DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Everything Else... alcohol/craft beer/whiskey thread

I have gotten more and more into bourbon this year. I still enjoy the craft beer scene, but am starting to get burned out on IPA's and some of the other hopped up stuff.

We spent the last night of our vacation in Louisville, and the stuff they have out there is incredible.

We scored a limited release of a cask strength of Bulleit on our way out. Guy at the shop told me to put the 10 year back and take the cask strength, because you can't get those outside of KY.

We're actually going to a whiskey festival next month before a concert, really jacked about that.

The Bulleit 10 year is ridiculously good though, we ended up finding one at our local shop.

The sports bar I watch football at has like 100 different craft beers. It is their thing.

I usually go for cheap liquor drinks. I am not much a conissour of liquor. Or beer.

I still enjoy craft beer. I love stouts, because of how crazy brewers can get with them, and for me, my favorite beer is the dark belgian style. I still love those, but I don't dip too much into them because they fill you up.

And I've never considered myself a beer snob, because I still love a good silver bullet, and honestly a few coronas and a little pour of bourbon ain't a bad thing at all.

Try Prichards double barreled bourbon......the best.



Seriously man...when you go for a fine drink over a every hour drink, you will agree.

Will do. I also emailed a guy at Buffalo Trace and he gave me an excel spreadsheet of every shop in Illinois that will be receiving shipments of Weller 12 in a week or two. I'm really hoping to score a bottle. It has come recommended by many.

During my drinkin' days I had many favorites.

I'd put Car Bombs in my Top Ten.

A shot of Irish Cream in a glass of Guinness. Drink right down.

ha, i've done a few car bombs myself. Was never big on them.

Wife and I did half and halfs with guinness a few weeks back. She hada snakebite which is half cider, half guinnes. I had a half Boddington's half guinness which has like 10 different names.

Portland is home of craft beer. There are many, many good breweries in Portland and throughout the state of Oregon. And now Cideries (Hard Cider) are the new cool for all the cool kids moving to Portland.

Local Distilleries are getting a lot of hype here too but, the problem is...whiskey needs to be aged otherwise it is super hot and very undrinkable. There is nothing good about a young whiskey that tastes like turpentine. Come back to me in 10 years and then we shall see just how good you are.

Any body else like Ciroc? Probably the only one.

Deschutes is a good brewery out there. I love their belgian quad..

Totally agree about aged whiskey. It's just so much smoother.

Deschutes isn't bad but, I will be honest with you...there are several others that blow their beers away. Check out Gigantic and The Commons (if you can find them where you live). These are local Portland breweries and they are superb. There a a handful of others too but, these are two great Portland brews to check out.

Only problem with the craft beer "explosion" is...I think people are too quick to say any beer/brewery is good. I have been to several breweries that really are not good at all. Also, the weird ingredients just ruin it for me. Keep it simple, man. That is the reason the drink has been around since...what...3000 BC or so!?. Yet, it seems everybody and any body thinks they are a brewer these days.

What is cool is having just been in England for 3 weeks a lot of American craft beer is making inroads into their beer sales. This is great as traditionally America is just represented with Budweiser and Rolling Rock (lets be honest..that isn't a good representation of beer). Also, the English are having their own go at craft beers, which are raising the game on the traditional old school ales. This is great as when the old school bitters are good...they are fantastic but, when they are bad they can taste like warm dishwater straight out of the sink.

I don't drink often, but when I do, I drink Jack Daniels.

I get to try all types of craft beer when I fly. My favorite style are porters followed by American Pale Ales, and a growing appreciation of Saisons.

Some of my favorite beers:
- Edmund Fitzgerald (Great Lakes Brewing Company)
- Irish Death Ale (Ironhorse Brewery)
- Rondy Brew (Saison from Anchorage Brewing Company)
- Christmas Ale (GLBC)

IPAs are cool and all, but I like a variety of tastes.

Which is exactly why I prefer scotch to bourbon.

I use to love southern comfort when I first started drinking, then by the time I was 16 I was hooked on Jack Daniels. I drank a fifth of it almost every day for about 3 years then stopped it all together about 3 years after that. I stick with light beers now in my old age. I hate craft, and dark beers. Just give me a 12 pack of coors light twice a week and I'm happy.

I'm among the geekiest of the beer geeks. Been to GABF, Hunahpu Day, and Dark Lord Day. Bought a $180 (at the time) bottle of Sam Adams Utopias in 2011. Have a huge cellar full of beer and a fridge full in my garage.

Still a novice on the bourbon scene, but did the trail back in June. Buffalo Trace and Makers are my two favorites (like the higher corn content...not a big fan of the rye). Weller is probably my favorite so far. Got Pappy on my bucket list.

The wife and I did the bourbon trail last summer. It took about 5 days and it sure was fun. I am hoping to get down there again next summer.

Midleton Whisky
and any beer from Sam Smith breweries ( not Sam Adams ) I lake Sam Addams I just like Sam Smith better

I'm on this Jackie Os' kick. They make this ale called firefly amber and it's great. Hope to goto the brewery since it's in Ohio there in Athens.

Good stuff!

That's awesome, I would love to do that one day. Did you guys come home with any good stuff ?

The latest trend in craft beers seems to be sours, well maybe it's new to me. Anybody try them?

They're okay. Sorta of tastes like someone dropped a sweetart into my beer without me looking.

Some more of my top-10:

Black & Tan - Half Bass, half Guinness Stout




Frozen Mudslide and Frozen Melon-Ball (summer-time)




And when I’m feeling feisty - Prairie Fire:



Love the tequila.





That more than anything led to my drinking problem.

Cousin had a wedding in June and stocked the bar full of Jackie O's. Safe to say that was a great wedding.

We spent quite a bit. If you get all your pages stamped they give you a free T-shirt too

We were at the Wild Turkey distillery and the master distiller (the old guy from the commercials) was there hanging out. We talked with him for about 20 minutes, he signed a bottle of WT honey and gave it to my wife as a souvenir. Even though there were pictures of him on the wall with Jimmy Carter, Evil Kenievel, and all these other famous people he was super humble and nice. He drove an old beat up 2wd Ranger. It was a fun experience.

I have tried several times but I just can't. I know TopDawg is huge on them, and a bunch of other people I know that are big craft beer folk love them too.

Jackie O's is one of my favorite Brewers. I wish they would distribute out here in Chicago. The bourbon barrel brick kiln is amazing. Some of their limited stuff is really really good. I usually pick up 20-30$ worth of Jackie O when I'm in Ohio.

This is my newest find...



Beer Advocate Review

If you like Half Acre's Daisy Cutter, this is a slightly lighter version of that. And $2 cheaper for a 4-pack of 16 ozers.

Punch you should go find yourself some Pipeworks. A Chicago treasure that does not leave the state. Their hoppy stuff is really good and they experiment a ton with stouts. Probably my favorite brewery out here

At Binny's?

Yeah, they always have their stuff. They're small batch oriented, so everything you see is usually fresh.

Anything canned has been past stuff that has been popular. They do a ton of one off. Lizard king may be my fav. The blood of the unicorn red ale is awesome too.

For many years in the late ‘80s and early 90s, Samuel Adams' Cranberry Lambic was a holiday tradition.

It's a seasonal classic, only available from about Halloween-to-New Years’ Day.

Every year I’d buy 4 cases and nurse them during this time. A case was a dozen tall bottles.


I told you it was a tall bottle.

I did that once, ordered a lot of a special seasonal beer to enjoy it when it was the beer's off season, but I drank them all in a month. I can't save good beer in the fridge, it get "drunken" too fast.

j/c

For everyday, I like Buffalo Trace OTR
For friends visiting from out-of-town, I serve Maker's Mark or Booker's Reserve
For birthdays, My Wife (and friends) buy me Knob Creek Small Batch.

Yes... I'm all about the Beam products

Ahhhh, yes, some of those beers are my favorites, mainly the GLC's choices. I definitely wish GLB made Christmas Ale all year around, that stuff is delicious, same with Sam Adams Octoberfest. Other notables for me:

-Practically anything produced by Bells brewery - favorite includes Two Hearted Ale.

-Sierra Nevada puts out good stuff as well. Their pale ales, porters, and stouts are not bad at all.

-Dogfish Head 90\120 minute IPA - when everything is right its very hard to beat this beer, it is very good.

-Lastly my all time favorite and I always get it to celebrate special occasions is Samuel Smith's Oatmeal Stout. That is a special one for me. If you've never had it I suggest you try it whenever you can, really really good.

Jackie O's barrel aging is second to none. The bourbon county series you have up there in Chicago from Goose Island is also pretty awesome, and insanely sought after.

Sours for me took some getting used to, but once I got used to them, I really started to love them. Great beer for the summer. Aside from the Upland Sours, Triumvirate made by Rivertown down in Cincy is probably my favorite.

I know there's a few dawgs on here from San Diego. I'm headed out there soon. Best beer city I've been to (haven't spent time in Denver or Asheville), IMO.

I love AleSmith out of San Diego. I'm so glad Binny's (the major alcohol retailer in Chicago) started stocking their stuff. The Speedway Stout is one of the best stouts out there and is always on sale. Everything from that place is really really good. Their Grand Cru dark belgian is one of my favorites. Those age incredibly well.

I'm still scoping out my local shops for Weller 12. Hoping to see something this week.

Excited about that whiskey festival in a week and a half too.

Usually not a fan of these kind of drinks, but the commercials sucked me into kind of honestly. They're so goofy.

Anyway I picked up some grapefruit shandy made by the Traveler's brewing co, and I like it. Can see me picking it up again soon. Good stuff!

Hey Spergon:

"...half Boddington's half guinness."

A common name for this drink is "Bumblebee".