NT, What Beer Do You Drink?

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wow, this is outstanding
 
My haul from this weekend in Baltimore:

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Was hoping to get double duckpin but next batch isn't out for a couple of weeks...also wanted some Manor Hill but they were out of stock at the store I went to...maybe a hiccup in the supply chain if they were affected by the flood in Ellicot City

Got to check out Max's Taphouse (known as the best bar in the mid Atlantic region) and Of Love & Regret (Stillwater Artisinal Ales pub)...both were excellent

Union Craft Brewing was in my long list but didn't make it there...wasn't really a beer centric trip as I have two small children and was visiting family
 
^ Definitely man. First time trying an IPA from Grimm so looking forward to it.
I'd look out for Afterimage, if anything.  I know you're over trading, but it's coming out again at the end of the month.  Now THAT'S a Grimm beer worth trading for.  Probably one of my favorite beers ever.  

Just cracked another Trillium:

This is nice, but it's eerily reminiscent of the IPAs Singlecut is brewing.  That's not necessarily a bad thing though.  Very good, just not one of my favorite Trillium beers.

Oh and for the record...DDH Scaled>Scaled Up.
 
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Not sure how I feel about this. So much going on.
Not bad, not great. There's a hop bite, some bourbon character and a spiciness that I just can't figure out.
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3 of 4 Heady Toppers down and I gotta say. WTH. I'm catching this herbal tea sort of muddle hop flavor just all over the place. First can may have just been nostalgic. As it stands now, this is a 4/5 sort of standard beer offering. Is it possible for a store in VT to be selling old HT? This just sort of reeks of old hop flavor.

I finally made it back home. Brought back some stuff I couldnt finish. HT, some Rock Art Limited Access, and a can of Tribute. If anyone is interested, Let me know. I think I have a blood of the unicorn from Pipeworks that I never tried.

Catching up on some stuff and some final impressions of VT (barely scratched the surface sadly).

Never really gave full impressions on these guys before leaving.
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-BOMB is what bomb says it is. No under or over rating that one (Prairie actually made it to my city while I was away)
-Astronaut Status had a great balance between that bourbon wood character and a chocolate sweetness factor. It really won out and the others weren't as memorable
-Barbapapa is a poor mans Ten FIdy. Simply put, a standard, possibly too bitter IRS.
-Flight of Angry Beast is a half stout/half barley wine, each aged in seperate types of barrels. It definitely had a mix of both but couldnt stand out imho.

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Some random thoughts

-Fiddlehead IPA is a nice core offering.
-Limbo IPA by Long Trail is a bit underrated. It has a sweeter malt bite towards the end but the initial sort of onion hop flavor wins me over everytime.
-Not really available anywhere on draft, Green Blaze by Long Trail is a whole other beer on draft (when fresh). Vibrancy all around it. Underrated IMHO.
-Long trail ale=Fat tire
-Von Trapp has a 4 lager variety 12 pack. Bohemian Pils is worth all their medals and awards. Shining star of lagers for the entire state imho.
-HT being sold to restaurants to be resold for almost twice is much is an interesting move. That day in Burlington must have been the restaurants day to get their stock of beer to be resold. $7-8 was the standard can pricing. I paid $15 for a $4 pack.
-Lawson's Sip of Sunshine very good. but I guess its good for my sake that I think a local offering is just as good (project dank by la cumbre). Something is either highly overrated or underrated about these VT IPAs.
-Hill Farmstead Nelson and Edward were very clean easy to drink beers. But the aromas just did not stand out. I love Nelson hops and nothing seemed to explode

With so many breweries popping up around everyones way, except for maybe Treehouse IPAs, it may be best to stick to local breweries. IMHO you may not be missing too too much. I really feel the larger regional breweries IPAs can stand up to even the smaller localized hype places. I'd be interested to see how that last heady topper holds up to the likes of Stone IPA, Lagunitas, Deschutes, Odell, and even BP. I'd be sure to throw in some local favorites. The thrill of the chase was huge as I got HT. So many at Hunger Mountain coop just totally by passed a full fridge full of other great beers when the SOS/HT sign showed sold out.
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Mangudai954, I've been hearing that alot about this years SN Ofest beer. I loved last years. It sucks they gimmicked it into a revolving yearly release with various collab breweries. Don't break what's not broken.
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Forgot to mention. Biggest steal of the whole trip. 4 packs of FIS and FBS for $5. I think that may have been the only stout I drank the entire time.
 
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^ I know what you mean with Heady. I get this weird bitterness usually that I can't put my finger on. I thought this time would be different but so far 2 of 3 cans had it. One can actually tasted great. We'll see what this 4th can tastes like later this weekend. As it stands right now, I probably won't be seeking it out anymore.
 
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It's funny because John Kimmich of The Alchemist apparently prides Heady on its consistency.  I'm with you guys though.  I've had Heady plenty of times and I feel like my verdict is still split.  Half of the time it shows me why it's still considered world-class, and the other half of the time it's just whatever to me.

The fact of the matter is that times have changed.  Heady took that #1 rank on BeerAdvocate because there wasn't a ton of competition when it rose to prominence.  With breweries like Treehouse, Trillium, Other Half, Grimm, Tired Hands, The Veil, Aslin, etc. producing insanely high quality IPAs these days it has me scratching my head as to why people still go nuts over Heady Topper.  
 
Couldn't get a real feel for Ballast Point's Ofest. I'll have to try another. Not bad at all though.

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Looking forward to trying these.

Has anyone seen Ayinger's Ofest yet? That's the one I really want.
 
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Last night and tonight. Both the Catch Wave and Congress Street were underwhelming. Catch Wave tasted somewhat old and mouthfeel was thin as well. Congress Street was good but I expected more I guess. Sipping on the Galaxy Dry Hop Fort Point tonight. So damn good! Does not drink like a pale ale at all. Makes up for Congress Street for sure.

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^ Congress Street was definitely good. Maybe me having all these TH beers lately has skewed my expectations a little haha.
 
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