What're you drinking right now?

devonsleigh · Post by **devonsleigh** » Thu Aug 28, 2008 12:06 pm

it didn't taste right because you didn't put a lime in it.

Belgian · Post by **Belgian** » Thu Aug 28, 2008 2:56 pm

esprit wrote:We have talked to Sierra Nevada many times over the past 15 years. They demand refrigerated transportation, refrigerated warehousing and refrigerated retail displays...none of which the LCBO will guarantee...enjoy your drive to Buffalo.

A Kudos to Sierra Nevada for having the balls to be principled about how people treat their brews... I have enjoyed many fine SN's at beerbistro and I have always felt these would be wonderful beers for our market - accessible yet first-class.

But it's amazing the LCBO do not realize that the "product integrity' of what they make so much money on is rather important. They behave instead like they are selling 'generic' goods like shoe polish, not a more sensitive commodity that loses freshness quickly if neglected. The LC should protect the quality integrity of what they are selling - just as carefully as they 'protect' us with consumer education, lab-testing, various stickering & banning products that have irreverent names.

Appearing 'socially responsible' is probably more on their furtive little minds than the trifling matter of how fresh a beer shipment is.

And also - the LCBO system may be just too big and deeply entrenched to ever adapt consistent product refrigeration, either in policy, equipment or store practice. It ain't gonna happen if it does not have to for their sake.

Just the nature of our provincial system I guess - interesting though!!

boney · Post by **boney** » Thu Aug 28, 2008 4:59 pm

Oh, if only we had, say, a "store" that sold "beer" and had the mandate to refrigerate all of said beer. Wow, that's a great idea. I would totally jump all over that! I'd have the inital fear that the Ontario government would probably turn it into a provincially sponsored monopoly benefiting only multinational macro's and that the same government would be totally unresponsive to its voting constituents. But that's just an irrational, unfounded fear and would never really happen, right?

StevenThrasher · Post by **StevenThrasher** » Fri Aug 29, 2008 11:37 pm

11:35pm on Friday of the labour day weekend and no posts yet? For shame.

Enjoying an Bomber of Oak Aged Yeti.
Think I'll have the aptly named Victory Old Horizontal next.

GregClow · Post by **GregClow** » Sat Aug 30, 2008 12:19 am

Belgian wrote:
esprit wrote:We have talked to Sierra Nevada many times over the past 15 years. They demand refrigerated transportation, refrigerated warehousing and refrigerated retail displays...none of which the LCBO will guarantee...enjoy your drive to Buffalo.
A Kudos to Sierra Nevada for having the balls to be principled about how people treat their brews... I have enjoyed many fine SN's at beerbistro and I have always felt these would be wonderful beers for our market - accessible yet first-class.

But - here's the thing:

Presumably, beerbistro brought those SN beers in as a private order via the LCBO. And I highly doubt the LCBO provided a special refrigerated truck transport the beer, and a special cold room in the warehouse when it arrived.

So why was SN willing to ship their beers via non-refrigerated means for a private order, but claim that they won't ship via non-refrigerated means for retail sales?

Jan Primus · Post by **Jan Primus** » Sat Aug 30, 2008 9:14 am

Last night's beers, pretty light for a friday night....

Fuller's Vintage Ale 2007
Thomas Hardy's Ale 2007

Cagiva650 · Post by **Cagiva650** » Sat Aug 30, 2008 3:00 pm

I'm having a very fresh Pilsner Urquell, 500ml can. Best before date of March 23 2009. Its been sold out here for over three weeks, ( I'm in Torbay Newfoundland) very nice to have it back again.
I wasn't a pilsner lover until I traveled to the Czech Republic ( we should ALL go next year

) my favorites were stouts and porters, still love them.
I'm hoping to get to Ontario later this year. I'd love to try the King Pilsner.

JesseM · Post by **JesseM** » Sat Aug 30, 2008 3:04 pm

Nice! Fresh Urquell is so insanely awesome.

When you're over here in Ontario, on top of King's Pilsener, Gold Crown's beer are definitely worth trying. The King's Pils and the Premium Lager being the best IMO. They're distribution outside of Waterloo is pretty non-existent however......

detritus · Post by **detritus** » Sat Aug 30, 2008 6:07 pm

GregClow wrote:But - here's the thing:

Presumably, beerbistro brought those SN beers in as a private order via the LCBO. And I highly doubt the LCBO provided a special refrigerated truck transport the beer, and a special cold room in the warehouse when it arrived.

So why was SN willing to ship their beers via non-refrigerated means for a private order, but claim that they won't ship via non-refrigerated means for retail sales?

