Too drunk too make a new thread. New Booze Thread.

[Daniel]

Nice one. Yeah, there's no beer nerd superstore up northside, but there's still a couple of good places on Lygon Street like Blackhearts & Sparrows in East Brunswick and Bottega Tasca down in Carlton. You've no doubt scoped some of these out if you're already clued in to Slow Beer.

Also I should have said: fuck yeah Temptress, that beer is great.

[justinh]

Actually, no!  B & S sounds like my closest option--the Nicholson/Lygon tram is fairly near. 

[Antero]

Violet Hour Saturday night.  Patrick, who is a god amongst bartenders, hooked us up with reservations since he knew I'm about to move away.  Drank entirely off-menu, some of the most incredible shit I've ever seen in my life, including a mezcal julep, a Brookyln with Lagavulin 16 in place of rye, and this insane drink with gin, Chartreuse, and Malort (!!!) that tasted remarkably like jumping into a cold lake.  And a bunch of other things.

Shots of green Chartreuse and we're off into the night!  Goodbye to my favorite bar.

[Trousers and Pat]

chartreuse makes me totally insane. Have fun 

(I just looked up Malort and it sounds great, too)

[Antero]

Malort is very, very, very bitter.  Beyond my capacities.  Frequently purchased in Chicago as a joke shot, though a friend of mine drinks it like water.

[FreddyKnuckles]

Do you know what else is good? Gordons gin.

[YojimboMonkey]

Did I ever tell you about the Malort cocktail I invented? Well kind of. Anyway one time in the office all we had to drink was Malort and Miller Lite, so I poured a bottle of Miller Lite into a pint glass and dropped a shot of Malort in. Tasted better than either of them would have by themselves.

We tend to keep a bottle of Malort in the office though, and I tend to do a shot from time to time. It is a kick in the face of bitterness but I kind of like how intense it is. For that one moment, it's just you and the Malort.

[elpollodiablo]

Hey jimbo you had the Avery 18? I don't care if it's super off-style; that shit is delicious

[coldforge]

I never had Malört before. I wonder where you can get it in NY.

[Thermofusion]

There's a startup brewery here in the Carolinas called Skull Coast that's made a lot of noise lately, and I finally got around to trying a couple of their brews this weekend. Maelstrom IPA is one of the more citrusy/"sweet" IPAs I've tried, but there's still a nice, heavy bitterness that clubs you over the head. Pretty good. But the other brew I tried, Gallows Point Porter, is straight up the best ink-black chocolately porter I've ever had. So good. Brewery's only been around about a year, but if they're already making shit this good it'd be a shame if they don't land a solid distro deal immediately.

[YojimboMonkey]

Hey jimbo you had the Avery 18? I don't care if it's super off-style; that shit is delicious

I don't think I have! We tried several Saisons in my homebrew club meeting last week though including a couple of American versions, and though I am generally a fan of malty big-bodied beers it seems like the American versions had too much body for a Saison, which I think should be a lighter-bodied beer. But a rye Saison I imagine would be pretty interesting, the rye should dry it out and it should finish cleaner.

[FreddyKnuckles]

Hey jimbo can I come work at your office?

[coldforge]

So, around 2002, I went with my friend and CS teacher to his house in CT, where I helped him bottle some wine that he had made and to prepare the next batch. He gave me a bottle of the stuff I bottled, which I dutifully stored in my mother's cellar for about 5 years, at which point I had removed it to my curent apartment. On some minor anniversary I decided to open it and try it, at which point I discovered it had tasted—well, terrible. vinegary and very off. So I stopped it up and put it back up above my cupboard, loath to throw it out but certainly uninterested in actually drinking it.

So now it's four years and change after that, and I'm packing up my house to move. Today I'm packing the kitchen. So I took down the bottle again and uncorked it with the aim to pour it down the drain. But naturally I figured I needed one more taste before I chucked it, so I poured it into one of the few glasses I have remaining, a little jam jar. I've just tasted it and by some miraculous transubstantiation, the wine actually tastes pretty good! It doesn't taste like, wine, at all, mind you; but it's developed the nice rounded oxidated flavor of a madeira. I'm going to finish this jar. If I don't die from poisoning by obviously spoiled wine, I might even keep the bottle.

