Beer. Not shit beer. Good beer.

[unit300021]

They were shelved in the special release section. They have been there for a while though so who knows really.

[Drinkey McDrinkerstein]

You're right, they're in the Special Releases section on the Stone site, but they've been available in stores for at least 6 months. it's also been available from time to time on keg for the past 2 years too. I'd bet they'll be around for as long as they sell well.

[BlueDevil50]

Has anyone tried Stone's Mint Chocolate Imperial Stout? It apparently sold out immediately at my BevMo! and they aren't getting anymore shipments.

[Drinkey McDrinkerstein]

Huh. Again, those were available in bottles several months ago too. I've had it in both bottle and out of a keg. It's OKAY. Both the chocolate and mint flavors were extremely subtle. it tasted like a Guinness with an aftertaste to me. Worth it if you like stouts, but nothing exceptional.

[bmack86]

We had a bottle of that at the tasting at your friends' place in Echo, Andrew. I was quite a fan of it, and I thought there was some fairly bold mint flavor.

[faxman75]

Clown Shoes Pecan Pie Porter is very good. You can smell the pecans when you pour it and the after taste is quite good.

Diamond Knot Ho! Ho! Ho! Winter Ale was far too bitter for my liking. I could not even finish it.

I fill up growlers at Total Wine of their tap beers and this time I got a 32 oz. of Sonoran White Chocolate Ale which is very good. Sonoran Brewing Company is local but I haven't tried much more of their offerings.

While I was visiting my mom in NW Indiana over Thanksgiving I made my annual trip to Three Floyds in Munster, IN since it's literally 2 miles away. Gumballhead and Robert the Bruce remain my favorites there with Zombiedust also deserving a mention. It was about 34 degrees outside and there was still an hour wait in the afternoon and the "to go" line was out the door. I'm still amazed at how popular this place is. I also did the tour which is basically just a bit of history and a look at their warehouse. Their distribution is still fairly small focusing on Indiana, Illinois and a little bit in Ohio. One thing I learned is the person who does the art work for their beer mascots also works for marvel comics.

http://www.3floyds.com/

Finally, I had some Guiness...a lot of Guiness when I was in Dublin at some old traditional pubs that know how to pour. It really does taste twice as good there. It's very creamy and smooth.

[SepaGroove]

Alcohol myself, my fiance, and our friends and family will be consuming tonight:

Dogfish Head 90 Minute
North Coast Old Rasputin
Deschutes Hop Henge
Russian River Pliny the Elder
Boulevard Long Strange Tripel
Great Divide Old Ruffian Barleywine

Blue Label
Tito's Handmade Vodka

Nothing too out of the ordinary, but should be a good night!

[BlueDevil50]

Clown Shoes Pecan Pie Porter is very good. You can smell the pecans when you pour it and the after taste is quite good.

Diamond Knot Ho! Ho! Ho! Winter Ale was far too bitter for my liking. I could not even finish it.

I fill up growlers at Total Wine of their tap beers and this time I got a 32 oz. of Sonoran White Chocolate Ale which is very good. Sonoran Brewing Company is local but I haven't tried much more of their offerings.

While I was visiting my mom in NW Indiana over Thanksgiving I made my annual trip to Three Floyds in Munster, IN since it's literally 2 miles away. Gumballhead and Robert the Bruce remain my favorites there with Zombiedust also deserving a mention. It was about 34 degrees outside and there was still an hour wait in the afternoon and the "to go" line was out the door. I'm still amazed at how popular this place is. I also did the tour which is basically just a bit of history and a look at their warehouse. Their distribution is still fairly small focusing on Indiana, Illinois and a little bit in Ohio. One thing I learned is the person who does the art work for their beer mascots also works for marvel comics.

http://www.3floyds.com/

Finally, I had some Guiness...a lot of Guiness when I was in Dublin at some old traditional pubs that know how to pour. It really does taste twice as good there. It's very creamy and smooth.

I really wish there was a way to get some 3 Floyds beers over here. I had two of their beers at the Firestone Beer Fest last year and absolutely LOVED them.

[sonnyboy11]

Alcohol myself, my fiance, and our friends and family will be consuming tonight:

Dogfish Head 90 Minute
North Coast Old Rasputin
Deschutes Hop Henge
Russian River Pliny the Elder
Boulevard Long Strange Tripel
Great Divide Old Ruffian Barleywine

Blue Label
Tito's Handmade Vodka

Nothing too out of the ordinary, but should be a good night!

