What is your favorite craft beer?

[Value Buy]

Lately I have been hooked on several different ones from Three Floyd's, which is located in northwest Indiana, but we have had so many craft beer establishments opening up lately, Its like Prohibition all over again.

The business has grown so big, a company is starting a tour bus to take participants around to  several different local craft breweries, on a tour, where you sample the product.
Our local city allows a craft brew festival in the downtown area once a year where tickets are limited to 3,000 imbiders to sample the craft products, and it sells out every year.

Currently I am into Zombie Dust, but Floyd's has several really good choices.
Three Floyd's is located in Munster Indiana

[Ryan]

Busch Lite!

[Value Buy]

Jul 9, 2015 10:08:10 GMT -5 Ryan said:

Busch Lite!

Isn't he the guy running for the Republican Presidential nomination?

If anyone is goi g to reply, can you also state what state and city the product is located?
Thanks

I guess Ryan's answer would be St Louis.

[midjd]

Three Floyd's is delicious! I like Sun King's cream ale as well. I think they're based here in Indy.

Upland in Bloomington has some great stuff -- Dragonfly IPA, Bad Elmer's Porter, and Helios Pale Ale are all favorites.

[ArchietheDragon]

Locally, I am way into

Treehouse Brewing in Massachusettes
New England Brewing in Connecticut
Beer'd Brewing in Connecticut
Trillium in Boston

There are other local guys that aren't quite as good, but still good.

Then in Vermont there is just a whole slew of really world class brewers, but hard to get up there to get it.

but there are also lots of widley distributed brewers who are really making good beer. Lots of choices and good beer to drink out there,

[ArchietheDragon]

We should start some beer trading!

[The Captain]

I love a dark ale and most craft brewers around here tend to go for the lighter stuff.

In fact, my affinity for the darker the better is so well known among my peeps one sent me this link:

teechip.com/bds

While not a craft beer, I'm very fond of Spaten Optimator at the moment.

[ArchietheDragon]

Jul 9, 2015 12:00:23 GMT -5 The Captain said:

I love a dark ale and most craft brewers around here tend to go for the lighter stuff.

In fact, my affinity for the darker the better is so well known among my peeps one sent me this link:

teechip.com/bds

While not a craft beer, I'm very fond of Spaten Optimator at the moment.

Bourbon County Brand Stout - Goose Island Beer Co.

one of the best stouts in the country - from Chicago. 

[The Captain]

Jul 9, 2015 12:03:20 GMT -5 ArchietheDragon said:

Jul 9, 2015 12:00:23 GMT -5 The Captain said:

I love a dark ale and most craft brewers around here tend to go for the lighter stuff.

In fact, my affinity for the darker the better is so well known among my peeps one sent me this link:

teechip.com/bds

While not a craft beer, I'm very fond of Spaten Optimator at the moment.

Bourbon County Brand Stout - Goose Island Beer Co.

one of the best stouts in the country - from Chicago. 

Agreed!  But do you consider Goose Island to be a craft brewer?  They've gotten so big I just thought they were out of that category.

Then again, I guess I don't know what criteria are used to designate someone as craft vs mass production.

[ArchietheDragon]

Jul 9, 2015 12:07:38 GMT -5 The Captain said:

Jul 9, 2015 12:03:20 GMT -5 ArchietheDragon said:

Bourbon County Brand Stout - Goose Island Beer Co.

one of the best stouts in the country - from Chicago. 

Agreed!  But do you consider Goose Island to be a craft brewer?  They've gotten so big I just thought they were out of that category.

Then again, I guess I don't know what criteria are used to designate someone as craft vs mass production.

That is an argument that is yet to be answered. yes, they were bought by anheuser busch, which makes many people say they are not craft, but I argue they are still producing high quality craft beer, independent of who owns them, so they are still craft in my book... Just easier to get craft since they go through Busch distribution channels. 

[djAdvocate]

i'd tell you, but they only make 100 cases a year, and i don't need the competition. 

[ArchietheDragon]

Jul 9, 2015 12:13:18 GMT -5 djAdvocate said:

i'd tell you, but they only make 100 cases a year, and i don't need the competition. 

This is all that is wrong with the craft community!!!

