Drinking Thread: Beer, Whiskey, Rum, Vodka, Wine - Raise a Glass, All Are Welcome!

[dxmnkd316]

Re: Drinking Thread: Beer, Whiskey, Rum, Vodka, Wine - Raise a Glass, All Are Welcome

Visited 45th Parallel distillery in New Richmond WI today for a tour with MNS, dx, and bbdl. Their vodka is available around here, I guess. It was quite tasty. They also make bourbon, rye whiskey, aquavit, limoncello, and gin (only available there). I tried all those except the gin, and wasn't disappointed at all. Bought a bottle of the bourbon and a couple small whiskey glasses.

Then, on the way home, we decided to stop by the Lift Bridge tap room and have a beer. Had their Silhouette barrel-aged beer. Holy hannah was that outstanding. They also had it in regular version and nitro version. Ended up buying a couple (badly needed) tulip glasses there, too.

Definitely recommend both places.

Like I said on GPL:

I was disappointed when I got home and found out the glasses I bought were the small ones and not the larger versions they had on the shelf.

[jmh]

Re: Drinking Thread: Beer, Whiskey, Rum, Vodka, Wine - Raise a Glass, All Are Welcome

Yuengling during the Super Bowl yesterday. Meh, good enough.

Hot spiced wine with dinner on Saturday. Mmmmmm.

[Rimbaud]

Re: Drinking Thread: Beer, Whiskey, Rum, Vodka, Wine - Raise a Glass, All Are Welcome

Tasted a test batch of homebrew yesterday, super simple 2-row base malt with some honey added during the boil, minimal hops (maybe 25IBUs tops, can't remember off the top of my head). Super easy drinking, nice a dry thanks to my sourdough yeast being beasts at attenuation with a nice backdrop of honey flavor.

Have 5 gallons of saison hanging out too (2-row base malt, acidulated malt for a touch of sourness, and honey malt to get honey notes without adding honey, low hops and used my sourdough yeast again), tasted the uncarbonated version of it after racking to secondary to settle for another 2 weeks before bottling. Another good one once it gets a few more months of conditioning to it, just a hint of sour upfront, good body and malt in the middle, then finishes with subtle bubblebum-ish flavor.

I have a Flanders Red and Sour Cherry Porter on deck for brewing the next two weekends, the Flanders won't be ready until Christmas time (excited to see what happens with that, still finalizing my recipe, but I'm 95% sure I have it the way I want it). I've made a 1 gallon test batch of the porter before and I absolutely love it. Can't wait to have 5 gallons of it since I only have 2 bottles left.

[WisconsinWildcard]

Re: Drinking Thread: Beer, Whiskey, Rum, Vodka, Wine - Raise a Glass, All Are Welcome

Tasted a test batch of homebrew yesterday, super simple 2-row base malt with some honey added during the boil, minimal hops (maybe 25IBUs tops, can't remember off the top of my head). Super easy drinking, nice a dry thanks to my sourdough yeast being beasts at attenuation with a nice backdrop of honey flavor.

Have 5 gallons of saison hanging out too (2-row base malt, acidulated malt for a touch of sourness, and honey malt to get honey notes without adding honey, low hops and used my sourdough yeast again), tasted the uncarbonated version of it after racking to secondary to settle for another 2 weeks before bottling. Another good one once it gets a few more months of conditioning to it, just a hint of sour upfront, good body and malt in the middle, then finishes with subtle bubblebum-ish flavor.

I have a Flanders Red and Sour Cherry Porter on deck for brewing the next two weekends, the Flanders won't be ready until Christmas time (excited to see what happens with that, still finalizing my recipe, but I'm 95% sure I have it the way I want it). I've made a 1 gallon test batch of the porter before and I absolutely love it. Can't wait to have 5 gallons of it since I only have 2 bottles left.

Good luck with the Flanders Red! I have two batches that are 4-5 months in on a planned 18 month age, depending on the development of the flavor. I just bottled an imperial pumpkin that is around 12% that I brewed in September using a modified version of a recipe in Zymurgy. The sample I had was quite boozy, so it may take 6 or so months in the bottle before it smooths out.

How do you like using sourdough yeast? Is it your own strain that you have been propagating or do you start over each batch?

[Rimbaud]

Re: Drinking Thread: Beer, Whiskey, Rum, Vodka, Wine - Raise a Glass, All Are Welcome

Good luck with the Flanders Red! I have two batches that are 4-5 months in on a planned 18 month age, depending on the development of the flavor. I just bottled an imperial pumpkin that is around 12% that I brewed in September using a modified version of a recipe in Zymurgy. The sample I had was quite boozy, so it may take 6 or so months in the bottle before it smooths out.

How do you like using sourdough yeast? Is it your own strain that you have been propagating or do you start over each batch?

I hope my Flanders won't have to go that long, will be doing 1/2 my yeast and half commercial sour mix, we'll see what happens.

My sourdough is a wild culture I started from my backyard over a year ago. I mostly keep it in the fridge, but feed it every two weeks or so (1/3 starter, 1/3 flour, 1/3 water) if I'm not baking with it and let it sit out 24hrs before putting it back in the fridge. When I'm going to brew with it, I feed it fresh, let it sit out 24 hours, then use a step up starter with light DME at 1.040 OG. First I put 1 tbls into ~150-200mls, let that stir for 24 hours (for 1 gallon test batches this is all I use), then step up to 1000ml-1500ml for another 24-48 hours before pitching into 5 gallon batches. It makes really good beer.

