Pittsburgh

[docreight1]

Shame because that was the best thing they had. Never thought their regular menu was all that good.

They used to have a southwest pizza with some sort of chipotle sauce that was awesome. Pair that with the deep fried risotto balls they used to have and it made the experience worthwhile. But, they got rid of both the risotto balls and the pizzas. Supposedly there was a unruly fire that killed the pizza oven. Last time we were there they said don't worry the pizza oven is only temporarily out of commission.
That was prob two years ago.

I have no reason to go back.

 

[McMatt7]

I was just cruising the trade forums for chicks and i saw this mead called Banana Fosters Forever and it got me thinking, where is the best place to get banana fosters in Pittsburgh?

On the pierogie pizza subject, Michael's in the Southside has by far the best pierogie pizza ive had.

I concur.

 

[shuggy1]

 

[tommyguz]

Gocean sounds truly horrifying. Someone needs to scoop one and send it to dontdrinkbeer

nhindian

Nah he'll find it on the shelves in CA. Thanks Shelton!

 

[tommyguz]

PSUMike the gimmick lord had me lol'ing

 

[london1o11]

Nah he'll find it on the shelves in CA. Thanks Shelton!

Look what I found in Vegas.

 

[nhindian1]

Look what I found in Vegas.

Not much longer until that gets buried in the desert ala E.T. for Atari.

 

[shuggy1]

Look what I found in Vegas.

Could've been worse. You could've found an STD. Then again, the act of contracting the STD would've been infinitely more enjoyable than Haviken so this is likely a push. Not everything that happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. Don't bring either back with you.

 

[greg4579]

This topic hits close to home so I am doing a Pittsburgh box for this: https://www.talkbeer.com/community/threads/lif-funds-for-ivf.39063/

If anyone wants to add anything let me know.

 

[kbuzz1]

Nimble giant this year...

 

[chefduff2]

Nimble giant this year...

Really? I could hardly get through a can last year.

 

[ur boy catlicks]

I was just cruising the trade forums for chicks and i saw this mead called Banana Fosters Forever and it got me thinking, where is the best place to get banana fosters in Pittsburgh?

as a self-proclaimed bananas foster expert, the best i've ever had in my life is at Eddie Merlot's in downtown pgh

 

[preluderl]

Happy Father's Day to all you ninjas with kids out in the world. Tip one, or many back today and treat yo' self.

 

[PSUMike]

Blind stone fruit sour share we did last night. shuggy, nhindian, dadavat

Due to the number, we broke them up into three groups of 5 as they are pictured. dadavat and nhindian brought a few of the list but shuggy brought the bulk. I had no idea on any of what we were drinking. Needless to say, there were some major surprises.

The bad:
Wicked Weed Garcon de Ferme was the worst beer I've had in a good 3 years.
2015 Fou Foune was barely drinkable.
Both Rare Barrel beers were pretty subpar, especially based on the quality I'm used to coming from them. I generally think pretty highly of them but these weren't good.

The good:
dadavat's homebrew was my personal favorite of the night. That's not stroking his ego. It was the 6th I tried of the entire bunch after my next 2 favorites and I said on the spot that it was the best of the lot so far before I even knew what it was.
Weldwerks Peach Climacteric was delicious and my #2
Veritas 19 was my #3 overall

Quoting from memory, here is my order based on groups:

Group 1
Weldwerks Peach Climacteric
LA Veritas 19
FF 2016
Jester King Aurelian Lure
FF 2015

Group 2
Steve's homebrew
Bruery Terreux Room for More
Casey The Cut: Apricot
Casey Family Preserves: Apricot
Wicked Weed Garcon du Ferme

Group 3
Draai Laag Grand Blu (this shocked me...it wasn't bad at all but this was the weakest group. 2 was the strongest with 4 solid beers)
Wicked Weed Marina
Captain Lawrence Harvest Sour Apricot
RB Map of the Sun
RB Map of the Moon

The beauty of the blind share is it removes any preconceptions you may have and makes you look at each beer on it's own merits without any hype. The results are always surprising but this was probably the most surprising of all the blind shares we've done.

 

[OneDropSoup]

Happy Father's Day to all you ninjas with kids out in the world. Tip one, or many back today and treat yo' self.

