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I remember getting Anchor Steam in California nearly 20 years ago, having been told about it by a relative as something to try. And having been happy to try a different tasting beer. The other California one I liked was Sierra Nevada pale ale.

I feel like that was a much more innocent time. Now no matter where you are, there's a pile of competing craft beers, trying to out do one another across different dimensions (though mostly hops), it's hard to keep track. At the same time, good beer seems to mean a lot less now, because of how spoiled we all are.

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> trying to out do one another across different dimensions (though mostly hops)

In places with younger craft markets, it's like an even split between hops and extreme naming/label graphics. Here in Seattle, beer names are like Obscure Mythology Reference and you might enjoy the Wikipedia hole it starts you on while you imbibe. The first craft brew I remember seeing visiting my original home state, Virginia, was literally named Raging Bitch with a fierce looking dog baring its teeth and blood-like splatters of red ink. It was actually a pretty decent stout IIRC.

Raging Bitch is made by Flying Dog brewery whose art is done by Ralph Steadman - well known for his collaborations with Hunter S Thompson. I started drinking it because of that fact after reading Fear and Loathing for the first time in college. It’s also nice and strong - 9% iirc

Ah, I had no idea about the artist! It came to mind because it’s pretty representative of the general theme I noticed, but also because the art was definitely striking in its own right.

> It’s also nice and strong - 9% iirc

As all good stouts should be, in my humble opinion!

My all time favourite beer is the BrewDog, Nogne and Mikkeller collaboration stout: the Black Tokyo Horizon. It's 17.2%!

17.2%?!? That led me down the rabbit hole to find out beers with very high alcohol content. Apparently Brewmeister Snake Venom, at ABV 67.5%, is the highest.

67.5% just sounds..bad. I'd be hard pressed to find a liquor that's easily drinkable at that ABV.

Something like Utopias by Sam Adams is 28%, and even at that point, you drink it more like a liquor than a beer.

Yes those super high ones are usually freeze concentrated (partially frozen, then ice is removed which removes water, what is left is stronger) multiple times to reach such high ABVs.

The highest you will see actually fermented is usually around 18-20%, but there are specialty yeasts that can get up to 25%. Then you can get even higher with extended aging in spirit barrels where some ABV is picked up by absorbing residual spirit as well as evaporation increasing the strength. Sam Adams Utopias for example comes in at 28%

Brewing high ABV beers is actually quite the challenge, especially once it gets above about 10%.

The grain to strike water ratio changes so much that lautering often gets “stuck” due to the thick consistency of the grain bed.

It’s pretty easy to get into the ~15% range with the right yeast (champagne yeast is the best starting point) and attention to sugar conversion (I wish I could remember the details here but I haven’t brewed for about a decade) and importantly for beer, good ventilation. I had a barleywine that should have been in this range ferment for about 12 hours and it clogged the airlock, exploded the carboy, and generally ruined everyone’s day. But not the way it was supposed to ruin anyone’s day.

It's not so much a problem of the yeast and attenuation. Nottingham should be fine up to 14% and for a high gravity beer somewhere above 75% attenuation.

The issue is yield and lautering. The mash is so thick, or rather there's so much of it, that proceses need to be adjusted to account for that, and from experience yields are much lower in a typical entry level craft brewing system (400L).

I miss GreenFlash's Barleywine - they put up a retired baseball card-style poster with stats for it.

Worth mentioning, freezing and skimming ice is a clever distillation process. It’s also illegal under any other circumstances that distillation would be illegal, but nobody much cares.

Yeah these record breaking ones tend to come from Scotland where I assume it is legal. Or Eisbocks in Germany.

In the US I think it is technically illegal to make with a brewers license, though some breweries may make an Eisbock and sort of fly under the radar.

