they might be building a wall to keep us out Curt....

beer drinkers and hell raisers.

not a huge lagunitas fan. Although the brewery here in Chicago is enormous and pretty cool. Not like Coors big though.

I bring back beer from Wisconsin and Minnesota when I go. Cali too whenI drive it. Have never crossed the border to Canada or back with anything nor tried to mail any.

no_form - yeah I don't really go in for the yellow beer, but the Coors tour is definitely worthwhile if you ever find yourself in Golden, Colorado. Their Colorado Native is actually a decent pilsner.

How long has it been since you've been in Colorado, arch? There are several breweries to tour, not just Coors anymore.

I'm on vacation is SE Asia right now, and wow, it's a beer desert out here. I mean, there's plenty of it, but you're usually limited to a single brand. Here in Bali, it's Bintang pilsener. The second choice is Bintang Radler. End of list. Makes me appreciate what selection I do have back home.

had a simple Leffe, best priced golden blonde out there.

I finished off a mini keg of Bell's Oberon last night (planning to bottle some of mine in the mini). Screaming deal really.  You get 14 draftish beers for $20.  Then can re-use the shell for your brewing purposes. (Supposedly. I've yet to actually bottle in one).  A new mini shell would cost $13. 

tinnt, its only been a couple years. Even when I was there if you did Golden then W line to downtown you could take a bike and hit 8-10 breweries in a day if you do Golden then W line to downtown. Will be even better when they finish rail to Boulder

arch, I would just skip the Coors tour myself. Avery has a new brewery and restaurant in Boulder, I would go there instead. There is a bike path continuous to Boulder now too. 

Growing up in sight of Coors has given me a permanent soft spot for it.

And you can always go and ask for the "short tour" - they just escort you to the tap room and you get your 3 free beers. There are certainly better options but I'm not going to turn down 3 free Sam Adams or Blue Moons.

Sorry about the previous rambling repetitive post. Busy train ride this morning.

Coors was bought by Molson a few years ago. Canadians creeping in. :) In Denver, my favorite brewery is Epic, not just cause it is near my house, but that helps.. 

Hey there... we don't want your Coors up here... we don't even want our own Molson... but I think with the acquisition, I now get access to Blue Moon, so it's not terrible afterall. 8-)

Speaking of acquisition, AB just acquired Devil's Backbone.  So, a tasty schwarzbier should be headed everyone's way soon. Their flagship is a Vienna Lager, but that's definitely not my favorite of the lot. 

I'm just hoping AB doesn't screw with the product. I can't drink any of their mainstream stuff without getting horrendous headaches.  This somewhat disappointing as Michelob Amber Bock isn't all that bad. 

If I was going to Colorado for a brewery tour, I would hit up Fort Collins again. Obviously New Belgium and Odells, but there are a ton of other good breweries, a lot within easy biking distance of each other. My favorite in Fort Collins was Funkwerks. Not a great atmosphere compared others, but great saisons.

One of the bartenders at New Belgium told me that there are so many great breweries in Fort Collins because CSU has a Master of Brewing program, and a lot of graduates will spin off companies without leaving the city. Not sure if that's true, but there are a lot of breweries there.

Shameless bumb.

Anyone visited the Magic Hat brewery? I admit I was giggling like a school girl when I got through the front doors.

It just occurred to me, I've never actually gone on an official brewery tour.  I've wandered through a few.  Sometimes allowed, sometimes not. 

I used to work next door to a brewery who kept their back door open.... :)

New Belgium brewery in Fort Collins has a slide inside it. It is part of the tour, at the end you can go down the slide to the tasting room. 

Tintt, that sounds wonderful.

A local craft brew pub wanted to open a big flashy location in the ground floor of an office tower I had just finished overseeing the construction. I was super excited to walk the owners through the space and patio but then... that damn engineer who placed the electrical vault below kept reminding the potential client that would have a difficult time drilling for plumbing and locating cooking vents. Short-story... the brew pup moved into a space 2 blocks south and our nice double-height space with prime downtown patio space was snapped up by a bank.

just had a couple tasty brews before returning to work.

Affligem Belgian Ale - pretty good.

i am cheating tonight and self medicating to deal with carrying on with same shit while being overwhelmed, also playing tricks on body. its easier for me to sleep 4 hours after a beer and wake up at 5am. college training.......duvel give me the juice to continue (pastafarian prayer).....and sneaky do you live next to the best beer distributor in the country? i mean holy shit man

usually self medicating means i'm smoking, not drinking.

nicotine, i dont know man. thats like caffeine or something....beer is golden ;)

not nicotine, but closely related to hops...

Remember, your brain runs on glucose. :)

And let's not forget the great wisdom bestowed upon us by Cliff Calvin.  The Buffalo Theory.  Drinking makes you smarter. 

I toasted one of you fine beer folk's fat tire check-in from yesterday. I really miss New Belgium brewery.

I haven't used it in years but: https://untappd.com/user/timdudley

Maybe I'll start checking in again. Lord knows I drink enough.

You should get back into it tDuds.

I've prodded you with a friend request.

went to a brew it yourself place today with a brewmaster walking you through it. did a belgium golden ale (8%) apparently you can tell based on the sugar with this fancy telescope looking thing.....3 weeks ready, but picking up in 5 after vacation. 15 gallons.

A hydrometer? It was fancy?

a wort refractometer (googled it)

You should measure that before and after fermentation.  The difference is what tells you abv.  You can't know the alcohol content before fermentation because there isn't any yet.  Of course you can guess using witchcraft or math or whatever.

will they bottle it for you while you're gone? If so, the extra couple weeks will help with bottle conditioning. 

This thread and subsequent Untappd connections have already caused me to buy a few beers. I saw the check ins. Couldn't help myself. 

Well played, Archinect.  Well played. 

i had settled in to just drinking what i like, but have been re-inspired to drink stuff i never have.

haha the only way to justify going fruity..wife gave me that after the Sam Smiths Strawberry and that was a bad idea vs Smiths beer.

I agree, I'm taking longer in the store picking up beer these days... actually went to the shop and didn't buy anything since they didn't have anything I hadn't had.

I  was happy to settle for a nice whiskey. I've been playing around on Master of Malt lately too, if anyone is on there.

I'm wonder if anyone has ever done a comprehensive review of Miller vs Coors vs Budweiser vs Pabst vs Schlitz. I know I won't be the first. Didn't even finish the PBR i had last night. (although it could have been the two 9%+ Tripels I had before even going to the bar.)

^ why did you opt for a Pabst when you clearly had access to Tripels?

...something's not right here.

Olaf, years ago I picked up a Sam Adams mix pack while camping in Whiteface. Sam Adams was not very common back home and I had adored it when I first had one whille in Boston during my undergrad days. But... in that mix pack was hidden a single cherry-ale. I kid you not, I would not even use it to put out a fire. It was just that bad.

A large craft joint near me makes a decent blueberry-vanila white beer. I've yet to rank it on the app.

had a nice early dinner close to home that involved the tripels, then went to a bar for a birthday party. Which had Fat Tire, so I drank several of those, but toward the end of the night they ran out, so it was Pabst or Hamms's... I'll take PBR between those two.

Why drink them if they aren't at least 4 stars?

Not every beer can be 4-5 stars.... there's certainly a place for yellow beer, though. And when it's $2, eh, i'm fine with it.

I rarely ever get above 4 with a rating. Has to be very good. But then again, I don't really ever give anything a perfect ranking either. I am just that grumpy...

I have been very bad about not drinking things I like. All so I can get another unique beer to check in. I feel bad. Many good beers are being skipped just so I can taste that next novel beer.