​Pete
6! At this point, it's just a regular occurrence. The beer: Vitamin Sea Double Summer.
Description: A little bit of a creamy texture while you drink it, and a massive explosion of grassy hop flavors.
What you should know: This baby really made me want to go outside and find a freshly cut lawn to drink this on. It's not exactly light (8.2%), but it's still crushable based on body and flavor. Vitamin Sea does not distribute, so you're going to have to go there (or find a buddy to get you some, like I did with this one). It seems like they're ramping up production, so maybe you'll be able to get these some other way sooner rather than later.
​Recommendations: If you're in the Boston area on a Saturday (the only day they're open currently), try to make your way to the south shore, have a few beers at Vitamin Sea, grab whatever cans they have, and call it a day. Maybe swing by Barrel House Z next door if you're feeling extra adventurous.

Pete
5! Might be a new record. The beer: Locust Lane Game Day IPA.
Description: Lemon and melon flavors dominate, with a dry finish, keeping you coming back for more. 
What you should know: This beer is an approachable 5.8% ABV, which means you can have a few of them even from the 16oz cans and not be out of control. This also has a pretty cool label obviously. It's not the original, but this is a huge upgrade. The brewery is pretty small, in Malvern, PA, but they make a couple good beers for sure (I've only had one other one, they're 2/2).

​Recommendations: The brewery distributes around eastern and central PA, so you should be able to find it if you're in that area. Grab yourself a couple 4-packs, park yourself next to a TV, and watch a Phillies game. Trust me, the beers won't last. Maybe Bryce will even mix in a hit.

Pete
4 in a row! Trillium Vicinity.
Description: Looks like juice, and smells like it too. Going down, it adds a touch of bitterness, but not too much that it dominates. Finishes extremely fruity/citrusy, and is pretty darn strong (8%). Dangerous beer.
What you should know: This beer was brewed to celebrate the 1 year anniversary of Row 34, a beer and oyster bar near the Trillium brewery (take another look at the label).  It's been on my list for awhile, but it's super popular, so it's pretty hard to get a reservation (especially on weekends).
Recommendations: The Trillium Beer Garden opens next week. It's time to start thinking summer vibes, and make your way over there for (more than) a few brews. You might need to bring a jacket at least for the first month.

Pete
Streak! The beer: Tree House Single Shot w/Vanilla Bean

Description: Tastes like coffee milk with a hint of vanilla. If you've never had coffee milk, it's basically just milk with sweetened coffee syrup. Essentially melted coffee ice cream. So this is like a melted bowl of ice cream that had 1 scoop of vanilla, 1 scoop of coffee, and 1 scoop of chocolate. But with alcohol. 

What you should know: Somehow, this is Tree House's first BOTW from me, probably just because I haven't done them. As of today, I've had 42 Tree House beers, and exactly half have been 6 or 7 Shyoh-rated beers, including both of the Double Shot's I've had (more coffee-focused than this non-imperial version). That's...good. Their stuff is incredibly highly rated on Untappd for a reason, and they do not distribute, because they don't have to.

Recommendations: If you live in the Boston or Worcester areas (or Western Mass.), you should make regular trips to Tree House, and find a crew who will do the same, so you can get a variety of their stuff. I honestly can't remember the last time I haven't had a Tree House in my fridge. If you don't live in those areas, this is worth making plans to go. If you ever do a road trip to Boston (it's also less than 3 hours from NYC), make sure you stop here on the way/way back and stock up. All your friends will thank you, if you can stomach giving up any of the beers you bought. 

Pete
Actually doing a beer of the week the week after the previous one? And not a special number of total beers on the site? (2531 now for reference). Weird. One more, and it's a streak. The beer: Almanac Valley of the Heart's Delight.

Description: Best sour I've ever had, and I've had quite a few (287 by my count). This beer is brewed with apricots, loquats (aka a Japanese plum, had to google it), and cherries, you might think it'd be an overly fruity beer, but it's not. The dominant flavor is the sourness, which is medium to high. The fruit balances it perfectly in the finish, and you even get a little earthiness in there. 

