Beer thread?

It’s the National Rugby League grand final tonight and the Jacaranda trees are just out which means the best part of the year (locally) is ending. The AFL (Australian Rules) final was played last weekend and our local Brisbane Lions won the flag for the first time in a couple of decades.
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The Jacaranda is the tree with the purple flowers at the right of that photo. I only today discovered they are prominent in Southern California and Texas and Florida. Such beautiful trees.
The beer below is a popular one from Mick Fanning’s Balter brewery situated about an hour from here on the Gold Coast. The glass is hard to read but is a Snake River Brewing number. It will be nice to be in that area again in a few months. We’ve opted to book lodging in Victor the other side of the range.
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Victor and Driggs have a few breweries to check out as it happens.
 
Sbooker said:
The Jacaranda is the tree with the purple flowers at the right of that photo. I only today discovered they are prominent in Southern California and Texas and Florida. Such beautiful trees.
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We have a lot of them. They bloom mostly in May/June here, so significantly earlier in sbooker's area. I also noticed them in Buenos Aires in December 2020, looked it up and discovered they are native to northern Argentina.
 
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‘Interesting’ can art. I think it’s meant to be Keith from Prodigy.
The beer is a local one. And underwhelming.
 
Two of the four beers in case I bought at Costco for $24.99 plus tax and 5 cents CRV per can. The Hefe has an authentic German yeast flavor.
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While the IPA is not that Hazy, it is also not that Session at 4.8%.
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Gordon Biersch started with a brewpub in Palo Alto more than 25 years ago. It was followed shortly after by brewpub that replaced another one in a historic building in San Jose that included an alley between it and a banquet room. I visited it many times. Restaurants were sold off and local brewpubs closed, while a large brewery opened and was recently expanded from 2.2M to 5.3M cases per year. There is also now a restaurant in SJC. They claim to have invented garlic fries when they started serving beer at SF Giants game. The brewery parking lot has hosted Thursday night markets, Oktoberfests and other events and currently hosts Sunday morning Farmer's Market.
 
tseeb said:
Two of the four beers in case I bought at Costco for $24.99 plus tax and 5 cents CRV per can. The Hefe has an authentic German yeast flavor.
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While the IPA is not that Hazy, it is also not that Session at 4.8%.
View attachment 42584Gordon Biersch started with a brewpub in Palo Alto more than 25 years ago. It was followed shortly after by brewpub that replaced another one in a historic building in San Jose that included an alley between it and a banquet room. I visited it many times. Restaurants were sold off and local brewpubs closed, while a large brewery opened and was recently expanded from 2.2M to 5.3M cases per year. There is also now a restaurant in SJC. They claim to have invented garlic fries when they started serving beer at SF Giants game. The brewery parking lot has hosted Thursday night markets, Oktoberfests and other events and currently hosts Sunday morning Farmer's Market.
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How many beers in a case?
 
Sorry four six-packs=24. While that starts out at $1.04 per can after adding 9.375% sales tax and 5 cent CRV it ends up closer to $1.19 that I realize is much less than in AUS. Other two six-packs are Smooth Marzen Lager and Czech-Style Pilsner. I could have gotten Stella Artois for same price.
 
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tseeb said:
Sorry four six-packs=24. While that starts out at $1.04 per can after adding 9.375% sales tax and 5 cent CRV it ends up closer to $1.19 that I realize is much less than in AUS. Other two six-packs are Smooth Marzen Lager and Czech-Style Pilsner. I could have gotten Stella Artois for same price.
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A lot of the ‘craft’ brewers here do four packs now. Many still do 6.
 
The high-end organic store on the 6 miles between my house and my Mom's sends me coupons. Last week's was for a $14.99 lb. of Kicking Horse coffee if you spend $5. I bought some $4.99 cottage cheese for my wife, but thought I should spend more since they were giving me great and expensive coffee. So I bought a six-pack of this very good beer that was a dollar off at $12.99. They are many good breweries in San Diego.
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tseeb said:
The high-end organic store on the 6 miles between my house and my Mom's sends me coupons. Last week's was for a $14.99 lb. of Kicking Horse coffee if you spend $5. I bought some $4.99 cottage cheese for my wife, but thought I should spend more since they were giving me great and expensive coffee. So I bought a six-pack of this very good beer that was a dollar off at $12.99. They are many good breweries in San Diego.
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Sounds and looks like this would be right up my alley. Never been to San Diego…..
 
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From Maleny about 40 minutes north of my house. The hinterland of the Sunshine Coast. Home to the Glass House Mountains. It’s very good but nothing adventurous. Like something you would get from the home of the glass.

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It seems like every generation now gets its own Microbrew boom-bust.

I saw the 1990s-2000s/GenX boom in New England and the Northwest (NE: Catamount, Long Trail, Harpoon, Sam Adams, and NW: Mac & Jack's, Red Hook, Pyramid, Alaska, Spanish Peaks, etc.). I have paid less attention to the 2010s/Millenials boom.

Many of the 1990s/00s breweries are now gone, even the very successful ones that sold to larger brands.

States where you need a large fortune to make a small fortune in brewing:
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The Bay Area has a corresponding winery boom, which takes a little longer to play out due to the length of vine maturation.

For example, the Sideways movie (2004) ruined the Merlot market, which was heavily planted in the late 1990s when popularity exploded. Therefore, for almost 10+ years afterward, you could purchase higher-quality Merlots than other CA reds.
 
I’m in Melbourne with my daughter. She’s an avid Pearl Jam fan. She’s been waiting for them to tour for years. So we’re here for the shows. (Me just the one but she’s seeing both).
Melbs has a pretty booming beer scene. Plenty of cool little lane way and roof top bars too.

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She took me to some renowned student hang out yesterday. DJ had the place buzzing. Quite the eye opener. I think I may have been the only straight male there. And at 53 I was about 28 years older than the next oldest patron.
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Sbooker said:
I’m in Melbourne with my daughter. She’s an avid Pearl Jam fan. She’s been waiting for them to tour for years. So we’re here for the shows. (Me just the one but she’s seeing both).
Melbs has a pretty booming beer scene. Plenty of cool little lane way and roof top bars too.

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She took me to some renowned student hang out yesterday. DJ had the place buzzing. Quite the eye opener. I think I may have been the only straight male there. And at 53 I was about 28 years older than the next oldest patron.View attachment 43173
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Bet you felt like the ultimate outsider at that student spot, 28 years older and probably the only one who remembers Pearl Jam’s first album.
 
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