I tried some Arcadia Ales brews recently, and found their Brown Ale to be particularly tasty. Lagunitas Brown Shugga was also superb. I’d hate to see those become harder to come by.
Granted I do live near Chicago, which is going to have enough demand to keep distributors for them. It’s places like the plains states that I’d most think would be impacted. I’d imagine someone living in the middle of Kansas would be impacted far more than me.
Dos Equis is ending the Most Interesting Man in the World commercials. “His only regret, is not knowing what regret feels like.”
Some of those ads fell flat (for me), but some were just brilliant. “He once parallel parked a locomotive.” Or the visual of him standing in a river throwing salmon to a grizzly bear.
Brilliant and hugely successful. Something like tripling their sales, even if they totally failed on me - because I have not and will not drink any Dos Equis.
I can’t recall ever drinking Dos Equis. Is it that bad?
IMHO, Dos Equis isn’t like Bud-Light-bad, or Old-Milwaukee-Light-bad, but it’s also not good. “Drink only if nothing else available” category.
Dos Equis Amber is an acceptable beer under certain circumstances. The lager is about on par with Corona (which means, IMO, not that good but still drinkable).
While in the heat of summer I like IPAs, for the past six months my beers of choice have been stuff like North Coast’s Old Stock Ale, Founder’s Backwoods Bastard, various porters and stouts, and a variety of oddities like Omegang’s Adoration or Dogfish’s Imortale. I have a weakness for stuff that’s aged in bourbon barrels, too. A brewery right down the road also makes a great Scottish Ale, though only in larger bottles that aren’t that useful for me.
I will probably drink more IPA type stuff as the weather warms, but I don’t know if I’ll be as gung-ho about them. I’ve pretty much had my fill of super-hoppy stuff I think.
I came across Stockyard Oatmeal Stout at Trader Joe’s recently for $6 a six pack. Very good with chocolate and coffee coming through. My current favorite is Lagunitas IPA and I also like Ballast Point Sculpin IPA
I’ve also been big on IPAs in the past, but lately I’ve been more into stuff like Brown Ales. Lagunitas has some good stuff, but Arcadia Ales has a really fantastic brown ale.
Will have to check out Trader Joes, I always forget them since none are really on my commute route. However I have been meaning to go there more.
Trader Joe’s has some very good beers at lower prices than elsewhere. You can even build your own six pack and pay the average price. Nice for sampling several beers.
While I’ve had terrible luck with their wines, Trader Joe’s beers have been generally a good deal. Certainly worth checking out for the prices. Sadly, most of the stuff that looks tasty (non-beer stuff) at Trader Joe’s is supremely unhealthy.
dark chocolate - looks tasty, actually good for you
and cheap at TJ’s
Oh - beer: looked at TJ’s beer selection once or twice, but we have better options (greater selection, not much different in price) locally.
I’ve been focused lately on IPAs that aren’t “the hops, all the hops and nothing but the hops”. 90-minute has just enough beyond the hops to qualify. Titan (Great Divide), Crooked Tree (Dark Horse) and Two-Hearted (Bell’s) are always in my rotation. I also have several Third Coast Old Ale and Bigfoot Ale in the basement (both American barleywine) - now that it is warming up I’ll probably let them just age until next winter.
For variety I like the occasional Cane & Ebel (Rye Ale) and Trois Pistoles (Belgian style, from Canada) and suchlike.
I had a Two-Hearted last vacation in Michigan and it really packs a hop punch that is no longer pleasant to me. I used to have a higher tolerance ten years ago when I was younger and drinking more in general, but the Two-hearted reminded me a lot of the Racer Five from Bear Republic I used to get in NorCal, which was also pushing my limit even then. But I still love hops, and my favorite beer in the UK right now is the Meantime Pale Ale and Brewdog Punk IPA, which both resemble a SierraNevada, but crisper, more floral and less metallic. My local Waitrose just started stocking the Lagunitas IPA but it just reminds me how we had always preferred their Pils.
Speaking of Unibroue, last visiting my parents in Montreal, I grabbed a bottle of the (new to me) Raftman, which has the belgian style twang but with a nice Malt Whisky undertone. It was really nice, and not so overbearing that you’d get tired of it by the end.
BrewDog is building their massive new US brewery about 12 minutes from my house. Can’t wait.
If you like the Sculpin I would recommend their Grapefruit Sculpin and DeSchuttes Breweries Fresh Squeezed IPA.
Try the habanero sculpin too (assuming you like spicy). The spice, grain, and hop flavors contrast and complement one another amazingly well!
Although I not a fan of Guiness I tried their relatively new IPA and found it to be very drinkable. It is a Nitro Ale but with some hops that makes it hoppier than a Caffreys or Kilkenny (my personal favourite). If you like Nitro Ales or bitter then I would definitely recommend it, if you like mid-high hops in IPA then I would not recommend it.
Up here in Canada the selection of craft IPAs and others has exploded, finally catching up. In Toronto there are a few good choices:
Nickel Brook Brewery out of Burlington makes a pretty good American Pale Ale called Naughty Neighbour, though I guess if its American Pale Ale they should spell in Neighbor? Their Headstock IPA is also good though quite strong at 7%.
Out of Guelph is Double Trouble Brewing and they have Fire in the Rye, a roasted rye pale ale, recommended. http://doubletroublebrewing.com/about-our-beer/ Their Hops and Robbers IPA is also good though it has a strong pine flavour which may not appeal to some… good for spring though.
The one you 'muricans can get that I’ve enjoyed a couple times lately is Shock Top Beligan White. It’s a bit lighter and I think they were bought out by Labatt which is a huge negative to me, but the beer is decent.
Any other Toronto beer drinkers?
Although not really craft beer I used to be fond of a Creemore when I lived in Toronto, Keith’s was decent as well.