What're you drinking right now?

markaberrant · Post by **markaberrant** » Wed Dec 21, 2011 9:20 am

6 of us got together for a little Tuesday night tasting:

Commercial
Southern Tier IPA - fine, I guess
Southern Tier 2XIPA - fine, I guess
Granville Island Fresh Hop ESB - reasonably decent
Granville Island Imperial Chocolate Stout - tastes EXACTLY like chocolate milk, fortunately isn't as thick or sweet
Jolly Pumpkin Noel de Calablaza - incredible
New Belgium Lips of Faith Kick (pumpkin and cranberry) - incredible
Avery Anniversary Eighteen (dry-hopped rye saison) - kinda lame

in between commercial and homebrew
Sierra Nevada Golden Ticket Baltic Porter (aged at home on Cantillon dregs) - fantastic
Bushwakker Imperial Stout (fermented at home with Rochefort yeast, aged on toasted coconut) - fantastic

Homebrew
Falconer's Flight IPA - decent
American Brown - decent
robust porter - just ok
Cherry Mead - unbelievably good

markaberrant · Post by **markaberrant** » Wed Dec 21, 2011 9:22 am

LondonBeer wrote:Jolly Pumpkin La Parcela. Not what i expected at all. More like a sour than a pumpkin beer. Didn't like it at all. Either that or my bottle was bad.

Pretty much all of their beers are sour/funky... I do find it funny that they don't really mention this on the bottles.

LondonBeer · Post by **LondonBeer** » Wed Dec 21, 2011 8:37 pm

markaberrant wrote:
LondonBeer wrote:Jolly Pumpkin La Parcela. Not what i expected at all. More like a sour than a pumpkin beer. Didn't like it at all. Either that or my bottle was bad.
Pretty much all of their beers are sour/funky... I do find it funny that they don't really mention this on the bottles.

Thanks, i had a bam noire tonight and when opened it foamed all over the place. tasted like trafalgar so drain poured it. Doesn't give me much confidence to try their other stuff

sprague11 · Post by **sprague11** » Wed Dec 21, 2011 8:48 pm

Jolly Pumpkin is an acquired taste. If you're not a fan of saisons and sours, you probably won't care for their beer. Reminds me, I gotta grab some more La Roja soon.

Oh, Muskoka Chocolate Cranberry Stout for me when I get home tonight.

jibblypop · Post by **jibblypop** » Wed Dec 21, 2011 8:50 pm

Three cans of Crazy Canuck to help get me through my fever.

I was going to buy Muskoka Double Chocolate Cranberry but it's just not a good value at the price even though I really like it.

ritzkiss · Post by **ritzkiss** » Wed Dec 21, 2011 9:39 pm

Some lovely Jolly Pumpkin's tonight...

Maracaibo Especiale & Luciernega. Delicious. Though I think they're getting a little less sour/funky over the years.

Also:

Anchor Our Christmas Ale (magnum)
De Proef Van Twee
Great Lakes Christmas
Klein Duimpje Imperial Russian Stout

markaberrant · Post by **markaberrant** » Wed Dec 21, 2011 10:13 pm

LondonBeer wrote:
Pretty much all of their beers are sour/funky... I do find it funny that they don't really mention this on the bottles.
Thanks, i had a bam noire tonight and when opened it foamed all over the place. tasted like trafalgar so drain poured it. Doesn't give me much confidence to try their other stuff

They are intentionally sour/funky, not unintentional like Trafalgar. Jolly Pumpkin isn't for everyone, but I am a big fan.

Derek · Post by **Derek** » Wed Dec 21, 2011 11:57 pm

LondonBeer wrote: Thanks, i had a bam noire tonight and when opened it foamed all over the place. tasted like trafalgar so drain poured it. Doesn't give me much confidence to try their other stuff

LOL. My vote for quote of the year!

(I'm not a fan of sours either).

Ale's What Cures Ya · Thu Dec 22, 2011 12:08 am

An "old" Central City, Red Racer IPA.

Still hoppy. Still great.

matt7215 · Post by **matt7215** » Thu Dec 22, 2011 7:47 am

LondonBeer wrote:
markaberrant wrote:
LondonBeer wrote:Jolly Pumpkin La Parcela. Not what i expected at all. More like a sour than a pumpkin beer. Didn't like it at all. Either that or my bottle was bad.
Pretty much all of their beers are sour/funky... I do find it funny that they don't really mention this on the bottles.
Thanks, i had a bam noire tonight and when opened it foamed all over the place. tasted like trafalgar so drain poured it. Doesn't give me much confidence to try their other stuff

please dont buy any more Jolly Pumpkin

boney · Post by **boney** » Thu Dec 22, 2011 11:56 am

LondonBeer wrote:
markaberrant wrote:
LondonBeer wrote:Jolly Pumpkin La Parcela. Not what i expected at all. More like a sour than a pumpkin beer. Didn't like it at all. Either that or my bottle was bad.
Pretty much all of their beers are sour/funky... I do find it funny that they don't really mention this on the bottles.
Thanks, i had a bam noire tonight and when opened it foamed all over the place. tasted like trafalgar so drain poured it. Doesn't give me much confidence to try their other stuff

That post made me cry a llittle bit on the inside.

gordmit · Post by **gordmit** » Thu Dec 22, 2011 1:15 pm

Last night I started with GLB Devils Pale, followed by ML Mad Tom, followed by FM Netherworld. Having quenched my hop thirst...switched to my new discount standby, Cool Blonde Lager. Puttered around the house for a bit, and sat down with my last Cool of the evening and was enjoying it sooooo much, wondering where all the hops was coming from...then remebered that I had made an executive decision at the beer fridge -decided to bail on the Blonde and crack another Tom. Got a LCBO gift card from my EEs today, I'm racing out to grab some FM Smash Bomb.
Happy Holidays!!!

sprague11 · Post by **sprague11** » Thu Dec 22, 2011 2:12 pm

Firestone Walker Double Jack

Streets · Post by **Streets** » Thu Dec 22, 2011 3:04 pm

Split a bottle of New Holland Dragon's Milk.

sprague11 · Post by **sprague11** » Thu Dec 22, 2011 3:57 pm

Have a couple friends over so we followed the Double Jack with a year old bottle of 2010 Bell's Third Coast Old Ale. Near-phenominal with a year of age on it. Wondering if I want to open the other 2 I have in the cellar over the holiday or leave them for another year.