And to you, bruv.

One of the day's highlights so far has been wishing troygreer a happy first Vaterstag.

 

[preluderl]

And to you, bruv.

One of the day's highlights so far has been wishing troygreer a happy first Vaterstag.

Tell that dude to come out. We need some fresh blood.

 

[dadavat]

Blind stone fruit sour share we did last night. shuggy, nhindian, dadavat

Due to the number, we broke them up into three groups of 5 as they are pictured. dadavat and nhindian brought a few of the list but shuggy brought the bulk. I had no idea on any of what we were drinking. Needless to say, there were some major surprises.

The bad:
Wicked Weed Garcon de Ferme was the worst beer I've had in a good 3 years.
2015 Fou Foune was barely drinkable.
Both Rare Barrel beers were pretty subpar, especially based on the quality I'm used to coming from them. I generally think pretty highly of them but these weren't good.

The good:
dadavat's homebrew was my personal favorite of the night. That's not stroking his ego. It was the 6th I tried of the entire bunch after my next 2 favorites and I said on the spot that it was the best of the lot so far before I even knew what it was.
Weldwerks Peach Climacteric was delicious and my #2
Veritas 19 was my #3 overall

Quoting from memory, here is my order based on groups:

Group 1
Weldwerks Peach Climacteric
LA Veritas 19
FF 2016
Jester King Aurelian Lure
FF 2015

Group 2
Steve's homebrew
Bruery Terreux Room for More
Casey The Cut: Apricot
Casey Family Preserves: Apricot
Wicked Weed Garcon du Ferme

Group 3
Draai Laag Grand Blu (this shocked me...it wasn't bad at all but this was the weakest group. 2 was the strongest with 4 solid beers)
Wicked Weed Marina
Captain Lawrence Harvest Sour Apricot
RB Map of the Sun
RB Map of the Moon

The beauty of the blind share is it removes any preconceptions you may have and makes you look at each beer on it's own merits without any hype. The results are always surprising but this was probably the most surprising of all the blind shares we've done.

Stroke away. Ft: Homebrew iso: RARwalez.gov

 

[kbuzz1]

Really? I could hardly get through a can last year.

I thought last year's was pretty average. This year seems better to me...but that's a phenomenal that I can't even begin to explain.

Happy Father's Day gang...

 

[shuggy1]

Blind stone fruit sour share we did last night. shuggy, nhindian, dadavat

Due to the number, we broke them up into three groups of 5 as they are pictured. dadavat and nhindian brought a few of the list but shuggy brought the bulk. I had no idea on any of what we were drinking. Needless to say, there were some major surprises.

The bad:
Wicked Weed Garcon de Ferme was the worst beer I've had in a good 3 years.
2015 Fou Foune was barely drinkable.
Both Rare Barrel beers were pretty subpar, especially based on the quality I'm used to coming from them. I generally think pretty highly of them but these weren't good.

The good:
dadavat's homebrew was my personal favorite of the night. That's not stroking his ego. It was the 6th I tried of the entire bunch after my next 2 favorites and I said on the spot that it was the best of the lot so far before I even knew what it was.
Weldwerks Peach Climacteric was delicious and my #2
Veritas 19 was my #3 overall

Quoting from memory, here is my order based on groups:

Group 1
Weldwerks Peach Climacteric
LA Veritas 19
FF 2016
Jester King Aurelian Lure
FF 2015

Group 2
Steve's homebrew
Bruery Terreux Room for More
Casey The Cut: Apricot
Casey Family Preserves: Apricot
Wicked Weed Garcon du Ferme

Group 3
Draai Laag Grand Blu (this shocked me...it wasn't bad at all but this was the weakest group. 2 was the strongest with 4 solid beers)
Wicked Weed Marina
Captain Lawrence Harvest Sour Apricot
RB Map of the Sun
RB Map of the Moon

The beauty of the blind share is it removes any preconceptions you may have and makes you look at each beer on it's own merits without any hype. The results are always surprising but this was probably the most surprising of all the blind shares we've done.

