>>7426085
Nitro by virtue thins out some of the flavor profile at the trade off of incredible mouth feel.

Their standard milk stout is not even close to watery. It's a god tier, full-flavored beer. The nitro version is a bit thinner of body, but I wouldn't call it watery. It brings out some different notes, mutes some others, and is splendid to drink. Both are great, just different.

Question: I have a bottle of Stone's 24 Carrot Golden Ale and also the Sorry Not Sorry IPA.
I want to save these bottles for the summer when its warmer and when I finish my university course (May). Should I wait to enjoy these then or should drink them asap while thy're still fresh?

>>7426222
The 24 carrot would be okay, but most ipas should be consumed as fresh as possible

>>7426238
shame, I wanted that one in the summer

>>7426238
How different will the taste be in 2-3 months time?

>>7426244
The peach probably would fade and the hops are dependent on their strain. Some hold better than others. I don't think it'd be too crazy of a change, but I'd personally drink it asap. Old ipas aren't very refreshing. It being a double might help it stay though idk.

I don't think this is quite as god tier as people make it out to be, but it's close.

Looks and smells like a rootbeer float, which entertains me.

I find this to be a wonderful example of how no one actually knows what's a stout and what's a porter. I guarantee you almost every brewery in the county would call this a stout.

>>7426513
I don't think it's great either. It's okay, but not worth the hype at all.

>>7426513
The peppermint one was better than the normal version but both are best as occasional treats and I bought a 6-pack of normal VaS this year but got sick of it after 3 of them.

>>7426519
To be fair, I do think it's great, just not the greatest. It's put on the absolute top tier pretty often.

>>7426545
I can see that. It's like the beer version of this mousse i had in a fancy restaurant the other day. One of the best things I ever tasted, but so rich I couldn't have it more than once in a blue moon, and found it hard to finish without being full.

>>7426545
Maybe the batch I had was bad, but the vanilla was barely there and it was kind of thin for being at such a high abv. It was mostly bitter and little roasted quality. I chalked it up to poor shipping or a bad batch since ballast point is usually pretty good.

>>7426641
The vanilla wasn't too present for me, either, but other than that, our experiences were very different.

What temperature did you have it at?

>>7426739
Kept it at around 55 degrees and would put it in my fridge an hour before drinking so probably poured at 45 degrees?

>>7426846
I'm willing to bet 45 is too cold for it. Could be wrong.

So I know there are IPAs, but what does it mean when a beer is labeled as just "pale ale"? I like them a bit better, not as hoppy and more of a crisp flavor but still a strong taste. Is it just another way of saying "American pale ale"?

>>7427451

Pale Ale is just any beer that uses warm fermentation with pale malts, if the can literally just says 'Pale Ale', presume American Pale Ale (If you're in the US, that is, in Canada I've never seen a beer marketed as just 'pale ale', it's always 'APA')

>>7426210

Heady Topper, Pliny the Elder, et cetera are absolutely fantastic beers and definitely worth a try

I wouldn't claim any beer as 'the best', there are lots of beers with solid 100 ratings on RateBeer and BeerAdvocate, pretty much depends on which of them you like the best

It's also good to keep in mind that both websites generally have an American bias as that's the majority of their user base

I've had absolutely fantastic beers with little ratings on beer advocate

>>7427568
>It's also good to keep in mind that both websites generally have an American bias
I haven't found this to be true at all. If anything they tend to have the strongest bias toward Belgian beers

>>7427597

American and Belgian for sure, but probably since most of the good Belgian stuff is readily available in most places (At least in Canada)

>>7425622
>build a 6 pack for $10
>load it up with varieties of premium beer that cost more than $10 for a 6 pack

Does anyone else take advantage of this loophole?

>>7427857
sometimes, yeah. I don't do it all the time though because the selection of single bottles is never as good. I find one expensive bottle I'd get for cheaper but can't choose a whole 6-pack.

>>7427857
ive never been to a place that sold a build your own six pack where you could actually cheat them

>>7427857
I don't think I have ever actually sen them put more expensive stuff in there

I mean if you wanted to be an asshole you could switch a bottle from a nice 4 pack but I don't think that counts

>>7427451
>>7427558 gave you the definition pretty well, and you actually answered yourself in your second sentence on what sets the styles apart in terms of experience.

Yeah, they're typically less hopped.

>>7427884
I got 2 dogfish head anniversary cherry chocolate cake bottles from a jewel osco. Can you fucking believe that? That jewel almost always has some expensive single bottles in the puck your own 6 pack cooler.

>>7427857
I used to, but more and more places that used to charge for a pack are starting to charge by the bottle.

One place gives members a 15% discount on the six pack, so it can still end up saving me money, but their selection isn't always great.

you niggers don't know shit about beer

Why is red ale so good senpai

Not a huge fan of IPAs, but it came highly recommended so I added it to my "someone I know might appreciate it pile".

What are some good dopperbocks on the market these days that's not Ayinger Celebrator and Troegs?

>>7427998

>>7426238
Your dumb, don't spread wrong knowledge. IPAs are fine at aging for up to 3 or so months. hops preserve beer niggah.

i'm a poorfag who regularly drinks busch

any recommendations for good wallet-friendly beers that aren't busch, steel reserve, etc?

>>7426513
Ballast point is pretty much just rouge beers. try hard over priced beer. too much hype too flabby of beers

only cucks drink beer
I drink the finest coca cola only

>>7428056
You dont age IPAs you idiot, they SHOULD be consumed as fresh as possible, YOU'RE clearly misinformed.

3 months is too long for many of them if you want a fresh taste. Don't buy a brewery fresh one and leave it around for 3 months and expect it to taste the same as it would even 1-2 months fresh. Hops fade quite fast and havent been an actual useful preservative for beer in over a hundred years.

