Tonight's samples....

1. Victory Ten Years Alt--I've never had an "Alt" before, so I was expecting a malty, German type beer with low hops. I was pleasantly surprised by this one because it was loaded with hops. I'd bet too much for the style cause I've drank APAs with less hop bitterness and flavor than this one. All in all a 6/10. Pretty good, not great.

2. Avery IPA--Peachy, flowery hop nose. Very nice orange color. Best color I've seen in an IPA yet. Smooth bitterness, not overpowering, very nice beer. Not over the top by any means. 7/10.

getting ready to crack open the Sierra Nevada IPA, then the Titan IPA.

I'll post part deux in a bit....

Sierra Nevada IPA: Very disappointing, considering. Apparently it is supposed to be closer to an English style than an American style. Okay, I can live with that. Accurate to a degree. It has little to no hop aroma. Taste is smooth but no strong "IPA typical" hop bite whatsoever, in fact the Victory Alt I had earlier was hoppier. This is just a laid back representation of an IPA, for sure. Celebration Ale is much better, and although I could definitely drink this often, it just didn't live up to expectations. 6/10.

avery IPA is definitely one of my favorites. its wierd about how american breweries will hop up the alts. one around here did one with like 46 IBUs. it was good but too hoppy for how an alt should taste.

thats funny i just picked up an 'avery ipa' tonite...havent tried it yet, gotta wait till it chills.

i like alts (the few ive tried), theyre like a paradox: very bitter yet little hop aroma.
i havent tried 'victory's' yet but will soon as i can get 'em.

ive heard nothing but bad things about the sierra 'IPA', when i first heard of it i thought ,"isnt the 'celebration' an IPA?" I lOVE the celebration.

Sampled two of my recent Hefe Weizens tonight.

Ahhh, tastes like Heaven!! No complaints. Very enjoyable.

had my avery ipa last night...damn that was a good beer! Similar aroma to dfh ipa's, i think simcoe? they have that cat-urine smell i like soo much...very good beer, not too strong, nice color, good amount of round bitterness.

id rate it a 7.5 out of 10.

Yeah, the Avery is good stuff. I'm going to buy more of that, definitely.

I never made it to the Titan IPA last night. Tonight I guess. I have high hopes for this one, for some reason. We'll see.

Bjorn Borg said:

they have that cat-urine smell i like soo much...

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Are you really serious about this...IPA's smell like cat-urine to you, and you like it?

Personally, I can't imagine even tasting anything that smelled like cat pi$$.

I agree about the SNIPA, I like the SNPA much better. I tried a can of Boddington's Pub Ale. It had a widget in it much like a can of Guiness. I cracked it open and the can exploded all over. Thankfully I was brewing and had a towell on the floor to drip the beer onto! Anyway, someone mentioned cat piss? This stuff was bad. So bad I took 2 sips and dumped the reset.
I also tried Bison IPA. This is an organic brewery out in Colorado. Good stuff!

The hunt for Dogfish Head 120 IPA continues.....

El Pistolero said:

Are you really serious about this...IPA's smell like cat-urine to you, and you like it?

Personally, I can't imagine even tasting anything that smelled like cat pi$$.

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i dont know how else to describe the hops dog fish head uses, they are musky, cheese like, pungent, maybe cat pee is not the right expression...they are different thats fo' sure! good though....

p.s. ive been looking for the 120 also, i figure here in VA we'll get 'em pretty quick. At 'total wine' they have a spot for them, but its just an empty shelve, i asked the oh-so-helpfull-clerk if they had it and she said, "whatever is on the shelve is what we have". (duh!)...Have you tried the 'raisen d'etre'?

I believe DFH uses Warrior hops. I just oredered a pound. :rockin:


I liked the Boddingtons' pub ale when I had it. Good session beer. A little boring, but not skunked or nasty.

