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treznor

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Everything posted by treznor

  1. treznor
    I absolutely love Fresh Squeezed. Its a great IPA with a solid fruit flavor from the Citra and Mosaic hops (they actually go out of the way to tell people that there's no fruit in the beer!). Thankfully I can get it fairly easily on tap since I work in Minneapolis during the week and Deschutes distributes to Minneapolis
  2. treznor
    That's my typical response to Creme Brulee. I do actually rather like it. I just don't think I like it as beer. Though a 50/50 of Creme Brulee and Kasteel Rouge was... interesting enough to get me to try it again.
  3. treznor
    Normally I find Draft's lists to be reasonable enough (any list is going to have some quirks to it), but this list is pretty bad. Looks like they focused on just what was 'odd' and stuck with that. I've had a couple of the beers on the list (Dogfish 61, Bruery Batch 1000 Bryeian, Deshutes Fresh Squeezed IPA, Stone Dayman IPA), and a couple more breweries but not this particular beer (New Glarus, Firestone Walker, Boulevard, and Crooked Stave stick out in this category). These just aren't the 25 'best' beers of the year. They might be 25 of the more interesting new beers of the year, though even that's suspect. I know 3Beans is fairly highly respected by many, so that's cool and all. One the other hand I did REALLY like Deschutes Fresh Squeezed. I'm not sure that others liked it as much as I did, but there's an intense citrus flavor to the beer thanks to the Citra and Mosaic hops they used. In general it'd be nice to get more Baltic Porters, since its a fairly interesting style (basically a cross between an English Porter and a Russian Imperial Stout, and lagered) that's underrepresented. Just not sure if 3Beans is it or not
  4. treznor
    I believe I like the Scaldis Noel better than the Delirium Noel, though I do like the Delirium as well. Looking forward to having the Scaldis Noel in a couple weeks (I really refuse to have a winter beer before Thanksgiving). Distribution of Evil Twin is a bit spotty so not sure how easily it is to get Christmas Eve in a New York City Hotel Room. Possibly wins the award for most interesting name, but probably not an award for best tasting. Three of us tonight summed it up as smelling faintly light bandaids and formaldehyde and tasting like burnt tires. For all that the beer, oddly enough, wasn't entirely horrible. Though not something I'll probably ever feel the need to have again (on the other hand, the Evil Twin Molotov Cocktail, while not a Christmas beer, was delightful).
  5. treznor
    Agreed on the He Said. I've only had the Tripel, but liked it quite well (though probably not as much as the Warlock, which I'm still high on). The combination of pumpkin and galangal was quite interesting. Had it on tap in Minneapolis, which is near where 21A actually brews most of the beer that they distribute since the brewery in San Fran is way too small to distribute much.
  6. treznor
    Its not particularly hard to find online, at least the stuff they distribute some of. I found Good Gourd this year pretty easily shortly after release. I'm certain its long gone now though. Two online stores I've used in the recent past are letspour.com and luekensliquors.com. Leukens has a particularly bad website, but I (and a couple of friends) have never had any issues. My stuff is shipped to NC, but doesn't look like there are any issues shipping to the DC area. Leukens is around the corner from Cigar City so tend to get a number of their beers. Also, they're currently expanding, to about double their current capacity I believe. They've said they're in-state demand is still larger than this, but I've also heard from a couple distributor friends of mine that the rumors are that might be distributing out of state, if not with this expansion then probably with the next.
  7. treznor
    You could make yourself quite the little beer tour by starting at 21A in SF, going to Lagunitas in Petaluma, Russian River in Santa Rosa, and then Bear Republic in Healdsburg... Lagunitas is a personal favorite of mine and I really enjoy the brewery. There are very few beers from Lagunitas that I don't think are pretty darned good (at a minimum) and they're always priced well for the quality. For me Little Sumpin is middle of the pack for the Lagunitas lineup. My favorite of their's is WTF (though I appear to be in a minority there as WTF gets a 88 on BA whereas LIttle Sumpin gets a 94 from BA and from the brothers). Sitting somewhere between an IPA, a Pale Ale, and a Wheat, its certainly an interesting offering. I'll have to try and remember to try it again this weekend to see if my mind has changed at all.
