Just Bought Another American Brewed Beer.

[mawnansmiff]

Following my very pleasant experience last week of four bottles of Samuel Adam's 'Rebel IPA' I just got delivered four bottles of another new to me ale, this time it's 'Brooklyn Brown Ale' from New York.
Apparently six varieties of malt are used to make this "dark and fruity" 5.6% brown ale! I just hope I enjoy this as much as I did the Sam Adams which I had another 8 bottles delivered.
According to the label there is a 10¢ refund per empty bottle in Quebec so if anyone in Quebec wants the four empties PM me your address and I shall post them to you ::
Regards,
Jay.

 

[ryeguy]

Rebel IPA is good stuff. Most things SA brews are solid. I think of them almost like the Dunhill of craft-brewers--they tend to hit a sweet-spot in their formulae that--though not the most flavorful nor everyone's favorite--still manages to rate solidly to most people's taste.
I hope you enjoy the brown ale; I don't remember having it, though I've never really been impressed with Brooklyn Brewery in general.
And can you really ship a package for less than 40 cents?

 

[lazar]

There are some good American craft beers for sure.... but on a desert island I'd take Samuel Smith's, Innis & Gunn, Wychwood, and Guinness over any of 'em!

 

[bluegrasspipe]

Sam Adams makes very good beer on a large scale.

It gets overwhelming there are so many great beers around. I am in Colorado, I believe there are 300 microbreweries here now, too many good beers to try.

 

[mso489]

Brooklyn Brown Ale, that's from Brooklyn Brewery, which was started by Steve Hindy (and others) a former journalist at the newspaper Newsday. He gathered $100 investments from his colleagues who reaped big rewards when the brewery took off big time. He makes many other beers, and imports many foreign beers to the U.S. In the last 20 years or so, the U.S. has blossomed with breweries, most of them modest in size and producing a vast array of artisanal beers. My relatively small city, about 300K, has five or six breweries, several with their own restaurants.

 

[uperepik]

If you could taste some of the smaller craft beer companies, so many blow Sam Adams out of the water. But as stated as far as large scale production there not bad

 

[brightleaf]

I was looking at what American beers you can easily get shipped to you. I have had and enjoyed Founders, Rogue, Left Hand, Flying Dog, and Goose Island more than the others that are available to you in glass bottles. You have some good brands available in cans that we can only get in bottles here. I normally only get cans when I have to, like when tubing down river rapids. I like both of the beers you've gotten so far. Since these are luxury items for you, it will be worth it to maximize aroma and pour it in a glass.

 

[conlejm]

Right here in tiny New Hampshire USA we have over 60 microbreweries, and the list keeps growing. About five years ago we had less than 10. There was a change to some brewing law that occurred around 2012 and things just took off. Some of these shops make a decent living, but many seem to be just hobbyists and barely break even. I wonder when market saturation occurs.
We visit "brew pubs" every week and very much enjoy the food and beer. But still there is always the one guy at the bar drinking a Bud Light, or the lady drinking some colorful mixed drink.

 

[josephcross]

This is my desert island beer!

Fat Tug IPA

 

[craiginthecorn]

The USA has transformed from a beer desert in the 1980s to beer heaven. Back in the 1980s, any Canadian brew was superior to just about any US-brewed beer. When I went to Europe for the first time in 1985, it was a beer epiphany for me. The European imports at that time were inevitably old and skunky. Nasty, but still better than Bud Light. In Europe, those same beers were unbelievably good. English bitter. Guiness Stout on tap. Anything made by Ayinger. Belgian abbey ales. What memories! Just around that time, though, Boston Brewing Company started selling Samuel Adams Boston Lager. Today, it doesn't seem that special to me, but when it debuted, it was leaps and bounds better than any other US-brewed beer -- the first that approached beers I tasted in Europe.
Today, I dare say that most Europeans traveling to the USA would have absolutely no trouble finding beers of equal quality, and with infinitely more variety than at home. It's the Golden Era of Beer in America! Now, the Europeans may still make the very best of many traditional varieties of beer; but even with those, American brewers are making excellent versions.

 

[pipesmokingtom]

Agree, Craig. I'm now in the Pacific Northwest and you can't swing a dead cat without hitting a great brewery. IPAs are the trend right now, but there's crazy good stouts, lagers and even sours being produced by people with the enthusiasm to do it well. It's a good time for beer here.

 

[alexnorth]

It sure is! The growth of the artisanal breweries and offerings are crazy! There are so many good American beers I don't know where to start. In Sweden we have got a lot of fantastic brewers too. I prefer stouts myself.

