The Guild of Beer Drinkers

[Ashke Verasca]

I just drank Miodne from Warmia, a Polish beer It is honey beer, my favourite kind of beer!

[Dunthule]

I was just out in Colorado and had a local brew called 'Native'. It was on draft and was called an amber lager. YUM!

[barrelrider]

I ended up splitting a really wonderful barley wine (kind of beer) with a friend of mine just last week. We bought it because it had a d20 on the label and came with it's own character sheet, but it was actually really good, and surprisingly smooth for 11% alcohol.

[Morwenna]

I never posted in this guild before, but recently we discovered a little brewery Right Here In Town!!! They sell to the local stores, and in large single bottles to walk-in customers, whatever type they happen to have in production. This time they had a pilsner that was quite bitter (pleasantly so, if you like bitter, and some people do), and a moderate but very flavorful stout of which we bought 2 bottles. Cash only, so we had to go visit an ATM! But now we know, and we'll keep track of what they're making. It's New Haven Brewing Co.

[Dunthule]

I never posted in this guild before, but recently we discovered a little brewery Right Here In Town!!! They sell to the local stores, and in large single bottles to walk-in customers, whatever type they happen to have in production. This time they had a pilsner that was quite bitter (pleasantly so, if you like bitter, and some people do), and a moderate but very flavorful stout of which we bought 2 bottles. Cash only, so we had to go visit an ATM! But now we know, and we'll keep track of what they're making. It's New Haven Brewing Co.

Connecticut? My Ole stomping grounds. I had my first Guiness (half-yard) at Richters.

We have a similar local brewery here in Cinci (Mt. Carmel) that started selling in local stores and pubs. Originally in the large singe bottles they now sell six packs in bottles. And are doing very well.
Cincinnati, with it's large German heritage, had at one time a very large brewing district. Several individuals and corps are investing in the area to bring back the brewing heritage. It is sort of a renaissance in the district and is fun to see (and taste!).
A great read: http://www.otrbrewerydistrict.org/

[Morwenna]

We're on vacation in Vermont, and two days ago we hit two breweries: one I can't think of right now, it's so small and local, and I'm out in the lobby and the cans we bought are in our room; and the other was the Harpoon brewery which is very near where we are right now, and the group (hubby and his two siblings and their mates) is going back there today after some sight-seeing (there's a really cosmic cheese shop right next door to it as well). I think that other one is something like Alchemist. I'll have to get back to you on this. As for Harpoon, I had no idea how many varieties they make...!

ETA: the local one at home is actually called New England Brewing Co. We picked up some more to bring on vacation (as if we needed to, considering the earlier part of this post!) and drank about half of it already. Well, considering there are 6 of us, at least 4 of whom drink beer...

[Dunthule]

Sounds like a great time Morwenna.
I visited two breweries in Vermont some moons ago.
One, Catamount, is now owned by Harpoon.

The other is Long Trail. I think it's still around.

Fun times!!

[Morwenna]

That small Vermont brewery is indeed called Alchemist. We brought some of it home. We don't drink very often so things last us a long time; that's why we still have some of it left! When we went back to Harpoon we got a case of their Russian-style stout which they call Czernobog; with a name like that how could my half-Slovak hubby resist! We still have about half of that left too; we brought some to the Pennsic War last month. (We won't even discuss what we bought at our local alcohol warehouse last December...)

[Dunthule]

A Russian stout? I do not believe I've ever had the fortune to have such a style. Did your hubby like it?

I just saw the trailer for the movie "The Word's End".
LOL, it made me want to go down to the local pub and quaff a few.

[Morwenna]

Hubby loves it. He's nursing the rest of the case till we can get back to Vermont and buy more! It's not as thick as Irish stout, but it has a wonderful flavor.

[Arassuil]

Ah... Imperiel Russian Stouts. Been enjoying some Rasputin from the U.S. recently. Love this brew.

Whats up with the brew scene here? Well, as far as pubs go, Brisbane has reached a tipping point with the number of pubs that serve good beer multiplying monthly now. The big boys have even made some concessions in their contracts and allow a guest tap or two at their pubs, and/or put on their house 'craft' brew. Haven't been to most though, as I tend to support a few favourites. A few new microbreweries have cropped up as well recently (Green Beacon, Newstead Brewing, Noisy Minor & Fortitude Brewing), Bacchus Brewing is making good inroads with their fine brews, and the old Brisbane Brewing Co is going better than ever. Now where is my Kooinda Black IPA.....

