Got Beer?

Beer laws in Utah are strange even by our standards in MN. I can buy 4 packs to go at a brewery but they have a strict 2 sample 2 oz. pour) per person rule. I don’t know if this is everywhere but the only liquor store in Moab is state owned too.

Beer laws in Utah are strange even by our standards in MN. I can buy 4 packs to go at a brewery but they have a strict 2 sample 2 oz. pour) per person rule. I don’t know if this is everywhere but the only liquor store in Moab is state owned too.

SLC Punk (movie) has a great scene/sequence mentioning the Utah laws.

I think there still is a law that states you cannot make a mixed drink in a bar/restaurant in plain sight, lest children see it.

That was the “Zion Curtain” according to locals when we went there in 2018, but it is starting to disappear at a lot of places. The local beer selection leaves a lot to be desired, and most local restaurants had very few options besides the macro breweries for beer. I think when we went there were only about 30 craft breweries in Utah.

There was a brewery just outside of Zion NP in Springdale that was decent. Nothing to write home about, but probably the best beer we had while there. Moab brewing was not good, for my palette anyway.

I was just down in Pinehurst for a buddies trip. You can buy beer, wine, and mixers at the grocery store. If you want the hard stuff, you have to go into a state owned “ABC Store” (Adult beverage center). Which were always non-descript buildings. And there you couldn’t find beer, wine, or mixers. Some what inconvenient if you ask me… I don’t mind Minnesota’s find it all in one place.

ABC is “Alcohol, Beer, Cigarettes.” At least that’s the saying.

Brewery observations from Utah 2017:

1.Moab Brewing sucked

2. Zion Canyon Brewing rocked

Moab Brewing was OK. Nothing overly fancy. We are heading to Zion tomorrow and may go to Zion Canyon.

My wife and I tried beer from Saltfire tonight and they were probably the best beers we’ve had on the trip. I haven’t been overly impressed with anything though, although I’m not surprised by that

We went to pickup some local wine tonight after dinner and the one liquor store in Moab is only open 12-6. Guess we won’t be doing that now

Be in the park by 8:00 or earlier. If you aren’t – you are unlikely to find parking.

I hope your visit is better than our 3 day experience. 5 or 6 of the more popular trails (including Angel’s Landing) were closed from a recent rain event that had happened. So the trails we did do, Observation Point, Canyon Overlook, Hidden Canyon, and The Narrows were cheek-to-cheek hiking practically. Not really what I look for in a NP experience. Yosemite, for example, is setup better (in my opinion anyway) to handle the crowds it sees. The parks in Utah are not. There are numerous articles online about the “Mighty Five” Ad campaign working “too well” and those parks are being crushed with visitation numbers.

Good luck and enjoy!

I cannot recall if I had Obsidian Stout before I moved out of the U.S. but regardless I’m having one tonight and I quite enjoy it.

We some apps at Kip’s and their dry rub wings were great, but the service was not wonderful. Granted the place was very busy as the hotel was filled with people in town for a hockey tournament, but still I thought the service could have been a bit more attentive. I think the one beer I had was a Voyageur IPA and it was a nice compliment to the food.

I cannot recall if I had Obsidian Stout before I moved out of the U.S. but regardless I’m having one tonight and I quite enjoy it.

We some apps at Kip’s and their dry rub wings were great, but the service was not wonderful. Granted the place was very busy as the hotel was filled with people in town for a hockey tournament, but still I thought the service could have been a bit more attentive. I think the one beer I had was a Voyageur IPA and it was a nice compliment to the food.

Not far from there is Lat14 and their Thai Basil wings are as good as any wings in town.

Just got back from our trip to Utah. The beer was just OK (which isn’t too surprising) except we tried a couple beers from Saltfire brewing at a restaurant one night, one of which was a dirty chai stout that was good enough to convince us to stop at the taproom to buy some of their beer to bring home. I’m drinking a Baltic Porter from them right now and it’s probably the only ‘fantastic’ beer I had on my entire trip. I’m regretting not buying more of it, but if you’re out that way I’d highly recommend checking them out.

