Thread: The recommend-a-beer thread

Had this baby last night:



Safe to say its the best American Brown Ale that I have ever had. The smell is nearly identical to the Stone 11th, and the taste is pretty similar just that its less hoppy and as smooth as you're ever gonna get. A little more creamy and a body to it, and at 7.4% abv you damn well know it !

Originally Posted by Azagthoth

The Speedway Stout is in the top 20 or 30 overall on Beeradvocate AleSmith has a fantastic IPA as well. Their summer holiday Imperial IPA is out of this world. mmmm yummm !

Last year, I had a Speedway Stout that was from 2001. They were selling them at the brewery only. It did not age well. Very syrupy and almost undrinkable. The current Speedways taste great.

Originally Posted by Arrogant Ba

Last year, I had a Speedway Stout that was from 2001. They were selling them at the brewery only. It did not age well. Very syrupy and almost undrinkable. The current Speedways taste great.

I had a similar experience with the 1998 Sierra Nevada Bigfoot when we did a barleywine tasting last Saturday night at my place. It was all syrup. No hop profile left whatsoever. Although, its hard to really say how well it was stored being that it was 10 years old. So I'll give the Bigfoot the benefit of the doubt..... After all, it is my favorite beer of alltime with the Stone Imperial Russian stout closely behind.

The Three Floyds "Behemoth Blonde" was in-****ing-credible ! 24 bucks for the bottle but worth every penny. Tastes nothing like a barleywine. Very sweet and malty, and lots of banana hints. You could have blindfolded me and I would never have guessed that I was drinking a barleywine.

We also sampled the John Barleycorn, which oddly enough tasted JUST like A-1 steak sauce. Very interesting.....

Very dissapointing was the AleSmith Old Numbskull. I never knew it came in a green bottle ! Immediately you got that skunky Heineken taste, which destroys what would otherwise be a great barleywine. The whole "green bottles make a beer skunky" is no wives tale. If AleSmith switched to brown bottles for the Old Numbskull, I would definitely not pass it up at the store.

The Greenflash barleywine was one of the evening's best, hands down. So was Moylan's "Old Blarney". I've heard that Moylan's and Marin are owned by the same group, or somehow related. However, Moylan's > Marin any day of the week. Marin's "Old Dipsea" barleywine is nothing spectacular. Avoid that one because there are many out there that easily destroy it.

I don't recall if we ever made it to the Old Horizontal from Victory Brewing..... it didn't take long for all the barleywine that we consumed to hit us like a ton of bricks. It was only a group of 4 guys, and we pre-gamed with some Three Floyd's Alpha King Pale Ale, and some Stone 10th Anniversary. There were another 5 or 6 barleywines in the fridge that we had to pass on unfortunately. What a fun night though !

I generally like Marin beers.

Az, thanks for the reviews of the Barely Wines. Love the green Flash as well. Cannot wait for my fave Old Guardian to come out again.

Originally Posted by Fooferah

I generally like Marin beers.

I am still going to try their whole catalog (a rather large one at that). Their IPA wasn't too bad, and their winter brew was decent. The barleywine just didn't do much for me though. Overall, I think they lack a little bit in comparison to my biggies (Rogue, Stone, Sierra Nevada).

The place I told you about, Foof - has a ton of stuff from Marin and Moylan's. When I get through what is in my fridge right now I will be picking up some more of the Marin selection.

Right now my fridge contains the following:

DogFish Head 60 Minute IPA
DogFish Head 90 Minute IPA
DogFish Head 120 Minute IPA
DogFish Head Olde School Barleywine
DogFish Head Golden Era Imperial Pilsener
Three Floyd's Pride & Joy
Three Floyd's Robert the Bruce
Unibroue 16
Unibroue Trader Joe's Vintage Ale 2007
Pizza Port Hop 15
Rogue Old Crustacean Barleywine (2006)
Rogue St. Rogue Red
Rogue American Amber Ale
Anderson Valley Oatmeal Stout
Moylan's White Christmas
Greenflash Trippel
Firestone Eleven

There are several other, just can't think of em off the top of my head

Oh, Dogfish Head is awesome... taste it last lol.

Been to Moylans twice and recently visited Greenflash. I recommend a trip to Greenflash. They are pretty close to Stone. Only open on Fridays and Saturday (check their website for tasting times) They have about 10 beers on tap.

Originally Posted by Arrogant Ba

Been to Moylans twice and recently visited Greenflash. I recommend a trip to Greenflash. They are pretty close to Stone. Only open on Fridays and Saturday (check their website for tasting times) They have about 10 beers on tap.

Greenflash is quickly turning into one of my favorite micro breweries. As stated before, their barleywine is excellent and their Imperial IPA gives Stone's Ruination a run for its money. I still need to pick up some more from them, but what I've had so far has left me very impressed.