DSM area reefers, please introduce yourself.

Hi my name is Andy, i too am addicted to reefing. I live in Ames. I have a 29 gallon tank that is setup with a variety of sps, lps, and soft corals and a couple fish. I recently bought a 72RR tank and planning on upgrading into that in the next 12 months. I have been keeping saltwater fish since 1999 and reefing since 2002. I am hoping to attend as many meetings as i can. I have met a couple people in the DM area and it seems like a really good group of people.

 

Welcome Andy, glad to have you aboard.

 

Sean here (DSMpunk on reefentral). I live in Grimes. My current tank is an SPS dominated 110 thats always a work in progress.
[q]I also love good beer, as long as what you mean by "good beer" is "dark beer".[/q]
Now Rachael, lets not be be hatin' on the lighter colored beers.

 

Hi Sean. I thought you said good beer? Good beer and fruity should never be uttered together.

 

Now Im not talking mikes hard lemonade fruity or god forbid Zima fruity. A lot of belgian style beers tend to have very subtle citrusy tones to them. Blue Moon for example is a belgian style that some people will stick a slice of orange into to kind of enhance the orangeyness of the beer.

Yes, orangeyness is a word.

 

I agree Sean - I do like citrusy belgians - but I think citrusy is much more acceptable than fruity!

 

Don't be so quick to judge those Belgian beers. /site/DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/_default/emoticons/smile.gif There are some nice dubbel, tripel and quadruples out there that will make you feel pretty good. Mainly it's because they're usually 8%-10% abv. /site/DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/_default/emoticons/biggrin.gif If you can find it, try the St. Bernardus Atp.12. It's probably one of the best beers I've ever had.

 

I've had a St Bernardus before (not sure if it was that specifc brew) - it was good!

My favorite brewery in America is New Belgium brewery (their most well known brew is Fat Tire). Thank God we can finally get it in Iowa (well in 20oz bombers and on tap anyway, hopefully 6 packs are soon to follow). My dad did bring me a sampler he threw together. Some Trippel, some 1554, some 2 below and of course some fat tire. Yummy!

 

Have you guys been to el bait shop? They so many beers on tap, its ridiculous.
True story. My brother came into town last summer and like always we go somewhere and drink some good beer. We head down to el bait shop because we both wanted to try the rogue line of beers that they have on tap. like 6 glasses of beer later, Ive almost tried all of the rogue beers except I hadnt tried any of the barleywine beers, so I order a rogue "old crustacean" barleywine beer. My brother warned me it was a little strong, but I didnt listen. This was our last round and he had called our dad to come pick us up at this point.
Well I chugged the old crusty knowing my dad was almost there. Little did I know that it was THIS much alchohol..
American Barleywine / 11.30% ABV
So I was bombed after that and it was only 4:00 in the afternoon. Yeah, I slept a lot that day and felt horrible for the next 24 hours  

 

Nice... /site/DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/_default/emoticons/smile.gif I think there's a place called Beer Crazy over in Urbandale, I've heard they have a pretty good selection. One place I like to stop at in Iowa City is John's Grocery. They have one of the best beer selections in the country. That's where I get the trappist beers. If you guys get a chance, you should try Chimay, the blue label. It's also one of my favorites. I've heard the Royal Mile sells it but it's like $6 or $7 a bottle.

 

I love the Bait Shop's selection of Beer - and I haven't been to beer crazy - but my dad has and said they have a nice selection.

I also love Chimay...red or blue.

Heard of John's Grocery from many friends who went to U of I - but never been.