Newsflash: Fat Tire Infiltrates SoCal

[monoman]

Two words... Alaskan Amber!

[extreeski]

I dunno, but a good deschutes brew on tap after skiin' at bachelor tastes mighty good.

[scoober]

The beer nerd in me cannot let a thread pass by without my lame $0.02.

Although it was Sierra Nevada that I started the craft beer quest with, I am really not all that stoked on their stuff. While both good beers in their own right, Bigfoot is really not that impressive compared to other big barleywines, as well as Celebration compared to some other winter seasonals (eg. LaConnor Tannenbaum and Maritime Pacific Jolly Roger).

My two favorite CA breweries are Stone in San Diego and Anderson Valley. While I hate the dumbass "Arrogant Bastard" theme from Stone, their beers are really freaking good and their dated limited runs are pretty adventurous. Anderson Valley is just a solid brewery all around with a very strong standard lineup with great limited runs. Their Amber is really a great take on such a common style and their Winter Solstice is very good.

I can't say that I have tried more from New Belgium than the Fat Tire. It's an OK standard Amber. There is just too much other great stuff available around Seattle, I get distracted at the beer cooler and always seem to pass over their stuff. I don't know many other CO craft brewers except Great Divide and I was thoroughly unimpressed with most of their stuff. I have been to the Bull N' Bush, which is really just a brewpub, and their standards were pretty good.

[summit]

It's not that Fat Tire is bad, there's just nothing to differentiate it from about a dozen other vaguely "amber ales" on the market. Obviously New Belgium's marketing has been hugely successful, but I don't see anything that special about their beers.

I would agree with this and say the same for Sunshine.

New Belguim shines with some of it's more unique beers like Trippel and Abbey and seasonals like Bier de Mars and Frambozen.

And of course the best microbrew ever: 1554

[cj001f]

Bier de Mars and Frambozen.

I picked up a 6'er of the Bier de Mars tonite. Not bad, but when I'm looking for that I'll get a Chimay. They've managed to hit the marketing distribution jackpot (like Sierra Nevada) so you can find them at Safeway, but they aren't great.

[The AD]

Bigfoot is really not that impressive compared to other big barleywines

That's heresy! OK, you're entitled to your opinion, but Bigfoot is still one of my favorites beers of all-time. Speaking of barleywines I have a magnum of Hair of the Dog's Fred that's been aging in my garage for about five years now. I'm looking for the right occasion to open it.

I also just bought a sixer of NB's Biere de Mars today. Haven't had one yet, though.

[nealric]

It's not opinion, my friend, it's a fact. CO beer isn't as good as CA or OR beer.

My roomate is from Oregon, and we had a Co/Or beer showdown including full sail and such. Co won hands down- even by his admission. There is more to Co beer than new belgium.

[cj001f]

My roomate is from Oregon, and we had a Co/Or beer showdown including full sail and such. Co won hands down- even by his admission. There is more to Co beer than new belgium.

So name them. Full Sail's probably the weakest of the OR breweries (as much as I like the Pale) they brew Weinhards for gods sake!

[scoober]

That's heresy! OK, you're entitled to your opinion, but Bigfoot is still one of my favorites beers of all-time. Speaking of barleywines I have a magnum of Hair of the Dog's Fred that's been aging in my garage for about five years now. I'm looking for the right occasion to open it.

I also just bought a sixer of NB's Biere de Mars today. Haven't had one yet, though.

Heh. I'm not ripping on it by any means. It is a good example of it's style, but I think suffer's from SN's size as a brewery to really shine through. I am just spoiled that going through my formative beer years I was exposed to a lot of the midwest/east coast barleywines which IMHO are a little more complex.

That Fred should be great, but I'd probably drink it within a year or so. I haven't had much luck cellaring beers outside of an actual cellar for more than 3 or 4 years.

Don't miss the Hard Liver Barleywine Fest. It's going to be held at Bottleworks' new bar, Brouwer's, Apr 8 to Apr 15. The bar/restaurant isn't open yet, but when it does they have 40 taps I believe. For the festival they are tapping all 40 with barleywines. Brouwer's is right across the street from the old Redhook Trolleyman.

That could be an interesting maggot gathering. Show some of the so-called "heavy hitter" what drinking real beer is about.

[scoober]

My roomate is from Oregon, and we had a Co/Or beer showdown including full sail and such. Co won hands down- even by his admission. There is more to Co beer than new belgium.

Full Sail is definitely weak. Hell, I'm not even that impressed by Deschutes that much anymore... but did Rogue take part in this little showdown? They are semi-huge, but I don't think anything (not counting some crazy ass brewing an 18% imperial stout in his basement) in CO can touch Rogue.

[cj001f]

Full Sail is definitely weak

The Full Sail specials/limiteds (only available in pounders, not widely distributed) are better than their standard fare. Rogue rocks - they've got a distillery at the pub in PDX now

[The AD]

Don't miss the Hard Liver Barleywine Fest. It's going to be held at Bottleworks' new bar, Brouwer's, Apr 8 to Apr 15. The bar/restaurant isn't open yet, but when it does they have 40 taps I believe. For the festival they are tapping all 40 with barleywines. Brouwer's is right across the street from the old Redhook Trolleyman.

That could be an interesting maggot gathering. Show some of the so-called "heavy hitter" what drinking real beer is about.

I totally forgot they were opening a pub. Yes, definitely let us know again when this event is closer. I definitely want to hit it. I've got to get my ass over to Bottleworks again soon, too.