Great time as always with PSUMike nhindian dadavat

Definitely some surprises with Fou and Rare Barrel doing poorly. Biggest surprise was the worst beer of the night(possibly ever) being the WW Garcon and not the DL Grand Blu(which was very tasty). Least surprising was Steve's apricot sour showing so well. That was at least the 4th time I've had it and it's always been stellar. Do not pass on the opportunity to try any of his beers.

Top 3
Weldwerks Peach Climacteric
Steve's homebrew
Lost Abbey Veritas 018

Group 1
Peach Climacteric
Veritas 018
'16 Fou
'15 Fou
Aurelian Lure

Group 2
Steve's homebrew
The Cut: Apricot
Family Preserves: Apricot
Room for More
Garcon de Ferme

Group 3
Grand Blu
Harvest Sour Apricot
Marina
Map of the Moon
Map of the Sun

 

[kbuzz1]

In laws arrived 4 hrs ago with a fresh case of head hunter per instruction from my wife.

I'm the luckiest dad in the world today.
















Already down to 18

 

[epicureIO]

Great time as always with PSUMike nhindian dadavat

Definitely some surprises with Fou and Rare Barrel doing poorly. Biggest surprise was the worst beer of the night(possibly ever) being the WW Garcon and not the DL Grand Blu(which was very tasty). Least surprising was Steve's apricot sour showing so well. That was at least the 4th time I've had it and it's always been stellar. Do not pass on the opportunity to try any of his beers.

Top 3
Weldwerks Peach Climacteric
Steve's homebrew
Lost Abbey Veritas 018

Group 1
Peach Climacteric
Veritas 018
'16 Fou
'15 Fou
Aurelian Lure

Group 2
Steve's homebrew
The Cut: Apricot
Family Preserves: Apricot
Room for More
Garcon de Ferme

Group 3
Grand Blu
Harvest Sour Apricot
Marina
Map of the Moon
Map of the Sun

I've had some of that homebrew but not apricot. I agree, it was excellent. If I bring some bacon can I come to the next one?

 

[tommyguz]

Blind stone fruit sour share we did last night. shuggy, nhindian, dadavat

Due to the number, we broke them up into three groups of 5 as they are pictured. dadavat and nhindian brought a few of the list but shuggy brought the bulk. I had no idea on any of what we were drinking. Needless to say, there were some major surprises.

The bad:
Wicked Weed Garcon de Ferme was the worst beer I've had in a good 3 years.
2015 Fou Foune was barely drinkable.
Both Rare Barrel beers were pretty subpar, especially based on the quality I'm used to coming from them. I generally think pretty highly of them but these weren't good.

The good:
dadavat's homebrew was my personal favorite of the night. That's not stroking his ego. It was the 6th I tried of the entire bunch after my next 2 favorites and I said on the spot that it was the best of the lot so far before I even knew what it was.
Weldwerks Peach Climacteric was delicious and my #2
Veritas 19 was my #3 overall

Quoting from memory, here is my order based on groups:

Group 1
Weldwerks Peach Climacteric
LA Veritas 19
FF 2016
Jester King Aurelian Lure
FF 2015

Group 2
Steve's homebrew
Bruery Terreux Room for More
Casey The Cut: Apricot
Casey Family Preserves: Apricot
Wicked Weed Garcon du Ferme

Group 3
Draai Laag Grand Blu (this shocked me...it wasn't bad at all but this was the weakest group. 2 was the strongest with 4 solid beers)
Wicked Weed Marina
Captain Lawrence Harvest Sour Apricot
RB Map of the Sun
RB Map of the Moon

The beauty of the blind share is it removes any preconceptions you may have and makes you look at each beer on it's own merits without any hype. The results are always surprising but this was probably the most surprising of all the blind shares we've done.

Just covering yourself for saying you hate wicked weed pre in Bev buy out. I like it.

Looks like a good time and surprising to see some results!

 

[dadavat]

Just covering yourself for saying you hate wicked weed pre in Bev buy out. I like it.

Looks like a good time and surprising to see some results!

The other wicked weed was a fine beer, but that Garcon was straight up horrendous

 

[PSUMike]

I said it smelled like burning tires. Other descriptors used were garbage, feet, and "actual ****."