 

[mawnansmiff]

Well I sadly have to report that the 'Brooklyn Brown Ale' was something of a disappointment. It wasn't bad in any way, it was just not too exciting and in my opinion needed more hops to balance out the heavy malts used. It reminded me of 'Newcastle Brown Ale' (a hugely popular beer in northern England) but with more balls.
However that was tempered by my second lot of 'Rebel IPA', that really is a cracker.
Another bottled ale I bought (8 of) was 'Elvis Juice' brewed in Scotland by 'BrewDog Brewing Company'. It is a traditional ale infused with grapefruit husks and is unbelievably refreshing and comes in at 6.3% abv.
Unfortunately I am supposed to refrain from grapefruit due to the statins I take but what the heck...it's just so tasty ::
From Wikipedia...
BrewDog has produced progressively stronger beers of very high strength, and has laid claim to the title 'strongest beer ever brewed' on more than one occasion.
In 2009, BrewDog launched a beer called "Tactical Nuclear Penguin", with 32% alcohol, which was claimed to be the strongest beer ever made.
In 2010, BrewDog announced "Sink The Bismarck", an apparent 41% ABV to reclaim the World's Strongest Beer title from Schorschbräu, who had produced a 40% ABV version of their Schorschbock.
Also in 2010, BrewDog produced a 55% ABV freeze-distilled beer called "The End of History", with the bottles packaged in small stuffed animals, priced at £500 and £700 each. Only 12 bottles were produced; 11 for retail sale, with the other one going to Internet video blog BeerTapTV. BrewDog claimed that this set new records not only for alcoholic strength in a beer, but also for price. Advocates for Animals called the gimmick 'perverse'.
Regards,
Jay.

 

[ryeguy]

I just checked here to see what is available in the UK.
If you like American IPAs I can strongly recommend:

--Lagunitas, IPA (really, really good)

--Goose Island, IPA (also very good)

--Flying Dog makes some great beers. But they also have made some I can't stomach ("Raging Bitch" comes to mind--but that is more that I can't stand most wheat beers). If memory serves, their "Snake Dog IPA" is a real winner though.
It's not an IPA but Sierra Nevada, "Pale Ale" is a really nice, bright, all-day beer. In my book this is up there with SA Boston Lager as a classic. It plays a similar role in my drinking rotation to Newcastle (not that they have similar taste--SN PA is much brighter and hoppier. Interestingly I have both in my fridge at the moment.) On the other hand, given the prices you are paying, I don't think I'd be looking at nice all-day beers.
Unfortunately, I don't see Dogfish Head; their "90 Minute IPA" is fantastic.
Oh, and if you want to see what Americans do with stout, I can recommend Old Dominion, "Oak Barrel Stout."

 

[newbroom]

I remember listening to an interview with the founder of Sam Adams on a radio program, and he mentioned that they produced a high % beer that couldn't be sold in stores in FL due to it's alcohol content, it had to be sold in Liquor stores, not convenience stores.

He described it as kind of thick, (syrupy?) distinctive and said that it sold in 4oz. bottles. I seem to recall him mentioning about 43%? not sure now.

 

[mso489]

My all time favorite beer is a factory brewed Chicago beer of years ago, Meister Brau, which is hallowed in my memory especially because you can't get it anymore. They went from glass bottles to cans, low-end in pricing, and that compromised the flavor. I can still taste it.

 

[pappymac]

newbroom - It may have been this. At one time it was retailed at $200 per bottle.

https://www.samueladams.com/craft-beers/specialty/utopias

 

[brightleaf]

I remember reading about those Utopia beers years ago. From what I remember they used wine yeast to get the high ABV, so it was similar in strength to a strong wine.

Brewdog producing a beer that is 110 proof seems a bit unrealistic. I don't see how yeast could keep living in a liquid that is that high in alcohol.

 

[mawnansmiff]

Brightleaf, beer yeast and wine yeast are nigh on the same thing. They 'eat' the sugars in the wort to create alcohol, they aren't fussy where those sugars come from.
I used to use champagne yeast when I made cider...tasted nothing like champagne.
"Brewdog producing a beer that is 110 proof seems a bit unrealistic. I don't see how yeast could keep living in a liquid that is that high in alcohol."
If you read up on it you will see it was freeze distilled...hence the high alcohol content.
Regards,
Jay.

 

[brightleaf]

I think there are different yeasts. Ales being different from lagers for that reason. My understanding is that common yeasts used to bottle condition ales will only produce an alcohol content that is unique to that strain. Different yeasts also impart different flavors from what I remember.
If Brewdog is distilling beer to produce liquor, then it is a sham to call it a beer. That would be like calling brandy, "wine." No intended reference to the Brandywine River.