What you should know: This beer gets its fruit from the Garden To Table non-profit supporting urban farming in San José. I found this at a bar in Boston, and given that this is a west coast brewery, I'd assume it should be somewhat widely available.

Recommendations: This beer was in sort of a special section of the menu. I always gravitate towards draft beer, but most beer bars have some pretty awesome stuff in bottles and cans, so don't discount those sections of the menu. This cost $18 for a 375 mL bottle (at a bar that had reasonable beer prices), and I still felt like I underpaid. Seek this out, and don't be afraid of the price. They do have a beer finder on their website, but it's not very accurate (and they admit that). 

Pete
Calling this 'Beer of the Week' is sort of a running joke at this point, but hey, I'm just going to keep calling it that regardless of frequency. For those of you counting, it's been 258 days since the 2000th Beer special. For you math people, that's about 2 beers a day. Only 1 beer of the "week" was posted in between. But hey, at least there's been some stuff. Onto the beer: Burlington Beekeeper.
Description: Full disclosure, I've had a few honey beers before, and generally hate them, despite loving honey. This changed my opinion. It's like eating fruit that has been drizzled with honey. The creamy texture really adds to that by giving you the feel of overripe fruit. 

What you should know: As of a month ago, I had never had any Burlington beers, nor had I even heard of the brewery. Now, I've had 15 (and at least 2 more in my fridge), and their average rating is 5. I went to town at their brewery with my purchases. They distribute to Massachusetts now, though their distribution list on their website doesn't seem updated. You can get their stuff at Fort Point Market in Boston at least. This is one of their most popular ones, so it should be relatively easy to find.

Recommendations: If you can swing a trip to Burlington, take a look at my write-up. Otherwise, try to find this stuff in the northeast. Based on how good their beer is, I suspect their distribution is going to continue expanding. Note that I chose this one to highlight over 4 other 6-Shyoh options as this is likely the easiest to find. 

In honor of the start of football season. The beer is OK, but the name is great. Go Birds.

Pete
Needless to say, we fell apart again on beer of the week, but given that we (read: mostly me) reached 2000 beers this week, I figured I would try to revive it. The beer:

Description: Very balanced beer. It's got a little bit of creaminess, sort of like a porter, but not quite a stout, in terms of body and finish. The flavor is a mix of mild piney bitterness and a blast of citrus in the finish. It's not overwhelming on the taste buds, so you can definitely have a couple, but it's 8.4%, so don't drive after.

What you should know: This was one of Trillium's first beers, and they still make it because it's awesome. Trillium excels at making hazy (New England) IPA's, sours, and dark beers. All their stuff is great. As far as their IPA's go, this is one of the more bitter offerings, but I certainly wouldn't call this beer bitter by any normal IPA standard. 

Recommendations: Make your way to their Boston brewery in the summer and get this if they have it. If they don't, just get whatever they have. They have beer lists updated frequently on the website for each location. After you've picked up everything they have at the brewery (I got 8 different ones last time I was there) and stashed it away somewhere, head on over to the beer garden and waste the day away. The last time I was there, I met a group of guys from Philly (go birds) who came to Boston just to come to Trillium. It's that good.

After Josh revived us last week, I'm a few days late on the beer of the week, but it still counts. 2 weeks in a row for us now, 1 more and I'd have to call that a streak. Almost like we're actually going to keep it up. On to the beer:

Description: Grimm describes this as a "dessert Berliner", so you (like me) might have no idea what to expect here. Dessert and sour don't necessarily make sense together, but this beer really works. It's definitely sweet first, with a creamy body, like an oatmeal stout almost, and it finishes with a hint of sour. It's nothing like anything you've ever had before (if it is, let me know because I want to find it).

What you should know: I let a bunch of people try this one, and it was universally loved despite a wide range of beer preferences in the group. Grimm describes this as having a "cream soda finish", and I have to agree with that. 

Cons: There's a lot going on, so you probably can only have 1-2 of these. It's also fairly low alcohol. That's an unfortunate combination.

Recommendations: Just try it. It's a Brooklyn-based brewery, and they have a beer finder on their website.