Beer to gift?

I'm not drinking beer these days and have not been following beer news, but I'm looking to gift a bottle or two of something special (but not difficult to obtain) for my graduate student assistant. She's pretty discerning when it comes to beer but enjoys all kinds. I'd like to get her something that maybe she wouldn't splurge on with a graduate student budget but also something I could pick up quickly in the next few days at Binny's. Maybe something autumnal? I'd like to spend less than $40. Thanks in advance for any recommendations.

Sharon

I don't know much of anything about beers either, but how about a sampler pack? I think Goose Island and Sam Adams have these (?), and doesn't Costco carry one or both? Or you could put together a sampler 6- or 12-pack from individual bottles - say, beers around the world (one from each of several countries - Belgium, Ireland, England, Germany, Japan, etc.). She might have fun doing a little taste-testing of the different types with some friends.

Sharon,

I'd try the Lush location near you on Chicago Avenue. While not inexpensive, they have a well-edited beer selection, and often have some great seasonal and hard-to-find bottles.

If you'd like to select something your friend may not have had before, I really like Panil Barriquee, an Italian sour beer that I've bought from that Lush location a few times. They also carry large format bottles from Dogfish Head, many of which are quite interesting, and weren't on my grad student budget.

In any event, the Lush staff should have some good advice for you, and options at many price points.

Ronna

Did a bit of beer shopping at Binny's in Lincoln Park the other night...

Found a few bottles of the well respected Saison Fantôme on the shelf. It was (is?) somewhat hard to find, but there were still 3 or 4 left on the shelf when I was done. I also picked up a Lindemans Gueuze Cuvée René, which I had last night...deliciously sour, but noticeably less complex than the Girardin 1882 (which was also available). Not sure how many people out there are drinking much Gueuze, but I've been trying it everywhere I can since trying it for the first time in Belgium this spring.

$40 is something of a weird price point for a bottle of beer...but they do exist. Chimay Grand Reserve Blue, maybe? $36 at Binny's.

Lush is a good suggestion. Drinks Over Dearborn would likely also have some great ideas.

Goose Island has a 3-pack of large format bottles of Matilda, Sofie, and Pere Jacque, all vintage dated, for under $25. If your assistant has patience, they'll benefit from several years of aging.

nr706 wrote:Goose Island has a 3-pack of large format bottles of Matilda, Sofie, and Pere Jacque, all vintage dated, for uner $25. If your assistant has patience, they'll benefit from several years of aging.

Really? Beers improve with age? I had no idea. (Told you I didn't know anything about beers.) Is this true of any kind of beer?

Usually, only with bigger, more alcoholic beers, or beers brewed with brett or other strange beasties.

Do you have all day?

Seriously though, everyone's suggestions are good. I especially like the Panil Barriquee that REB mentioned. But sour beers are definitely not for everybody, even some beer enthusiasts just can't get into them.

You aren't really going to find too many beers that will crack your $40 limit. Out of the few that top $20, most will be big Belgians. At well-stocked Binny's, you should see a pretty good selection of Cantillon 750ml bottles in that range, but again, you're getting into sour beers and it is helpful to know up front whether those are appreciated. Then again, there's nothing wrong with introducing somebody to something new.

Katie wrote:Really? Beers improve with age? I had no idea. (Told you I didn't know anything about beers.) Is this true of any kind of beer?

No it's not. Certain beers, stronger beers and those that are bottle-conditioned, can improve with age. Hop flavors tend to fade with age, so those will mellow over time, which can be a good or bad thing depending on the beer and your preferences.

The Pumking from Southern Tier just hit shelves and it goes pretty fast. It's a unique pumpkin beer and by far my favorite in the genre.

When I think of early fall I think of Oktoberfest beers. The Munsterfest from Three Floyds is pretty good. The Kaiser from Avery is pretty strong for an Oktoberfest, but it has a lot of flavor and I like it a lot. I really like the Oktoberfest from Great Lakes but it comes in six packs and is pretty easy to find.

Thanks, all, for these suggestions--very helpful.

Katie wrote:Or you could put together a sampler 6- or 12-pack from individual bottles - say, beers around the world (one from each of several countries - Belgium, Ireland, England, Germany, Japan, etc.).

I thought of this, but I'm not discerning enough to pick interesting examples from around the world.

REB wrote:If you'd like to select something your friend may not have had before, I really like Panil Barriquee, an Italian sour beer that I've bought from that Lush location a few times.

kl1191 wrote:Found a few bottles of the well respected Saison Fantôme on the shelf. It was (is?) somewhat hard to find, but there were still 3 or 4 left on the shelf when I was done. I also picked up a Lindemans Gueuze Cuvée René, which I had last night...deliciously sour, but noticeably less complex than the Girardin 1882 (which was also available). Not sure how many people out there are drinking much Gueuze, but I've been trying it everywhere I can since trying it for the first time in Belgium this spring.

$40 is something of a weird price point for a bottle of beer...but they do exist. Chimay Grand Reserve Blue, maybe? $36 at Binny's.