[The Captain]

Now I'm banging my head against my desk because I have exactly two, yes two bottles left of an excellent chocolate stout at home and I can't remember the brand.

It's on a limited release and when it's goes out we have a few friends e-mail us and we run to the various very specialized liquor stores in the area and buy up as much stock as we can (which is usually only 6 or so bottles per store).

Is all this for us?  No, we have two close (out of area) friends for whom we are their supplier.

Unlike djAdvocate I'm willing to share and will look up the name when I get home.

[djAdvocate]

Jul 9, 2015 12:17:41 GMT -5 ArchietheDragon said:

Jul 9, 2015 12:13:18 GMT -5 djAdvocate said:

i'd tell you, but they only make 100 cases a year, and i don't need the competition. 

This is all that is wrong with the craft community!!!

i don't drink beer, so i just sit back and laugh.  my wife buys this stuff.

[djAdvocate]

Jul 9, 2015 12:21:11 GMT -5 The Captain said:

Now I'm banging my head against my desk because I have exactly two, yes two bottles left of an excellent chocolate stout at home and I can't remember the brand.

It's on a limited release and when it's goes out we have a few friends e-mail us and we run to the various very specialized liquor stores in the area and buy up as much stock as we can (which is usually only 6 or so bottles per store).

Is all this for us?  No, we have two close (out of area) friends for whom we are their supplier.

Unlike djAdvocate I'm willing to share and will look up the name when I get home.

sorry, but we had to fight and fight hard to get two cases this year.  it is all sold out, anyway, so you can't have any.

[Value Buy]

Jul 9, 2015 10:18:12 GMT -5 midjd said:

Three Floyd's is delicious! I like Sun King's cream ale as well. I think they're based here in Indy.

Upland in Bloomington has some great stuff -- Dragonfly IPA, Bad Elmer's Porter, and Helios Pale Ale are all favorites.

I have had Dragonfly and Bad Elmer
They are both good ones!
I have not seen Helios-will have to check it out.

[Value Buy]

Got thirsty after the last post.
Went out and bought Robert the Bruce for the weekend.

[Value Buy]

Hey, I am thinking if your craft beer fav has a website, add it to the conversation for other members to check them out.


www.3floyds.com/beers-to-go/

Hoping I am not breaking community rules by posting a website. I have no monetary interest in the company, and just think others might discover all kinds of interesting beers across the country, so we can stop drinking some really bad commercial beers out there. 

[imawino]

Springhouse Big Gruesome

[imawino]

Is Great Lakes craft beer? I love their Edmund Fitzgerald porter.

[imawino]

Jul 9, 2015 12:21:11 GMT -5 The Captain said:

Now I'm banging my head against my desk because I have exactly two, yes two bottles left of an excellent chocolate stout at home and I can't remember the brand.

It's on a limited release and when it's goes out we have a few friends e-mail us and we run to the various very specialized liquor stores in the area and buy up as much stock as we can (which is usually only 6 or so bottles per store).

Is all this for us?  No, we have two close (out of area) friends for whom we are their supplier.

Unlike djAdvocate I'm willing to share and will look up the name when I get home.

well?? 

[Value Buy]

Eight years ago we had one craft brewery/restaurant open in our community. It lasted two years, the beer was good, not great.
Now I am within ten minutes driving time of five craft breweries.
Granted very very small operations, but all seem to be putting out good product.
I still have two I have to check out.


Now we have a freaking coffee house that grinds and brew the darn stuff after you pick your beans, and get the ok from the brewer as being a good fit for what you want. 

[happyhoix]

Jul 9, 2015 12:21:11 GMT -5 The Captain said:

Now I'm banging my head against my desk because I have exactly two, yes two bottles left of an excellent chocolate stout at home and I can't remember the brand.

It's on a limited release and when it's goes out we have a few friends e-mail us and we run to the various very specialized liquor stores in the area and buy up as much stock as we can (which is usually only 6 or so bottles per store).

Is all this for us?  No, we have two close (out of area) friends for whom we are their supplier.

Unlike djAdvocate I'm willing to share and will look up the name when I get home.

My husband is a big fan of Terrapin Liquid Bliss (Athens, Georgia, peanut butter/chocolate porter).

