Pliny the Elder is really good and I have heard great things about the Russian River brewery. The DFH 120 is good for smuggling into sporting events or theaters. I had two in the parking lot before the Rockies/Cub game the other night and that was almost enough..I ordered a 16 oz FatTire draft from my club level seats and I nursed that for an hour. Thats all I needed, anymore and I would'nt be legal to drive home after the game.

The cubs lost, BUT I brought some emotional insurance by betting a lot of money on the Rockies..
http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee13 ... s3/365.jpg

I like your style Silas Jayne. Are you a native Chicagoan? Those look like some pretty killer seats!

MBK wrote:where can i buy Pliny the Elder? Binny's?

Sadly Russian River does not distribute out here. It's fairly easy to find in California though.

thanks... i'll be on the look out for it when i'm out that way...

holy cow about the cubs... last i glanced at the TV it was 12 -1 ...!!! i couldn't watch

I Do It Daily wrote:

Pliny the Elder is really good and I have heard great things about the Russian River brewery. The DFH 120 is good for smuggling into sporting events or theaters. I had two in the parking lot before the Rockies/Cub game the other night and that was almost enough..I ordered a 16 oz FatTire draft from my club level seats and I nursed that for an hour. Thats all I needed, anymore and I would'nt be legal to drive home after the game.

The cubs lost, BUT I brought some emotional insurance by betting a lot of money on the Rockies..
http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee13 ... s3/365.jpg

I like your style Silas Jayne. Are you a native Chicagoan? Those look like some pretty killer seats!

Spent my first 32 years in Chicago...And one of the things I miss most about it- is the food.

turkob wrote:

MBK wrote:where can i buy Pliny the Elder? Binny's?

Sadly Russian River does not distribute out here. It's fairly easy to find in California though.

Same here.....It's so highly rated that I always look for it..Just in case

MBK wrote:thanks... i'll be on the look out for it when i'm out that way...

holy cow about the cubs... last i glanced at the TV it was 12 -1 ...!!! i couldn't watch

They should lose today...Lee is a great pitcher...Despite that I brought two Imperial Stout home brews up from the garage fridge just for the game..

And those are great seats -It's front row or I don't go. Heres my wifes Blue Moon...I'm so embarrassed to order the mass produced garbage (she wants what she wants, theres no reasoning with her) that despite having a personal waiter at my seats I take the elevator down to level one and get it there...Thats a real piece of Orange in there BTW.

http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee13 ... s3/423.jpg

Silas Jayne wrote:

turkob wrote:

MBK wrote:where can i buy Pliny the Elder? Binny's?

Sadly Russian River does not distribute out here. It's fairly easy to find in California though.

Same here.....It's so highly rated that I always look for it..Just in case

Russian River is distributed in Colorado, at least in the Denver area.

And those are great seats -It's front row or I don't go. Heres my wifes Blue Moon...I'm so embarrassed to order the mass produced garbage (she wants what she wants, theres no reasoning with her) that despite having a personal waiter at my seats I take the elevator down to level one and get it there...Thats a real piece of Orange in there BTW.

Some people just know how to live, Silas Jayne.

Khaopaat wrote:I just can't get into IPAs.

Well, looks like I'm eating those words now.

Apparently Three Floyds was doing a tasting at the Huron St. Whole Foods yesterday, so my wife did some sampling & brought home a bottle that she thought I might enjoy: the Blackheart English-style IPA. Man was that a delicious beer, especially once it was poured into a proper English-style pint glass:



I do believe this beer might have opened the door to a love affair with IPAs.

I love, love IPAs. Maybe too much so. I think my other beers are getting jealous. But, as I've learned in the last year or so (especially after getting Rogers Park's own Randy Mosher's book, Tasting Beer), a proper English-style pint glass isn't the best way to taste a beer - at least not critically. Get a big old honkin' red wine glass. Keeps the aromas in, gives you a good view of the color, and makes you look really cool sniffing and rolling the beer around in your glass, just like the ultimate wine snob.

Use a glass like that, and you'll either impress, amuse, or really piss off your friends. Doesn't matter. It's all good.

As you can see in the pic, my proper, English-style pint glass ain't all that proper

That is good advice about the glassware though, and definitely matches what I'm seeing more & more when ordering more flavorful beers at "better" places (meaning places where the staff know & appreciate beers). Perhaps a minor glassware purchase is in order....

The Blackheart is a good beer, and the milder English IPA's are a great gateway in to dabbling in the more assertive American versions. I'd say a tulip is going to be your best bet in a glass for IPA's and most beers as it does a better job of encouraging, accomadating and preserving a large head as opposed to wine glass, trappist or goblet, which will allow a big headed beer such as many belgians to expand and spread to a drinkable depth as well as allow the complex aromas to really materialize through the big wide opening.

I pretty much only drink my beers at home out of one or the other at this point, ocassionally breaking out my weizen glasses.

nr706 wrote:Get a big old honkin' red wine glass. Keeps the aromas in, gives you a good view of the color, and makes you look really cool sniffing and rolling the beer around in your glass, just like the ultimate wine snob.

Use a glass like that, and you'll either impress, amuse, or really piss off your friends.

To mitigate the embarrassment a little, I often use the stemless wine glasses (Riedel O) for beer.

KSeecs wrote:The Blackheart is a good beer, and the milder English IPA's are a great gateway in to dabbling in the more assertive American versions.

