What local craft beer do you take for granted.

ruger988 said:

Have an info source on this? I'm in VA< we're getting quite a few big breweries these days (Stone, Deschutes, Ballast, etc...) but I haven't heard anything about CCB yet.

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A CCB brewery tour guide during a visit last Spring. He said that Virginia was being very welcoming to breweries (I assume he meant taxes).

RodrigoEick said:

I will be on Greenwich CT on Dec for a businness trip. It worth a trip to Two Roads Brewery?

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Absolutely! They have things in the tasting room that they don't bottle and sell. Of course, they have their standard lineup but the special stuff is worth the trip.

If you're coming from Greenwhich up to Stratford be prepared for traffic on 95. It can be AWFUL especially in December during the holidays.

Hello said:

Are you in Raleigh? Glass Jug gets it because the owners drive out to get it. Bottle Rev #1 also goes to get it. That's all I know.

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I'm in Apex! Shout out to Triangle homebrewers!

I live about a two miles from vodoo brewery and have never once been there. Not exactly a nationally renowned brewery but a lot of their stuff is great its just kind of an after thought for me for some reason

There are a bunch of places opening up locally. Out of the growler and few local tap type places some are really good (Beer'd Brewing) - some are terrible (Whaler's Brewing) and the rest are nothing special.

Out of the places with distribution, some are great - Grey Sail Brewing Company is the first one that comes to mind - they opened a few years back with a Flagship ale and a really great IPA (they call it Extra Pale Ale) - Flying Jenny. They started putting out a DIPA called the Captain's Daughter a little under a year ago and its taken on a bit of a Heady Topper-esque following locally (a co-worker's brother said its even that way up in NH). We can only get a 4 pack at a time in the local stores, sometimes you can't get growler fills at the brewery, etc.

Colorado is so rich in awesome beers, I apologize for such a long list. You forget when you can buy these at almost any liquor store how awesome they truly are.

O'Dell IPA, and Myrcenary. Great Divide Yeti (especially the barrel aged), and Hercules. SKA Modus Hoperandi. Dry Dock Double IPA and Apricot Blonde. There are certainly many other fantastic CO beers, but these are the ones I consider "common" yet are absolutely fantastic.

FatDragon said:

That's what I say every time, but my in-laws (immediate and extended) and most of our friends insist on swilling baijiu pretty much every time we eat together.

I abhor the stuff and the way it's drunk. It smells awful and tastes worse, and whether you're sip-toasting or shooting it, imbibing baijiu is all about getting it down as fast as you can so you don't have to taste it, and then doing it again and again until someone's under the table. I was never into taking shots either, so maybe that colors my opinion. To me, good liquor should be sipped, mediocre liquor should be mixed, and bad liquor should be given to in-laws you don't like.

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Yeah, that's how Koreans hit soju (especially older men), just takes a bit longer and shot glasses are bit bigger because it's weaker.

That said, if you sip baiju reaaaaaaaaally slow it's not that bad. At least it has a flavor that's not just saccharine and nail polish like soju, not a particularly good flavor but the anise stuff is at least a change of pace.

But yeah, hitting it soju-style would be an absolute nightmare.

Bosh said:

Yeah, that's how Koreans hit soju (especially older men), just takes a bit longer and shot glasses are bit bigger because it's weaker.

That said, if you sip baiju reaaaaaaaaally slow it's not that bad. At least it has a flavor that's not just saccharine and nail polish like soju, not a particularly good flavor but the anise stuff is at least a change of pace.

But yeah, hitting it soju-style would be an absolute nightmare.

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Anise baijiu? That could be a big step up from the typical stuff for sure. My father-in-law keeps a ~8-10L demijohn of locally-distilled high-proof baijiu eternally soaking on goji berries (and a couple assorted Chinese traditional medicine ingredients) up to the neck and it goes down alright. It's still a nightmare to drink with a bunch of men because everyone ends up downing 8+ ounces of 120-proof, but at least it's not offensive on the intake.

If I ever get another "gift" of a huge jug of baijiu (last time it was 4.5 liters of 150-proof from Guizhou that ended up finding its way on FIL's goji berries) I might toss in a bunch of star anise and maybe other spices and see if it ends up drinkable in the end. Star anise, cassia bark (like cinnamon but milder), cloves, and orange peel would cost next to nothing and maybe even end up tasting enough like mulled cider or wine to be a little bit enjoyable.

