Was in Chicago last week, got to try some beers from Goose Island Brewery Yummy! The honker ale and 312 were not to shabby either
Honker is on tap at my bowling alley. Good stuff. And that's coming from a hop head. (Honker is decidedly malty, IMO...)
Agreed. I had heard that part of the reason the original owners sold it to AB/InBev was that they weren't able to keep up with demand and therefore had been forced to discontinue brewing some of their beers. One of them was the Nut Brown Ale, which was a favorite of mine. Haven't seen it back on the shelves yet, but from their website, it looks like they're back to brewing it.
The local pub here in St. Louis is featuring Nut Brown Ale on tap this weekend. and Goose Island's website states : Year Round Starting March 2012 Bottles: 6pks Draft: 1/6 & 1/2bbl http://www.gooseisland.com/pages/nut_brown_ale/19.php I think I'll be ordering one for my tapper soon.
The "nano brewery" marketplace is in full effect in DC I really like this place http://www.chocolatecitybeer.com It's about 4 miles from my house
My local beer store has a large collection of rotating taps for growler fills. I walked in and saw this on the board after reading this thread. It was a decent beer. Very easy-drinking, just not distinctive. The coconut flavor was interesting, though.
Unibroue never disappoints. Černá Hora Kvasar and Černá Hora Moravské Sklepní Nefiltrované Both are good, although I'm more partial to the Kvasar. Kvasar is a golden-brown (though not quite amber) lager with a slight honey taste balanced out by a hop finish. The Unfiltered Moravian Cellar beer is basically standard Czech pilsener, but unfiltered and slightly aged in a cellar before being sold, so the taste is a bit stronger and the texture a bit fuller. Sadly, I've not encountered them in New York (only Kvasar would have any chance of making it as the other is more a specialty beer)... Would have been the perfect beer to toast the Czech victory over Montenegro in the the Euro 2012 qualification playoff now that I think about it.
Just discovered that the Trader Joe's Vintage Ale, which I've enjoyed a few times, is brewed by Unibroue. It's definitely worth a try if you are into Belgian-style dark ales...
regular beers: jealous belgians always say Heineken is dishwater, imo it's just a good beer to drink. Paulaner from Germany (the Oktoberfest beer I thought?) is really nice. Jupiler from our Belgian neighbours drinks nicely. Hertog Jan from the South of Holland too, more fruity and bitter than Heineken.
I am not a big fan of ordinary bock beers, but the spring bocks are always great. In particular, Einbecker's Mai-Ur-Bock is great but the Dutch, for all the pitty they deserve for their Pilseners, don't do so bad neither. An example would be Grolsch Lentebok Though the one from Jopen, a microbrew from Haarlem, is better imo. Can you get spring bocks in the US?
You can, but they're pretty few and far between. I think bocks in general miss both of the two main beer drinking populations in the States: cheap lager drinkers and good beer drinkers (who tend to prefer stronger ales). Not to toot their horn even further, but CBC in Cambridge tends to do a very nice Spring Bock this time of year: http://cambridgebrewing.com/beer/description/spring_bock/
I'm a big maibock fan and have seen a few here in the States. I can't remember any off of the top of my head, but I know that I've seen some. Smuttynose apparently makes one. http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/smuttynose-maibock/13221/
When I lived in Belgium I drank Jupiler all the time. Unfortunately I have never seen it imported here in the states. Too bad
Had one of these last night. Going to knock off at least a couple tonight. Trader Joe's isn't allowed to sell beer in my state (most grocery stores aren't) but I had a friend from Chicago stay with us last night on his way to DC. He scored some, kept it cool, and we had one each. Two down, ten to go.
Gordon Biersch makes one. In Milwaukee, Sprecher does a Maibock. Lakefront does something they call an imperial Maibock.
