What are you drinking RIGHT NOW?

[Jambe]

Haven't tried it over ice, admittedly. Guess I'll give it a shot.

[just brew it!]

Toasted Hungarian oak chips, eh?

Are you sure your phrase-book is legit?

My fermenter is full of eels...

They certainly look and smell like toasted oak chips... beyond that I just need to trust the label on the bag that they are actually Hungarian, since I'm not knowledgeable enough about oak to identify its nationality by aroma and/or flavor!

[just brew it!]

Haven't tried it over ice, admittedly. Guess I'll give it a shot.

I personally tend to prefer my hard liquor neat (on those rare occasions when I partake of it). Generally I just stick to the beer...

[paulWTAMU]

This is pretty much the only hard liquor I drink straight. Once in a blue moon I'll have some anejo tequila at a bar and that I always drink warm & neat.

[flip-mode]

Well, it's only 10:27 am, so obviously I'm drinking Rivertown's Roebling Imperial Robust Porter. Coffee, vanilla, and chocolate flavors. Don't judge, because honestly, morning time is the only time this brew is good. It's too thick and heavy to drink during most normal hours of the day. I imagine it's probably best during the months when the dark lingers long and the temperatures linger low.

[just brew it!]

At least you're in the Eastern time zone; if you were on the west coast, it would've been only 7:30 AM!

Something you may have not thought of: Heavy, sweet beers work well as a dessert. I'm generally not a dessert/sweets fan, but if there's an Imperial Stout (or Barleywine, or Scottish-style Wee Heavy...) on the beer menu, I'll have a liquid dessert!

I've also never thought much of the "light low alcohol beers in summer, heavy strong beers in winter" rule. Screw that. Sometimes you just want an Imperial Stout in July (you should try making an ice cream float with one sometime...), or a wheat beer in the winter!

[flip-mode]

Sometimes you just want an Imperial Stout in July (you should try making an ice cream float with one sometime...), or a wheat beer in the winter!

It's hefeweizen all year long for me.

[Captain Ned]

It's hefeweizen all year long for me.

Whereas I can't abide wheat beers and will happily drink hop-head IPAs (love me that Dogfish 90/120) year round.

À chacun son goût.

[just brew it!]

There isn't a style of beer I would outright refuse to drink, though I wouldn't pay for anything in categories 1A-1C with the possible exception (as a last resort) of Sam Adams Light, Pabst Blue Ribbon, Heineken, or Becks. (And the Euro lagers are only worth drinking if they've not been lightstruck... and as a further nitpick, I'm pretty sure that Wiki article is mistaken, I don't think it is UV that is the problem... but I digress. Maybe if I get ambitious I'll do the research and fix the Wiki entry!)

[Captain Ned]

PBR??

So you do have some hipster in you.

[just brew it!]

PBR??

So you do have some hipster in you.

It's what I drank in college 3 decades ago. So it's not a hipster thing... it's nostalgia!

[Captain Ned]

It's what I drank in college 3 decades ago. So it's not a hipster thing... it's nostalgia!

Ah. For me that would be Old Milwaukee, Schlitz, or Strohs. It all depended on whatever was cheapest at the distributor that week. Way back when such things mattered I was the House Kegmaster for the three years I lived in the house. My sole duty was to keep us on tap at all times and to keep the lines clean. Non-party weeks meant 1-2 kegs/week. Party weeks meant 30-50 kegs/week. The non-party load was easy, as I just drove down to the distributor and put the new keg in the passenger seat. Party times were a PITA as our tap room was below grade and moving that many kegs downstairs was an "all hands on deck" project.

[NeelyCam]

Ah. For me that would be Old Milwaukee, Schlitz, or Strohs. It all depended on whatever was cheapest at the distributor that week.

To me it was IceHouse or Busch Ice..

[JustAnEngineer]

It's what I drank in college 3 decades ago. So it's not a hipster thing... it's nostalgia!

Busch, because it was $8/case and college students are poor.

[todd]

PBR??

So you do have some hipster in you.

My dad drank pbr.
Kept 4 coolers in the back of his truck, and kept a case and ice in each one, 24/7. He had 4 sons, maybe there is a correlation.