 

[OneDropSoup]

The beauty of the blind share is it removes any preconceptions you may have and makes you look at each beer on it's own merits without any hype. The results are always surprising but this was probably the most surprising of all the blind shares we've done.

I guess this would also apply to anti-hype, in the case of the DL. Do you think this changed anyone's opinion of them, or was it just attributed to being a high point in their overall ebb & flow?

I also really liked Grand Blu - I don't have their stuff that often, but it's been a while since I had something from them that really turned me off.

 

[preluderl]

I guess this would also apply to anti-hype, in the case of the DL. Do you think this changed anyone's opinion of them, or was it just attributed to being a high point in their overall ebb & flow?

I also really liked Grand Blu - I don't have their stuff that often, but it's been a while since I had something from them that really turned me off.

As much of a butt of the joke that they can be, they do turn out a good beer once in a while. They just get snowed over by the ridiculous ******** that they try to pull off... Like seaweed caviar oyster beer, or vanilla ice cream chocolate ganache bourbon sour beer. I've said many times that if they would settle down and dial in their core offerings they might be a decent brewery, but Dennis seems to think that wild batch to batch variations are charming or something.

 

[dadavat]

I guess this would also apply to anti-hype, in the case of the DL. Do you think this changed anyone's opinion of them, or was it just attributed to being a high point in their overall ebb & flow?

I also really liked Grand Blu - I don't have their stuff that often, but it's been a while since I had something from them that really turned me off.

Unfortunately it doesn't change my opinion of them. They make like 100 different beers, they can't all be bad. The majority are though and that's too discouraging for me to roll the dice on their releases.

 

[preluderl]

Unfortunately it doesn't change my opinion of them. They make like 100 different beers, they can't all be bad. The majority are though and that's too discouraging for me to roll the dice on their releases.

I've been pretty lucky in that I've never bought a bad bottle from them. I have, however, had several bad ones on tap.

I haven't opened Ruby du Rhone yet though, so the no bad bottles streak could easily change when I get around to that.

 

[PSUMike]

I guess this would also apply to anti-hype, in the case of the DL. Do you think this changed anyone's opinion of them, or was it just attributed to being a high point in their overall ebb & flow?

I also really liked Grand Blu - I don't have their stuff that often, but it's been a while since I had something from them that really turned me off.

I think all of us recognize that they have put out good beer on occasion but those occasions are very few and far between. The major lack of consistency is also a ding against them. I've said many times that I'd put La Pienture up against many cherry wilds. In the OG Briar batches, there was a gem in there but I can't recall which. But it doesn't erase their many follies.

When we did the blind geueze share, one of the best beers there was Lindeman's Cuvee Rene Geueze. That turds up the shelves everywhere. They get **** for sweetening their lambic but their Cuvee Rene's are quite good (the Kriek is also great if you've never tried it).

I think on the whole, when you have a beer that fairs very well in a tough field from a largely unheralded brewery, we view it more as an outlier in the statistical sample if we've had beers from them previously. Conversely, I've heard about Weldwerks for a while now but this was the first beer I've gotten to try from them. They are now on my radar.

 

[MooseLang]

I think all of us recognize that they have put out good beer on occasion but those occasions are very few and far between. The major lack of consistency is also a ding against them. I've said many times that I'd put La Pienture up against many cherry wilds. In the OG Briar batches, there was a gem in there but I can't recall which. But it doesn't erase their many follies.

When we did the blind geueze share, one of the best beers there was Lindeman's Cuvee Rene Geueze. That turds up the shelves everywhere. They get **** for sweetening their lambic but their Cuvee Rene's are quite good (the Kriek is also great if you've never tried it).

I think on the whole, when you have a beer that fairs very well in a tough field from a largely unheralded brewery, we view it more as an outlier in the statistical sample if we've had beers from them previously. Conversely, I've heard about Weldwerks for a while now but this was the first beer I've gotten to try from them. They are now on my radar.

La Pienture is the only Draai Laag beer that I've had that was not only good, but borderline excellent.

I'm not surprised Fou Foune didn't perform well in a blind tasting. I've had one batch that was spectacular (2012 or 2013), and several others that were just downright disappointing. Out of the "basic" Cantillon lineup, I think Fou Foune is the most overrated.