The Tactical Nuclear Penguin is 32% and frankly that was too strong haha but an interesting experience

Sink the Bismark was an interesting experience too - much like drinking a whisky more so than a beer

Yes! That’s the other one I was thinking of. We literally sipped it like a whisky haha

Since his non-German internet presence isn't great and iirc there's no Wikipedia article abut him I'd like to mention Georg „Schorsch“ Tscheuschner of "Schorschbräu" fame. He's quite the character and famous in German (home-)brewing circles because he's always chasing those high percentages (via the mentioned ice technique called Eisbock in German). His creations include the world's strongest Lager (16%) a pretty stronger Weizen (13%) and his high percentage entry, the Schorschbock (57%).

Just a waste IMO. Yes, sometimes I want a strong beer, but sometimes I want to spend an afternoon drinking and chatting with a friend. But I still want something that tastes good in that case!

Hardly a waste; I never do the “spend all afternoon drinking” thing these days, and if I really want to, well these strong stouts are excellent to sip over a fairly long period of time because they taste great slightly warmed up

Yeah the super-strong ones are fun to try every now and then, but having >2x the alcohol of a normal beer is not something to be taken lightly. I've found myself favouring lower ABV recently - I like drinking beer but I don't really like being drunk and at my age I do not handle hangovers well, (currently fighting through one)

My favourite thing to come out of the craft brew movement recently is the renewed interest in session beers and generally great beers a 4% or lower. I love being able to drink lots of really nice and interesting beers and just not feel drunk.

The industry in Atlanta shifted to these types of beers right around the start of the pandemic. Every brewery here now has a lager, rice lager, or low-abv pale ale. The best is Halfway Crooks [1]!

[1] https://halfwaycrooks.beer/

Those are some heavy hitters, would love to try that collab if I ever find it!

If you can find it, I can’t recommend it enough. I bought a carton of it, twice, that’s how great it is (in my opinion). Don’t ask how much the carton was though haha

Dry Irish stouts, like Guinness, are good and despite their reputation, are not (and should not be) anywhere near that strong. They come in at ~4.2% abv, like most "light" beers.

I love Steadman’s art but refuse to buy Flying Dog beer since their owner is a giant asswipe (don’t remember the details just something to do with mistreating employees).

Steadman also did the art for Anthony Bourdain’s cookbook - highly recommend that though.

edit: HST’s story on the Kentucky Derby features Steadman prominently and it’s my favorite of his after/along with Fear and Loathing and Hell’s Angels. It’s probably the most gonzo of the three as well.

edit: Corrected Flying Dog from BrewDog

As far as I know there is no relationship between BrewDog and Flying Dog despite the names

Oh whoops I meant Flying Dog.

I think you can quite correctly substitute Flying Dog for Brew Dog in the "owner is an asswipe and I won't buy anything from him" stakes:

'BrewDog, the fast-expanding craft beer firm, has apologised to former employees who accused the company and its co-founder James Watt of fostering a “culture of fear” in which workers were bullied and “treated like objects”.' [0]

0: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/jun/10/brewdog-sta...

BrewDog is a sad one for me. It was nice to see a brewery in the region I'm from (Aberdeenshire, Scotland) becoming a worldwide success. But their "punk" aesthetic is a bit cringe for a big corporate company, and the owner turning out to be a dick is a real turn-off and the beer isn't good enough for me to overlook it. There's another brewery in the area that I've been meaning to try out (likely impossible to find in Czech Republic), they've leaned into their Aberdeen identity pretty hard which is cool but idk what their beer is like https://www.fiercebeer.com

Here's the HST piece in question - "The Kentucky Derby is Decadent and Depraved" - http://brianb.freeshell.org/a/kddd.pdf

I agree with the parent, it's a great piece and iirc it's where Thompson and Steadman first met up. If you're looking for something interesting to read during lunch today, this is for you.

I was just thinking that this weekend in the Seattle area as we wandered the aisles for six for the wife. It’s either an attempt to put the scariest-looking skull(s) on the label, or $SOMETHING $SEXUAL_REFERENCE $FARM_ANIMAL (e. g., Ass-Kickin’ Horny Goat Stout).