Another great, milder IPA is the Meantime IPA. It's English and comes in a 750mL bottle, available at Sam's/Binny's, maybe even Whole Foods and better beer retailers. It has a champagne-like effervescence, milder flavors, overall, though still recognizably bitter/hoppy. They use British hops which, as others have said, aren't quite the punch-in-the-face you get from American varities.

I've also seen their London Porter and a coffee stout (in a 330mL bottle). For a while, too, their Scotch Ale was on shelves, but I haven't it lately and it's not even listed on their website.

Meantime Brewing
http://www.meantimebrewing.com/

I Do It Daily wrote:

And those are great seats -It's front row or I don't go. Heres my wifes Blue Moon...I'm so embarrassed to order the mass produced garbage (she wants what she wants, theres no reasoning with her) that despite having a personal waiter at my seats I take the elevator down to level one and get it there...Thats a real piece of Orange in there BTW.

Some people just know how to live, Silas Jayne.

It's the most important life skill, and I can also relax better than anyone I know.

And what a great day today..The Cubs are winning, Tiger just tee'd off, I got a new X Box game, steaks are off the grill, peppers out of the oven, and the beer is ice cold.
http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee13 ... /038-2.jpg
http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee13 ... /054-1.jpg

nr706 wrote:I love, love IPAs. Maybe too much so.

Me too-I don't like sweets..I don't eat doughnuts, cakes or candy and I don't like my beer sweet either..The only malt dominated ale i'll drink is Rouges Dead Guy.

http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee13 ... /016-3.jpg

Lozo wrote:Ah for an ice cold PBR. In the can of course!

Sometimes I crave Miller Lite...Usually on the golf course..It's a crispy cold thirst quencher

And Stout apparently. Silas Jayne, for a master brewer and "connoisseur of the good life" you really don't seem to know what you're talking about! The only malt dominated beer you drink is Rogue Dead Guy, right after you post a picture of your Alaskan Stout? Are you a real person or a parody?

KSeecs wrote:And Stout apparently. Silas Jayne, for a master brewer and "connoisseur of the good life" you really don't seem to know what you're talking about! The only malt dominated beer you drink is Rogue Dead Guy, right after you post a picture of your Alaskan Stout? Are you a real person or a parody?

That was my kids beer..I never buy stouts..I drank it, but I did'nt care for it that much..My college kid has a homebrew stout that just came into maturity so I got him a mixed 6pak of Stouts for comparision...Believe it or not my boy said that Sam Adams Imperial stout waas the best..

I gave this one a 8.078 out of 10 guys...Refreshingly delightful

http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee13 ... s3/244.jpg

danimalarkey wrote:Half Acre's current seasonal Daisy Cutter continues to impress me. It reminds me a lot of FFF's Alpha King in that it's a hopped-up, well-balanced pale ale but it's overall a bit softer on the palette. It still has a healthy, strong floral aroma but finishes much tamer than Alpha King. Available at the usual beer bars around the city (and at Small Bar, for $4 on Sundays) and in 22oz. bombers.

Does anybody have suggestions for what stores might carry Daisy Cutter? Is it even available in stores?

I figure one of the great liquor stores in Chicago is bound to carry it...

KSeecs wrote:Are you a real person or a parody?

Stay thirsty, my friends.

I'm as real as they come...Probably too real.

DClose wrote:Does anybody have suggestions for what stores might carry Daisy Cutter? Is it even available in stores?

Doesn't address Daisy Cutter specifically, but have you tried this page on the Half Acre site?

I've had Daisy Cutter at the Hopleaf — it's a great big hoppy beer.

I called Binny's South Loop and they said that they DO carry it, but don't have any at this exact moment.

I was instructed to wait and call back on Tuesday, when I can speak to their beer specialist.

The trouble is that a ton of places carry the Ale and Lager (which is great they have already experienced such market penetration) but almost no one carries Daisy Cutter. Not all that surprising.

If Binny's South Loop is out, I would be hard pressed to find another place that has it in stock...hence my post!

I just made a few calls..They have it at a place near me

It takes a moment for thier homepage to load- be patient
http://www.tipsysliquorworld.com/

Silas Jayne wrote:I just made a few calls..They have it at a place near me

It takes a moment for thier homepage to load- be patient
http://www.tipsysliquorworld.com/

Are you sure? I didn't see it listed on the site you linked to, and I'm reasonably sure they don't have distribution outside of Illinois. Daisy Cutter has just barely gotten going here in the Chicago area.

They have lied to me once before, but if I ask, (it might take time) they'll get anything I want..Maybe someone asked, after all I do live in the craft brew capitol of the world..A lot of beer geeks around here..

GO CUBS

Were making a Chimay blue clone with our own fresh organic hops and Black Currants..

http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee13 ... s3/051.jpg
http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee13 ... s3/074.jpg

DClose wrote:I called Binny's South Loop and they said that they DO carry it, but don't have any at this exact moment.

I was instructed to wait and call back on Tuesday, when I can speak to their beer specialist.

The trouble is that a ton of places carry the Ale and Lager (which is great they have already experienced such market penetration) but almost no one carries Daisy Cutter. Not all that surprising.

If Binny's South Loop is out, I would be hard pressed to find another place that has it in stock...hence my post!

I would just suggest calling the brewery directly and asking if they're still producing it. I think it was just a summer seasonal (and you know summer is coming to and end when you start seeing Goose Island's Harvet Ale on the shelves... too soon, too soon!).