OT: HFNYR Official Foodie Thread including Craft Beer, Wine & Liquor

[Boris Zubov]

But you're not driving in those situations, so who cares how much or what you're drinking. You're either taking the train or at a local place you can walk to.

My problem is those high ABV beers put me to bed or fill up my stomach to the point where I'm uncomfortable. My tolerance is way lower than it used to be, plus I'm only around 170, so if I don't eat it's gonna hit me fast. That said, there are often nights where I'll polish off a a bottle of red wine by myself, but that's with a big steak or two plates of pasta.

If I'm out & I have to drive, it's a different story. One or two glasses of wine or a couple of Sam Adams, max. It's just not worth the risk....plus it's too f***ing expensive these days to drink anywhere but at home.

 

[haohmaru]

All Belgian beer sucks, IMO. I despise that coriander after taste. We've discussed this before, but I think we do beer so much better than the Europeans. I've had some decent Marzen's but for the most part the selection from across the pond is completely underwhelming. They should stick to wine. Red ales, ambers, balanced west coast IPAs, porters & stouts....No european region can touch us.

We're coming into Octoberfest season & many breweries release their seasonals in the next week or so. This is by far my favorite time of the year to be a boozehound. Winterfest beers right after that is a great transistion around the holidays.

The beer in Germany is far, no, FAR different than whatever is imported here. There's tons of local breweries and the ABV % generally far exceeds what's "imported" here (more than half the shit is brewed in Canada or the U.S. anyway).

I'd put their Marzens, Weisse, etc... traditionals against anything made here.

 

[Gardner McKay]

Had quite the bourbon experience this weekend.

A good friend of mine let me do a blind tasting of multiple Stagg batches (15, 18, 22a and 22b). All are 130+ proof so by the time I finished... yeah. But I am now hooked on Stagg batch 22a. Only problem is that is impossible to find down here and resale market its $200+ a bottle.

 

[East Coast Bias]

I don’t know how you guys are railing against the hazy market without mentioning the fact American stouts are like candy. The American craft stout market is trash. It’s all sugary piss now. 11% Mello mocha nitro limited? No thanks.

*I’ll not considering bourbon barrel stuff here*

I’ll take a properly poured Guinness over any craft stout. Get that imperial pint glass ready and fire away.

 

[Boris Zubov]

I don’t know how you guys are railing against the hazy market without mentioning the fact American stouts are like candy. The American craft stout market is trash. It’s all sugary piss now. 11% Mello mocha nitro limited? No thanks.

*I’ll not considering bourbon barrel stuff here*

I’ll take a properly poured Guinness over any craft stout. Get that imperial pint glass ready and fire away.

Agreed. I'm not a big stout drinker but if I have one it has to be traditional. Anything that mentions some type of sugary bullshit like a marshmallow fluff stout, I immediately opt out. Falls into the same category as the Hazy Juicy IPAs, IMO. None of that shit is beer.

 

[LokiDog]

I don’t know how you guys are railing against the hazy market without mentioning the fact American stouts are like candy. The American craft stout market is trash. It’s all sugary piss now. 11% Mello mocha nitro limited? No thanks.

*I’ll not considering bourbon barrel stuff here*

I’ll take a properly poured Guinness over any craft stout. Get that imperial pint glass ready and fire away.

I agree with a lot of this as well. This is why I said just give me a nice dark or strong ale. I used to really enjoy imperial and barrel aged stouts, and still like some, but like the juice bomb craze with IPAs, stouts all became coffee dessert monstrosities. I love barrel aged beers in general, but now the stuff I enjoy is the stuff that’s also hardest to find - barrel aged scotch ale, wee heavies, winter warmers, American strong ale, imperial brown ale. It’s the stuff that breweries make the least of. Everyone has 5 IPAs, 2 stouts, a lager, a pilsner, a kolsch, 2 sours, a gose, a saison. Nobody makes scotch ale or imperial brown.

12% brown ale

12% brown ale


These are my favorite types but they’re so minimally represented compared to most everything else.

 

[Boris Zubov]

The beer in Germany is far, no, FAR different than whatever is imported here. There's tons of local breweries and the ABV % generally far exceeds what's "imported" here (more than half the shit is brewed in Canada or the U.S. anyway).

