Whatcha drinking?

[Rumpy]

Blacklist German Black Lager, by the Napanee Beer Company, which is surprisingly stout-like given the notes of dark chocolate and coffee, so don't know why they didn't just call it a Stout.

[ImLawBoy]

Blacklist German Black Lager, by the Napanee Beer Company, which is surprisingly stout-like given the notes of dark chocolate and coffee, so don't know why they didn't just call it a Stout.

I'm not 100% sure on this, but I think that stouts are always ales, so unless they create a new category of "stout lager", it would be improper for them to call it a stout.

[Rumpy]

Yeah, but if it smells and tastes like a stout and even has a similar consistency to one? If I were to do a blind taste-test, I'd imagine I wouldn't be able to tell the difference. I see now after looking it up that it's classified as a Schwarzbier, and I'm unfamiliar with the term, but there are reviews saying it's one of the best local examples of one. Either way, it was delicious and I could see myself getting more of these.

[ImLawBoy]

In my experience schwarzbiers tend to be a bit thinner than most stouts and have more effervescence, but the flavors are indeed similar. Ales and lagers are brewed differently, though, which is why you wouldn't just call a schwarzbier (which is a lager) a stout (which is an ale).

[pr0ner]

I don't think I would ever mistake a stout for a schwarzbier or vice versa.

[Rumpy]

Ahh, Ok. Well, I was surprised by how thick it ended up being for a Lager. It was very much like a Stout, and had more the qualities of a Stout than something of lighter fare like I'd expect out of a Lager. Kind of fascinating how closely they were able to mimic a Stout in that sense.

[Scuzz]

Yeah, but if it smells and tastes like a stout and even has a similar consistency to one? If I were to do a blind taste-test, I'd imagine I wouldn't be able to tell the difference. I see now after looking it up that it's classified as a Schwarzbier, and I'm unfamiliar with the term, but there are reviews saying it's one of the best local examples of one. Either way, it was delicious and I could see myself getting more of these.

I think stouts tend to be a little richer and heavier, but otherwise the tastes can be about the same.

[Rumpy]

Which is why I found it surprising to see this one being so rich and heavy. I've actually had stouts that were thinner.

[mori]

There is another style that fits your description which is Baltic Porter. Although it has porter in its name, it is a lager and not an ale.

[Jeff V]

Attack of the Hazoids by Marz Community Brewing Co., Chicago. An Imperial NEIPA, this beer is a nicely flavored representation of its ilk. However, at only 8% ABV, it's over priced at the $8/10 oz price point (on tap).

[AWS260]

Board game night beverages:

Brooklyn Brewery's Stonewall Inn IPA. A well-balanced session IPA. Nothing fancy, just a straightforward really good beer.

Sixpoint's Master Blend barrel-aged imperial stout. Not the best imperial stout I've ever had -- that would be Westbrook's Mexican Cake -- but still delicious. At 13% abv, maybe not the best choice for a night of heavy strategy games. Good thing I left it for last.

[EvilHomer3k]

Big Grove Brewery Trident. Citra beer that has some citrus, malt, and sweetness. Probably too sweet for Jeff but it IS 11.2%. The sweetness disguises the alcohol taste but you do get a little bit of it in the nose. Very enjoyable.

[mori]

Odell Brewing DDH Imperial IPA. A beer caught between two different IPA worlds. They used Chinook and Galaxy hops. Was not bitter enough and the use of Galaxy hops made it fruity and tropical like a NE IPA which I loath. I wish they would of ditched the Galaxy and went with another C-hop but I understand why they did it.

[Jeff V]

OHH Mega Haze IPA by Brickstone Brewing Co., Bourbonnais, IL. Brewed with Citra and Mosiac hops, oats, and omega kvien yeast, this milky-yellow beer is not very fruity but also not very bitter. It's okay,, just not exceptional. At 7.8% ABV, I might buy this on sale for cheap (Brickstone often goes on sale for less than $8/6).