You have some Blue Label too? Nice! I guess I never really think anyone has the stuff- just admires it on a shelf behind a glass case in the store. I've had a couple of friends over and the fifth I have is about half gone now. Still impressed by it.

I'm heading out to Lazy Ox Canteen tonight for NYE. Not sure what I'll end up drinking. They've got Green Flash “Palate Wrecker” Double IPA on tap so might go with that.

[SepaGroove]

You have some Blue Label too? Nice! I guess I never really think anyone has the stuff- just admires it on a shelf behind a glass case in the store. I've had a couple of friends over and the fifth I have is about half gone now. Still impressed by it.

I'm heading out to Lazy Ox Canteen tonight for NYE. Not sure what I'll end up drinking. They've got Green Flash “Palate Wrecker” Double IPA on tap so might go with that.

Myself and about 5 of my friends split the cost of one bottle of Blue Label and are just drinking it for tonight because it's NYE.

I'm a student and only work about 32 hours a week right now, I usually can't afford to drink it.

The Green Flash IPA is good, I've had it many times.

[faxman75]

I really wish there was a way to get some 3 Floyds beers over here. I had two of their beers at the Firestone Beer Fest last year and absolutely LOVED them.

Yeah you can't ship alcohol from Indiana either but it's on the border of Illinois so last year I had a friend ship me a 6 pack of Robert the Bruce. It cost me around $30 total for the beer, packaging and shipping. She really put a lot of care into packing it safely and it paid off because they arrived perfectly. I drank them with friends on a special occasion so the $5/beer was worth it considering there was nowhere for thousands of miles to get any.

[guedita]

Having a Green Flash Hop Head Red with lobster tail dinner tonight.

[SepaGroove]

Having a Green Flash Hop Head Red with lobster tail dinner tonight.

Sounds classy.

[Neighborhood Creep]

I'll be drinking Bell's Two Hearted Ale all evening since I am trying to stay away from Vodka.

[darkmoon66]

Set aside a Dark Horse Bourbon Barrel-Aged Plead the 5th for tonight. It will be my first beer of 2013.

[darkmoon66]

Hmm. Well, at least one place I went to had Oak Aged in front of the title. Maybe they just put oak chips in the cask? Regardless, it had that aged flavor.

Oak chips would make sense.

I thought the smoked porters were always barrel-aged, though I could be wrong.

Stone Smoked Porter isn't barrel aged at all, just brewed with peat smoked malt

Stone also has the oak bastard so they have to have some sort of oak barrel or chips or something.

For Oaked Arrogant Bastard they used oak chips.

[Drewski27]

I picked this up for tonight. It looked and sounded interesting.


And since I got this for Christmas, I'll tear into a little of it as well...

[bmack86]

I enjoyed Positive Contact, didn't love it though.

[unit300021]

I ended up going to a bar tonight that still had 12-12-12 on tap. That pretty much made my New Years Eve.

[bmack86]

I drank a bottle of 12-12-12 tonight and was blown away. So damn good. Will definitely go get the others they had there, especially for 5 apiece.

[Neighborhood Creep]

I can't walk

[Neighborhood Creep]

Survivor shots every hour after 6 for free.

[hippityhip]

Went to Stone's NYE event. Had amazing beer all night. Their Cherry Stout was phenomenal. Bought VE 04 thru 07 (aged in red wine barrels) <-- an all time favorite. Hair of the dog blue dot double IPA. Something called age in a cave and other beers I can't remember right now. Mac & cheese with sausage. That is all. Happy new year and cheers my friends.

[sonnyboy11]

^That sounds good!

Had the best meal I've ever eaten from the Lazy Ox last night. Did the chef's tasting menu and it was simply outta this world. One of the dishes was a gnocchi with caramelized Brussels sprouts. Holy moly was that thing good!

Plan today is to head over to Wurstkuche and drink Schneider's Edel-Weisse or maybe a couple Duchesse De Bourgogne along with some sausages.

Happy New Year!

[Courtney]

I posted a question about re-uses for old pot-stopper beer bottles in the DIY thread. Cross-posting here in case any of you have good ideas.

[Drewski27]

Positive Contact was alright, but not memorable. I have had better.

[stinkbutt]

Zach shared some Black Tuesday with us last night. It was bottled brilliance

[guedita]

That shit got me drunk.

[guedita]

(but it was tasty).

[bmack86]

Yeah, I was proper fucked after that.