I passed on the 120 due to the price. However comma my girlfriend's version of "flowers" for me (since I try to get her flowers once a month or so) is beer. For Valentine's Day, she got me a 120, a 75, sixer of Anti-Hero, Muffin Top, and a few other randoms. I am not a fan of the 75. Muffin Top is delicious, as is Anti-Hero. For whatever reason, I had never tried it before. I'm saving the 120 for a special occasion, should one arise. To you experts, should I be storing the 120 in a fridge or in a cool dry place? I would expect the next special occasion will be this horrendous tax season coming to an end in April. I'll hang up and listen for my answer.

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-- source

Ding ding ding. I love it. Sure it's a cash grab, but Lagunitas had a "Love Sucks" version of Sucks sold around Valentines Day. I saw some at Whole Foods but passed. Think I'm down to a handful of Sucks. Time to replenish!

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-- source

A cool, dry place. Light can affect a beer, so the darker the better.

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Good people drink good beer - Hunter S. Thompson

<º)))><

Waiting for the time when I can finally say
That this has all been wonderful, but now I'm on my way

Okay. I'll store my beer like I search on match.com

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-- source

Just bought a box of 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon.

Give me your routing number, so I can transfer the money to you.

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Good people drink good beer - Hunter S. Thompson

<º)))><

Waiting for the time when I can finally say
That this has all been wonderful, but now I'm on my way

Just polished off a bottle of the Trader Joe's 2012 Vintage Ale. This is some solid beer. Brewed by Unibroue....who if I'm not mistaken is the brewery that brews La Fin DuMonde or however the hell you type it. And it's 9%, which will help me fall asleep right after dinner.

Anti-Hero has made it to the local brewery/pub. Is it worth my time to go there and try it? What IPA would you compare it to for those that have enjoyed it?

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That's my purse! I don't know you!

100% absolutely yes. My favorite American IPA right now and its not really close. Its like most of the citrus hop variety IPA's but just very well balanced and smooth for the amount of IBUs. You should probably stop reading this and go right now to get one

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I would compare it favorably to Lagunitas IPA. And yes, you must try it - it is a solid beer.

Picked up more beer over lunch, even though my fridge is already full. I bought:

Sixer of Lagunitas Sucks
Bomber of Lagunitas Wilco Tango Foxtrot
Bomber of Lagunitas Maximum
Four pack Hop Whoopin (never had this)
Sixer of Hop Notch (never had this either)

Looking forward to having a few of the above tonight for the hockey match.

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-- source

Just bought and destroyed a six pack over the weekend....



btw: this is happening March 30th. I'll be there from 1-4.

http://www.thechicagobeerfestival.com/

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@audioidkid

I suggest partying with her:

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favrefan said:"Chris Coghlan isn't gonna pay your rent, Jimmy."

So tonight I'm headed to Itasca to the Church Street Brewing Company. New outfit in an industrial park near the train station. They are only open as a brew pub on Fridays from 4-7 PM. I'll post a review

http://www.churchstreetbrew.com/

Picked up three sixers and two four packs of IPAs I've never had today. I'll try to post a list tomorrow night, since I don't feel like walking downstairs now.

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-- source

Cool place in Itasca - the atmosphere is definitely warehouse. They have a handful of tables and a small bar with about 3-4 employees. The host was great. Very nice guy who went out of his way to get us samples and we found room at the bar for a pint. Beer is $5 a pint, growlers are 12 + 6 bucks for new bottle.

They had 4 on top

Scottish Ale - It's tough for me to review this since I do not enjoy the style but it seemed pretty authentic - sweet malt, little bit of backbite.

Continental Lager - Nice easy drinking beer. While I don't drink much of these, I could see sipping on a growler of this for a few meals.

Red Ale - I did not like this one at all - had that mossy taste behind it and no other discernible flavors.

IPA - Reminded me of Outlaw and similar - more fresh up front hops than deep bitter IPAs that I normally enjoy but was solid.

Overall: If you are in the area, give them a try and support a local brewer but I would not recommend a special trip.

Grabbed a 4 pack of Central Waters Peruvian Morning Coffee Stout

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Good people drink good beer - Hunter S. Thompson

<º)))><

Waiting for the time when I can finally say
That this has all been wonderful, but now I'm on my way

I finally had the anti-hero. I had it at an Irish pub and it was served "real ale" style so it was a little flat and warmer than I prefer an IPA. It was still pretty damn good. Serving it that way magnifies any flaws IMO and this really didn't have one. I still need to have it served American Cold style.

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That's my purse! I don't know you!

awesome!

It's my new/old favorite beer....picked up a six pack today at Whole Foods. Binny's & DiCarlo's....hell, any liquor store worth it's salt carries it.
The GF likes the Wit. The Double IPA is good, Eugene Porter, Cross of Gold ale...you really can't go wrong.

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@audioidkid

That beer blew my mind. Nice pickup.

Last night, a friend of mine had a Stone tasting at his house. He opened ten Vertical Epics, one from each year 2003-2012. Good stuff.

There was a guy who works for one of the distributors in the area, and he brought some of the new Two Brothers Sidekick, that hasn't even hit the shelves yet. It's not bad. Light and refreshing, perfect for a hot summer day.

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Good people drink good beer - Hunter S. Thompson

<º)))><

Waiting for the time when I can finally say
That this has all been wonderful, but now I'm on my way

_________________
Good people drink good beer - Hunter S. Thompson

<º)))><

Waiting for the time when I can finally say
That this has all been wonderful, but now I'm on my way

Nice friend to have, Chus. I have never tried a single Stone offering. Is it pretty hoppy?

Last night, the Wife and I had a bottle of Off The Cuff by Two Brothers. Outstanding. She said it's one of her favorites. Today, I'm going to see if they have Central Waters at Friar Tuck's. That sounds awesome.

They were not IPAs, so they were not excessively hoppy. Read about them here:

http://beeradvocate.com/search?q=vertical+epic&qt=beer

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Good people drink good beer - Hunter S. Thompson

<º)))><

Waiting for the time when I can finally say
That this has all been wonderful, but now I'm on my way

Is this a picture you took or something you lifted from the internet? Because if it's the former you could have sold that haul to some BeerAdvocate ticker for like $1,500.

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Its only missing the ever elusive 02. I was able to have that 8 or 9 years ago in San Diego and it was hard as hell to find back then.

I haven't had the vertical epics in a few years. I really liked the early ones and then either my palate changed or they started putting too much spice in them.

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That's my purse! I don't know you!

I think the earliest I ever saw was a 4/4/04 on sale for $50 bucks or so at a liquor store in Indianapolis. It was just sitting on a bottom shelf, probably for the past 5 years. Not interested.

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So I went to Friar Tucks today and they had about 7 different flavors of Central Waters, of course with no Coffee Stout. I asked the guy if they were going to have any and he had never heard of it.

I was hoping you were referring to the skyline mirror picture in the background, because we have the same one hanging in the basement-...

Big news over here late this week, our 30 year-old distributor merged last fall with another, larger distributor from Grand Rapids, which promptly merged again with another, larger distributor. End result is one mega-distributor based in GR will now have license for the catalogs of Bell's, GreenBush, and most of the other microbreweries in MI, making many more accessible to the region, as production allows.

Oh that's easily worth $2,000.

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