Hops in IPAs are meant for flavor, not preseving anything

>>7426214
>mouth feel
Kek, stupidest term invented in the last 10 years, because texture wasn't good enough.

>>7428060
I assume you don't want anything more than like $10/12-pack:
Yuengling
Icehouse
MGD
PBR
Tecate (ymmv with this one, I'm absurdly fond of it for how blatant the corn taste is in it)

Busch Light is actually what I drink most of the time. Despite my love of good porters and stouts, I tend to manage my calorie and carb intake most of the time, and stick to a few whiskys or vodkas when out

>>7428060
Hamms

>>7427857
unless the place where that goes is retarded, there's only a select shelf/area of beer to choose from, and they keep all the beer about the same price in there so they're not just fucking themselves

>>7428105
You can build a six pack cheaper then you can buy a six pack but that's only because the six packs are already marked up and the singles come from cases. They're still making a profit.

>>7428056
Maybe in the old world, but the way ipas are made now, they are intended to be drunk fresh. Exceptions made for some like 120 minute or maybe one made with brett

Pulled pic from their twitter, but I tried Schell's Bock for the first time tonight and it was fantastic. I've only had a handful of this style and they blew all those beers out of the water, even New Glarus. I really didn't know bocks could have so much flavor to them.

>>7428060
Shiner Bock can be had for fairly cheap in some places

Irishfag here. Had some of pic related today.

Interesting- sharper than I expected, but breddy good. Would have preferred it a little fruitier, but all in all it's pretty drinkable.

I really like the microbreweries that are springing up here, there's some really great stuff being produced.

>>7424825
Wish I could find a good imperial stout near here. Had Great Divide's last weekend, it was great.

>>7430400
Where do you live? Founders imperial is still out if they distribute near you

I haven't had a beer in months that's actually been satisfying

Has my tongue gone to complete ash or am I just getting unlucky with bad batches?

>>7430542
Missoula, they don't distribute anywhere near here.

>>7430549
I switched to really fruity ipas and gose beers. All I've really been craving, but before that I was in your shoes

>>7430619
>fruity ipas and gose
This Stillwater Moneytree gose/IPA is amazing. I thought it would be a gimmick but it works well.

>>7430400
Is there Lagunitas' Cappuccino Stout around you? I'd only recommend it if you like really like strong coffee but it's a great Sunday morning beer.

Anyone try any good Saisons recently? I recently had this and loved how rustic it was.

This is the best thing Stone has made since their Levitation Ale was discontinued.

>>7428177
Schell's is great, and super cheap. I really miss the beer in MN.

>>7430712
>red IPA
I'll try it but it doesn't seem to have been released here yet. I really like Stone's Delivious IPA but people seem to trash talk it. Enjoy By was like a revelation when I first had it and I still get it each release.

>>7430691
I like the bottle and the colour

Tell me more

this stuff is very good. it's beer mixed with grapefruit juice dont hate it was delicious

Has anyone here had Victory's Dirt Wolf? I got to try it at one of their breweries and man, it really is insanely great. I feel like it's in the same class as Heady Topper/Pliny the Younger.

>>7430744
I love Dirt Wolf and it has spoiled me on DIPA's. It is very cheap compared to most DIPA's but is top tier anyway. I like that it isn't as sweet as most others.

>>7430712
>>7430724
In my opinion, Stone makes the absolute best largely distrusted, readily available IPAs. Pataskala is one example, I am about to open on, but particularly, Enjoy By is consistently the absolute best and freshest IPA that can be found nationwide. It is absolutely delicious. The hop bill is massive, and as such, it hits every flavor profile you may be looking for. It ha some old school resiny pine and grapefruit, but then it has a healthy dose of modern and NZ hops to give it fantastic fruitiness as well, mango, papaya, peach, apricot, and some nice white wine/cat pee from the NZ hops.

>>7430744
>>7430750
Victory is, generally speaking, a very solid and consistent brewery, and their prices are great. My favorite beer from them recently was their Moonglow weizenbock, it was the absolute perfect fall beer.

>>7430770
>Victory is, generally speaking, a very solid and consistent brewery, and their prices are great. My favorite beer from them recently was their Moonglow weizenbock, it was the absolute perfect fall beer.
That's a good choice. Moonglow and Dirt Wolf are my favorites from them easily. I have a bottle of their Java Cask too but haven't tried it yet. I'm very curious how that'll turn out.

>>7430744
>Victory Dirt WolfDIPA
Punchable beer names: the beer name

>>7430792
I'll warn you right now, there are many worse beer names out there. This is pretty mild stuff.

>>7430727
Sure. It's a traditional style open top fermented (uses wild yeasts) Saison Tourpes, Belgium from Brassiere Du Pont. Farmers used to make these beers during the fall and winter months and cellered them for field hands during the summer. They were meant to be a refreshing 4-5% abv beer they could drink all day while working. This particular was around 8-9% abv and was slightly bitter, had a very bready body, and reminded me a farm. Other versions have some citrus flavors to them, but old world styles made pretty naturally. You can find American Saisons around too under that name or farmhouse ales. Pic related will be my next choice.

>>7430792

THe name is just "Dirt Wolf". Is it really that bad

>>7430691
I have seen Lagunitas' beers around, I'll try to find it. Thanks.

>>7426210
Not a big fan of IPA's but didn't mind heady topper. Has a good (albeit be bitter flavor) but there's no lasting aftertaste like most IPA's.

>>7427908
German beer is cheating.

>>7431712
What if I'm german?

>>7430732
Radlers are great. I'll sometimes throw in a shot of gin to get an extra buzz