I am curious to try a couple of BA Sours I got at a small brewery in Idaho Springs CO on my way out. One is red wine/sherry barrel aged and the other is the same beer aged in a Tawny Port barrel.

Apparently the Gant Lifter has returned to Back Channel. DIPA. The name is a classic. Think about it.

It’s quite a good beer, to be honest.

Just had two cans from Drastic Measures explode in my cupboard. One leaked while the other literally blew up and coated everything in beer. Not happy.

Just had two cans from Drastic Measures explode in my cupboard. One leaked while the other literally blew up and coated everything in beer. Not happy.

Which ones were they?

Poontang fruited sour. It was middle of the road. I’m more upset with the mess. I had a Junkyard Peter leak on me once but never had one literally explode. The tab ripped open and only a third of the beer was left in the can.

I miss beer, miss Nordeast and all these new “gimmick” style of beers. Though for my health and my family it’s best for me to cut down my beer consumption down to about 1% at best of what I use to drink.

Gotta do what is best for you and your family. I have had a couple friends choose the same path in the last year or two.

So true. What is the best choice for each of us can be so different, but, everyone needs to do what’s best for themself and their family.

Helped catalog a friend’s beer cellar today. 539 unique beers, 1296 cans/bottles total, but NOT including all the Black Is Beautiful beers (100+ unique). Took 4 of us 6+ hours. Had:

A typist to put together the spreadsheet.

The owner to unload the boxes.

I read the info off to the typist and re-packed

4th guy marked the bottles with a year-date if it wasn’t on the can/bottle, and researched the year on the ‘net as a last resort.

And of course, we all bought some stuff off the owner. Not much, but some nice finds.

That was a bit of a task.

One person bought an OLD Mikkeller, when he was in this market years ago, and only selling single cans/bottles, forget the name, and a Hoppin’ Frog 8oz can of QORIS The Quasher (Quad Oatmeal Russian Imperial Stout).

I bought the QORIS (reg and BA) cans, and a 2017 Bell’s Black Note. IF it’s for sale (owner still debating), I am first in line to buy the 2018 Surly Rum Barrel Aged Darkness Variant.

He did have one bottle of the 2007 Darkness (first year they were made, IIRC). We all know it’s going to taste like cardboard at this point, but cool find.

Majority of his stuff is 2014+. Some 2012 barleywines in there, etc, though.

If I have to search for another canning/bottling date code in the next 2 months, though, it’ll be way too soon.

Edit: We DRANK a 2015-2020 Darkness vertical, and shared an Oscar Blues BA Ten Fidy stovepipe can. All were good.

Tried a few newer items for me since being home:

Straight Outta Amherst by Central Waters. Imperial Double. 3.7/5

Fulton Oktoberfest. 3.5

North Coast Old Rasputin Russian Imperial. 4

Surly Axe Man. 4

And reconnected with an old friend, Chimay Red. 4.5!!

Oh and the Philippines needs Total Wine!! :mrgreen:

Tried a few newer items for me since being home:

Straight Outta Amherst by Central Waters. Imperial Double. 3.7/5

Fulton Oktoberfest. 3.5

North Coast Old Rasputin Russian Imperial. 4

Surly Axe Man. 4

And reconnected with an old friend, Chimay Red. 4.5!!

Oh and the Philippines needs Total Wine!! :mrgreen:

Regular Old Rasputin is a forgotten classic. Top notch beer.

Axe Man sucks, even giving leeway for the style.

And F Total Wine. I will never spend a dollar there. Ever.

Okay then.

85% of my purchases are at Midway Liquor in St. Paul, great store and better family.