[Morwenna]

Last December we bought a case of the Shock Top End of the World, and we finally got around to opening it yesterday when we had a friend over. It's good stuff!

At the same time, we bought a case of the Shock Top lemon shandy, but we haven't tried that yet.

That liquor store across town has an amazing variety!

[Morwenna]

Update on the Czernobog stout: we went to the Harpoon brewery in Vermont three days ago and we got a case (plus a stray four-pack), and there was only one case left after that (and hubby now says we should have grabbed that too), but the downside is that the Leviathan line, of which Czernobog is a part, is being discontinued! Heavy sigh... The guy said it was always possible that individual recipes could be resurrected, but there was no guarantee.

Isn't it always the way that when you find something really good, it goes away?

[Dunthule]

Major Bummer!!!

[Arassuil]

Morwenna, Hopefully they will bring it back as a special release sometime.

Been enjoying Ekim Brewing's After Battle Pale Ale lately. Such a great brew!

And Stout Floats are quite yummy if a good stout and good vanilla ice cream is used.

[Morwenna]

Stout floats?! I've heard of them but I always thought it was a joke!

We have a number of individual beers around the house from last December; I think we ought to drink them before we go holiday shopping and end up with more! We got two variety packs and mixed and matched them, picking out some we wanted to try and giving the other box as a gift.

[Arassuil]

So, this town has finally reached the tipping point! Good beer stops aplenty!

[Morwenna]

Wow! A beer map! How cool is that?

Great that you have so many choices near you!

We're still working off our case of Czernobog and Shock Top, and a couple growlers of stout from New England Brewery, this one is called 668, yes it's what you think from the jokes! And a few stray bottles from the variety packs. (It hasn't been a very hot summer, so we haven't drunk as much beer as we might have.)

[Morwenna]

CZERNOBOG IS BACK!!!

The Boston branch of the Harpoon brewery is near the hotel where the science fiction conventions have been held lately, and this past weekend one of our friends went over to pick up some brew for himself and us. And Guess What!! The whole Leviathan line didn't come back, but the Czernobog did, in 22 oz. bottles! He brought us back a couple bottles, but after the convention we went over ourselves and bought ourselves a case. We'll be there next month too, and we'll probably get another case then!

We're happy!

[Arassuil]

I have to say that this town has got some good microbreweries in it. I have to say that Green Beacon Brewing's Windjammer IPA tastes quite nice when poured from the can into a cool glass. I have to say that there is something majorly wrong when this local brewery about 10k away sells their 4 pack cans for $25 when I can get a six pack of Big Sky IPA made in Montana USA from about 16,000k away for the same price.

[Morwenna]

We've been finding more local breweries. There are a couple within an easy drive of home, one east and one west of us. So now we have refillable growlers from 3 local places, besides Harpoon in Boston... We just got another case of Czernobog last month, plus one for hubby's youngest nephew (whom we hooked right away), and next week we're going back again.

We still have, though, one case of the original size bottles from the Vermont trip. I think hubby's saving it for sentimental reasons.

[Arassuil]

I have found a couple 'Middle Earth-ish' breweries making some really good beer! The Prancing Pony Brewery makes one of the best red ales around! And over in England, there is The Middle Earth Tavern. Could be an interesting place to visit. And of course, just about anywhere has a Green Dragon Inn, but none can match The Green Dragon in Hobbiton, New Zealand.

[Arassuil]

Been enjoying Western Australia's Feral WarHogs of late, interspersed with Speakeasy Session IPAs from the states.

[Morwenna]

We keep discovering more local breweries! And the growlers are multiplying under the dining room table... So far we've tried New England Brewing in New Haven, Two Roads in Stratford, Thimble Island in Branford, and Bad Sons in Derby. There are two more in Branford that we haven't hit yet. And that's just within half an hour from home.

I noticed an earlier mention of Rasputin in this thread; seems we had a few bottles, and hubby drank one (I tried a sip) a couple days ago. Not as good as Czernobog, but still good! BTW, last January when we went to get our annual case from the Harpoon brewery, they were all sold out as of December!! So this year hubby contacted the brewery to get on a mailing list or some such when it goes back into production, then he's planning a road trip with his nephew. But they weren't sure when or IF it was coming back! Sheesh...