Another month, another night of great beers and eats with the Albany BAs. Ross made some killer ribs, I broke out the Baking Steel and slung a few pies, and of course more than a few beers were shared by all. Let’s check it out.

Ross and I cursed out some 12 year olds on COD while waiting for the rest of the guys to show up, but when they did we dug right into these glorious ribs, done up on Ross’ Big Green Egg, naturally. These puppies stuck with you the whole night.

There was a nice mix of IPAs to break up all of the big stouts and sours, plus they helped washed down the pizza and ribs as well. Alpine, Surly, and Wicked Weed were all represented.

After a short break from the ribs it was time to dive into the pizzas. I gave #brobro a few pointers on how I do my pies, and I think Ross is a Baking Steel convert now as well. Shame we didn’t get to recreating The Carcass pizza from James’ Birthday, since I had a ton of great meat from Genoa and Oscar’s Smokehouse on hand, but with the ribs after a few pizzas we were tapped out on food.

A few other beers were in the mix that night before we dived into the Goose Island ladies. The Biere Royale from The Commons was the most surprising for me. My second beer from them I received in Merc‘s Sours For Dummies BIF, another one that was much better than I thought it was going to be. Nice pink color to the beer that I couldn’t capture well with the shitty lighting in my kitchen, but a mild acidity upfront that went well with the currants. Even the Silhouette RIS from Lift Bridge was a pleasant surprise, and vintage Cantillon are always a welcomed sight.

And with that it brings us to Gillian, Halia, Juliet, and Lolita, the last batch of the barrel-aged, wild fermented Goose Island sisters. Lolita was available locally, but Gillian and Halia I ordered online since I didn’t know if they were going to make it to the Capital Region or if I would run into them in my travels. Ross chipped in the Juliet so we could complete the tasting.

Historically Juliet has always been everyone’s favorite sister, Lolita is the red-headed stepchild, and Madame Rose fell somewhere in the middle. I can honestly say this year that’s just not the case. This vintage of Lolita is right up there with Juliet, and Gillian and Halia just didn’t do it for me the way Madame Rose has in the past. I’ll definitely stock up on some Lolita and Juliet to last year year, though.

We finished the night on a little sweeter note with Cigar City’s Life is Like and New Belgium’s Wisco Belgian Red. Hey Florida, stop putting fruit in your fucking stouts. Thanks.

With the holidays coming up a December tasting is unlikely to happen. Looking forward to our next tasting in January, though.