[Jeff V]

Valkyrie by Miskatonic Brewing Co., Darien, IL. Another Nordic-themed beer (this time with Nordic yeast), this a hazy IPA is pale and cloudy, with a slight hint of juiciness. 7% ABV, if I can find this at the sale point of other Miskatonic beers ($8/6) I'd get more of it. As a full-priced one-off, probably not.

[EvilHomer3k]

Hochstadters Rock and Rye. Rye whiskey with rock candy. Lots of orange on the nose. Spiciness from the rye but not the normal whiskey burn. Sweetness from the rock candy. Some vanilla and butterscotch. More orange on the nose. More spiciness from the rye. Not overly complex but a good introduction to whiskey (even if it's probably got artificial flavors in it).

[Jeff V]

Packy New England Ale by Urban Renewal Brewery, Chicago. It is hazy. The fruitiness seems to cancel out the bitterness and vice-versa, leaving behind a flavor akin to grapefruit rind. At a mere 6.4% ABV, I don't see trying this again, ever. Nothing awful about it, just nothing compelling either to warrant the purchase of another pounder.

[Jeff V]

Orange Bandit Hazy DIPA by Black Lung Brewing Co., Waukegan, IL. Dedicated to a little league team, it thankfully has no orange, but is all-in on the haze, so much so that the yeast stomps on whatever flavor the sabro and cashmere hops were bringing to the party. At a mere 7.5% ABV (meek for a DIPA), this appears brewed for the kids, not just dedicated to them.

[EvilHomer3k]

Confluence Brewing in collaboration with Weldworks Brewing: The Smoothest Road - Hazy Triple IPA. 10% ABV (should make Jeff happy). Smell is citrus, slight bit of earth, pine, and joy. Taste is malt, citrus, pineapple, a bit of pine, a bit more malt. Confluence is one of the top breweries in Iowa and this is a fantastic beer. Even though it's "hazy" it's not an east coast citrus bomb. I love this beer.

[EvilHomer3k]

Screwball Peanut Butter Whiskey and Lagunitas A Little Sumpin Sumpin.
Screwball is quite good. Super easy to drink. Very little burn from the whiskey. A bit sweet for anyone if you like whiskey. Ton of peanut butter smell and taste.
A little Sumpin Sumpin is a very good IPA if you like a bit of sweetness. Take a Bells Two Hearted, add about 1% ABV and some malty sweetness and you have ALSS.

[Jeff V]

Unsessionable IPA by Revolution Brewing, Chicago. Not sure I agree with the name, while at 11%ABV it's not a sessionable as their 15% Deth Star, it's still a reasonable effort. ILB would like it because it's clear, and it is neither overly sweet or bitter (so it's essentially unremarkable, not unsessionable).

Hop Jon NEIPA by Energy City Brewing, Batavia, IL. Another brewery between home and work, this one is in the shadow of Fermilab. While it's a standard, unremarkable NEIPA in every way, you'd think they could borrow the particle accelerator to amp up the ABV to something greater than 6.2%. This beer is brewed and canned by Church Street Brewing in Itasca...a longtime favorite that I've had nothing new from in years.

[Jeff V]

Extra Hype DNEIPA by Imperial Oak Brewing, Willow Springs, IL. Another dirty double-dry hop, at least the flavor of mud is somewhat muted by a mild bitterness and fruit. 8.5% ABV in a pounder, I won't be seeking this out again anytime soon.

[Jeff V]

Son of Juice by Maplewood Brewing, Chicago, IL. I do believe micros are now proliferating faster than I can sample their wares. Second new brewer of the day. Milky urine colored, this is a pleasant blend of 4 hops and 4 grains, the juiciness is vague and the bitter even less so. At a paltry 6.3% ABV, it's mild all around. Good choice for people who don't like strong flavors (and maybe are also designated drivers).