Bjorn Borg said:

i dont know how else to describe the hops dog fish head uses, they are musky, cheese like, pungent, maybe cat pee is not the right expression...they are different thats fo' sure! good though....

p.s. ive been looking for the 120 also, i figure here in VA we'll get 'em pretty quick. At 'total wine' they have a spot for them, but its just an empty shelve, i asked the oh-so-helpfull-clerk if they had it and she said, "whatever is on the shelve is what we have". (duh!)...Have you tried the 'raisen d'etre'?

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I think the people at the Total Wine here in Richmond are a bit more with it than those at your Total Wine. The guy I asked checked his computer, said it had been ordered but they haven't received any yet.
I liked the Raisen D'Etre, it was different but in a good way. I haven't had the Raisen D'Extra yet.

The first Raison d 'etre I had was great. It was a funky sour taste that really hit the spot. The second (and the way I think it should be) was sweet, thick and not so good.

HurricaneFloyd said:

I think the people at the Total Wine here in Richmond are a bit more with it than those at your Total Wine. The guy I asked checked his computer, said it had been ordered but they haven't received any yet.
I liked the Raisen D'Etre, it was different but in a good way. I haven't had the Raisen D'Extra yet.

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I was about to ask her about the 'golden shower' but thought otherwise...

while i was there some dudes were returning a keg, and i overheard her talk about the 25 dollar deposit, and she said thats all the suppliers charge them for a keg. I always heard people talk about how its immoral to get a keg by simply not returning it, and forego the 25 bucks, cuz they are worth like 90 dollars to the store. but she said that they only pay 25 bucks for a keg. That cant be right can it?

Dude said:

I believe DFH uses Warrior hops. I just oredered a pound. :rockin:

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Nothing but Warrior for the full 60, 90, or 120 minutes?

El Pistolero said:

Nothing but Warrior for the full 60, 90, or 120 minutes?

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No I think they use a blend of a few different ones, but Warrior are prominent in the IPAs.

Finally got around to the Titan IPA. Pretty good. Close to Sierra Nevada Pale Ale in flavor, typical IPA. Didn't blow me away. the wineer of the battle was definitely Avery. I need to get more of that.

I was doing beer maintenance tonight and was searching the beer closet for inventory of bottled brews, and I found a bottle of HOP ROD RYE!!!! I'm saving that baby for the next brew day. Hopefully that will be tomorrow if all goes right. I am supposed to work but the shift is prolly gonna get changed to Tuesday. So, in preparation for a brew day soon, I made a starter tonight. I also placed an order for the next batch, so it is here when it comes time to rack the Pub Ale over, and I'm pitching on the cake.

I'm brewing a treat cloner of a beer that my buddy loves. He is coming back from the desert in early June so it should be just about ready for him when he gets back. Anyone ever had Old Leghumper? It is a GREAT porter.

Bjorn Borg said:

I was about to ask her about the 'golden shower' but thought otherwise...

while i was there some dudes were returning a keg, and i overheard her talk about the 25 dollar deposit, and she said thats all the suppliers charge them for a keg. I always heard people talk about how its immoral to get a keg by simply not returning it, and forego the 25 bucks, cuz they are worth like 90 dollars to the store. but she said that they only pay 25 bucks for a keg. That cant be right can it?

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I'm not sure about VA but in PA a keg cost the distributers 10 bucks. Deposits are 10 bucks. I live next to a owner of distributer and needless to say I have an endless supply of kegs at my disposal at 10 bucks a pop! If ya know anyone in PA tell them to get you some kegs for 10 bucks. Now back to your regularly scheduled thread. Sorry.
Pitt

pitt100 said:

I'm not sure about VA but in PA a keg cost the distributers 10 bucks. Deposits are 10 bucks. I live next to a owner of distributer and needless to say I have an endless supply of kegs at my disposal at 10 bucks a pop! If ya know anyone in PA tell them to get you some kegs for 10 bucks. Now back to your regularly scheduled thread. Sorry.
Pitt

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If you don't care about the condition of the keg you could go that route. I've certainly thought about it but I don't have the means to cut it.

Then there's the whole morality issue. (just don't tell BrewPastor!) :cross: