I've been drinking a lot of IPAs from Portland, Maine, lately. This juicy brew from Lone Pine is surprisingly sessionable for a DIPA. Highly recommended if it makes its way to the Midwest.

_________________

Do you like Clown Shoes at all?

_________________
I don't remember half the time if I'm hiding or I'm lost

It's been a few years since I've tried anything by Clown Shoes. From what I recall, they're pretty good, but there's so much great local stuff available in the Boston area that I haven't made it a point to refamiliarize myself with their beer.

_________________

Glad you guys mentioned Clown Shoes as I was at Woodmans and saw a lone 6 pack of Clown Shoes Bubble Farm IPA. I grabbed it and will try it this weekend. Two weeks ago I walked in there and they had a grocery cart of open cans. Guessing they busted up some in the back. They were selling dented cans of Elysian Space Dust IPAs for a quarter a piece. I bought ten but I should have bought the entire cart. Anyway they were still selling some stragglers at another section for 98 cents each. Still a good deal so I bought six.

_________________
Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

We have their Clementine Witbier on tap. It's pretty good, goes well with spicy food. I run a $3.00 craft beer grab bag sometimes, I'm always kind of on the lookout for loose cans and bottles.

_________________
I don't remember half the time if I'm hiding or I'm lost

Woodmans by me doesn't carry much from the New England area so was thrilled to see something different. Mostly Midwestern brews and of course a lot of Wisconsin stuff which is ok. Otherwise they get a lot of west coast stuff for some reason. Would be a cool job to be a buyer for a big chain like that.

_________________
Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

Out for a nice dinner in Milwaukee last night and they had a pretty good beer selection, albeit a bit too much Wisconsin choices. I had one Dogfish Head Bourbon Barrel Palo Santo Marron which was pretty good. I usually don't do the darker beers but gave it a shot and it was good. The surprise of the night was something called Hubbards Cave IIPA V23. I had never heard of that one before at all but it was a beautiful color and really tasty. I guess it is a brewery in Niles but I had never heard of it before.

_________________
Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

Hubbard's Cave is the sister brewery to Une Annee. Whereas Une Annee focuses on Belgian/French beer styles, HC focuses on standard US brewery offerings of IPA/Stout.

The weird or annoying thing about their IIPA beer is they essentially give each batch it's own name with the V1, V2, V3 nomenclature. It somewhat makes sense since there are variations between them. But it'd be nice if they focuses on perfecting a batch and replicating it over and over.

Can't cash in on the hype-beast IPA market if they stop brewing one-off 'sclusies.

_________________

Thanks for the info on that. Yes, it seems silly to release a beer that you can never count on being the same from version to version. The one I had last night I thought was phenomenal.

_________________
Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

I happened upon a grocery store in Kenosha a couple times this week that had a cart full of Sierra Nevada Hop Bullet six packs on sale for $3.99. I guess it's a double IPA (Imperial IPA) in 12 oz. cans. I took a chance and was pleasantly surprised. I love their "Pale Ale" in bottles, but the few times I tried the Torpedo, it was hard to swallow... literally.
Anyway, the stamp on the bottom of the can says it was packaged just 6 months ago, so for cans, that's no big deal, and if it's 8% ABV, it doesn't feel like it. I mean, it works, but it doesn't put you on the floor after 2 or 3. At least not yet.

_________________
Just chillin' like Garret Quillin.

Props to Redskin Greg on the Hop Butcher for the World recommendation.

Had some of their stuff over the past couple of weeks. Top-level IPAs in my opinion.

Anybody else drinking their brews?

_________________

It's hard to obtain unless you chase trucks.

Their NEIPA releases move fast even at $16/4-pack

Beer Cellar in Glen Ellyn usually gets a big haul of their releases. No need to truck chase. Just follow them on IG and take a trip within a day or two of delivery.

_________________
-- source

Hammars in Geneva got the connect. Bit pricy for my tastes. Getting mighty tired of hype cans.

_________________

Hammars is a great spot. Gotta love a liquor store with taps.

_________________

They have a gouging problem which makes it real hard for me to make that a go to place.

_________________

Hammar will give you a free shot of cum.

_________________

SOLD!

_________________

Picked up a Toppling Goliath Gamma Gamma Ray IPA. Brewed in collaboration with Bottle Logic. 8.1% ABV. Looking forward to it. First one of these I've seen in the bomber cooler.

_________________
Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

Just picked up King Sue and Old Nation right after shitting on hype cans.

_________________

The GG-Ray was quite good and I'd recommend it highly.

_________________
Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

Recently had some brews from Sand City, a terrific brewery out of Long Island.

They make a bunch of creamy, hazy NEIPAs that have a ridiculously soft mouthfeel and burst with citrus & fruit flavors.

Definitely worth trading for. A lot of their stuff is at the same level as Other Half.

_________________

I love M-43. Such a glorious beer.

Yeah, M-43 is fantastic. The double dry hopped version is even better.

_________________

Enjoying Breckenridge Nitro Irish Stout. Quite tasty.

_________________

That sounds good. Their Vanilla Porter is tasty.

I bought it because it was an Untapped badge a few weeks ago. Had one and thought it was okay. But I was pretty fucking hungover and not feeling it. Went back to it the other day and love it. Working on finishing some stouts and porters in there before I tap into my new League of Heroes pack. Brut Hero and Lucky Hero are in this one.

_________________

On to Spiteful Mrs O’Leary’s Chocolate Milk Stout. Delicious.

_________________

Recently had some King Sue and Pseudo Sue on tap for the first time. So much better than in bottles/cans, where both are also excellent. Truly phenomenal beer, far too good to come out of Iowa.

_________________