I'm not so big a fan of the dark beer, my favorite summer beer right now is Stiegl Radler (tastes like a shandy only you don't have to add the lemonade and ginger ale) but it's made in Austria. For local craft beers I would go for a Yazoo Brewing Company Pale Ale (Nashville TN) or
White Shadow, a Witbier from Chattanooga TN

DH and I are planning a fall pilgrimage to Ashville NC, a city with one of the highest per capita concentrations of micro breweries in the country.

[happyhoix]

Jul 9, 2015 17:48:06 GMT -5 Value Buy said:

Eight years ago we had one craft brewery/restaurant open in our community. It lasted two years, the beer was good, not great.
Now I am within ten minutes driving time of five craft breweries.
Granted very very small operations, but all seem to be putting out good product.
I still have two I have to check out.


Now we have a freaking coffee house that grinds and brew the darn stuff after you pick your beans, and get the ok from the brewer as being a good fit for what you want. 

I'm so old I can remember when bars carried the regular Bud, Miller, Coors, etc., and if they had Heineken they called themselves sophisticated.

Now we have two restaurants in town that make their own beer, and at least 8 that I can think of that carry crafts on tap, plus a wide selection of bottled beer (including World of Beer, which has over 100) and in the last year, I have discovered the existence of growlers, and the wide variety of places about town that are happy to fill those growlers for me.

We also have a big summer beer fest on the river, with regional breweries coming to show off their stuff, an an Octoberfest festival each fall that was so popular last year they ran out of about 2/3 of the beer selections (and the turkey legs) by the second day.

For a town right smack in the Bible belt, not too shabby.  

I'm not sure, for a country that had so many German immigrants, how we forgot what good beer was, but I'm so very happy we've rediscovered it.

[The Captain]

Jul 9, 2015 17:41:53 GMT -5 imawino said:

Jul 9, 2015 12:21:11 GMT -5 The Captain said:

Now I'm banging my head against my desk because I have exactly two, yes two bottles left of an excellent chocolate stout at home and I can't remember the brand.

It's on a limited release and when it's goes out we have a few friends e-mail us and we run to the various very specialized liquor stores in the area and buy up as much stock as we can (which is usually only 6 or so bottles per store).

Is all this for us?  No, we have two close (out of area) friends for whom we are their supplier.

Unlike djAdvocate I'm willing to share and will look up the name when I get home.

well?? 

Sorry it took so long

(Drum roll please)  May I present:

www.stbcbeer.com/black-water/creme-brulee-beer-page/

Southern Tier Crème brulee. 

Yea, not a chocolate stout like I first said so any cred I may have had is blown.  It's all good though because this stuff is still dark, thick and sweet with just a tiny bite at the end.

I haven't seen alwaysbeoptimizing on this thread but want to call him out and suggest giving this a try.  If you like Hard Root Beer this should be up your alley.

Like I said earlier, only two bottles left until next February.  I can pretty much guarantee one won't survive the weekend.

[ken a.k.a OMK]

Nanticoke Nectar at Realerervival Brewing in Cambridge Md.

[Value Buy]

Indiana State Fair Brewers Cup competition just ended.
There were 500 entries, so still not exactly big time, but still they came from all over the U.S.
Crown Brewing won three medals, but none were first place.

Bier Brewery of Indianapolis took first in the English Pale ale category. Crown's Shoe Corner ESB came in second place.
Crown's "Industrial" won third in the Porter category.
Rauchen Verboten place third in the smoke flavored/wood aged beer category.

Three Floyd's Robert the Bruce placed third in the Scottish and Irish Ale category.

I should have been there!

[sarcasticgirl]

Forbidden Root - their name sake forbidden root and their ginger beer.

Of course this is me being partial because it is made by a friend. He started as a home brewer and even made beer for our wedding 5 years ago. Now he is a brew master, in bars and stores all over Chicago. They expect to open a tap room this year.

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using proboards

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

There are roughly 6 very good microbreweries in town who bring out their specialty of the month.  What my favorite is depends on what pub we're at, and what's being brewed this month/season.

They have made it VERY difficult to have a favorite!

[Deleted]

Right now I am really liking Grays Honey ale and Raspberry Tart from New Glarus.