I'd put their Marzens, Weisse, etc... traditionals against anything made here.

I've been over there, which I why I mentioned their Marzens. I'm not a wheat beer fan, so I can't comment. If you like that stuff, I'll take your word for it, I'm sure the Germans do it very well.

I just think overall, beer is way better here in the USA than Europe....& it's not particularly close. Wine...that's a different story. French & Italian all the way.

 

[East Coast Bias]

I've been over there, which I why I mentioned their Marzens. I'm not a wheat beer fan, so I can't comment. If you like that stuff, I'll take your word for it, I'm sure the Germans do it very well.

I just think overall, beer is way better here in the USA than Europe....& it's not particularly close. Wine...that's a different story. French & Italian all the way.

Craft beers have changed the market drastically bc they’re brewing locally and it goes on tap immediately. But for the longest time, European beer was just far superior on tap.

I would go to Ireland and drink Bud on tap and it was great bc Guinness brewed in Ireland and it was right on tap. Here this stuff sits in storage. Light or mass produced domestics here are usually terrible on tap.

Carlsberg on tap in Europe is still incredible. I like the cans here too. Good beer. But I don’t disagree with your point these days.

 

[Leonardo87]

I like Hazy IPA’s, DIPA, TIPA, imperial stouts, and brown ales.

I’ve learned double dry hopped is the way to go for IPA’s. Smooth and not bitter.

 

[haohmaru]

I have a 2012 Utopia sitting in my liquor cabinet. Can’t decide if I should drink it or sell it.

 

[Do you want ants]

I have a 2012 Utopia sitting in my liquor cabinet. Can’t decide if I should drink it or sell it.

Sell it. Or drink it and sell the bottle.

 

[Gordon Bombay]

All Belgian beer sucks, IMO. I despise that coriander after taste. We've discussed this before, but I think we do beer so much better than the Europeans. I've had some decent Marzen's but for the most part the selection from across the pond is completely underwhelming. They should stick to wine. Red ales, ambers, balanced west coast IPAs, porters & stouts....No european region can touch us.

We're coming into Octoberfest season & many breweries release their seasonals in the next week or so. This is by far my favorite time of the year to be a boozehound. Winterfest beers right after that is a great transistion around the holidays.

This reply is more about the IPAs but basically the IPAs suck in Europe because until recently they didn’t grow the hops. They imported them and the cost/taste wasn’t effective, so it’s taking time. I was just in England a couple weeks ago and the IPAs were significantly better than when I was there a few years ago.

This info was given to me by my cousin who works for Firestone Walker. I just like to get drunk

 

[HockeyBasedNYC]

Anyone into mixology here?

I've been getting into cocktail crafting in recent years.

Have a barrel downstairs aging a mezcal negroni.

The big thing now is trying to find Chartreuse, which is a key part of several great cocktails including the classic Last Word. Green or Yellow is tough to find because the Monks in France who have been making it since 1605 have limited their production. So anytime I see one Ill grab it.

 

[UnSandvich]

The Springbank 10 from the flight I actually only grabbed on Thursday. Got the other guy here same time

 

[Boris Zubov]

This reply is more about the IPAs but basically the IPAs suck in Europe because until recently they didn’t grow the hops. They imported them and the cost/taste wasn’t effective, so it’s taking time. I was just in England a couple weeks ago and the IPAs were significantly better than when I was there a few years ago.

This info was given to me by my cousin who works for Firestone Walker. I just like to get drunk

I've been to the Firestone/Walker tap room in Paso Robles. I'm a very big fan of their beers. The food at the taproom was also a hit from what I recall. The brewery is in a brilliant location in the middle of wine country. At some point I couldn't taste the difference in any of the red wines from the ten wineries we visited & I just wanted a beer. F/W was like an oasis in the desert!

Interesting fact, the Firestone family who is involved in the brewery opened the first winery in the Central Coast region of California....Firestone Vineyards in Santa Barbara county. It's not in their family any longer, however. Bill Foley the owner of the VGK now owns it along with about 35 other wineries in California, Oregon, Washington & New Zealand.

