Come on in, folks. Have a seat at the bar. We’re talking beer again today, but we’re also talking anything else you want to talk about. We’ve got a couple of top-25 matchups tonight, with #10 Nebraska at #6 Ohio State and #1 Alabama probably steamrolling the absolute shit out of #13 LSU on their home field. We’ve got an election coming up, because we didn’t do the right thing 240 years ago and just make George Washington the King of America. We’ve got some pretty great-looking movies out; I’m looking forward in particular to seeing Arrival and Moonlight, and based on what I’ve heard from Beerguyrob and others it looks like I’ll be adding Doctor Strange to the list.

What’s up with me lately? Well, I told you all about the Draught House Anniversary Party last week, and this past Saturday, it lived up to the hype yet again. One or two people expressed some interest in hearing what I thought of the list, so here you go! Everything I tried at the anniversary party, ranked:

8. Austin Beerworks Templar Nights

I drank more imperial stouts than anything else last Saturday, and almost everything I tried was barrel-aged. But this one had an unusual twist—bourbon barrel aged, with cherries added. I’ve talked before about how fruit can be tricky to add to beer, and I’ve found cherries are especially hard to pin down. In this beer, they weirdly come out a bit like Play-Doh. Sorry, what’s that? No, you ate Play-Doh as a kid. I honestly didn’t. Hilariously, I wouldn’t even touch Play-Doh. I’d play with it, but only if it was inside a plastic bag. I was one weird kid. At any rate, this isn’t bad. It’s good, even! But the off-flavors leave it at the bottom of a very strong list of beers.

7. Lagunitas High Westified

One of the beers I most wanted to try, in part because when I was in Denver earlier this year I just missed catching it at the Falling Rock Tap House. Unfortunately, I drank it right after another bourbon-barrel aged imperial coffee stout that ended up being the best beer of the afternoon, so it did suffer a bit by comparison, coming off as substantially thinner and . Still well worth having a glass if you happen upon it.

6. Draught House Demon Juice

The only house beer on offer. Demon Juice is a pretty standard bourbon barrel-aged imperial stout, if this sort of beer can ever really be “standard.” It’s one of my favorite substyles, and the Draught House—where I had my first barrel-aged imperial stout ever, seven years or so ago—nailed it.

5. Hops & Grain Dispensary Series Bourbon Barrel Aged Double IPA

Imperial IPAs aren’t as popular a target for barrel aging as other big beers like imperial stouts, barleywines, and strong Belgians, mostly because hops, the most important flavor component of a double IPA, taste better—taste more, really—fresh. That’s a shame, really because if a brewer can hit that sweet spot where they’ve aged the beer long enough that it tastes like bourbon, but not so long that it no longer tastes like hops, those tastes do a lot to highlight and enhance one another. Hops & Grain definitely found the sweet spot with this one.

4. Guadalupe Smooth Peanut Butter Cocoa Stout

The very last thing I drank, and I’m glad I called that last-minute audible to put it on the list. I’ve definitely liked the handful of peanut-butter/chocolate beers I’ve had in the past. The saltiness of the peanut butter is a fun extra dimension for what would otherwise be just another sweet, chocolatey stout. This one really tops them all, though. It’s like drinking a Reese’s cup, and it made for the perfect beer dessert.

3. Odell Wooden Tusk

Another barrel-aged IPA, but with wild bacteria added for souring. This beer is, as far as I’ve found, the pinnacle of the “sour IPA” niche, balancing the competing flavors—both essentially acidic—of lactic tartness and hop bitterness for a mouthful of intense flavor. This definitely won’t be for everyone, for exactly the same reasons that sours and IPAs individually aren’t for everyone, but it’s a real treat for the more adventurous palate.

2. Birrifico Del Ducato/Oxbow Oud Brunello (pictured!)

The sweeter Belgian-style sours—oud bruins (like this one) and Flanders reds—aren’t usually for me. I just don’t care that much for strong sweetness combined with equally strong sourness in beer. It often ends up overbearing, like drinking soy or Worchestershire sauce. This is great, though. Relatively dry with some wonderful influence from the wine barrels it was aged in. My favorite beer of this type has been Cuvee Des Jacobins for a while, but this is at least as good.

1. Firestone Walker Parabajava

Hell. To. The. Yes. This coffee-infused take on Firestone Walker’s bourbon barrel-aged stout, Parabola, is one of the finest beers I’ve ever tasted, and it was the very first thing I had at the party, so naturally the rest of my afternoon was completely ruined. Kidding! At any rate, this is at least comparable to a Goose Island Bourbon County Coffee Stout or Epic Big Bad Baptist. If you see this, absolutely do not miss it.

tl;dr: Do not butt-chug Play-Doh.

Grade: This is your open thread, Commentists! Whatcha drinkin’? Whatcha watchin’? Fire away.

make it snow is an alot of beer, and it’s lady snow’s birthday! make it snow drank eight four-ounce beers at the Draught House 48th Anniversary Party and wrote this review from memory some time later. Stay safe out there this week, everyone.