I do go to Total Wine on occasion and primarily for wine I cant find elsewhere. A good example is Gordon Estate (or Gordon Brothers for older vintages), it’s my cousins WA winery and the only local place I’ve found that carries their brand. Jeff & Vickie have been very complementary of Total Wine and how they, as a producer, have been treated by them. If you’re looking to try something on the grape side of the aisle they really do a nice job!

https://www.gordonwines.com/

I get the little guy argument, but remember where I currently live and then imagine that my liquor buying options are garbage.

I get that, and if I had little to no choice, I’d do the same. Thankfully, I do have a multitude of choices. There are certain stores that get Brewery X, but not Brewery Y, etc, around my area, that’s about the only trouble I run into.

I get the little guy argument, but remember where I currently live and then imagine that my liquor buying options are garbage.

I get that, and if I had little to no choice, I’d do the same. Thankfully, I do have a multitude of choices. There are certain stores that get Brewery X, but not Brewery Y, etc, around my area, that’s about the only trouble I run into.

I have s**t for choices where I live. There are some local micros but they don’t sell bottles or growlers – you can only drink their beer at their place. Local stores mostly carry pilsners and lagers, Heineken, Bud, maybe some German stuff. Not 100 different micros. Our version of Costco has maybe at most 3 or 4 micro beers. There is all kinds of variety for wine and alcohol but not for beer in my province. In Manila it’s much better. When at my parents I typically will buy from Tonka Bottle Shop but my dad said I should try out TW and I did, and when I walked in and saw the prices, saw the humidor, the layout, the walk-in cooler I was impressed. I don’t need to be beer snobbed because I’ve been living in a micro-beer hellhole for 7 years.

Not beer snobbing you. I’d just rather pay the extra $2-$3 to a local store that is carrying what I want. TW really makes their money on their house brands, from what I know.

I am agreeing that in your situation, I would hit up TW also. :beerchug: I am not in your situation, along with many others, therefore, no TW for me.

And Axe Man, IF you like that style, has been rated high. I don’t like that particular style. Heck, Cantillon is the top beer of that style in the world, and I’m rather meh on it. There is a difference between quality, and what one likes. BTW, I can’t stand Beer Advocate. Baltika Nine is rated higher than Budweiser, and that just isn’t right. Heavy prejudice against big time macros on that site.

I should have clarified Axe Man, and that’s on me. :oops:

:drinkingbuddy:

:drinks2:

Went to St. Peter today with my dad and brother for the Gustie FB game and on the way back we stopped at the Jordan Taproom. I tried the Modist False Pattern NEPA which was solid. Nothing Earth shattering but I would recommend.

I then had the Lexington Kentucky Bourban Barrell Ale. I don’t want to go overboard here. And it’s not the best beer I’ve ever had, but for whatever reason that beer on tap today was the most enjoyable beer experience I’ve had in quite some time. I really hope I can find it in a store locally and bring some home.

The menu looked solid but we didn’t have time to stay and eat. Nice place though and the staff was outstanding.

Went boating with my parents on Minnetonka today and stoped at Back Channel. Ran into The Rube and Luckygirl at the bar while ordering.

The Marzen was excellent as was their new fruited Berliner.

Stopped back at BC on the way home from the BC event LuckyGirl and I attended to pick up crowlers. She got the Pride Pie’n, and I did pick up that Marzen.

There were four tents at the event, according to styles, 5 breweries (Back Channel, Drekker, 1840, Mikerphone, and Lua). Mainly bounced back and forth between the stout and sour (fruit bomb style) tents.

The best beers IMO were Mikerphone’s Softly Spoken Lies: Heaven Hill BA Double Milk Stout w/cinnamon, cocoa nibs, and vanilla; the other was Back Channel’s Pride Trick Pony (almost a push-pop style Berliner), similar to their Pride Pie’n on tap at the brewery, but more of an orange-y flavor. The latter was a one-off just for this event, although everyone we talked to was encouraging BC to make a full batch to put on tap.