Indeed. It's a silly policy. I've only seen it refriderated maybe 50% of the time. It's available pretty much everywhere in the states, there's no way they could control it past the distributor.

As a matter of fact, I first had in the UK, bought from a non-refrigerated shelf at an Asda (Walmart).

-Josh

Belgian · Post by **Belgian** » Sat Aug 30, 2008 7:32 pm

GregClow wrote:
But - here's the thing:

Presumably, beerbistro brought those SN beers in as a private order via the LCBO. And I highly doubt the LCBO provided a special refrigerated truck transport the beer, and a special cold room in the warehouse when it arrived.

So why was SN willing to ship their beers via non-refrigerated means for a private order, but claim that they won't ship via non-refrigerated means for retail sales?

I don't know. I can only surmise that Sierra Nevada knew what they were doing on these grounds:

- The client (BeerBistro) are serious enough about protecting the quality integrity of the beer at the sales end.

- The shipping process is shorter, quicker and more 'direct to client' (pick up immediately at Queens Quay.)

- The beer would not be some hulking order that takes forever, sits around warehouses and then languishes on brightly-lit shelves in cozy warm LCBO retail stores.

These are perhaps considerations that allowed SN to make a 'judgement call' for the sake of a very reputable beer bar. If a specific situation situation works really well, like this one does, apparently Sierra Nevada will make exceptions on smaller scale shipmentts.

JesseM · Post by **JesseM** » Sat Aug 30, 2008 8:37 pm

I'm enjoying a 750mL bottle of Jacobsen Saaz Blonde at the moment. I was a little weary of this one at first, what with the lower ratings on RB and the freakin' huge bottle that looks bigger every time I glance at it, but I've ended up very pleasantly surprised by it. Lots of apple aspects that are quite tasty, I love the malt structure in this one. Not as much Saaz as I was hoping for, but it's still not a let down.

My only issue is that at 7.1% this is way too drinkable, and there's 750 freaking mL of this stuff! I really do regret turning up my nose to the Jacobsen X-Mas gift pack from the LCBO back when they were available.

boney · Post by **boney** » Sat Aug 30, 2008 10:19 pm

I tried the Jacobsen Saaz for the first time tonight as well. If ever I've experienced a beer in need of a food pairing, it was with this. I started the bottle while BBQ'ing some chicken breast for a home-made caesar salad tonight and thought "Meh. This is an overly grainy, poor imitation of a Belgan stong ale". Then I had it with the caesar salad and the garlic improved many aspects of this beer. The fruity malts really started to pop, the pine from the Saaz hops really came out of the aroma, as did a resiny dryness and almost astingnecy in the mouthfeel. I haven't rated this on ratebeer yet, but in comparing my notes, I gave this a 12/20 pre-food pairing, but would give ita 14 or 15 /20 post food pairing.

JesseM · Post by **JesseM** » Sat Aug 30, 2008 10:50 pm

Although I'm not doubting your experience, could another aspect have been that while it warmed it really started to bloom? That seems to be the case for me with 90% of the beers I drink.

boney · Post by **boney** » Sat Aug 30, 2008 11:47 pm

Yep, definitely the case with most beers and you are right, the flavour profile did change a little as it warmed. However, I've got my bar fridge steady at 4 degrees C (give or take a little based on the area of the fridge). Poured half of that beast before eating, put the bottle back in the fridge, then poured the second half with the meal. The diffence I noticed with the food I was eating seemed, at least to me, to be greater than the change I experienced due to the temp change. This experience, whether I am just imaging things or not, has got me thinking about food pairings a lot more than before and I forsee much more experimenting in the future

velovampire · Post by **velovampire** » Sun Aug 31, 2008 11:42 am

Right now drinking tea. grapefruit juice and water. Last night had a tasting party which included:

Unibroue 1837
Unibroue Seignuriale
Unibroue edition 2005
Orval
Westmalle Dubbel
Westmalle Trippel
Les Trois Mousquateres S.S. Alt Secrete
Great Lakes Edmund Fitzgerald Porter
Great Lakes Blackout Stout
Bell's Third Coast Old Ale
Bell's Expedition Stout
Scotch Irish John By Imperial Stout
Fuller's Vintage Ales 2006/2007
Victory Prima Pils
Magic Hat #9
Harpoon Summer Ale
La Barberie India Pale Ale
Andrew's English Pale Ale
Southern Tier Big Red
Southern Tier Hoppe
Southern Tier Unearthly

Seems like a lot, but there were 6 of us, so even with the big Unibroue bottles, it only amounted to about 125 ml, and with the smaller bottles, it was really only a few sips each. But still, all that alcohol goes to your head...hence the tea, water, grapefruit juice....