Who am I kidding? Baijiu is the devil in liquid form. Still, when I saw a huge pile of spent grain outside a small distillery/bottle-filling shop at a local farmer's market two days ago, I went in three times looking for someone who worked there to see what grain they were using, wondering if I could score some and see how it turned out in a beer. The things we homebrewers willingly do to ourselves...

wallybangbang said:

Oh and I totally take Sierra Nevada for granted living in Northern Cali.

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We all take SNPA for granted. Since it's in Walmart next to Coors Lite, it's easy to forget what a great brew it is. Sometimes I'll go months without having one. Then when I get it in a mix pack I wonder why I waited.

Alaskan, Sierra Nevada, Sam Adams, and Deschutes are all the "every store, every day" craft beers around here

Cyclman said:

Colorado is so rich in awesome beers, I apologize for such a long list. You forget when you can buy these at almost any liquor store how awesome they truly are.

O'Dell IPA, and Myrcenary. Great Divide Yeti (especially the barrel aged), and Hercules. SKA Modus Hoperandi. Dry Dock Double IPA and Apricot Blonde. There are certainly many other fantastic CO beers, but these are the ones I consider "common" yet are absolutely fantastic.

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I'll add Crooked Stave and Avery. Not common at most bars, but I don't think I've been in a liquor store that doesn't carry their stuff anymore.

Also, an honorable mention to Breckenridge Brewery.

There aren't many big-name craft breweries around my area (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada). Even some of the big ones, I'm guessing you guys have never heard of in the USA. Muskoka? Amsterdam? Flying Monkeys? Beau's? If I had to pick one that actually does have some name-recognition, and is a world-class beer that I take for granted, it would probably be Dieu du Ciel's Péché Mortel. It's an "Imperial Coffee Stout" and is rated a perfect 100 on both RateBeer and BeerAdvocate. I hardly ever drink it, and I even like stouts.

East Coast has taken off in the last ten years and really in the last 5. There is so many great beers that people wait in lines for and consider the "holy grail" of beer finds if they can get it shipped to them.

I am over Heady Topper, great beer. Even when I'm up around there, I really just want to find something new I haven't had. Do I drink it, sure. Usually as a gift, at shares, etc. My brother got me 6 heady toppers last Christmas, I think I gave away 4 and drank 2 at lunch. Fantastic, but I'm just used to amazing beers everywhere now.

Same with Trillium. I've had so much of the stuff and its really amazing. Nearly every beer. But unless I'm in the seaport district and park close to the brewery, I don't really seek it out. Definitely not waiting in long lines IMO, but nothing is worth waiting in lines as far as I'm concerned. Last time I was there, there were like 5 people in line (that is really short for this brewery) and it took about 2-3 minutes of waiting to get to go inside. I almost left.

Odell IPA for sure, and it's not as widely appreciated but New Belgium's Ranger IPA. Both of these introduced me to my love of IPAs at an early age. For a while I kind of wrote off Ranger as being subpar, but I recently had some and found that it is quite under-appreciated. Odell IPA, as fantastic as it is, just kind of bores me now, to be honest.

Black Butte Porter, from Deschutes
Irish Death, from Iron Horse
9lb Hammer, from Georgetown

Wow, sad to say that I am starting to take Toppling Goliath for granted. Especially now with the cans from Florida.. It's still great beer but I liked it better when it varied from batch to batch, was cloudy (the Florida stuff is perfectly made and is mostly clear) and looked like it was hand capped with LD Carlson caps. But then again I am glad we are sharing it with the rest of you.

I would have to say either Keegan Ales in Kingston, NY, or Other Half from NYC. They both make amazing beers but because it is so accessible to me I find myself not drinking them as much.

Fulton's Sweet Child of Vine. It's distributed everywhere around here. They even featured it on an end cap at Total Wine a few months back. It's a decent IPA, but nothing special. I often see it offered on tap in restaurants and bars, along with Surly Furious, as the token local craft brews.

QuadConPana said:

I live in SW Florida, and one of my favorite IPA's (if not favorite beers in general) is Cigar City Jai Alai. It's one of only 13 IPA's rated 100 by the "Bros" on BA.



Their distribution footprint is pretty small, so in most of the country it's difficult or impossible to find, and pretty sought after. Here, though, it's in Walmart, Publix, 7-11, and restaurants that think Heineken is a premium beer.



So, I find that I rarely drink it unless there's really nothing else good available. When I'm in a place that has no other decent beer, I find myself thinking, "Oh well, I guess a Jai Alai will do."



So my question is, do people in Santa Rosa, CA say, "Oh well, I guess a Pliny will have to do."? Do people in Indiana feel like, "Just give me a Zombie Dust."?

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For me it's a tie between Good People IPA and Back Forty Freckle Belly.