The worst was Mikerphone’s crushcrushcrush Pineapple Milkshake IPA w/Vanilla. 5-6 of us smelled it, half said pineapple, the other half said pineapple-scented urine. And I do mean urine. It tasted worse than it smelled. As a group, united effort, we couldn’t finish ONE sample of 4 oz. It was bad.

I completely forgot we got the Imperial Porter too. That also was excellent but my wife has been raving about it since we left there.

We on,y picked up two crowlers since we are going breweryhopping in Duluth next week. I suspect we will bring a few more home from there

Central Waters’ Black Gold tickets went on sale tonight. Snagged one, thankfully. Site crashed last year. Bonus: have a mule, so I don’t have to make the trip (and CW is encouraging proxies). 4 bottles of the regular, and 1 bottle of the Marshmallow Fudge Cookie variant, $107 for the ticket, after tax/fees/whatever.

Black Gold is such a fantastic beer.

I chose to give up a regular Gold as payment for muling, no biggie, still a good deal at $27/bottle overall, after mule payment.

Surly Fifteen is out, prob will buy a can. Grand Cru, which I’m always on the fence about. It could be great, it could suck. I dunno. In the biz, we call that “FOR SCIENCE!”

I thought 15 was a fine effort — kind of amazing they got their hands on Parker’s Heritage Heavy Char Barrels… wish I could taste that note more, but it’s a bit muddled with everything else. Very rich dark fruit, malt and sweetness. Seemed more like a big beligian/barleywine than some of the grand cru tarty things I’ve had. There isn’t any really boozy or astringent notes that you sometimes get in that style either.

Everything I read is that the Grand Cru name is more because it doesn’t really fit in a category

I thought that’s why we had “American Strong Ale” as a catch all for High-ABV beers, that didn’t quite meet a Barleywine. kidding, but also not…

The new Dangerous Man Devil’s Food Cake Double Stout is basically chocolate flavored beer.

The new Dangerous Man Devil’s Food Cake Double Stout is basically chocolate flavored beer.

So it’s similar to the KBS Mackinac Fudge? Because that KBS was DELICIOUS.

It’s not as good as the KBS Mackinac Fudge but it’s still really good.

That KBS and the Untitled Art Fudgie Brownie Stout are on an entirely different level in my opinion

Oliphant anniversary party on Sat…come see me.

Didn’t feel like spending a mint today so rhe guy suggested Islay Gold 10 and I’m pretty happy with it. Not recommended if you don’t a smokey punch up front. It’s no Laphroaig but it’s not shy either.

I’m doing a private tasting at Vikre in Duluth tonight and they have a whiskey that is part smoky scotch, part rye, and part bourbon. As good as their gin and aquavit is the whiskey is just fantastic for a locally made spirit.

First cocktail was a mule with that whiskey and now I’m onto an Aquavit Gimlet

I’m doing a private tasting at Vikre in Duluth tonight and they have a whiskey that is part smoky scotch, part rye, and part bourbon.

NAMES!!

It’s called Honor Brand Hay and Sunshine Whiskey

The Aquavit Gimlet is really tasty too…I’ve really enjoyed most of what we have sampled

Vikre is top notch!

Is that Vikre’s brand names, then? I have heard good things about them.

That’s the whiskey. Everything else would carry the Vikre name.

Nearly everything we had was really good. We bought one of their types of gin and a bottle of the whiskey but I’d have bought more if it wasn’t for our stupid liquor laws. I may have to go back tomorrow as a reult

A friend and I discussed the liquor laws with the Distillers’ group at the Fair. It’s insane. MN is archaic compared to the rest of the US. Other states have odd laws, sure, but we are becoming the worst given the progression of other states in updating laws.

I like the sign in Hoops Brewery in Duluth explaining the silly liquor laws for a brewery to serve cocktails.

Just got word that Sam Adams’ Utopias is being released Oct 11. Tremendous beer. A bit expensive (around $200 for a 24oz bottle) but it is worth it, IMO.