What are you drinking right now?

[GFHomebrew]

How 'bout a boatload of ginger in the apple juice (ginger-cider)?
I think that could work

Yeah I poured a mixer the other day and it didn't do it for me.
I'll give it another go just to see

 

[RoadRoach]

A local brew from Avondale Brewing Co. I used to live a couple blocks from the area this brewery takes its name from, but that’s long before the area was cleaned up and repurposed. The brewery is now in what was originally an old cotton gin/ warehouse that closed up as Birmingham spread east, and sat vacant for the better part of 80 years. Avondale was mostly middle class blue collar folks who worked in the local steel mills. Steel mills closed, and Avondale felt the sting and fell into poverty and disrepair. Once hard working folks started leaving, the drug and crime trades moved in. Avondale was not a good place to be after dark.

In the past 10 years the area has been revitalized to try draw people back to town. I lived in Crestwood which was THE place to be for doctors and lawyers in the 50”s, and my eldest children attended Avondale Elementary school before we moved to Pelham, about 20 miles south. I lived there from 1982 until 1992. In 1992, Avondale’s reputation was driving people away (myself included) to Shelby County where I still live. Having a van stolen in front of my house was the catalyst that drove me out. Just goes to show that a lotta good things come OUT of Avondale.

This is a hoppy Belgian Farmhouse Ale. The bitterness disappears almost as quickly as it’s swallowed, with a malt forward aftertaste that isn’t as sweet as most of the Belgian beers I’ve had. Quite tasty but perhaps a little heavy for an after work sipper. No clue what the ABV is, but it’s pretty punchy.

BTW, still kicking. The Honeydo list seems without end these days. Remodeled the hallway, currently working on the basement stairs, and moving on to combining a formal living room and dining room into one large dining/breakfast room and widening the doorway into the kitchen. That door is in a load bearing wall, otherwise I’d be charged with making a large L shaped room that includes kitchen, breakfast nook, and dining room. Saved by architecture.

Figured I’d get a long overdue post in since drying joint compound got me an early quitting time today.

 

[GFHomebrew]

A local brew from Avondale Brewing Co. I used to live a couple blocks from the area this brewery takes its name from, but that’s long before the area was cleaned up and repurposed. The brewery is now in what was originally an old cotton gin/ warehouse that closed up as Birmingham spread east, and sat vacant for the better part of 80 years. Avondale was mostly middle class blue collar folks who worked in the local steel mills. Steel mills closed, and Avondale felt the sting and fell into poverty and disrepair. Once hard working folks started leaving, the drug and crime trades moved in. Avondale was not a good place to be after dark.

In the past 10 years the area has been revitalized to try draw people back to town. I lived in Crestwood which was THE place to be for doctors and lawyers in the 50”s, and my eldest children attended Avondale Elementary school before we moved to Pelham, about 20 miles south. I lived there from 1982 until 1992. In 1992, Avondale’s reputation was driving people away (myself included) to Shelby County where I still live. Having a van stolen in front of my house was the catalyst that drove me out. Just goes to show that a lotta good things come OUT of Avondale.
View attachment 24336 View attachment 24337

This is a hoppy Belgian Farmhouse Ale. The bitterness disappears almost as quickly as it’s swallowed, with a malt forward aftertaste that isn’t as sweet as most of the Belgian beers I’ve had. Quite tasty but perhaps a little heavy for an after work sipper. No clue what the ABV is, but it’s pretty punchy.

BTW, still kicking. The Honeydo list seems without end these days. Remodeled the hallway, currently working on the basement stairs, and moving on to combining a formal living room and dining room into one large dining/breakfast room and widening the doorway into the kitchen. That door is in a load bearing wall, otherwise I’d be charged with making a large L shaped room that includes kitchen, breakfast nook, and dining room. Saved by architecture.

Figured I’d get a long overdue post in since drying joint compound got me an early quitting time today.

Good to revisit the past.

Sounds like you've earned this beer.

Keep on keeping on there Roadie

 

[RoadRoach]

Harsh bite in Belgian beers?
Never noticed any. Too me they are real smooth and generally a little sweet.

Gonna second this opinion. The Belgian I’m drinking now is probably the “harshest “ one I’ve ever had. But it still leaves a sweet aftertaste.

 

[Herm brews]

Simple cider by the fire.

 

[Zambi]

De Konick-ish
Here's to my dad. It's his birthday today and also 1 year to the day since he passed away

 

[Craigerrr]

From last night, this one is from Bruchiladdich which is on the Isle of Islay (pronounced eye law

). Only aged 5 years, but very heavily peated, took my time enjoying it!

 

[Brewdomestix]

From last night, this one is from Bruchiladdich which is on the Isle of Islay (pronounced eye lawView attachment 24341 ). Only aged 5 years, but very heavily peated, took my time enjoying it!

Or '[I love]...eye law.'

I have had a 3 year old single malt from there that smelled and tasted wonderful so I know that you're not exaggerating.

 

[Brewdomestix]

Time for a holiday slide show. Or to be more precise; my excursion to the new aldi store they kindly built within ten minutes walk

Plenty of German beers as usual but in this one (which is bigger than any of their other stores that I have been in) today there werre a few special looking French craft beers, something which I am not used to at all. When I did drink commercial stuff for a time Kronenburg was one of my favourites. The one I plumped for - reason below - was a Triple Grain Craft Beer. Believe it or not my first time. It wasn't cheap @ £2.99 (special offer down from £3.29) and that is from the best value place for alcohol as far as I am aware - so I dread to think how much the equivalent would cost elsewhere. Anyway enough waffle and on with the show.

