What are you drinking?

[Mo]

Maybe it is the champagne of beers. (Look in the upper left quadrant near the x-axis)

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles ... mardi-gras

[lunchstealer]

Maybe it is the champagne of beers. (Look in the upper left quadrant near the x-axis)

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles ... mardi-gras

Really it's the house red of beers but yes.

[Warren]

I was drinking Monkey Shoulder Scotch last night. Surprisingly good and according to google, very reasonably priced. Anyone else ever taste it?

[Mo]

I've had it before. It's pretty decent.

[JD]

Same here, not for quite a while though.

[Warren]

MODUS HOPERANDI - IPA
by Ska Brewing (CO)

At 6.8% ABV it's a wee mite strong for me. Damned tasty though. Good bitter bite without being overpowering (I'm looking at you Dogfish Head). But it's the finish that makes it. A bright piney dry-hop aftertaste that lingers.

The can sports the phrase "Lip Up Fatty". After may clicks through the YouGoogs, I think I understand the meaning, but not the reason. I do dig the bobby-soxers graphic though.

[Eric the .5b]

The other night, I tried some Jim Beam I'd gotten for Christmas.

...It turned out to be OK in a honey-and-bitters Old Fashioned.

[Kwix]

MODUS HOPERANDI - IPA
by Ska Brewing (CO)

At 6.8% ABV it's a wee mite strong for me. Damned tasty though. Good bitter bite without being overpowering (I'm looking at you Dogfish Head). But it's the finish that makes it. A bright piney dry-hop aftertaste that lingers.

The can sports the phrase "Lip Up Fatty". After may clicks through the YouGoogs, I think I understand the meaning, but not the reason. I do dig the bobby-soxers graphic though.

If you can get some Deschute's Pinedrops is an excellent resinous IPA in the west coast style.

[JD]

At 6.8% ABV it's a wee mite strong for me.

"At 6.8% ABV it's a wee mite strong"?!?! My everyday go-to is something like Snake Dog, at 7.1%, or Delicious IPA, at 7.7%. If I'm feeling it, I go for Raging Bitch, at 8.3%, and I'm looking forward to trying The Truth, at 8.7%, and every now and then I like a Double Bastard at 11%.

[JD]

That said, this last week I was drinking El Sully. It's fine, although frankly I think if your goal is "Mexican Lager" you can get there cheaper.

[lunchstealer]

I often go for wee heavies and strong IPAs but there's a lot to be said for a good session beer.

BTW, I am not down with the examples of brut IPAs I've had. There's a trendy hop profile that I'm not digging. I imagine this is what older beer drinkers thought when tasting Cascade for the first time, but yeah it's just irksome. Like all the wrong grapefruit flavors or something. Like just the pith.

[Kwix]

I like the brut stuff. It's IPA without all of that grainy sweetness. Yeah, it's out of balance and no I won't drink them all the time but when I want a bitter punch in the face it fits the bill.

ETA: I also like campari and most amaros so... yeah.

[dhex]

Bought a bottle of ardbeg 10 and I'm not sure if I made a mistake. Sheeeeeeeeeeet it is intense.

[Andrew]

Bought a bottle of ardbeg 10 and I'm not sure if I made a mistake. Sheeeeeeeeeeet it is intense.

Ardbeg 10 is great, although I would probably never do more than two pours in an evening.

[dhex]

I really liked the other ardbeg I've had over the years but this is beefy. Splash of water helps.

[JasonL]

My local bar / 3rd place is closing .

I just witnessed a boilermaker made with Pappy 23 and Hudy. So that was a thing.

Plus side, I got this for free.

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[JD]

Because I can't drink while on this medication, I'm trying Brooklyn Brewery's "Special Effects". And it actually tastes like beer! Not, mind you, a particularly good beer or one I would reach for under any other circumstances.

[dead_elvis]

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To celebrate day 14 of quarantine I got out an old bottle of Stone's Southern Charred (it's their Double Bastard, aged in bourbon barrels). I bought it a long time ago and a special enough occasion never seemed to come along so it ended up aging 6 years. Which clearly was way too long, as I suspected it might be. Guess the cork top leaked or breathed a little too much, it was on the flat side and all hop character was completely gone. What was left was some bourbon and delicious chewy tawny-type flavors that were overpowered by the insane alcohol level (13.2%), so it mostly just tasted way too hot. I'm sure this would have been way better about 5 years ago when it would have been more balanced.

[Kwix]

Guess the cork top leaked or breathed a little too much, it was on the flat side and all hop character was completely gone.

Yeah, I don't care what Stone or anyone else says hops doesn't age. Everything else in it turns to that funky raisin aged flavor (which I dig) but hops just disappears.

[dead_elvis]

Dug an old random home-brew out of the back of the closet. Last one from a few years ago. Was supposed to be an English Amber, but had sour contamination (which I noted in my notes already at bottling time). But I'll be darned if it didn't mellow out into a really, really nice sour so I drank the whole thing and enjoyed it as such.

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[JD]

I acquired a bottle of "McQueen and the Violet Fog" gin. It's interesting, very floral, very not juniper-forward, almost candy-like. For this reason it's not the best for a g&t (that calls for a cleaner, crisper gin, IMHO) but it works in a gimlet or gin and ting. Might just try it with soda and some lemon tonight.

[JasonL]

Port is typically unvintaged, meaning grapes from different years are blended to create a common style that if you've tried port is most likely what you have tasted. On average 2-3 times a decade a single harvest will not require blending and will have enough power and balance for the big houses to make vintage bottles. Be it climate change or whatever, 2018 was just vintaged making it the 3rd consecutive vintage year. This is probably the best time in modern history to try a vintage port if you haven't ever done it and are so inclined. I get it that port is polarizing with the sugars and all.

2017s are considered by many the best vintage in 30 years, and their prices reflect it. Now that 2018s are in there along with the slightly less universally loved 2016s, you may be able to get a relative deal on one of those. Note: a regular grocery ruby or tawny port will last weeks after being opened, but a vintaged port should be considered something more similar to a bottle of red wine. Expect the flavors to be worse after 2 days in the fridge.

[D.A. Ridgely]

Port is typically unvintaged, meaning grapes from different years are blended to create a common style that if you've tried port is most likely what you have tasted. On average 2-3 times a decade a single harvest will not require blending and will have enough power and balance for the big houses to make vintage bottles. Be it climate change or whatever, 2018 was just vintaged making it the 3rd consecutive vintage year. This is probably the best time in modern history to try a vintage port if you haven't ever done it and are so inclined. I get it that port is polarizing with the sugars and all.

2017s are considered by many the best vintage in 30 years, and their prices reflect it. Now that 2018s are in there along with the slightly less universally loved 2016s, you may be able to get a relative deal on one of those. Note: a regular grocery ruby or tawny port will last weeks after being opened, but a vintaged port should be considered something more similar to a bottle of red wine. Expect the flavors to be worse after 2 days in the fridge.

Only mildly relevant, if one is ever in Lisbon a trip to the Port Wine Institute (which is mostly a lounging area with a massive port wine list to sample) is a must. It's in the Bairro Alto, my favorite part of the city.

[JasonL]

I have to get to Portugal. It's a glaring hole in my wine education and travel experiences.

[lunchstealer]

I have to get to Portugal. It's a glaring hole in my wine education and travel experiences.

And it's awesome as a place to go, especially because it's cheap.