  8. treznor
    For those that can find it (as I've heard that its very hard to come by in VA), Southern Tier Warlock is very tasty. Everything that I always wanted a combo Pumpkin/Creme Brulee (which is a very popular combo at my local beer store) to be, but better. The pumpkin doesn't dominate, so I don't know if I could properly call it a 'pumpkin ale', but its a great pumpkin stout. Caveat: not really a huge fan of pumpkin beers. Also, to second Beer Advocate and to toss in untappd. The rankings on untappd aren't all that great since everything gravitates to between 3.3 and 4.1 (though its a pretty damn good bet I'll like a beer with an average of 4 MUCH better than one with an average of 3.4), but primarily just so I can remember what I've drank, and what I thought of it.
  9. treznor
    That was 'our' Five Guys for a number of years as we lived about half a mile away. I still think the burgers and fries at that location is better that any of the new places, though haven't been to it in a number of years so don't know if they've maintained that difference. Sad indeed to hear that it closed.
  10. treznor
    This has been a go-to fruit beer of the summer (which means I've had it 2-3 times, not really a fruit beer guy for the most part). I've been very impressed with it really. Slightly tart, very nice fruit, crisp and fairly easy to drink. Yes, its a bit sweeter than I like (though compared to the Southern Tier Creme Brulee I've been drinking since it recently came out its not bad at all...), but still a very nice summer beer.
  11. treznor
    Yes, after going to Lagunitas, anything is going to have trouble measuring up from a physical plant standpoint I wouldn't really call 21A a sports bar, I don't think they have a TV in the place. I've been 5-6 times now and it does get pretty packed at times. I took a look at a couple of the reviews on BA and the Bros review in particular. While I get what they're saying, some of the drawbacks that people point out are why I like the beer pretty well. I like that it isn't quite so hoppy as some of the other 21A IPAs like Brew Free or Die. The IBUs are pretty similar on the two (65 for Back in Black vs 70 for Brew Free or Die), but it feels like the extra dark malt really mellows the hops out. It isn't on my 'Oh, oh, I gotta have it!' list, but if Back in Black is around (which is pretty much always is for me since we have distributorship in NC for the past year or so), I won't be upset at all with drinking it.
  12. treznor
    Agree on this. I've been to the brewery before (though didn't get a tour as they weren't doing them at the moment) and its such a laid back space and have kickass beer to boot. I've not had great luck with hoppy beer, especially beer that's known for its dry-hopping, via taps. I don't know if you just need to have meticulously clean tap lines otherwise the hop resins get soaked up or what... I tried Lagunitas Sucks a couple weeks ago. While a solid beer, and I'm glad I had it, it didn't really knock my socks off. I really preferred the beer it 'substituted' for, Brown Sugga, better (though a completely different style).
  13. treznor
    In response to the beer club idea: I'd definitely be interested. I haven't posted in a while since I actually moved out of the DC area a couple years ago, but would love the beer idea, even if I couldn't participate each time due to different beers being distributed when comparing DC-area to NC. Regarding Hopslam: I picked up a six. Kept it around in the fridge for a couple weeks as schedules were just too crazy otherwise. Had a couple of them two nights ago. I thought it was better than last year, but still not deserving of the price tag. That said, as long as the local store keeps getting them and its easy to get a six-pack (other than the cost), I'm sure I'll keep buying a six-pack every year. I was much more stoked that the local store got in a couple bottle of Lagunitas WTF than I was the Hopslam. WTF is a pretty great beer and for the cost ($5/22oz bomber?) its absolutely off the chart.
  14. treznor
    Friend of mine received a Third Shift Brewery beer opener/pocket watch combo in the mail recently and was pretty impressed all around (what can I say? He's Scottish, he's impressed with anything free). Until, that is, we looked up who the hell Third Shift Brewery is and discovered that its just the 'craft brew' label for Coors. He no longer thought his freebie in the mail was quite so cool...
  15. treznor
    It's not that new as I had it over a year ago one day near L'enfant. I'm not a huge fan of Ethiopian (I know, a travesty in DC) but tried it anyway. Seemed pretty decent, not that I'm one to judge Ethiopian food at all.
  16. treznor
    For the most part my recommendation for Covent Garden is to go somewhere else... There's some decent enough food in the area but most of the area is overrun with tourists (and caters to the lowest common denominator foodwise).
  17. treznor
    Plus, the same could be said for most any cuisine. For those that 'don't like Italian' northern Italian food is different than southern Italian (and don't even get over to the islands where its different still). Chinese cuisine varies quite a bit based on location, etc. Take it for what it is, namely a name that includes a conglomeration of affiliated regional cuisines, and realize that if you don't like a handful of 'Indian' restaurants, there's a pretty good chance that you aren't going to like the next Indian (or Chinese, or Italian, or whatever) restaurant either, even if it focuses on a different regional cuisine.