Sounds pretty good TBH, does the drawing of the goat have bloodshot eyes and maybe yellowed and/or missing teeth? Because I’d give that a try.

> It’s either an attempt to put the scariest-looking skull(s) on the label

One of the people behind Liquid Death water was on NPR some weeks back, and basically their entire deal, as told by him, was just taking canned water and applying craft beer branding.

Not to knock it, evidently it worked and, as far as the product and concept, was all they needed. Just thought it was funny—yeah, why not put an edgy name and skulls all over water?

That was CEO Mike Cessario, who's ex-Netflix. And it was Monster he was aping more than craft beer. (It was Kai Ryssdal who compares it to Arrogant Bastard beer.) https://www.marketplace.org/2023/01/25/liquid-death-is-an-en...

The only reason I haven't bought one of those at Whole Foods is I don't want to deal with the cops seeing it in the cup holder in my car. Much better to buy the plastiboard container that says "Just Water" on the side[1] and fill it with vodka.

(I am kidding.)

[1]https://dg6qn11ynnp6a.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2018...

Simi related, but i’m really glad something like liquid death became a thing! I go to a lot of live events, especially concerts, and I can now reliably buy sparkling water at almost every event.

Beforehand my choices were absurdly overpriced beers, sweetened drinks, or plain water. I’m a big fan of sparkling water, so this new development is nice, even if I don’t particularly care about the branding gimmicks.

Liquid Death water on the store shelf: https://youtu.be/pCbrpKhWOio

I've always joked they're spending more on graphic designers than brewers.

Pretty sure it’s an IPA. Sigh

You are correct

I’m my defense I remembered the artwork then I bought their stout whenever I visited until I couldn’t find it anymore

I did not sigh at your mistake, I sighed at the over-prevalence of IPAs.

Flying Dog's Raging Bitch has a special place in my heart. It was the beer in my fridge many years ago on the day I got laid off. Got to drink that and watch the Women's World Cup instead of being at my awful job.

I'm a little bummed that Anchor Steam isn't going to be sold near me (Ohio) anymore, specifically because it was one of the few microbrews I could always find that wasn't over-the-top hoppy or wheaty or sour or chocolate-syrupy.

But at least the all-IPA all-the-time trend seems to have died down, and I do see local breweries with more pilsners and Kölsches.

Yeah, pilsners seem to be the new hotness, and I couldn't be happier about it :)

(I've also very recently discovered how good NA/very-low-ABV beers are today, but that's a topic for a different thread.)

Just a comment from someone living around Köln, those are not true kölsch beers since they cannot see the Kölner Dom from their brewery.

I find it quite fascinating that americans like kölsch. The first time, and only time, I saw kölsch outside of Germany was in Mountain View at some beer auction style tap bar in 2016. It was quite popular since it had a high price. I might assume it was due to the similarity with local/large batch beer.

Thankfully we’re starting to see a larger variety down here in Southern California. I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the quality and availability of sours and stouts in the last few years

Sierra Nevada here on the east coast is brewed in Mills River, NC, just outside Asheville. I guess there must be some economic reason (abundant skilled brewer labor force?) for locating their east coast operations in a place that was already one of the most thriving local brewing scenes on this side of the country, but it just felt redundant to me.

One of the big reasons was the water [0] interns of both availability, quality and abundance.

> Water quality was one of the critical factors in the company’s choice of WNC from about 200 sites across the eastern U.S. […] it also learned there was some high-quality water to be found in aquifers throughout the region — primarily around Black Mountain.

[0] https://www.blueridgenow.com/story/news/2012/07/23/sierra-ne...

And crazy sour ales. I would welcome the return of some imperial stout and porter efforts from these guys.

Anchor Steam was my goto beer for a long time. I really miss Anchor Porter - I found a 6-pack of it back in 2003 while living in Helsinki (I was missing home/California). I ponied up the 18 euros (then) for the 6 pack and drank it like it was a rare gift - it was the last one they had.

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