The Bar Towel

IPA No. 12. Quite nice, lots of citrusy tangerine along with melon, white grape and berry notes. Hazy and smooth, liked it a lot better than 11 which I found had a cloying and gross amount of lactose sweetness.

That said, $4.95 for a non double IPA seems steep. As much as I liked 12 I'm finding a lot of these hazy/NE-style IPAs kinda blend into eachother from a taste perspective. Hard to justify the price point on the No. Series, especially when Life in the Clouds is pretty similar and just as good.

Counterpart Blender Sour Ale (with strawberries, lemon zest, vanilla and lactose)

The "sour" is buried. The strawberries and lactose are upfront. Tastes like a strawberry milkshake. I don't care for this one too much.

De Moersleutel Dolle Dries 2 — My first pit beer. Nice soft mouthfeel, loads of coffee and a lingering unique savoury-sourish-bitter flavour which I assume is from the apricot pits.

Interestingly if you Google apricot pits, you’ll learn they are toxic in large quantities. Some quacks have been selling apricot pit extracts as a cure for cancer, which has actually killed people.

Bellwoods Skeleton Key from its first (?) 2014 bottling.

Holy cow! Deeply rich dried black fruit / tangy fruit leather, lightly smoky roast, nutty espresso and chocolate, rooty kola spice, the spicy oak barrel and warming barrel rum contributing a lovely unifying complexity. Must go by the bottle shop more often.

Over the week at home:
Bellwoods Citra Autobahn Pilsner
Storm Stayed Robin Sparkles Berliner Weisse
Fuller's Imperial IPA
Bellwoods & Pen Druid Druid Fluid
Bellwoods Goblin Sauce Mango
Bellwoods Bounty Hunter 2019
Great Lakes Stocking Toe Clementine Pale Ale

Death By Coconut from Oscar Blues. Very nice.

Fullers Imperial Stout from last year, the rose petal florals have melded very well but its still just in there.



Also had a recent (Interbrau SpA) Thomas Hardy's ale, while it's a very agreeable quaff I don't think it has nearly the character of the various Hanlon's iterations of the recipe. I have never had an original Eldridge Pope variant!



Here is Josh Rubin's obituary on that 2008 passing.

seangm wrote:IPA No. 12. Quite nice, lots of citrusy tangerine along with melon, white grape and berry notes. Hazy and smooth, liked it a lot better than 11 which I found had a cloying and gross amount of lactose sweetness.

That said, $4.95 for a non double IPA seems steep. As much as I liked 12 I'm finding a lot of these hazy/NE-style IPAs kinda blend into eachother from a taste perspective. Hard to justify the price point on the No. Series, especially when Life in the Clouds is pretty similar and just as good.

the haze fatigue is real

JaseWescott wrote:

seangm wrote:IPA No. 12. Quite nice, lots of citrusy tangerine along with melon, white grape and berry notes. Hazy and smooth, liked it a lot better than 11 which I found had a cloying and gross amount of lactose sweetness.

That said, $4.95 for a non double IPA seems steep. As much as I liked 12 I'm finding a lot of these hazy/NE-style IPAs kinda blend into eachother from a taste perspective. Hard to justify the price point on the No. Series, especially when Life in the Clouds is pretty similar and just as good.

the haze fatigue is real

Yea I'm pretty over it for the most part, especially once you go north of $4.00/can. A lot of them are too sweet and too viscous, for me anyway.

On the what're you drinking note, I've been enjoying the return of Uerige Altbier- this is a world class beer in my humble opinion, makes me want to book a trip to Dusseldorf right now.

seangm wrote:

JaseWescott wrote:

seangm wrote:IPA No. 12. Quite nice, lots of citrusy tangerine along with melon, white grape and berry notes. Hazy and smooth, liked it a lot better than 11 which I found had a cloying and gross amount of lactose sweetness.

That said, $4.95 for a non double IPA seems steep. As much as I liked 12 I'm finding a lot of these hazy/NE-style IPAs kinda blend into eachother from a taste perspective. Hard to justify the price point on the No. Series, especially when Life in the Clouds is pretty similar and just as good.

the haze fatigue is real

Yea I'm pretty over it for the most part, especially once you go north of $4.00/can. A lot of them are too sweet and too viscous, for me anyway.

On the what're you drinking note, I've been enjoying the return of Uerige Altbier- this is a world class beer in my humble opinion, makes me want to book a trip to Dusseldorf right now.

I am drinking a Uerige Altbier as I write this and agree with your assessment. It's exceptional.

seangm wrote:IPA No. 12. Quite nice, lots of citrusy tangerine along with melon, white grape and berry notes. Hazy and smooth, liked it a lot better than 11 which I found had a cloying and gross amount of lactose sweetness.

That said, $4.95 for a non double IPA seems steep. As much as I liked 12 I'm finding a lot of these hazy/NE-style IPAs kinda blend into eachother from a taste perspective. Hard to justify the price point on the No. Series, especially when Life in the Clouds is pretty similar and just as good.

I have yet to sample the 12, but like you, I found the 11 overly sweet for my preferences regarding the style and I only had a couple of them, which was plenty. For me personally, this series peaked between 4 and 6 and hasn't quite recaptured that level since. I'm hoping for a significant rebound with 12.

seangm wrote:

JaseWescott wrote:

seangm wrote:IPA No. 12. Quite nice... That said, $4.95 for a non double IPA seems steep...

the haze fatigue is real

Yea I'm pretty over it for the most part, especially once you go north of $4.00...

Well new hazy IPAs are always fun to try, but I agree LITC and a few others (Greenwood, Sunsplit) cover 95% of what I need these beers to do. The #12 has fairly high gravity.

Just had Great Lakes "Used To Be Cool" which is a Hazy Pale Ale variant, very sessionable and good but maybe Beyond The Pale Yummy! takes a strong first place a NEPA.

seangm wrote:[On the what're you drinking note, I've been enjoying the return of Uerige Altbier- this is a world class beer in my humble opinion, makes me want to book a trip to Dusseldorf right now.

Same here, a very unique style - although of course props to Godspeed's wonderful version. Ueriger has maybe a deeper fruiter / toasted dark sugary note that I think sets it apart. Enjoying this with Real Jerk chicken dinner, the kind of nourishment that makes one sigh deeply...

Duvel. A classic. It truly stands the test of time and is always one of the world's great beers, regardless of the flux, fads and fickleness of the beer market at the time.

BeerIsGood wrote:Duvel. A classic. It truly stands the test of time and is always one of the world's great beers, regardless of the flux, fads and fickleness of the beer market at the time.

I forgot a few 750ml bottles for a while, the stuff ages like a champ, kind of winelike. Plus the cool glass with it!

Incidentally the Altbier Ueriger is definitely best served well chilled. Like stick it in a snow bank cold, it's still tasty.

Belgian wrote:

BeerIsGood wrote:Duvel. A classic. It truly stands the test of time and is always one of the world's great beers, regardless of the flux, fads and fickleness of the beer market at the time.

I forgot a few 750ml bottles for a while, the stuff ages like a champ, kind of winelike. Plus the cool glass with it!

Incidentally the Altbier Ueriger is definitely best served well chilled. Like stick it in a snow bank cold, it's still tasty.

My current Duvel glassware comes from those gift packs. I’ve never aged it, but based on your comments I might pick up a few of the currently available smaller format bottles and give it a try. In your opinion what might be the peak aging time? Thanks.