  18. treznor
    To me, tags are a way of grouping threads together. To use your data modeling analogy Don, tags are the Associative Entity table for topics Location based tags are nice, though replicate the dining guide to a large extent. You could include different location based tags though that the dining guide doesn't include. For my money, what the tags will really bring to the table is the ability to link different restaurants by cuisine. I've found myself a number of times wanting Chinese or Thai or whatever, but wanting something different from the places I've been to in the past. With properly done tags I could click on the 'Thai' tag and get a listing of all the Thai restaurants in the area. It would be great if I could then click on the 'McPherson area' tag to get the Thai restaurants in the McPherson area, but understand that might be getting into 'advanced mode' area. I know my favorite restaurants for most cuisines, but a number of times I'll go somewhere that I know I won't like as much as my favorite just to try a different restaurant. Continuing that theme, of a tag bringing a group of topics together, I don't think a phone number as a tag makes sense. There's one and only one (just to bring it back to data modelling ) restaurant/topic with that phone number so you aren't grouping topics together with it. Really it's just about making it more visible. I guess that's worth considering, but if I want to call a place and don't know the phone number (like I actually know anyone's phone number?) I type the name into Google Maps and then click the call button... Here I'd have to find the thread, look at the phone number, REMEMBER the phone number, type it into my dialer, and then call. Leave the phone numbers to Google Maps Love the subtitles, hate they can't be kept along with the tags. But the tags could really be quite awesome. What would be really nifty (maybe suggest to Invision?) is if all users could suggest tags for a topic and they get sent to a moderation queue. Then a select number of moderators could either accept or deny the changes. This is basically the way 4sq works for address, category, whatever changes (I'm one of those superusers, kinda interesting to see how it works).
  19. treznor
    What do you mean? Bud Light Lime is manna from heaven (shoot me now)
  20. treznor
    Had probably 3-4 bottles of it. My wife loves it, I think it tastes good but I'm not sure that I like it as beer. I'm happy to drink it, but indeed can't handle it in much quantity. The 2xIPA, Imperial IPA, Iniquity Black Ale, or Pumking I will generally drink as much of as I can get my hands on...
  21. treznor
    If you're in the King St area, Beer Bistro is perfectly serviceable. I had the steak frites tonight along with a couple of local beers (Durham Hop Addict and Junction Craft Conductors Ale). The steak was served with tarragon butter, sauteed mushrooms, fried onions and fries cooked in beef and duck fat. The steak was cooked as I asked (medium rare) and had a nice flavor and texture, the frites were nice and meaty (I'm really not a fan of shoestring fries) and cooked so they were just crisp on the outside and soft on the inside. The mushrooms gave a nice accent. Overall the beer selection was pretty decent, focusing on local beers and belgians (at least on top) with a large bottle selection as well. Overall, not something I'd go (far) out of my way for but quite serviceable. I wouldn't hesitate to come back if I were in downtown Toronto again.
  22. treznor
    Is 'communitarianism' supposed to sound better than socialism or communism?
  23. treznor
    Charlotte isn't known for its barbecue. Salisbury (a bit under an hour north) has some good 'cue. Barbecue in general isn't a city thing in NC, though the other major cities in NC have decent barbecue (Stamey's in Winston-Salem/Greensboro and Allen & Son, The Pit, and Cooper's in Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill). If Charlotte has decent barbecue I've never found it, and I've lived in the area for a number of years.
  24. treznor
    Just to mention James Hoban's again: The food is entirely as you'd expect, passable but not great. I've eaten there before and didn't hate myself for it, but didn't expect great food to start with. On the other hand, it's a decent place to get a pint and watch some footie, or to just get a pint with a group of friends (as it doesn't tend to be all that crowded, at least during the week, which is the only time I've been). They have the expected Irish beers (Guinness, Smithwicks, Harp, Magners), as well as a small, but entirely decent selection of draft craft brew. Bringing it back on topic: Haven't made it to either of the Ping Pong's in DC, but so far they sound very similar to the Ping Pong I went to a couple of times in London: Passable, overpriced food. The only difference is that (at least to my knowledge, though I didn't go out of my way to look) there isn't a good alternative in London for dim sum. All the other dim sum places I tried were similarly priced and of similar quality.
  25. treznor
    Interesting. Never considered that aspect of it but it makes sense.
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