[coldforge]

You know what. On second thought. Oxidation alone does not a madeira make. I'll finish this glass and pour the rest out.

[justinh]

Sounds kind of vile.

I finally found a proper beer nerd bar in Melbourne--the Local Taphouse in St Kilda.  I stumbled in on Saturday and they had just finished an all-Mikkeller event and had about a dozen Mikkeller beers on tap.  Unfortunately I only got to taste a few--their coffee IPA (better than it sounds) and a 2.9% ABV wheat pale ale (bizarre, yet tasty--an aborted hop bomb with no finish).  They also had one of my favorite german dunkels (Weltenberger Barock Dunkel) as well.  I vow to return.  Luckily it's without walking distance of the end of the tram line that picks up about a block from my house.

[elpollodiablo]

I've never had anything from Brasserie de Rochefort before today, but this is one of the best beers I've ever had and I'm having it right now

Beautiful pour, not too much head. Awesome subtle smokey and fruity notes in the nose, malt and caramel. Flavor is incredibly complex: hints of smoke and roast, raisins and figs, malty but not quite sweet, hints of alcohol on the back end. I'm having a hard time deciding whether the descriptor "dry" is really apt here, as it's got quite a bit of body on it, but some combination of the liveliness of the carbonation and the bitterness of the hops inclines me to it even as the finish lingers like savory butter. One of the most complex Belgians I've ever had. Definitely going back for the 6 & the 10.

[elpollodiablo]

Sounds kind of vile.

I finally found a proper beer nerd bar in Melbourne--the Local Taphouse in St Kilda.  I stumbled in on Saturday and they had just finished an all-Mikkeller event and had about a dozen Mikkeller beers on tap.  Unfortunately I only got to taste a few--their coffee IPA (better than it sounds) and a 2.9% ABV wheat pale ale (bizarre, yet tasty--an aborted hop bomb with no finish).  They also had one of my favorite german dunkels (Weltenberger Barock Dunkel) as well.  I vow to return.  Luckily it's without walking distance of the end of the tram line that picks up about a block from my house.

Oh man there's a Mikkeller tasting at Barcade this week, Facebook tells me. It bums me out that the whole time I was living within walking distance of a couple of the best beer bars in the country I was only half a beer nerd.

[kyle]

Drinking Avery's Mahahraja IPA, which is apparently part of the "Dictator" series. I like it, though the price was a bit steep. Been feeling really stressed lately and may just get drunk tonight.

[elpollodiablo]

The Maharaja is okay; pretty well-balanced for a DIPA but kind of unremarkable in its intensity.

I'm feeling rough this morning. Had that Rochefort, a Fuller's ESB, a Dogfish Head Black & Red (barely made it through a ten oz pour; do not recommend), a Saison Dupont and a Duchesse de Bourgogne. At the end of the night it was like some ghastly, high-casualty war had happened on my palate.

[davy]

Hey, I had an ESB the other day that I kinda liked. It was Motorboat Ale -- maybe a Sweetwater gig? It set me to thinkin' maybe I ought to try out some other ESBs.

This one was not as bitter as I expected.

[coldforge]

ESBs are just a kind of strong pale ales, which are a good, middle of the road beer. The word 'Bitter' is used in the English sense, which in context means 'Not particularly bitter.'

[elpollodiablo]

ESBs, English Pales and Bitters are all pretty malt-forward kinds of beers. There's bitterness in the finish, but it's all about the caramel and bready-sugary goodness up front.

[coldforge]

I used to drink the Red Hook ESB a lot, because it was one of the few craft beers available in college. I don't actually remember if it was any good at all.

[davy]

I haven't much cared for anything I've had by Red Hook.

[YojimboMonkey]

I haven't drank it in over a decade but I recall Red Hook ESB having a high level of diacetyl, a butterscotchy flavor that can be a byproduct of fermentation, that I didn't care for.