[Rumpy]

Whitewater Brewing Peanut Butter Shake. It's a Peanut Butter Stout, and I guess I'd categorize it as a dessert beer. Yummy.

[Jeff V]

Schlitz by...um...Schlitz. Milwaukee, the birthplace of bad beer, WI. Why am I drinking this? A friend abandon a couple of bottles here at NYE and with my walk-in beer cooler expected to fail in the next week, I need to drink as much as I can. Now, I do have a story regarding Schlitz. Back when Al Gore invented the internet, the person who should have been my first-ever Internet meet and greet was known for talking up Schlitz in the chat room. I once posited that she knew every place in the city that still sold it and she immediately rattled off a half-dozen places. This was circa 1990, and I thought the beer extinct at that point. Anyway, we finally hooked up at The Billy Goat Tavern - a well-known Chicago establishment that had not only Schlitz but Schlitz Dark on tap. The girl, by the way, was spectacular - and this was the day when you could bet the mortgage that an online hookup was anything but. Anyway, she would bring six packs of Schlitz whenever she deigned to grace us with her presence.

Now lets fast forward to today. I bet I haven't had it in 25 years, since the last time I saw this girl. I certainly didn't expect anything more tasty than, say, MGD. But I made Czech food for dinner and pilsners and unremarkable lagers seem to go good with it.

I was shocked...SHOCKED I tell you, to find the beer to be amber and not urine colored, with a rich honey flavor. He likes it! Hey Mikey! I might actually buy this...although without a posted ABV I'll have to assume none and that could be a problem. I expected to drink both bottles I had but now am saving the second one for a future day.

[Isgrimnur]

4.7%

[Kraken]

Schlitz was one of the cheap beers my parents used to buy by the case (longnecks), along with Hamms, Blatz, Falstaff, and Busch. So it would've been among the earliest beers that I ever drank. By the time I was old enough to buy my own beer, I gravitated to Pabst, Miller, and Strohs. Sometimes I'd stoop to buying the really cheap stuff like Schaeffer's, but I never had Schlitz again after my teens. Color me mildly surprised that it still exists.

[mori]

Schlitz had a Lazarus event about a decade ago when the parent company (PBR, Miller,..?) released Schlitz Gusto now just simply called Schlitz. It was suppose to be the 1960s recipe before beer became really watered down. It was a big hit with the hipsters like PBR was a few years earlier.

[mori]

Bauhaus Brew Labs Massive Aggressive Imperial Stout from Minneapolis, MN. A hoppy stout that packs a Jeff V likeable 10.5% ABV. A little too much licorice flavor to my liking, but still quite enjoyable. Just have to make sure it is close to room temperature before consuming.

[Scuzz]

I grew up drinking Budweiser. Almost all my drinking buddies drank Coors. It was really rare to see anyone not drink one of those two beers. Every now and then someone drank MIller or PBR, but I don't think anyone drank Schlitz. The other thing we sometimes drank was those 11oz Lucky Lagers with the puzzles in the cap. Really cheap beer.

Now I can't even touch a Bud or Coors. They taste terrible.

[Jeff V]

Schlitz was one of the cheap beers my parents used to buy by the case (longnecks), along with Hamms, Blatz, Falstaff, and Busch. So it would've been among the earliest beers that I ever drank. By the time I was old enough to buy my own beer, I gravitated to Pabst, Miller, and Strohs. Sometimes I'd stoop to buying the really cheap stuff like Schaeffer's, but I never had Schlitz again after my teens. Color me mildly surprised that it still exists.

My dad would buy Hamms, Old Style, and maybe even Schlitz if he was feeling flush. Mostly he went the absolute cheapest -- first Carling Black Label then beers called "Bubs" and "Edelweiss" that even our teenage, beer-stealing selves couldn't stomach. As a teen, we typically went with Strohs, or occasionally Olympia or Tuborg.