These are exactly the types of recs I was looking for (I don't mean sour, just specific). Lush is by far the easiest place for me to get to, so I will likely end up there given the endorsements in this thread. Yeah, I know $40 is strange, but I figured if I found an interesting bottle that was inexpensive, I'd get my assistant two things.

JimTheBeerGuy wrote:Do you have all day?

Strong opinions are good. This has got to be a flash shopping trip, so I'm happy (for a change) to do exactly as I'm told.

turkob wrote:The Pumking from Southern Tier just hit shelves and it goes pretty fast. It's a unique pumpkin beer and by far my favorite in the genre.

When I think of early fall I think of Oktoberfest beers. The Munsterfest from Three Floyds is pretty good. The Kaiser from Avery is pretty strong for an Oktoberfest, but it has a lot of flavor and I like it a lot. I really like the Oktoberfest from Great Lakes but it comes in six packs and is pretty easy to find.

Have you had Two Brothers's Atom Smasher? I am not too experienced with Oktoberfest beers but I thought this one was good, and was wondering how you think it stacks up against others. Really, the only other one I've had is Spaten's, which I liked. I don't know how to describe that butterscotchy, malty taste that seems characteristic of this style. So any thoughts you want to offer would be awesome!

happy_stomach wrote:Thanks, all, for these suggestions--very helpful.

Let me know if a spot opens up to be your grad assistant, lol! Seriously though, what a thoughtful gift! Too bad my department doesn't work like that.

No, never had the Atom Smasher. I haven't seen it on the shelves at any of my regular stores, but I'll keep an eye out for it.

Lush is a great suggestion -- they tend to have a wide selection of rare beers, some that don't always get put into the standard retail supply chain (I'm thinking of the bottle of Flossmoor's Collaborative Evil for $15 or the magnum of Stone's Oaked Arrogant Bastard).

As far as aging, as others have said, it really depends on the beer. You'll need something with a hefty ABV since that alcohol acts as a preservative (beer is perishable after all!). I think the oldest beer I've had/been patient enough to cellar is 4 years (a bottle of Goose's Bourbon County Stout) and you can really taste the difference. Carbonation tends to drop significantly as the beer can become much thicker in body (sometimes more clear in appearance since the sediment has had time to settle at the bottom). I'm not sure that you would want to hold beers past 5 years, though, and you want to keep it standing upright (regardless of it being a metal cap or cork, I think).

I picked up a bottle of the Atom Smasher last week -- I think it's a very new release for them and it's still making its way onto shelves. I enjoyed it well enough but I don't know that I'm such a fan of the style to seek out another bottle. I think it also suffers from my common critique for Two Bros. in that the beer they make is often really, really solid, but not quite exceptional.

danimalarkey wrote:I'm not sure that you would want to hold beers past 5 years, though,

In his excellent book Tasting Beer, Chicagoan Randy Mosher describes a vertical tasting of Thomas Hardy's ale, vintages 1986 - 1995 (this was conducted in 1997). At the time, tasters thought the 1986 could be even better with another 10 years in the bottle. Personally, I have a six-pack of Samichlaus 1987 in the basement, as well as a Sam Adams Triple Bock from 1994. I'm still looking for an appropriate occasion to crack them open.

JW Lees Harvest Ale (English Barleywine) is another that can stand up to decades of aging. I've had both a '98 and an '88 in the last couple of years and they were phenomenal.

well the derail has gone on quite some time but as a counterpoint, I have a bottle of 1996 King & Barnes Christmas Ale at home (and there are loads more at my local), and it was not a good candidate for aging. Drinkable, yes, and it's hard to say without having drank some back in 1996 but I can't imagine this beer not having been better younger.

Having given it some thought, Sharon, and having paged through Binny's web site to remind myself what they might have on their shelves, I have another suggestion. I bring it up specifically because it's the kind of thing that you see on a shelf, it intrigues you, you'd love to try it, but (at least if you're me) you have a hard time justifying spending that kind of money for a single 11.2oz bottle. Which seems to me to make them ideal gift material.

A Scottish brewery, Harviestoun, has released a series of very dark old ales that are aged in old single-malt scotch barrels. Binny's lists the #12 (aged in 12yr Scotch barrels), #16 (16 yr, you get the pattern) and #30 on their site (available in stores only it says, and it probably varies from store to store what they have on shelves but I think I've seen all of them at one Binny's or another). Having seen them on shelves (and picked up at least one of them despite my reservations, don't recall which though), they are very nicely presented, hand-numbered bottles, and some of them in nice boxes. They run something like $9-$17 per bottle, so a flight of these would make a nice and attractive gift within your price range I think.

Back to the OP's original question, here are three faves of mine, and I think the Marcey Street Binny's carries them all:

Dogfish Head World-Wide Stout ($10 or so for a 12oz bottle, but it's something like 18% ABV -- maybe the greatest beer ever)
Kwak (most delicious Belgian in my book -- $8-$10)
Goose Island Matilda ($8 for a 22oz) -- I know this was mentioned, and it is truly wonderful. Pere Jacques is great too.

A trio or foursome of Dogfish Head's World Wide Stout, Raison D'Extra, Olde School, and 120 Minute IPA would make for one heck of a tipple. Even splitting those with a couple friends one night made for a heckuva tipple.

