Right on, I wish they made more of it so I could drink it throughout the summer. I'm moving into a new house with my girl and there are three peach trees growing in the yard and they all have fruit. A friend from the bar and doom circles excels at making Berliner Weisses. I've already told him he could have as much fruit as needed to brew, basically, a Festina Peche.

We put Prost Brewing's Hefeweizen on tap on Friday and it's excellent. A very banana nose with a slightly tart and dry mid-palate and a nice, rich finish. Low alcohol at 4.2% abv and I like that a lot. We've blown through 4 kegs in 2 days. I hope it's a mainstay 'cause it's good.

Threw a St. Bernardus ABT 12 from 2008 in the 'fridge to see how it's doing.

Had a Pear Dandelion Mead (homebrewed) from 2000 last night. Very nice all around. It still had a fair amount of sweetness, though relatively low and a nice dry finish. Easy drinking, that one.

Had a Bell's Batch 7000 also. Essentially a Russian Imperial Stout in the vein of Expedition Stout. I'm guessing it was brewed in about 2006 or so. Though it wasn't aged in barrels, it does taste as though it was, which is some trick. Very, very good.

Had a Bell's Eccentric Ale from 1998. This one held up surprisingly well. I probably should've had it about three years ago, but simply forgot about it. The recipe for this beer is like a laundry list of ingredients. Ginger is featured at this age, but typically there are an assortment of roots, grasses, weeds, mushrooms, barley, hops, etc., etc. Personally, I'd age any of these beers for about 5-8 years.

I didn't find the Breckenridge to be overpowering. It was decent, if a bit thin...for the same style i prefer Stoney Creek, which is much sweeter & vanilla-y. kind of a dessert beer.

That sounds like it would be awesome. Definitely let us know how it turns out.

Do you have any other recommendations in terms of beers that are similar in style to the Festina Peche? As much as I like it, it's expensive as hell. Those two 4 packs cost me over $20. If they were higher in alcohol content it wouldn't be so bad but I can polish them off fast.

Don't really have any recommendations. There's a local straight Berliner Weisse from Crabtree that won the gold medal at the beer fest last year, but it's hard to find here, let alone outside the state. I think they only brew it once a year.

I don't know of another fruit-based berliner. I look at it like some of the holiday beers, enjoy them while they're here.

Thanks. Have you tried the DFH Aprihop before? I was a big fan of that one as well.

I have tried that one, but was not much of a fan. My recollection is the hopping and hop variety wasn't quite working for my palate.

Spent the last several days hitting a few NorCal Breweries and beer bars. Russian River has a flight of every beer they have on tap...

Any Heady Topper fans out there? Just got a fresh half case from a friend.

Jealous!
That's probably the brewery I'd most like to visit. Hope I can make it happen in the next year.

had me a newcastle last week, came out of the bar smelling bad like cigarettes, not something familiar to me these days. outlawed in ohio but some bars don't give two shits, don't come here if you don't want to smell like cigarettes, we'll go on and be our loser selves once you leave.

A.C.E...did you crack those Hess bottles yet? I offered up my assistance on the 'ol FB so if you're still in need of help, don't hesitate to get in touch!

;)

First night up in Fort Collins and picked up a couple growlers from Odell's taproom earlier, Tree House Apricot Tart and Chocolate Oar (a chocolate stout). Both winners for sure. I'd imagine fans of Festina Peche would enjoy the Tree House a good deal and anyone who like likes dark chocolate stouts would love this Chocolate Oar.

As good as that looks, I probably couldn't make it through that flight in one sitting. What is that 4 oz per glass?

Wussie

Looks like shot glasses to me... = 1 oz?

I know...such are the downfalls with being small.

man them beers look so good, make me feel all bouncy wouncy. I'll probably be slurring, it's all about spending my money. and then the night's over. put my headphones on and watch a movie I guess. oh well.

Hit up Funkwerks taproom yesterday. Got to try their Monarch Imperial Saison, a blend of 50% Exile King aged for 8 months in oak chardonay bottles and 50% fresh Tropic King. Awesome, awesome beer and perhaps my favorite saison I have yet to try. Peaches, belgian yeast, the wine tannins, and oak all came through in the flavor, I wish they sold growlers because I want more.

Between their taproom and Odell's....I liked both. Yeah, the order at the cashier and pick your beer up down the line at another station at Odell's was lame and felt like something from a corporate chain more interested in efficiency than atmosphere but I didn' really mind it too much. The building was pretty, the room bright and lively, the atmosphere still cool. Plus, so many pilot beers to that they don't offer in bottles, I felt like a kid in a candy store. Kinda expensive though, funny how I could buy a sixer of their beer at Target for cheaper than directly from their taproom.

Funkwerks taproom was pretty chill too though. Definitely small but definitely a nice casual spot to grab a couple brews. Other than wishing they offered growlers, no complaints. Loved the set up of offering flights, half pours, and full pours and a nice selection of some staples as well as some rotating stuff.

Hit Coopersmith's Brewery and Pub simply due to being in that area and needed some food. Meh...it was okay but can't imagine going there again any time soon. Better places for beer and food around it seems. Tried their Horsetooth Oatmeal Stout which almost tasted like an Oatmeal Dry Stout, it was fair but I was hoping for a bit more from it. Sampled their brown ale and ESB as well...the bitter was pretty weak, the brown ale maybe the best beer of the night I tried, but as a sample size perhaps too small an amount to get an accurate gauge on.

Next in line is going to be Equinox.

Exponential Hoppiness at Alpine...

IIPA. 11%ABV

Wish my phone could take such quality pictures...that looks tasty.



The pic quality sucks but this beer is pretty damn good. Deschutes Black Butte XXIV, an imperial porter. As a big fa of Deschutes I haven't actually sampled many of their bigger beers (such as The Abyss, which I plan to rectify this season when it hits the shelves) so trying to fix that with this one.

Equinox is definitely cool. Probably the #1 place I want to go back to in Ft. Collins.

I should've warned you about Coopersmith's. Lame like Breckenridge, or lamer. One of those places that was a novelty 15 years ago and hasn't changed while everyone else is making much better beer.

Oh, drinking a bottle of Thornbridge Bracia. As I was leaving work last night the boss said,"here, take this home. It's in my way." Ummmm, okay.
It's really tasty.
A 9% dark ale brewed with honey. Soft and velvety with a touch of roastiness to balance the sweetness. A very nice, well-balanced beer.

I'd say lamer. Thought the beer was inferior and Breck being next door to Coors at least offered a place to eat and drink pre/post baseball game. Not the best choice in that neighborhood obviously when you got Falling Rock there, but a choice nonetheless. And more options is always better.

From The Bruery, one of their amazing sours.
(today they allocated five more bottles of Black Tuesday)

Palette Wrecker on cask at the brewery. And it's the perfect temp. A little more chilly than it should be. I'll also be leaving with a few bombers of Rayon Vert as its 50% off!

Good day to get off work early!