[Jeff V]

Infinite Citra by Pipeworks Brewing, Chicago. Unflitered and not really grapefruity like many citra beers. It has some bitterness to it, over all I like it. On'y 7.3% ABV, so I'll chase it with something hardier.

[EvilHomer3k]

Schlitz by...um...Schlitz. Milwaukee, the birthplace of bad beer, WI. Why am I drinking this? A friend abandon a couple of bottles here at NYE and with my walk-in beer cooler expected to fail in the next week, I need to drink as much as I can. Now, I do have a story regarding Schlitz. Back when Al Gore invented the internet, the person who should have been my first-ever Internet meet and greet was known for talking up Schlitz in the chat room. I once posited that she knew every place in the city that still sold it and she immediately rattled off a half-dozen places. This was circa 1990, and I thought the beer extinct at that point. Anyway, we finally hooked up at The Billy Goat Tavern - a well-known Chicago establishment that had not only Schlitz but Schlitz Dark on tap. The girl, by the way, was spectacular - and this was the day when you could bet the mortgage that an online hookup was anything but. Anyway, she would bring six packs of Schlitz whenever she deigned to grace us with her presence.

Now lets fast forward to today. I bet I haven't had it in 25 years, since the last time I saw this girl. I certainly didn't expect anything more tasty than, say, MGD. But I made Czech food for dinner and pilsners and unremarkable lagers seem to go good with it.

I was shocked...SHOCKED I tell you, to find the beer to be amber and not urine colored, with a rich honey flavor. He likes it! Hey Mikey! I might actually buy this...although without a posted ABV I'll have to assume none and that could be a problem. I expected to drink both bottles I had but now am saving the second one for a future day.

What. The. Fuck. There is no way you liked Schlitz. My guess is he bought something else and put it in Schlitz bottles. Either that or you are just remembering the girl and there's no blood left for your brain. Was this some special schlitz? Some dark amber Schlitz that was a one off in collaboration with Stone?

As for me...
Stone Enjoy By 1/1/20. Sure, it's past the Enjoy by date but I've never had a Stone Enjoy By that wasn't great. This is no exception. 9.4% almost meets Jeff's minimum ABV. Bit of sweet, plenty of hops. Fantastic.

I went to the local Hy-Vee and saw a big stack of Bells Hopslam. I put it in my cart and then started looking for a lower ABV to have with it. While looking I saw the Stone Enjoy by for $14.99. I put the $19.99 Bells back and got the stone. Happy with my choice. I know I'll like the Bells but I'll take the Stone for $15 any day. Both are awesome though.

[Kraken]

Schlitz was one of the cheap beers my parents used to buy by the case (longnecks), along with Hamms, Blatz, Falstaff, and Busch. So it would've been among the earliest beers that I ever drank. By the time I was old enough to buy my own beer, I gravitated to Pabst, Miller, and Strohs. Sometimes I'd stoop to buying the really cheap stuff like Schaeffer's, but I never had Schlitz again after my teens. Color me mildly surprised that it still exists.

My dad would buy Hamms, Old Style, and maybe even Schlitz if he was feeling flush. Mostly he went the absolute cheapest -- first Carling Black Label then beers called "Bubs" and "Edelweiss" that even our teenage, beer-stealing selves couldn't stomach. As a teen, we typically went with Strohs, or occasionally Olympia or Tuborg.

One of my high school friends was an exchange student from Denmark. He insisted on Tuborg, "the golden beer of Danish kings." When we found some, he was deeply disappointed by the version that got exported to Michigan, which was probably years old by the time we got our hands on it. (We also introduced him to marijuana...he was reluctant to try it because he'd heard about it, but "at home, we only smoke hash." He was very fond of weed by the time we sent him back to Denmark.)

[Pyperkub]

Schlitz was one of the cheap beers my parents used to buy by the case (longnecks), along with Hamms, Blatz, Falstaff, and Busch. So it would've been among the earliest beers that I ever drank. By the time I was old enough to buy my own beer, I gravitated to Pabst, Miller, and Strohs. Sometimes I'd stoop to buying the really cheap stuff like Schaeffer's, but I never had Schlitz again after my teens. Color me mildly surprised that it still exists.