Yes it has a Grolsch style swing top

Limited Edition!

Made for them but I can't see a source even with a clear view which I obviously haven't reproduced here. Well it is quite strong

Pop...

...clunk...

fizz!

Very good carbonation and consistent head. Looks clearer in the photograph! I thought it had a slight haze. Fantastic Nose. Great mouthfeel. Taste a bit of a let down, little aftertaste although the last mouthful of each glass was very positively interesting. A slightly curious experience overall. Maybe needed chilling more than 2 hours to be fair. Certainly not rubbish, the quality is very evident but at the price I have had none craft beer and my own stuff that can at least match it on the taste front. A lot of that is of course personal. Obviously we are paying for the extra miles that have gone into the production which I need to learn to appreciate more. But I can't help think about the end product and like I alluded to earlier this would most likely cost double if not more elsewhere. There is a place opened locally which is a shop that is also licensed to serve drinks and craft beers go for around £7 a pint/can there. I haven't been in yet but noticed a few familiar ones from their website. Anyway, nice to see aldi clearly putting some serious effort into promoting craft beer drinking. I aren't going to fault them for that.

The other two French craft beers didn't have swing tops. They had something resembling a champagne cork held in place by a wire. They were also labelled 'dry hopped' but slightly lower ABV at 5.5%. All three exactly the same size bottle and pricing.

I assume that I can re-use the swing top bottle? If this is so I miight invest in half a dozen for a reserve off a special batch and get as much value out of them as possible. I like the height (from memory seem taller than Grolsch) and they are a very comfortable and sturdy design to handle.

 

[GFHomebrew]

Time for a holiday slide show. Or to be more precise; my excursion to the new aldi store they kindly built within ten minutes walk

Plenty of German beers as usual but in this one (which is bigger than any of their other stores that I have been in) today there werre a few special looking French craft beers, something which I am not used to at all. When I did drink commercial stuff for a time Kronenburg was one of my favourites. The one I plumped for - reason below - was a Triple Grain Craft Beer. Believe it or not my first time. It wasn't cheap @ £2.99 (special offer down from £3.29) and that is from the best value place for alcohol as far as I am aware - so I dread to think how much the equivalent would cost elsewhere. Anyway enough waffle and on with the show.

View attachment 24342
Yes it has a Grolsch style swing top

View attachment 24343

Limited Edition!


View attachment 24344

Made for them but I can't see a source even with a clear view which I obviously haven't reproduced here. Well it is quite strong

View attachment 24345

Pop...

View attachment 24346

...clunk...


View attachment 24347

fizz!

Very good carbonation and consistent head. Looks clearer in the photograph! I thought it had a slight haze. Fantastic Nose. Great mouthfeel. Taste a bit of a let down, little aftertaste although the last mouthful of each glass was very positively interesting. A slightly curious experience overall. Maybe needed chilling more than 2 hours to be fair. Certainly not rubbish, the quality is very evident but at the price I have had none craft beer and my own stuff that can at least match it on the taste front. A lot of that is of course personal. Obviously we are paying for the extra miles that have gone into the production which I need to learn to appreciate more. But I can't help think about the end product and like I alluded to earlier this would most likely cost double if not more elsewhere. There is a place opened locally which is a shop that is also licensed to serve drinks and craft beers go for around £7 a pint/can there. I haven't been in yet but noticed a few familiar ones from their website. Anyway, nice to see aldi clearly putting some serious effort into promoting craft beer drinking. I aren't going to fault them for that.

The other two French craft beers didn't have swing tops. They had something resembling a champagne cork held in place by a wire. They were also labelled 'dry hopped' but slightly lower ABV at 5.5%. All three exactly the same size bottle and pricing.

I assume that I can re-use the swing top bottle? If this is so I miight invest in half a dozen for a reserve off a special batch and get as much value out of them as possible. I like the height (from memory seem taller than Grolsch) and they are a very comfortable and sturdy design to handle.

Excellent write up CelticTwilight.
Not herd much on anything French craft beer so thanks for throwing a spotlight on it.
It sounded more like a mass produced lager with the low flavour profile up front.

 

[The Brew Mentor]

Rhinegeist hustle

 

[Brewdomestix]

Excellent write up CelticTwilight.
Not herd much on anything French craft beer so thanks for throwing a spotlight on it.
It sounded more like a mass produced lager with the low flavour profile up front.

Thank you. Extremely close to that type of thing which is what reminded me of Kronenburg. It wouldn't be fair to do a direct comparison of the two as my palette has been treated to a lot since those days. This one had that characteristically smooth French beer mouthfeel that is the one thing I can still remember of Kronenburg though.

 

[Brewdomestix]

Rhinegeist hustle

Cheers Brian, noted.

 

[Josh Hughes]

Sam Adams Alpine Lager

 

[Josh Hughes]

Rhinegeist hustle

Love that one!

 

[Josh Hughes]

too keyed up to sleep

 

[Zambi]

I assume that I can re-use the swing top bottle? If this is so I miight invest in half a dozen for a reserve off a special batch and get as much value out of them as possible. I like the height (from memory seem taller than Grolsch) and they are a very comfortable and sturdy design to handle.

Yes you can

 

[GFHomebrew]

A few of these have gone down well this evening

I'm kinda liken the higher ABV than normal....
Ginger beer

 

[Sunfire96]

Modelo with lime. Walked down to the Cuban place for lunch today. High of 70F in February

 

[Herm brews]

After a nice walk in the neighborhood, we stopped at The Friendly Garden for some adult beverages. I have Fanzine IPA, a collaboration brew from Fort George and Georgetown. She’s drinking Tumalo Stonefruit Cider.