[bigblue_dl]

Re: Drinking Thread: Beer, Whiskey, Rum, Vodka, Wine - Raise a Glass, All Are Welcome

Having a bomber of Deschutes/Great Lakes Collaboration Class of '88 Imperial Smoked Porter. This is a great beer. Layers of flavor and just enough smoke. Other than beers I've had at Hammerheart, this is the best smoked beer I've tasted. Highly recommended.

My fiance brought that home, and also a bottle of Trappiste Rochefort 10, and Petrus Aged Red. Both of those were excellent too, especially the Petrus, which had a nice cherry flavor, that wasn't overpowering. Also highly recommended.

[The Rube]

Re: Drinking Thread: Beer, Whiskey, Rum, Vodka, Wine - Raise a Glass, All Are Welcome

Having a bomber of Deschutes/Great Lakes Collaboration Class of '88 Imperial Smoked Porter. This is a great beer. Layers of flavor and just enough smoke. Other than beers I've had at Hammerheart, this is the best smoked beer I've tasted. Highly recommended.

My fiance brought that home, and also a bottle of Trappiste Rochefort 10, and Petrus Aged Red. Both of those were excellent too, especially the Petrus, which had a nice cherry flavor, that wasn't overpowering. Also highly recommended.

The Trappist one is good.

Picked up a 4-pack of Oskar Blues Ten Fidy (just hit this market in the past week or so). Pricey (about $15 for 12 oz cans). It's good, but for that price point, there are better beers out there. They also make the Old Chub scotch ale, which I really like (it is cheaper than the Ten Fidy, btw).

[FadeToBlack&Gold]

Re: Drinking Thread: Beer, Whiskey, Rum, Vodka, Wine - Raise a Glass, All Are Welcome

I typically dislike smoked beers - if I wanted my beer to taste like ham, I would just eat a ham steak. However, I might look for that one.

[The Rube]

Re: Drinking Thread: Beer, Whiskey, Rum, Vodka, Wine - Raise a Glass, All Are Welcome

I typically dislike smoked beers - if I wanted my beer to taste like ham, I would just eat a ham steak. However, I might look for that one.

The one smoke beer that I tried (Schells) I hated. However, boiling my brats in it was tasty. So you can salvage a use out of a smoked beer that you don't like.

[FadeToBlack&Gold]

Re: Drinking Thread: Beer, Whiskey, Rum, Vodka, Wine - Raise a Glass, All Are Welcome

The one smoke beer that I tried (Schells) I hated. However, boiling my brats in it was tasty. So you can salvage a use out of a smoked beer that you don't like.

I would hope that I would not have to use a collaborative, limited release brew that will probably cost me $10+ bomber, for farking beer brats.

[The Rube]

Re: Drinking Thread: Beer, Whiskey, Rum, Vodka, Wine - Raise a Glass, All Are Welcome

I would hope that I would not have to use a collaborative, limited release brew that will probably cost me $10+ bomber, for farking beer brats.

That was my thought. Unfortunately, that was the only use for it, IMO.

Haven't had the '88, mixed reviews, but I am cautious on it.

[bigblue_dl]

Re: Drinking Thread: Beer, Whiskey, Rum, Vodka, Wine - Raise a Glass, All Are Welcome

I would hope that I would not have to use a collaborative, limited release brew that will probably cost me $10+ bomber, for farking beer brats.

Actually, I believe that bomber was quite cheap. I think it was $6.99 at the local beer store, so if you don't like it, you're not out much money.

And Brent, you've had more smoked beers than that, the barrel aged Hammerheart Irish Red was a smoked beer. They called it "peated" because it was peat smoke.

[The Rube]

Re: Drinking Thread: Beer, Whiskey, Rum, Vodka, Wine - Raise a Glass, All Are Welcome

Actually, I believe that bomber was quite cheap. I think it was $6.99 at the local beer store, so if you don't like it, you're not out much money.

And Brent, you've had more smoked beers than that, the barrel aged Hammerheart Irish Red was a smoked beer. They called it "peated" because it was peat smoke.

Ah, I should have clarified: rauchbier. Where it's only smoked, not with anything else going on.

[bigblue_dl]

Re: Drinking Thread: Beer, Whiskey, Rum, Vodka, Wine - Raise a Glass, All Are Welcome

Ah, I should have clarified: rauchbier. Where it's only smoked, not with anything else going on.

This one isn't far off from the Hammerheart, with the layers of flavors it has going on.

[jmh]

Re: Drinking Thread: Beer, Whiskey, Rum, Vodka, Wine - Raise a Glass, All Are Welcome

The Trappist one is good.

Picked up a 4-pack of Oskar Blues Ten Fidy (just hit this market in the past week or so). Pricey (about $15 for 12 oz cans). It's good, but for that price point, there are better beers out there. They also make the Old Chub scotch ale, which I really like (it is cheaper than the Ten Fidy, btw).

I haven't had the Ten Fidy but the Old Chub is pretty good.