My dad would buy Hamms, Old Style, and maybe even Schlitz if he was feeling flush. Mostly he went the absolute cheapest -- first Carling Black Label then beers called "Bubs" and "Edelweiss" that even our teenage, beer-stealing selves couldn't stomach. As a teen, we typically went with Strohs, or occasionally Olympia or Tuborg.

Out in California, dad used to drink Coors. I think it may have been the choice for transplanted east coast folks (per Smokey and the Bandit, trucking Coors beer east of Texas was bootlegging back then).

First beer I ever liked was Old Milwaukee (while rafting on the truckee river in Tahoe) . HS beer of choice was usually Moosehead.

[mori]

Often times the first beer of choice is the one that friends gravitate to. Ours was Miller High Life or for a cheaper option it was Old Milwaukee. Myself and another friend started drinking less popular beers. Show up at a house party and people would turn their noses up to it and ask "How can you drink that shit?" Could not tell them that it basically tastes the same to what they thought was superior beer. But it was safe from pilfering mooches. So it was Hamm's (fell very far from popularity at that time), Olympia, or Red, White, & Blue. PBR is what my dad drank so I didn't want anything to do with that beer.

[Jeff V]

First beer I ever liked was Old Milwaukee (while rafting on the truckee river in Tahoe) . HS beer of choice was usually Moosehead.

Everyone has an Old Mil story. Mine was the time we were at Alpine Valley for Rush. We got a room for the night (not sure how many were "we" but I'd guess at least 6) We emptied every ice machine in the lodge and filled our bath tub...then added 7 cases of Old Milwaukee. After the concert, we had an open-door party. It's notable because it's one of the rare times I actually don't remember going to sleep (or the party ending for that matter).

I do remember encountering a number of people bummed about the empty ice machines, though.

[Jeff V]

Often times the first beer of choice is the one that friends gravitate to. Ours was Miller High Life or for a cheaper option it was Old Milwaukee. Myself and another friend started drinking less popular beers. Show up at a house party and people would turn their noses up to it and ask "How can you drink that shit?" Could not tell them that it basically tastes the same to what they thought was superior beer. But it was safe from pilfering mooches. So it was Hamm's (fell very far from popularity at that time), Olympia, or Red, White, & Blue. PBR is what my dad drank so I didn't want anything to do with that beer.

There was a lot of compromise in those days. We came from a Bohemian ghetto, so cheap was something we could identify with. We'd take road trips to Kenosha when the drinking age in WI was 18 and 21 in IL. We'd frequent a chain liquor store off highway 50 and generally stock up with house-brand hooch (and, at $2.99 per 24-pk case, Fox Deluxe!) While my dad drank beer so wretched that we couldn't even stomach it, a friend's father - a sales rep of some sort, had cases of Chevas Regal sitting around so occasionally he'd pilfer a bottle. I remember attending an all-day concert at Comiskey Park (the old one) and for breakfast having Chevas and Hostess Ho-hos.

Somehow, I find it amusing that kids these days are following in our footsteps. My nephews absolutely loved the $2.99/fifth Tanduay Rum I brought them from the Philippines, and one of them treated all of us to something truly wretched called "Malort" which was all the rage with the kids due to being a cheap buzz. This was at my mom's funeral.

[Isgrimnur]

Malört (literally Moth herb) is the Swedish word for wormwood,[2] which is the key ingredient in a bäsk, a bitter-flavored type of Swedish brännvin.

[Jeff V]

Malört (literally Moth herb) is the Swedish word for wormwood,[2] which is the key ingredient in a bäsk, a bitter-flavored type of Swedish brännvin.

Whatever it is, it's wretched stuff. Wormwood you say? Is it related to Absinthe? I've never had the real stuff, so I can't make a direct comparison.