Beer Trades: 8/19/11

Continuing my epic haul of beer trades this week, I had two more boxes arrive in the mail today. The first box came from Eric in Ohio, whom I sent a bottle of Brooklyn Black Ops, as well as a bottle each of Dogfish Head Olde School Barleywine and Bell's Batch 9000. In return he sent me the following

The two big bottle are a couple of imperial IPA's from Three Floyds, Arctic Panzer Wolf and Dreadnaught. Three Floyds is a very highly respected brewery out of Indiana who doesn't distribute around here, so I'm excited to try a bunch of their beers over the coming weeks. The 12oz bottles all are beers from Great Lakes Brewing. Similarly to Three Floyds, they're located in the middle of the country and are known for producing great brews. Their beers tend to be a little more classic and not as extreme as other American breweries, so they fly under the beer commmunity radar a little bit more. This will be my first time trying any of their stuff, so I look forward to cracking Edmund Fitzgerald Porter, Lake Erie Monster Imperial IPA, and Great Lakes Oktoberfest.

The second box was courtesy of Dan in Minnesota, who sent me all the good stuff below in exchange for a bottle each of Black Ops and New England Brewing Co's Imperial Stout Trooper.

The negotiated trade was that he would be sending me Boulevard Imperial Stout and a four pack of Odell Myrcenary, an imperial IPA. These alone would have made a killer box, Boulevard makes some absolutely killer beers, and Myrcenary has been very well reviewed on Beer Advocate. Dan threw in some killer extras as well though, especially Deschutes Black Butte XXIII. Deschutes has a regular Black Butte porter that they brew year round, and starting with their 20th Anniversary they've made an imperial version every year as an anniversary ale of sorts. This year's batch was made with orange peel, cocoa nibs nibs, and chilies. A quarter of it was then aged in whiskey barrels before being blended back into the batch. Not only is it almost assuredly a great beer, but this saves me having to set up a separate trade for one. Dan also sent a can of Surly Bitter Brewer and a bottle of Summit Silver Anniversary Ale. I sent some extras on my end as well, but I definitely ended up a little bit humbled here, hopefully he and I trade again and I can repay the favor.

As a final note, I did have a couple beers last night and neglect to get a post up. Suffice to say, both Three Floyds Lord Admiral Nelson and Surly Bender were great, and full thoughts can be found in my "official" reviews on Beer Advocate