Techno isnt about the past, its about Strong Ale

coldfuture · Post by **coldfuture** » Fri Dec 10, 2010 8:12 pm

A place for Phase Ghost and I's hijack of the techno futurism thread with talk about amazing IPA and other such wonders.

All those you mentioned are great IPA's.

Have you tried Pliney The Elder from Russian River or the Maharaja from Avery yet?

Emote Music · Post by **Emote Music** » Fri Dec 10, 2010 8:23 pm

I noticed in the previous thread that you've had Great Divide Hercules, but if you like standard IPAs, as opposed to double IPAs, then try Titan by Great Divide too. Odell's Brewing Co out of Ft. Collins, CO has a really good IPA as well if you are on the Colorado kick.

As for Russian River, they always impress, and both Pliny the Elder and the Younger are very, very good. Blind Pig is another from Russian River that I adore.

Every time I'm in Southern California I love to go to Pizza Port, as they have some great beers, and win tons of medals at Great American Beer Fest.

If you dig strong ales, you should come out to Boulder, Colorado in the Spring for the Strong Ale Festival. No beer under 8% ABV is allowed!!

coldfuture · Post by **coldfuture** » Fri Dec 10, 2010 8:40 pm

Emote Music wrote:I noticed in the previous thread that you've had Great Divide Hercules, but if you like standard IPAs, as opposed to double IPAs, then try Titan by Great Divide too. Odell's Brewing Co out of Ft. Collins, CO has a really good IPA as well if you are on the Colorado kick.

As for Russian River, they always impress, and both Pliny the Elder and the Younger are very, very good. Blind Pig is another from Russian River that I adore.

Every time I'm in Southern California I love to go to Pizza Port, as they have some great beers, and win tons of medals at Great American Beer Fest.

If you dig strong ales, you should come out to Boulder, Colorado in the Spring for the Strong Ale Festival. No beer under 8% ABV is allowed!!

Ah yeah man, my brother lives in Arvada so I know the whole Odell's deal. That brewery is like Colorado's secret weapon I swear. Such amazing beer.

I have not had Titan yet tho. Yeah Pizza Port is kinda where it all started out here.... and this year at the World Beer Cup, San Diego county took more medals than any one country! lol

3 and Best Brewery of The Year went to my local heroes Ballast Point Brewing. If you haven't tasted their beers yet I suggest going for it. Start with the Big Eye IPA and move on to Sculpin IPA or really any of their beers, they do a ton of styles and are very good at what they do.

Yeah I am very into strong ales for sure, tell me more about this festival, as I was already planning to be out in CO in the Spring to visit my brother... also might be out for GABF this year.

I am really getting into the local stuff with a Belgian slant to it too, I love Lost Abbey beers and Iron Fist (a new local, badass brewery).

Keep the suggestions coming!

Emote Music · Post by **Emote Music** » Fri Dec 10, 2010 8:56 pm

Awesome, I've never heard of Ballast Point before. Do they distribute out of California? Do they bottle/can, or is it just kegged?

San Diego is beer heaven. I can't believe people with weather that nice all the time can really get down and dirty with the beer, but it's overwhelming. The bier garden at Stone is really cool too.

As for Great Divide, I will say that I am totally biased to their beer, as my friend is the brewer, but they have such a wonderful selection. I highly recommend the 16th Anniversary Wood Aged Double IPA if you can find it - pure amber/copper hued gold in a bottle, with wonderful vanilla and caramel notes from the the wood aging. And if you are in Colorado in the spring, then I will take you and your brother down to the brewery for the hook up.

Belgian beers are great, and I really went through a Saison kick this past summer; one of my favorite's was Boulevard Brewing Co's Saison. Their whole Smoke Stack series is great though; and I highly recommend the Saison Brett if you can find it. Speaking of bretts, I'm really into sour beers at the moment, and have been thoroughly impressed by Jolly Pumpkin Brewing Co - especially the La Roja; great stuff if you dig the sours.

Oh, and the Strong Ale festival last year was April 30 and May 1 at Avery Brewing Co. They haven't announced the date for this year, but I'm sure they'll say something soon. Check Avery's website for info

Ok. It's 1:00pm here (almost). Time for a beer. Think I'm going with Titan IPA!

tone-def · Post by **tone-def** » Fri Dec 10, 2010 9:04 pm

since when was IPA strong ale? my local is green king IPA and it's only 3.x%.

i didn't even know americans made IPA.

Emote Music · Post by **Emote Music** » Fri Dec 10, 2010 9:23 pm

tone-def wrote:since when was IPA strong ale? my local is green king IPA and it's only 3.x%.

i didn't even know americans made IPA.

IPA generally wouldn't be considered a strong ale, so that's a good point, but a double IPA is usually be above 8% because of all the hops. The Titan IPA, which I am drinking is 6.7% ABV.

The American craft brew scene has really exploded over the last 10 years. There are over now 1500 small, craft breweries in the US, compared with 20 large breweries like Anheiser Busch (now owned by EnBev) and Miller-Coors. http://www.brewersassociation.org/pages ... -breweries

PsyTox · Post by **PsyTox** » Fri Dec 10, 2010 9:26 pm

they sure don't know how to serve beer decently :p Made me cringe when I ordered a beer when in the USA, one time even got it served in something that looked like a 50cl coca cola glass with ice. For fck sake.

Other than that: haven't tried any of the things you guys mentioned, so maybe that's worth looking into when I go back in april

Emote Music · Post by **Emote Music** » Fri Dec 10, 2010 9:35 pm

PsyTox wrote:they sure don't know how to serve beer decently :p Made me cringe when I ordered a beer when in the USA, one time even got it served in something that looked like a 50cl coca cola glass with ice. For fck sake.

Sad to say, but I honestly don't doubt that. The majority of Americans drink Budweiser, Bud Light, Coors Light, and Miller Light. Those are the top 4 selling beers every year in the US, and they are all the same style: light lager, which is basically water, rice, and a touch of hops.

That being said, the craft brew scene is a taking off, and it's a great thing. Most of the good craft breweries are in California and Oregon. However, Michigan, Colorado, Massachusetts, and several other states are opening up lots of great breweries. Boston, New York, and Washington DC are all cities where you can find great, local beers on tap, as well as a lot of underground craft brews from all over the US and world. Atlanta, GA and Asheville, NC both have really good beer scenes now, and even Mississippi has one of the better, young breweries with Lazy Magnolia Brewing Co, which makes a great brown ale and fantastic stout.