A lot of excellent suggestions, here's a few others I wouldn't mind getting as a gift.

St Bernardus Abt 12
Rochefort 8
Hoppin Frog BORIS the Crusher
The Bruery Autumn Maple
Anything from Jolly Pumpkin

mtgl wrote:A trio or foursome of Dogfish Head's World Wide Stout, Raison D'Extra, Olde School, and 120 Minute IPA would make for one heck of a tipple. Even splitting those with a couple friends one night made for a heckuva tipple.

Yeah, I don't think you can go wrong with this, or selection of Belgians, or, if you want to branch out and go a different direction, there's a number of Scandinavian brewers that are putting out some interesting products. Look for anything by Mikkeller, HaandBryggeriet, or Nøgne Ø (which brews Mikkeller's beers.) As a beer geek, it would be fun to go off the beaten path and try something different.

Personally, what I usually like to do when I'm treating myself, is get a four-to-six-pack of a decent, everyday quaffer (I'd suggest something like an Ayinger or Hacker-Pschorr Oktoberfest for the autumnal spirit) and supplement that with a two or three more expensive single bottles. That'll get you in the $40 price point. (Oh, on review, I see you just want to buy a couple of bottles. Then refer to the first paragraph.)

When I was last there, West Lakeview Liquors had singles of both the Mikkeller Yeast Series, and the Barrel-Aged Series. A full complement of either would run right up against that price point, too, if they still have them. Those are pretty geek-oriented beers, I think, though.

Wow--a lot of suggestions to mull over. It looks like I won't get to the store until this weekend, but I'm going to write all of these ideas down and bring them with me. I probably will stay away from anything Belgian available at Hopleaf. My GA loves beer, and it's no accident she lives a short walk from there. She probably doesn't indulge in the more expensive Belgian beers often, but I'd rather not get her something that she could almost have down the street from home.

I'll report back on what I get, but of course I'll take more suggestions.

turkob wrote:No, never had the Atom Smasher. I haven't seen it on the shelves at any of my regular stores, but I'll keep an eye out for it.

Cool -- if you think of it, I'd love to hear your impression when you get the chance to try it.

danimalarkey wrote:I picked up a bottle of the Atom Smasher last week -- I think it's a very new release for them and it's still making its way onto shelves. I enjoyed it well enough but I don't know that I'm such a fan of the style to seek out another bottle. I think it also suffers from my common critique for Two Bros. in that the beer they make is often really, really solid, but not quite exceptional.

From my limited (but growing!) experience tasting beers, I agree with this. Which made me want to bring up a thought that's been on my mind for a while -- I have come to think the same is true of Dogfish Head beers. For instance, I recently had both the Rasion D'Etre and the India Brown Ale, and both had strong flavors to be sure, but were also gassy and either the hoppy bitterness (in the former) or the sweetness (in the latter) were unbalanced in a way that made those flavors seem like the one and only note the beer hit.


Ps: I'm sorry to keep derailing the topic!

Yeah, I want to talk about Dogfish Head some, so I'm going to keep on the derail.

They are my favorite American brewery, bar none. But I agree with you, pizza, that the Raison d'Etre and all the IPAs (60, 90, 120) just go for hoptasticness (which some people love) and many of their other big-time beers are kind of one-note (strong flavor, but one note). But have you ever tried Midas Touch, or Palo Santo Marron? Those are some lovely beers. Also their "black and blue" berry ale is really lovely.

I haven't, and it's exciting to hear about DFH beers that may be less mainstream but more refined, so I will definitely seek those out!

I did get a great impression from seeing their head brewer in the "Beer Wars" movie; he seemed totally dedicated to his job and his fellow employees, and like an all-around laid-back, likeable dude. The prime example, I suppose, of the kind of guy you'd like to have a beer with. :-p

There was a wonderful profile on him in the New Yorker last year....or maybe the year before....


Also, you can find some of the limited edition DFH bottlings at Drinks Over Dearborn -- and you can buy singles instead of six-packs!

Fantastic; I'll have to stop by next time I'm in the loop.

Here's the profile you were mentioning, in case anyone else wants to read it. 10 internet pages worth of extreme beer writing!

Binko wrote:Personally, what I usually like to do when I'm treating myself, is get a four-to-six-pack of a decent, everyday quaffer (I'd suggest something like an Ayinger or Hacker-Pschorr Oktoberfest for the autumnal spirit) and supplement that with a two or three more expensive single bottles.

Having attended the Oktoberfest, my recommendation is Victory Prima Pils from PA. BTW, this year is the the 200th anniversary of the Oktober fest, As I write this I am wearing my commemorative t-shirt from Hofbrau Munchen. I have quaffed a few at the original location in Munich and am now thinking of going to Las Vegas where there is an HB outpost.

I went to Lush today and picked up a bottle of the Panil Barriquee and Harviestoun #30 since they're very different yet both seem interesting and special. Even if my grad assistant doesn't take to either beer, I think she'll appreciate the exposure to the two brews. I give her the gift tomorrow, so we'll see! Thanks for all of the suggestions.

I wish you were my graduate advisor.