It was very good, a grain belt Nordeast, my favorite. Inexpensive and has taste.
What's y'alls favorite beer or drink?
No shit I just got home, listening to the latest citations needed and drinking some Blahblahblah IPA from 21st Amendment Brewery
I like caipirinha, just love myself some lime.
Don't really drink much anymore though. When it comes to beer I tend to just like lagers.
DAMN! I moved away from MPLS a couple years ago and started drinking significantly less and forgot all about Grain Belt and now all I want is Grain Belt and Nordeast.
For stuff you can get anywhere probably sour monkey. For something that's kind of regional Zywiec both for bang buck/alcoholism.
Steel reserve cause it tastes like rye bread. Also Kentucky mule.
lol the fastest way for me to doxx myself would be to talk about what beer I'm drinking. So instead I'll just talk about beer I'm not actually drinking but that I would drink if it weren't for my local scene stepping it up a bit and travel restrictions. But yeah, basically drinking NEIPA, New England IPA, which is the best kind of IPA because we go crazy with flavor and aroma hops and there's no bittering hops, so less bitterness than an older style west coast IPA. (American IPAs were really associated with the west coast ever since the 90s; WA is still where all the hops come from)
But yeah, Treehouse brewing, Trillium, and all the other good breweries around new england and elsewhere that have really dialed in this style and it's really delicious. I had a keg of a local beer and it was 100% Mosaic and the aroma was this wonderful intense blueberry hoppiness. so fucking good.
I worried about this with my post, but this account isn't linked to anything. It would be nice if being online with a fun discourse didn't hazard a chance to get doxxed and swatted, but that's life. Local beer is just tastier, I love a good fresh beer from a brewery.
Hot take: Trillium is the most overrated brewery in the Commonwealth. Especially their NEIPAs.
I mean their "fruited sours" are definitely more overrated, but I kinda agree. Trillium NEIPAs are just kinda meh. People like to shit on treehouse too but their regular beers are always delicious as fuck. I do think that "special" IPAs from tree house are waaaaay overrated though. The difference between a Green, Very Green and GGGGGGGGreeen is almost never worth the wait/lower availability.
The difference between Trillium and Treehouse is twofold:
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Tree House's flagships, like you said, are all really solid beers, despite being somewhat overhyped.
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Tree House makes some fantastic lagers, brown ales, ESBs, etc. that Trillium doesn't seem to pull off when they try.
Also, nobody asked, but toss Night Shift in the overrated category here.
The most underrated breweries in the state are Bone Up in Everett, and Castle Island down in Norwood.
The most appropriately rated is Jack's Abby, because everyone loves it.
Do people really still like Jack's Abby? They were kinda big when they first came out but I was always kinda underwhelmed. I like the idea though, lagers are tasty.
Night Shift is definitely overhyped and it kinda sucks. I was in their barrel program for 2015 and I still have a bunch of bottles of theirs. The barrel society tasting party was fun but it really made me less than excited to crack everything from them because it was all just kinda meh.
I don't think I've had Bone Up or Castle Island; what are they like?
and definitely agree on tree house's browns and lagers being really good; it's always funny how they manage to sneak in their signature mouthfeel/water chemistry stuff into beers where it's not exactly appropriate.
I still love Jack's Abby. They make really well-made lagers with no frills, a couple spinoffs with frills that are very good, and they are reasonably priced, $10 for a 6-pack of 16oz cans. They are really well respected, but nobody hypes their special releases. They fill an incredibly important role in the craft market, and I fear they are going to outgrow it as they get bigger and bigger every year.
Bone Up is a metal/punk bar that happens to brew a lot of really high quality beers. They are a tiny brew system, so they churn out great, unique beers, and the vibe of the place is great.
Castle Island is just on there because they are a really solid place with some great "extreme beers," like their annual anniversary stout. Plus, they are on the way to Gillette Stadium from Boston, so it's a perfect pre-Revs stop for me.
bone up sounds fun; I hope they make it through this whole pandemic thing so I can check them out in the future.
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I like a good red ale, not too picky about the specific brand. Dark enough to be interesting but light enough to have more than two without feeling gross.
