Little things make me happy!

clinehall · **Posted:** Fri Nov 15, 2013 1:16 pm

Vincent Keene wrote:

clinehall wrote:

This is one of the few reasons I don't like living in a small town.

According to Wikipedia, the 2012 estimate for Greenville was over 87,000 people for Greenville. If that is classified as a small town, Elm City must be microscopic at around 1,200. Sh*t, we are still getting The Ed Sullivan Show live!

And certainly no darkbeer. The think coors light is an import!

BriceJohnson · **Joined:** Thu Apr 13, 2006 7:33 am **Posts:** 2230

I'm a huge fan of Foothills. They need to start bottling the Jade soon, thats one of my favorites. The fact that you can fairly easily find BBA People's Porter is awesome. Hoppyum/Seeing Double is always great (and even better when mixed). Olde Hickory also makes some solid beer. Their ESB is great.

Lonerider has gone downhill a bit recently IMO. White Street however (where their former head brewer went) is making some solid stuff these days, just not bottling yet. I still enjoy Lonerider, I just think they are a bit too proud of their 22 oz bottles for the quality of beer they provide. I thought the Hangman was an ok Barleywine, but $15.99 for a 22 ozer? Come on. Cowboy in Black is pretty good, but I'll buy a 4 pack of Sublimely Self Righteous instead for that kind of $.

You can also never go wrong with good ole Oskar Blue's. If you tried them before, and haven't tried them in the last year or so, the Brevard brewed stuff is so much better (because its fresher). Dale's Pale Ale and Ten Fidy Stout are all great and an easy "go to" for me.

Steven Carter · **Posted:** Fri Nov 15, 2013 2:27 pm

BriceJohnson wrote:

I'm a huge fan of Foothills. They need to start bottling the Jade soon, thats one of my favorites. The fact that you can fairly easily find BBA People's Porter is awesome. Hoppyum/Seeing Double is always great (and even better when mixed). Olde Hickory also makes some solid beer. Their ESB is great.

Lonerider has gone downhill a bit recently IMO. White Street however (where their former head brewer went) is making some solid stuff these days, just not bottling yet. I still enjoy Lonerider, I just think they are a bit too proud of their 22 oz bottles for the quality of beer they provide. I thought the Hangman was an ok Barleywine, but $15.99 for a 22 ozer? Come on. Cowboy in Black is pretty good, but I'll buy a 4 pack of Sublimely Self Righteous instead for that kind of $.

You can also never go wrong with good ole Oskar Blue's. If you tried them before, and haven't tried them in the last year or so, the Brevard brewed stuff is so much better (because its fresher). Dale's Pale Ale and Ten Fidy Stout are all great and an easy "go to" for me.

Just checked the White Street website. You can get it in growlers, but no bottling. Plenty of locations around town for a tasting. Not sure what you mean by "gong downhill" but I suspect there are few craft breweries that are capable of making awesome beers in every variety. LRB has a good core of beer choices, but not all are great--certainly not award winning. Sweet Josie and Shotgun Betty still taste like they did a few years ago, at least to me, so maybe they are just not great at everything? Or, do you think their mainline bottled beers themselves don't taste as good as they used to?

BriceJohnson · **Joined:** Thu Apr 13, 2006 7:33 am **Posts:** 2230

I guess my expectations have gone uphill more than their quality going downhill, given the quality of craft beer available in NC now.

I still enjoy the Peacemaker and Sweet Josie as a standard (don't care for Shotgun Betty but thats more b/c its not my favorite style). It is true, nothing has changed with their standards, but I feel their "special releases" aren't up to the quality of even some of their peers. They are a solid operation making good quality beer. If I'm at most restaurants and they have Peacemaker on, I'll definitely consider it, but if I'm at Tyler's or another "beer-centric" place, its not what I'm gonna seek out.

More likely, I'm just a beer snob (haven't consumed a Bud or Bud light in 2+ years), and a long weekend in Asheville spoiled me as far as how good NC beer can be. If you ever find yourself up there, you MUST visit Wicked Weed Brewing. They are, in this beer snobs opinion, the best brewery in the state hands down. From their West coast DIPA, Brown Ale, Amber, Stout, Saison, Sour, there is no style they can't brew very well. I even liked their Berliner-Weiss.

Andrew Jonell · **Joined:** Mon Mar 23, 2009 6:43 pm **Posts:** 1350

Brice: If you don't hit up Trophy Brewing in Raleigh, you're gonna lose your Beer Snob license.

Steven Carter · **Posted:** Fri Nov 15, 2013 2:58 pm

BriceJohnson wrote:

I guess my expectations have gone uphill more than their quality going downhill, given the quality of craft beer available in NC now.

I still enjoy the Peacemaker and Sweet Josie as a standard (don't care for Shotgun Betty but thats more b/c its not my favorite style). It is true, nothing has changed with their standards, but I feel their "special releases" aren't up to the quality of even some of their peers. They are a solid operation making good quality beer. If I'm at most restaurants and they have Peacemaker on, I'll definitely consider it, but if I'm at Tyler's or another "beer-centric" place, its not what I'm gonna seek out.

More likely, I'm just a beer snob (haven't consumed a Bud or Bud light in 2+ years), and a long weekend in Asheville spoiled me as far as how good NC beer can be. If you ever find yourself up there, you MUST visit Wicked Weed Brewing. They are, in this beer snobs opinion, the best brewery in the state hands down. From their West coast DIPA, Brown Ale, Amber, Stout, Saison, Sour, there is no style they can't brew very well. I even liked their Berliner-Weiss.

Got it. I can see that perspective, as I agree that a couple of their releases (whose names I promptly forgot) haven't been great. I don't have the nose for being a beer snob, but will definitely check Wicked Weed.

JamesMilko · **Posted:** Fri Nov 15, 2013 7:32 pm

Andrew Jonell wrote:

Brice: If you don't hit up Trophy Brewing in Raleigh, you're gonna lose your Beer Snob license.

I'm pretty sure I remember a picture on Facebook from Mary taken at Trophy.

MikeWhitney · **Joined:** Wed Aug 20, 2003 9:15 pm **Posts:** 4724

MarekRozanski wrote:

Breckenridge Vanilla Porter - nice and smooth (Atwater Vanilla Java is a good alternative, but a little too much vanilla)
Young's Double Chocolate Stout - probably my favorite stout, mellow

Picked these 2 up plus a six of Bell's Expedition Stout tonight. They are chilling and I just finished off the Founder's Porter. Sadly (lol) I won't get to try them until I get back from Amsterdam (business trip).

Now that Raleigh's become a beer mecca, I have been disappointed by the beer in Europe the last few times I have been there. Anything of note in Amsterdam, or should I just stick with pot? :lol:

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