[Jambe]

Couldn't tell much difference in flavor between out of the fridge, ootf over ice, and room temperature over ice. ooc I diluted some 3:1, 2:1 and 1:1 whiskey to cold filtered water. The flavor didn't change much; maybe the smokiness from the JD came out but it really just became less curiously viscous which was off-putting because the mouthfeel is a big appeal of this. Even neat it has very little overt alcohol and it's just plain tasty. Smooth in the mouth, easily sippable, not sickeningly sweet (could be a TOUCH more oaky whiskey though, iyam), not burny, delicious... a delectably dangerous distillation.

In my near future (aka when I get a good rum): Dark n Stormies.

[Ethyriel]

Tonight was Affligem tripel, fresh cask dry hopped copper cone, and Smoke Jumper. I've also had Hoptimum and Deviant Dale's that I've been totally unhappy with over the last couple days. And at home I've been on a sixer of Ruthless Rye that I'm really loving that kind of aged woody (aged wood, not aged in wood) character of, and an Ommegang Dubbel that's always an excellent value.

[just brew it!]

And at home I've been on a sixer of Ruthless Rye that I'm really loving that kind of aged woody (aged wood, not aged in wood) character of

I've been enjoying this one as well; it seems to be one of those beers that you either love or hate. I'm pretty sure that "woody" character (I would describe it as "resiny") comes from the hops they use in it, probably the Chinook. It's amazing how much of a flavor and aroma difference there is between different hop strains!

[Ethyriel]

Yeah, I was having trouble figuring out if it was the hops or rye, it's a really distinct taste that I haven't gotten anywhere else. Do you know anything that puts chinook on display?

[just brew it!]

Yeah, I was having trouble figuring out if it was the hops or rye, it's a really distinct taste that I haven't gotten anywhere else. Do you know anything that puts chinook on display?

Not off the top of my head. I'd describe them as grapefruity like Cascades, but also with a resiny/piney character. Conventional wisdom used to be that they were a bit too in-your-face to use as a flavor or aroma hop (so they were used primarily as a bittering hop), but that seems to have gone out the window with the rise in popularity of in-your-face IPAs, Double IPAs, etc.!

Could also be those "experimental" hops they claim to be using, and the rye may be a contributing factor as well.

[paulWTAMU]

I've donwed half a bottle of tennessee honey in the last 2 hours. It's not ery strong stuff-35% ABV i think?? but for worknight, that'senough. Also drinking sprite. Have a 3 hour training and I have do people's weekly reviews tomorrow. Gotta drink a lot of water.

[Captain Ned]

Cheap Scotch and cheap beer.

[Ethyriel]

Could also be those "experimental" hops they claim to be using, and the rye may be a contributing factor as well.

It could be the experimental hops, I suppose, but I paid a lot more attention last night, and I'm pretty sure it's the rye. But the hops match up to that rye flavor really well. They sit right next to each other all along their flavor profiles, not really blending together, but playing off each other in a very interesting way. I'm loving this growing rye trend.

[Ethyriel]

I started with St Feullien Blonde, and finished with 5oz of Jewbelation 15. Both were awesome, but the Odell's Shenanigans was really something special. It had the butterscotch malts of a barley wine, and the brettanomyces of a good sour on top. I'm still not quite sure how I feel about it. I sampled it before I had anything else, but drank it after the St Feullien, and somehow I think even a pale Belgian strong ruined it to some degree. The sample was up there with Saboteur as far as unique, yeasty bears go, but it didn't do much for me once I got the full tulip. I'll definitely be leading with it next time.

[JustAnEngineer]

Killian's Irish Red

[mnecaise]

Maui dark rum. The EDA software made me do it.

[NeelyCam]

I'm out of IPA *sad*

Having some red wine, though... it's ok

[thegleek]

Maui dark rum. The EDA software made me do it.

And can you define what EDA is? Electronic Design Automation?

[just brew it!]

Maui dark rum. The EDA software made me do it.

And can you define what EDA is? Electronic Design Automation?

That's what I would assume.

Dogfish Head 60 Minute here. Heading off in about a half hour to a 50th B-Day party for one of the other local beer geeks... seeya on the other side!

[mnecaise]

Maui dark rum. The EDA software made me do it.

And can you define what EDA is? Electronic Design Automation?

Sorry, Yes that's it. OrCAD Schematic Capture, P-Spice and PCB layout, specifically. New job, have to hit the books, relearn all my forgotten electrical engineering skills and learn to use the tools. Long nights. Feel like I'm back at university except the stakes are a bit higher.