 

[Gordon Bombay]

I've been to the Firestone/Walker tap room in Paso Robles. I'm a very big fan of their beers. The food at the taproom was also a hit from what I recall. The brewery is in a brilliant location in the middle of wine country. At some point I couldn't taste the difference in any of the red wines from the ten wineries we visited & I just wanted a beer. F/W was like an oasis in the desert!

Interesting fact, the Firestone family who is involved in the brewery opened the first winery in the Central Coast region of California....Firestone Vineyards in Santa Barbara county. It's not in their family any longer, however. Bill Foley the owner of the VGK now owns it along with about 35 other wineries in California, Oregon, Washington & New Zealand.

Yeah, it is a little off the beaten path for California. I haven't been but I've heard all about it from him. He was pretty surprised to see their beer in the local beer store when he was here a few years ago. My buddy used to love their session, Flyjack, until he couldn't get it anymore. Alas through my cousin I found out they just rebranded the name to Mind Haze Light.

 

[LORDE]

The beer in Germany is far, no, FAR different than whatever is imported here. There's tons of local breweries and the ABV % generally far exceeds what's "imported" here (more than half the shit is brewed in Canada or the U.S. anyway).

I'd put their Marzens, Weisse, etc... traditionals against anything made here.

I'd say it's the same in Ireland.

Our Guinness tastes like ass compared to Guinness in Ireland.

They also "usually" have Guinness Extra-Cold... which is basically the temp we enjoy here & they know know how to pour it as well... something that boils my blood in our "pubs"

 

[Gardner McKay]

The Springbank 10 from the flight I actually only grabbed on Thursday. Got the other guy here same time

Nice find on that Blantons!

 

[LokiDog]

Yeah, it is a little off the beaten path for California. I haven't been but I've heard all about it from him. He was pretty surprised to see their beer in the local beer store when he was here a few years ago. My buddy used to love their session, Flyjack, until he couldn't get it anymore. Alas through my cousin I found out they just rebranded the name to Mind Haze Light.

I’ve always liked Firestone Walker brews. For their limited releases, Something Stickee and Houses in Motion were incredible. Velvet Merlin is a decent nitro pour. Wookiee Jack is probably my favorite. Black Rye IPA.

I’m now craving a Wookiee. But since this is the food thread as well, I have been straight up salivating preparing to be back in the brisket capital of the world and today for some reason I’m dying for a brisket quesadilla.

 

[UnSandvich]

Nice find on that Blantons!

It was just sitting on the shelf, and for $250 i couldnt say no, considering i usually see it for 4-5 hundred

 

[Boris Zubov]

So it begins! Oktoberfest is upon us, which is my favorite time of the year!!!! My first selection this season was from Blue Point. I've never had this one before, which is really surprising considering how much I love the BP Toasted Lager. Copper colored & very easy to drink...flavor was understated, but really grew on me after a few sips. Will be a regular in my rotation this fall, but I need to stock up before heading back to CT from Long Island.

 

[Synergy27]

So it begins! Oktoberfest is upon us, which is my favorite time of the year!!!! My first selection this season was from Blue Point. I've never had this one before, which is really surprising considering how much I love the BP Toasted Lager. Copper colored & very easy to drink...flavor was understated, but really grew on me after a few sips. Will be a regular in my rotation this fall, but I need to stock up before heading back to CT from Long Island.

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It’s too f***ing soon for Oktoberfest beers. The race to be first in this market drives me nuts.

 

[Do you want ants]

It’s too f***ing soon for Oktoberfest beers. The race to be first in this market drives me nuts.

I disagree on the Oktoberfest beers. It’s a great year round style. Pumpkin beers on the other hand. Way too early.

 

[LokiDog]

I disagree on the Oktoberfest beers. It’s a great year round style. Pumpkin beers on the other hand. Way too early.

I disagree with both comments - Pumpkin is a fruit (right?). I can get a mango bullshit apricot sour or IPA year round, not just in the summer. What if I simply like more earthy and rustic flavors? Why do I have to enjoy them during a 3 month window when the IPA crowd deigns to engage in “falls seasonals” for a change? I don’t make you drink your Tropical Sunflare Mango-nana Haze Bomb DIPA exclusively from May to August. If I want a Marzen or Pumpkin ale in the summer, LET ME LIVE.

 

[Profet]

Anyone else attending this weekend?

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